Historian Andreas Killen on the history of the brain at the start of the Cold War.
Tag: Interview
On UFOs and the Cold War Human Sciences: An Interview with Greg Eghigian
The flying saucer era, argues Greg Eghigian, began at the dawn of the Cold War period and came to be viewed through its prism.
Questions of Authority, Persuasion, and Belief: An Interview with Richard Sennett
Richard Sennett talks to Hidden Persuaders’ Daniel Pick about his ideas on ‘thought reform’, truth, narrative and belief.
Institutional Psychotherapy in France: An Interview with Camille Robcis
Hidden Persuaders’ Katie Joice interviews Camille Robcis on the French tradition of Institutional Psychotherapy and its experiments in therapeutic practice.
Reflections on ‘Interrogations: Psy Sciences, Coercion and Confession in a Time of Cold War’
To what extent did the events of the Cold War alter the methods, aims and spaces of interrogation? How might this history intersect with developments in the ‘psy’ sciences? In July 2016, the Hidden Persuaders project hosted a workshop on these questions.
Prof. Tim Shallice on ‘interrogation in depth’ and sensory deprivation
We interviewed cognitive neuropsychologist Tim Shallice about the ‘Five Techniques’ of enhanced interrogation used by British agents in Northern Ireland during The Troubles, and their association with scientific research on sensory deprivation.
Albert Mason on the medicine and magic of hypnotism
Dr. Albert Mason talks to Marcia Holmes about his career in medical hypnotism and psychoanalysis, and describes his experiences as scientific consultant for The Ipcress File film and testing for ESP with Arthur Koestler.
‘Enhanced Interrogation’ in the Spanish Civil War: the Curious Case of Alfonso Laurencic
Earlier this year, Daniel Pick and Paul Preston recorded their conversation about the rediscovery of Alfonso Laurencic, a designer of highly unusual prison cells during the Spanish Civil War. Inspired by their discussion, Carl-Henrik Bjerstrom, delves into the circumstances surrounding the creation of these cells and the scandals that followed.
Zygmunt Bauman on Brainwashing
“We are tightly wrapped in a spider net of electronic surveillance”… deliberately confused by “an incessant flow of dismembered and dislocated fragments” (Zygmunt Bauman on brainwashing, surveillance, and modern society).* In July 2015 Daniel Pick interviewed Zygmunt Bauman on the subject of brainwashing. His wide ranging responses travel from the Cold War to the virtual… Read more »
Interview: Robert Jay Lifton on Cults and Vietnam
Prof. Robert Jay Lifton speaks about ‘thought reform’ in religious cults, and his study of veterans of the Vietnam War, in this final instalment of his interview with Daniel Pick.
