Dissociative Conditioning

Dissociative Conditioning is a form of propaganda that makes systematic use of false dichotomies.
It consists in systematically and repeatedly presenting a specific idea in contrast with another one, with the implied premise that one is the denial of the other and vice-versa, in order to psychologically force people to choose one over the other.
The purpose of this kind of propaganda is to manipulate people into rejecting inconvenient ideas, by presenting them as the antithesis to widely agreed positive values (Smear by Dissociation). In the same way, it can also be used for the opposite purpose, i.e.: promoting specific ideas by presenting them as the antithesis to negative ones (Praise by Dissociation).
The opposite variant of this tactic is called Associative Conditioning and works in the same way, except the involved ideas are presented in conjunction as if they were inherently equivalent to each other.

Index