It is an undeniable fact that political lies and manipulation are raging across the world at a level never seen before. How much credit one gives to all this is a matter of temperament: some people are almost completely immune, others wake up with QAnon and go to bed with a photo of Trump, some pledge loyalty to Putin or their local autocrat, while others believe blindly in political mysticism or conspiracy theories.
How did we end up here in an age richer in information than any before? Could it be that our brains simply weren’t designed for this kind of traffic? Or do swindlers, liars, and politicians have some special tricks? HotNews.ro spoke about this with a globally recognized expert.
What impact can the messages sent by politicians during election campaigns have on the mind? Viorica Marian, a leading American psycholinguist who has conducted research in Europe, China, and Japan, analyzes how political campaign messages activate our brains. She also explains how we can defend ourselves against manipulative narratives. What should we know about her?
Researcher Viorica Marian was born in Chișinău and emigrated to the United States in 1989. She is a professor of psychology at Northwestern University, professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders, and head of a specialized research laboratory focusing on bilingualism and psycholinguistics. She has received major awards such as the John P. McGovern Award in Behavioral Sciences and the Clarence Simon Award for Teaching and Mentoring.
Viorica Marian is also the author of the book The Power of Language, which examines how the brains of multilingual people work and what role language plays in the functioning of our neurons. The book has been translated into several European languages, as well as Chinese and Japanese.
“The language we use has a major influence on shaping society—the language we hear affects reality and the decisions we make,” Viorica Marian said in an interview with HotNews.ro. For the past 30 years, she has studied how people process written and spoken language.
According to her, repeating a message—no matter how unlikely—pushes the brain toward accepting it. It creates “neural superhighways” in our minds that make it easier for us to accept ideas we normally would not agree with.
“Even if it seems ridiculous at first, repetition influences the brain to accept the message.”
HotNews.ro: In your book, you describe how the messages we hear every day shape our attitudes. What impact do political campaigns have?
Viorica Marian: The language we use has enormous power not only in shaping our brains, but also in shaping society and social movements. We all know that politicians hire experts to find the right words and expressions that stir specific emotions and create these social movements. Because yes—language really has that power. For example, we know they commission opinion polls on various issues and, depending on the results, they change their messages.
But most of the time, it’s very difficult to separate the message from the envelope it comes in. So the person who can manipulate language most effectively often creates the impression of thinking most clearly. And this is simply because they have rhetorical skill. Studies show that people who speak more than one language fluently are less susceptible to manipulative language, because they better understand the nuances of words. In essence, they are more capable of recognizing when someone is trying to manipulate them.
“For Goebbels it was just a philosophy, but now we have experimental data”
– Could you give an example of an attempt at manipulation?
– Many tricks are used to manipulate language in ways that influence our thinking. For example, in politics a sentence is often repeated over and over, and this causes people to start believing it. Even if it sounds ridiculous at first, repetition influences the brain to accept the message.
– That sounds like Goebbels’ philosophy…
– Back then it was only a philosophy, but now we have experimental data. We can observe—and measure—how brain activity changes when a message is repeated. And then there are key words which, when inserted into a sentence, shift the entire meaning. You can say a hundred words, but only one of them really matters. If you say the word “cancer,” for example, it weakens the force of the other words and changes the direction of the conversation.
“Sometimes the simplest messages resonate with the broadest audiences”
– How does this play out in election campaigns?
– Let me give you an example of an experiment I did with my child when they were two years old. “What is 4 minus 2?” I asked. “2,” they said. “And 9 divided by 3?” “3.” “Which is the capital of the United States, New York or Washington?” “Washington.” Every time they answered correctly, everyone was astonished. But the solution was simple: the correct answer was always the last word in the sentence. When children are small, they tend to repeat the last words they hear. If you know that, you can exploit it—what pants would you like, white or black? This is a small example of how sentence structure influences the brain’s response to information. The same thing happens with adults! Anyone can arrange information in a way that produces the desired reaction. Like calling a “war” a “special military operation.”
Take another example: the meaning of a poem. Writers and poets produce works with different levels of complexity. Some write poems for children that everyone can understand. Others write poems that require a high-school diploma to grasp. The same happens with the speeches of politicians. The simplest messages often reach the broadest audiences. That’s why politicians use the simplest possible language when addressing their voters—so the audience doesn’t have to work hard to understand.
Another key point: In my book, I write about how we like to believe that we live in an objective reality—that we all see the same world. But one person’s reality differs from another’s depending on what language they speak and what experiences they have. When we talk about emotions, we readily accept that two people may feel desire or love differently. But we fail to see that the same applies to how we perceive reality itself.
“We risk sinking into the swamp of human consciousness.”
– So what can we do?
– There is a concept called metacognition. It is the ability to think abstractly about what we think—to analyze our own reactions to the words of politicians. Why did this message trigger the reaction I had? It’s a simple question, but the world is busy, no one has time for it, and our attention is scattered—especially because of social media.
If we don’t have time to analyze and we experience an emotional or intellectual reaction, it means the synapses were activated, and repetition will only strengthen these connections. In neuroscience, there’s a saying: neurons that fire together wire together. When the same neurons fire repeatedly and build connections, they gain an advantage over those that are not activated as often.
– So the wisest choice would be to reflect more and read more about politics?
– No. Especially now, when social networks are heavily shaped by algorithms, it’s very easy to fall into a trap. If you’ve spent time following something, the algorithm learns that it captures your attention and shows you more of the same—to keep you on the platform. This becomes a vicious cycle.
In the United States there are news aggregator websites that also display ideological viewpoints: essentially the same event is described in different ways—how the left reports it and how the right does. We already spend several hours a day on our phones, and we should pay more attention to what we consume, because we risk sinking into the swamp of human consciousness. In the U.S., parents and children have stopped talking to each other because political opinions divide them. Spouses divorce because they can’t find common ground on political issues. Society is deeply polarized. Politicians don’t want social harmony—it would be naïve to think so. Most of them only want to win, whatever the cost.
I believe we should put more emphasis on public dialogue. Today we rarely interact with people who don’t share our views. And when we do meet someone who thinks differently, we immediately exclude them. We don’t try to understand them—we label them uninformed, uneducated, stupid. Or the opposite: elitist, detached from reality. When people alienate each other like this, the result is division. And division serves the political actors who can split us and rule over us.
Is this the Great Secret then? Repeat the lie like a parrot and people will believe it?
Maybe not. Maybe there are subtler shades to all this—perhaps a would-be politician is better off starting with half-truths before moving on to outright falsehoods.
But what is certain is this: repetition matters.
Yes, repetition is very important.
What matters? Repetition. Very much so.
Does everyone believe me now that repetition matters?
I hope so, because I’ve mentioned its importance at least as many times as Viktor Orbán or George Simion usually repeat the word “sovereignty.” And according to them, that’s important—just like repetition…
Source: HotNews.ro – link in original Hungarian text.
This article was produced with the financial support of the European Union. The views and statements presented here reflect the position of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official position of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them. Zóna did not receive funding; it merely provides a platform for the article.
