Engineering Consent

Along with all of the many benefits of the human brain and mass media, together they allow us to be plagued by the inability to think clearly because of the overwhelming amount of information available. Subconsciously we label everything according to how it fits values and beliefs. When we are consciously being persuaded to behave or think a certain way, a similar phenomenon occurs. If we agree, we show consonance and if we disagree, dissonance. Even if we don’t fully understand what we are being persuaded to do, we put it through our frame of reference to establish our position on the topic. This whole idea becomes extremely crucial when trying to influence or persuade the people.

If we hastily make a decision it is normally because we have strong consonance toward the information surrounding it. If however, we perceive it to be wrong and do not hastily jump to this conclusion, we may end up changing our mind. As we soak up the information and separate it into our bins, or social constructs, we are processing it based on our pre-established beliefs and values. The important factor is that these can be changed and even manipulated to the point were you can go from having weak dissonance to having strong consonance toward an issue.

An amazing example of this can be found in AT&T’s campaign summed up as “reach out and touch someone.” During this campaign, which has now been resurrected with “reach out and touch your iphone,” customers of other phone companies with weak dissonance toward AT&T were tantalized with imagery and symbolism to switch phone companies because of the superior voice quality of the calls. People ended up switching phone companies because hearing someone’s clear, un-muffled voice was in line with family values and advancing technology. Many of these people, who before did not care to use AT&T, became proponents to their family and friends as to AT&T’s superior quality thus rendering them with strong consonance.

In terms of persuasion, those with strong consonance or strong dissonance toward the issue are seen as a waste of time. When persuading someone or “engineering consent,” people like Bernays have been ultimately successful using techniques targeted at people with weak consonance. By establishing a connection between the object or idea and core, cultural and social values, it becomes relatively easy to persuade a large group of people. Often the use of images and symbols are employed for this use, making for a very compelling argument. Fortunately for those of us who understand this concept, we can take a step back and think about whether or not we are being programmed to think a certain way. While we can hardly consider this a conspiracy, it has long been used to mold and control the masses and will progressively become more important as society is fragmented into groups.