Associative Conditioning

Associative Conditioning is one of the most effective and widely used forms of propaganda.
It consists in systematically and repeatedly presenting two or more different concepts together in the same contexts over and over again in order to psychologically train people to think of them as inherently related, or even perfectly equivalent.
The purpose of this kind of propaganda to manipulate people to embrace specific positions or ideas by associating them with universally agreed positive concepts or values (Praise by Association). In the same way, it can also be used for the opposite purpose, i.e.: prevent people from considering "inconvenient" topics or ideas by repeatedly presenting them in association with other ones that are conventionally agreed to be either evil or stupid (Smear by Association).
The opposite variant of this tactic is called Dissociative Conditioning and works in the same way, except the involved ideas are presented in contrast with each other.

Index