brainwashing

n. a broad class of intense and often coercive tactics intended to produce profound changes in attitudes, beliefs, and emotions. Targets of such tactics have typically been prisoners of war and members of religious cults. See also psychological kidnapping.

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Psychology term of the day

March 17th 2025

paranoid delusion

loosely, any of a variety of false personal beliefs tenaciously sustained even in the face of incontrovertible evidence to the contrary. These include delusions of grandeur, delusional jealousy, or, most frequently, delusions of persecution.