Les effets psychologiques de la propagande

Abstract

ContextThe Cambridge Analytica scandal revelation in 2018 lifts the veil on the use of new behavioral micro-targeting techniques for political persuasion. The case rekindles the interest of researchers in the humanities in the contribution of psychology to propaganda and mass persuasion. ObjectivesThis work aims to analyze the psychological effects of propaganda by contextualizing them over the long-term. It questions and updates the thinking of Jacques Ellul on this subject. The aim is to demonstrate that the psychological effects of propaganda are all the more convincing as they are the product of an application of principles drawn from psychology and psychoanalysis to ever more sophisticated tools, the effectiveness of which is now measurable. MethodThe author first traces the history of the tools for measuring the effectiveness of propaganda, then describes the specific contribution of psychology and psychoanalysis to mass persuasion. Finally, he describes the main psychological effects of propaganda. ResultsThe measurement of the effectiveness of propaganda has been the subject of incremental progress throughout the 20th century, before experiencing breakthrough progress with the application of predictive analytics of gigantic behavioral data to the design of persuasive digital infrastructures. Psychology is the discipline whose contribution to propaganda techniques has been the most decisive, so that propaganda produces many and varied psychological effects. ConclusionsPropaganda is an applied science, which takes advantage of the contributions of science to achieve practical goals. Consideration of psychology is crucial in developing effective persuasion techniques.