Persuasion by Numbers: Using Statistics and Rhetoric to Mislead
How graphs, percentages, statistics and rhetoric are used to persuade, shape opinion and mislead across mainstream media, influencer culture and conspiracy theories.
Edward Bernays: From Propaganda to Influencers
How Edward Bernays concept of engineering consent is seen in the tactics and methods used by modern influencers to persuade their followers.
Walter Lippmann: From Public Opinion to Influencers
How Walter Lippmann’s writings on how media narratives shape public opinion is seen in modern-day influencer culture.
Gustave Le Bon: From Crowds to Influencers
How Gustave Le Bon’s theory of crowd psychology predicted the behaviour of modern influencers and the crowds that follow them.
The Men Who Influenced the Influencers: Crowd Psychology to Social Media
Long before social media, three pioneering scholars of crowd psychology, public opinion and persuasion explained how crowds form, how opinions spread, and how influence works — principles that now shape the modern influencer economy.
Institute for Propaganda Analysis 7 Tricks Still Going Strong
In 1937, the Institute for Propaganda Analysis set out to show the public how to spot propaganda. We compare how the same techniques of persuasion were used both then and now.
Plain Folks Propaganda: Hey, I’m Just like You!
If they look like you, talk like you, and moan about the same things, you’re more likely to go along with what they’re saying.
The Testimonial Technique: When the Person’s Credibility is the Proof
The testimonial technique doesn’t only influence us to buy products and services. It also promotes ideas, beliefs, and worldviews.
Transfer in Propaganda: Standing Next to the Clever Person
Transfer is a propaganda technique which borrows someone else’s good reputation, hoping it rubs off on what you’re promoting
Foot in the Door Technique: Free Samples and David Icke
The Foot-in-the-Door technique asks you to agree to something small, knowing it will be far easier to move you on to something big.
The Pseudo-Event: The Staged Story Designed to Influence You
How many stories and events in the media are deliberately staged to make the viewer want to do the same?
How Social Identity Influences Our Beliefs
Once we have decided what sort of person we want to be, and what group of people we belong to, it’s easy for external influence to supply our choices, opinions and beliefs.
Authority Bias: When Deferring to Someone in Charge Goes Wrong
We often look to people with seniority or official status for guidance, but what happens when they are wrong?
Conformity and Social Norms
In every crowd, there’s a right way to behave. We learn it instantly — in lifts, pubs, libraries, and work.
Framing in Psychology: Definition and Examples
How the words and language used by a TV news announcement immediately puts you in a particular emotional state.
