Inside the Black Room

Book excerpt: In the 1950s, a new word 'brainwashing' entered the English language. Although its meaning was ambiguous and continued to evolve, it captured both concerns about the uses of psychology in warfare and the imagination of the general public through popular cinema (popular example would be The Manchurian Candidate in 1962) through the years as to how possible it really was to "brainwash" an individual. For many experts, the Cold War brainwashing scare offered an opportunity to engage the public with contemporary psychological theory and research. Originally published in 1963, Inside the Black Room covers a series of experiments specifically dealing with sensory deprivation and its effect on the human subjects involved in the studies. The goal of these studies was to provide practical information on the effects of long-term sensory deprivation on the human condition. At that time at the beginning of the 'space race' it was unknown what impact space travel and long period of solitary confinement would have on the human psyche. A fascinating study that shows through unique experiments how malleable the human psyche is and effect methods like sensory deprivation can have on manipulating that psyche.