One of the ways of programming consciousness is to build up mental stress with its subsequent release. This method, as we said above, is called cognitive dissonance. Why do “sales managers” constantly resort to pressure on their customers, knowing full well that most people cannot stand it? The answer to this question, as well as to all the other "why" in the context of memetics, sounds simple: because the memes of this "tactic" spread very well. Salespeople become infected with the “aggressive selling” meme and actively use it in their work - they do not care if this method is the most effective tool they have. Of course, we will not argue with the fact that in some cases, in relation to individuals, this tactic "works".
Aggressive selling tactics work when the salesperson manages to put their prospect in a mentally uncomfortable position - creating cognitive dissonance. Initially, the client is "armed" with strategy memes that help him refrain from buying, for example, "don't buy a pig in a poke" or "look around before you decide on something." Then the seller programs the customer's mind with memes, thanks to which an immediate purchase begins to seem very attractive to him: “if I don’t buy it now, I will not get into the 'window of opportunity', and even 'if I buy something, the seller will like it'”.
These new memes "conflict" with the old ones, resulting in mental stress. Your mind is trying to resolve the conflict that has arisen and creates new memes.
There are two ways to "release" the tension caused by cognitive dissonance: buy or leave. If you leave, then your decision is probably caused by a meme that has arisen in your mind, for example: "The salesman is trying to sell me something." Others, however, buy, because different memes are created in their minds, for example: "This is really useful for me." If you have created such a meme, then you will not get rid of it, because a clever seller will also strengthen it - he will tell you that you have made a wise decision, and will even call you in a few days and congratulate you on your purchase.
The state authorities of the country can put cognitive dissonance at their service: with its help, society can develop in itself memes of obedience and trustworthiness. Teasing newcomers in college or boot camps, various forms of spiritual or religious discipline — all of these forms of pressure involve going through a series of trials, and in some cases the pressure is “released” only after the neophyte has demonstrated his loyalty. Thus, a meme association is created, and the person ties together the demonstration of his loyalty with the pleasant feeling that arose as a result of being released from the pressure.
Through cognitive dissonance, people can be made to believe that they have acquired something valuable and worthy of their loyalty; while in reality only one thing happened - their tormentors simply stopped mocking them.
This method is usually used in relation to prisoners of war in order to "program" their minds with a sense of submission and obedience to the invaders.
Psychologists have identified a curious pattern in "learning by trial and error." It has been found that this method "works" better — it creates stronger memes — if the rewards are given on a case-by-case basis, rather than regularly. This may be because the delay in reward introduces an element of cognitive dissonance into “trial and error learning”. Therefore, an experienced "manipulator" who would like to program people's consciousness with his memes will retain the reward, even if the object of the "upbringing" behaves impeccably, because in this way the "manipulator" will create a more reliable program in his mind.
In the course of these studies, other interesting facts were revealed. As a rule, people call the best teachers those who were most strict with them - who very rarely gave them good grades. The fact is that the less often students receive high marks, the stronger the “hard learning” meme is developed in their minds, because such an approach on the part of the teacher causes cognitive dissonance in the student's mind. sever unsettled relationships with "bad partners". Perhaps the "mental processing" and "dissonance" of random rewards within these demeaning relationships reinforce the stay-together meme strategy more than they do in relationships that are always on top!
Source: Richard Brody "Mental Viruses"
