Was Patty Hearst Brainwashed?

[asianboy]

What are your opinions on her behavior?

[boofhead]

I always thought she was young, dumb, impressionable, forced into a situation not of her own choosing and her general character yielded the result.

''Brainwashed''? Not exactly sure. When does the simple matter of swaying an impressionable or gullible person become ''brainwashing''?

Females are more susceptible than males to changes of belief, and when you have a female teenager in such circumstances it could be far less a case of brainwashing and more a case of her feeling drawn to something exciting, special or meaningful.

I don't think the ''Stockholm Syndrome'' is always applicable; or if it is, is it brainwashing at all anyway?

[Burnum]

I always thought she was young, dumb, impressionable, forced into a situation not of her own choosing and her general character yielded the result.

Hardly. It was a survival mechanism, Patty Hearst need to live outweighed her feeling of hatred for the SLA who kidnapped her, by identifying with her captors she increases her chance of Survival. Contributing is that when you're totally isolated from the rest of the world, you lose perspective.

Females are more susceptible than males to changes of belief

That's blatantly false.

[boofhead]

That's blatantly false.

No, it isn't.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/news...jury-room.html

It seems most of the psych I studied in the 1990s is currently unavailable. Must be women running the show.

Burnum, I've been looking for a decent link for a while and will continue to do so.

We all know females have a greater linguistic base than males (try 4 times the brain capacity), and are more about ''sharing'' and empathy than your average male. Communication has a far greater impact on the female psyche than the male.

e.g. a man comes home from work and a woman is venting about something. The male naturally attempts to offer practical solutions. This doesn't achieve much because her purpose is to vent and receive feedback. In many cases she doesn't care about the ''practical solution'', she just wants empathy and a connection. And yet often the male brain is so much about ''solving problems'' or ''resolving issues'' that he completely misses the point.

This happens the world over, it is universal, and it's to do with the difference between male and female brains.

And this is why a woman can accept and undertake a fundamental belief change easier than a man. Because if it's feedback, and it's empathetic and based upon language.

[Noble Savage]

I will let this one go as other members have rescued this thread but please in future make your opening post better than a one line question.

We should see things like quotations , news articles , pictures etc. properly referenced and linked.

For future reference.

Ta

Noble Savage