The Dark Arts of Psychology: Nudges
brownstone.org/articles/the-dark-arts-of-psychology-nudges/
July 26, 2024
During the Covid crisis, nudging emerged as one of the primary psyops tools used by
globalists, governments, NGOs, and “security” (intelligence) forces against us ordinary folk.
Recently, a number of peer-reviewed papers have come to light, exposing just how pervasive
and damaging the use of nudges was during Covid-19. They also reveal how nudging,
including fear nudging, is being used to control individuals and populations on matters such
as health, climate change, meat-eating, tobacco use, alcohol use, weight control, electoral
candidates, political campaigns, and more.
The PsyWar Campaign continues to work to control our hearts and minds on all matters of
statecraft.
For those that need reminding, nudging is a form of psychological manipulation that is often
used in psyops and psywar campaigns.
A nudge is a technique for modifying people’s behavior in a predictable way by influencing
people to behave in a desired outcome. Nudging is usually performed covertly, although that
is not considered a criterion of the nudge. A nudge can be described as: “any aspects of the
choice architecture that predictably alters people’s behavior without forbidding any options or
significantly changing their economic incentives.”
Nudging alters the environment, triggering automatic cognitive processes to favor the desired
outcome. Nudging makes it more likely that an individual will make a particular choice or
behave in a particular way.
Fear nudging involves using nudges that utilize a fear component to drive behavior, opinions,
or decision-making. While this is a particularly effective form of nudging, it is absolutely
unethical, in my opinion and that of others.
The peer-reviewed papers below document just how effective the fear nudge has become
and how globalists and governments alike routinely use this technique to control populations.
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Abstract
Internet users are inundated with attempts to persuade, including digital nudges like
defaults, friction, and reinforcement.
When these nudges fail to be transparent, optional, and beneficial, they can
become ‘dark patterns,’ categorised here under the acronym FORCES (Frame,
Obstruct, Ruse, Compel, Entangle, Seduce).
Elsewhere, psychological principles like negativity bias, the curiosity gap, and fluency
are exploited to make social content viral, while more covert tactics including
astroturfing, meta-nudging, and inoculation are used to manufacture
consensus.
The power of these techniques is set to increase in line with technological
advances such as predictive algorithms, generative AI, and virtual reality.
Digital nudges can be used for altruistic purposes including protection against
manipulation, but behavioural interventions have mixed effects at best.
Tactics of FORCES (Frame, Obstruct, Ruse, Compel, Entangle, Seduce), which are
being used by governments, globalists, and NGOs to control populations.
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The above graphics are from the paper listed here.
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Abstract
Nudging, a controversial technique for modifying people’s behavior in a predictable
way, is claimed to preserve freedom of choice while simultaneously influencing it.
Nudging had been largely confined to situations such as promoting healthy eating
choices but has been employed in the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis
in a shift towards measures that involve significantly less choice, such as
shoves and behavioral prods.
Shared decision making (SDM), a method for direct involvement and autonomy, is an
alternative approach to communicate risk.
Predominantly peer-reviewed scientific publications from standard literature databases
like PubMed, PsycInfo, and Psyndex were evaluated in a narrative review.
The so-called fear nudges, as well as the dissemination of strongly
emotionalizing or moralizing messages can lead to intense psycho-physical
stress.
The use of these nudges by specialized units during the COVID-19 pandemic
generated a societal atmosphere of fear that precipitated a deterioration of the
mental and physical health of the population.
Major recommendations of the German COVID-19 Snapshot Monitoring (COSMO)
study, which are based on elements of nudging and coercive measures, do not
comply with ethical principles, basic psychological principles, or evidencebased data.
(Shared decision-making) SDM was misused in the COVID-19 crisis, which helped
to achieve one-sided goals of governments.
The emphasis on utilitarian thinking is criticized and the unethical behavior of
decision makers is explained by both using the concept of moral disengagement
and the maturity level of coping strategies.
There should be a return to an open-ended, democratic, and pluralistic scientific
debate without using nudges. It is therefore necessary to return to the origins of
SDM.
The link to the full paper is here.
The dark nudge is an incredibly effective fear-based tool that governments, political
candidates, companies, NGOs, the security state, and others use to control thought and
action at the individual and population level. This psyops tool has been, is, and will be
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utilized against ordinary people.
A search on “Covid-19 vaccine and hesitancy” in Pubmed pulls up 5,550 results.
A search on “vaccine and hesitancy” in Pubmed pulls up 7,981 results.
The use of the nudge is a key strategy that many organizations resort to in order to
“overcome” vaccine hesitancy.
💉
The peer-reviewed paper below established that some hospitals used psychological torture
and even physical discomfort to induce people to accept Covid-19 vaccination.
The link to the full paper is here:
From the paper:
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Abstract
Methods
We conducted an explanatory sequential designed observational mixed-methods
study, including quantitative and qualitative sections consecutively in two different
pandemic hospitals between 15 September 2021 and 1 April 2022. The characteristics
of vaccinated and unvaccinated (vaccination of healthcare workers) HCWs were
compared.
The vaccine hesitancy scales were applied, and the effect of nudging, such as
mandatory PCR and education, were evaluated. In-depth interviews were performed
to investigate the COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among HCWs according to Health
Belief Model.
Results
…After the mandatory weekly PCR request nudge, 83.33 % (130/156) vaccinehesitant HCWs were vaccinated, and 8.3 % (13/156) after the small group seminars
and mandatory PCR every two days.
Conclusions
The nudging interventions such as mandatory PCR testing and small group
seminars helped raise the rate of COVID-19 vaccination; the most effective one is
mandatory PCR.
This study took place in Turkey, but a physical intervention (mandatory PCR testing) was
performed to coerce people into being vaccinated against their will.
We all know, having lived through the Covid crisis, that this intervention was performed
informally throughout the Western world. These scientists just documented what
governments and hospitals were doing to people worldwide.
The truth is that “the machine” (the system) did this to us. This goes beyond some small
unethical breach, as using PCR testing to harass and cause physical discomfort of the
unvaccinated was performed worldwide. Hence, fear nudging that applied physical
discomfort and even pain was performed on millions of people worldwide.
The number of peer-reviewed papers documenting and encouraging the use of dark nudges
is astounding. Often, these organizations don’t even know the name of this technique – they
just do it because it is effective.
It is time that legislative action be considered to control the abuse of this psyops technique
that can border on psychological and even physical torture.
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Republished from the author’s Substack
Published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
For reprints, please set the canonical link back to the original Brownstone Institute Article
and Author.
Author
Robert Malone
Robert W. Malone is a physician and biochemist. His work focuses on mRNA
technology, pharmaceuticals, and drug repurposing research. You can find him at
Substack and Gettr
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