Age of propaganda : the everyday use and abuse of persuasion / Anthony R. Pratkanis and Elliot Aronson. [print]

The psychology of everyday persuasion -- Mysterious influence -- Mindless propaganda, thoughtful persuasion -- The rationalizing animal -- The four stratagems of influence

Pre-persuasion: Setting the stage for effective influence -- Words of influence -- Pictures in our heads -- Saddam Hussein : The Hitler of Baghdad? -- A questionable persuasion -- The power of "decoys" -- The psychology of factoids

Communicator credibility: Real and manufactured -- The credible communicator -- Breakfast of champions, junk food for the self -- How do you persuade if everyone knows you are untrustworthy, unbelievable, and disliked? -- The manufacture of credibility -- Prizefighter slays eleven with one look : the influence of mass media models

The message and how it is delivered -- Packages -- Self-sell -- Naked attics and neighborhood war heroes : on vividness in communication -- Why do they keep repeating the same ads? -- If you have nothing to say--distract them -- If you want to gain an inch, ask for a mile--sometimes! -- Protagoras' ideal : one-sided puffery versus two-sided debate

Emotional appeals: Touch the heart, persuade the mind -- The fear appeal -- The granfalloon technique -- Guilt sells -- What is the influence of one flower given? -- The committed heart -- Practice what you preach -- The psychology of scarcity and the mystique of phantoms

When information fails: The challenge of propaganda to society -- Education or propaganda? -- What is news? -- On the ineffectiveness of information campaigns -- Subliminal sorcery : who is seducing whom? -- Persuasion direct -- How to become a cult leader -- Propaganda in the third Reich : a case for uncertainty

Counteracting the tactics of propaganda -- Is forewarned forearmed? Or how to really resist propaganda -- What we can do to stop propaganda in its tracks -- Peitho's children.

Shares findings from research on the effectiveness of various persuasive messages, provides an overview of what social psychologists and other investigators have learned about how people are persuaded, analyzes common propaganda tactics, and explains what people can do to limit the effects of propaganda in their lives.

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