On the very first day of social psychology class, it wasn’t a coincidence that the first lesson was how campaigns and the media uses psychology to get votes and ratings. It is the inevitable result when the field of psychology started really understanding how humans work. Only in my field we use it to help people and business, politicians, and the media uses it to help themselves.  One of the reasons that I didn’t go into the lucrative human factors field was because I felt as though it was selling myself to the devil and it went against my own internal moral compass.

Now, I am not saying that it is bad to use psychology in any of these areas but what I am saying is that who is there to decide that maybe there is a line that you don’t cross? In the 1970’s it was the government drawing that line in the sand with subliminal advertising but since then we are trusting these industries to police themselves. With the rise of the internet and social media, no other time have these entities had a direct main line into the human brain 24 hours a day 7 days a week. As a result, the effectiveness of their methods exponentially grew but so has the negative effects.

Between families and friends being torn apart, unhinged people shooting people and mailing bombs, people flocking into therapy for anxiety and depression, and a public debacle of a government completely polarized and unable to solve any major issues…one has to ask not only have these entities gone too far in using psychology but do they actually know the negative effects it is having and choose to continue using them anyways? That is the million dollar question that every American deserves to know the answer to.

To help us explore this important topic, joining us in The Gray this week will be Ron The Opinionated Veteran , fellow podcaster & co-host of the Max Miller Show who is a retired forensic investigator for the US Army and has also worked for several Republican campaigns. If there is anybody who has the knowledge and balls to discuss this topic with us it will be him. Plus this topic scares me and it makes me feel better to know that if anyone messes with The Gray they have the US Army to deal with!

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