Brainwashing

In 1956, Psychologist Albert Biderman described the tactics the Chinese used to elicit “False Confessions” from the “Brainwashed” American prisoners of war held during the Korean War.

Biderman charted out the tactics used by Chinese interrogators to achieve their goals.  The Chinese could isolate the American POW, shine bright lights on him continuously, keep him freezing cold, put him in prolonged constraint, or refuse to let him sleep. These kinds of tactics, Biderman noted, led American prisoners to confess to all manner of war crimes, including biological warfare against the North Koreans and Chinese. None of this was true, Biderman argued. The American prisoners told their Chinese interrogators whatever they wanted to hear to make the torture stop.