HOW TO MANIPULATE GOYIM AND CATTLE
by Milton H. Erickson M.D.
HOW TO MANIPULATE GOYIM AND CATTLE
by Milton H. Erickson M.D.
My first well-remembered intentional use of the double bind occurred in early boyhood.
One winter day with the weather below zero, my father led a calf out of the barn to the water trough. After the calf had satisfied its thirst, they turned back to the bam but at the doorway the calf stubbornly braced its feet and, despite my father's desperate pulling on the halter, he could not budge the animal.
I was outside playing in the snow and, observing the impasse, began laughing heartily.
My father challenged me to pull the calf into the barn. Recognizing the situation as one of unreasoning stubborn resistance on the part of the calf, I decided to let the calf have full opportunity to resist since that was what it apparently wished to do.
Accordingly I presented the calf with a double bind by seizing it by the tail and pulling it away from the barn while my father continued to pull it inward. The calf promptly chose to resist the weaker yet more painful of the two forces and dragged me into the barn.
As I grew older I began employing my father's alternate choice double bind on my unsuspecting siblings to secure their aid in the performance of farm chores.
In college I became more and more interested in the "double bind" as a motivational force for the self and others. I began experimenting by suggesting to college mates the performance of two tasks, both of which I knew they would reject if presented singly.
They would, however, execute one or the other if I made the refusal of one contingent upon the acceptance of the other.
I then began reading autobiographies extensively and discovered that this way of managing behavior was age-old. It was an item of psychological knowledge that properly belonged to the public domain and no one person could lay claim to it.
Coincident with the development of my interest in hypnosis I began to realize that the "double bind" could be used in a variety of ways.
In hypnosis the double bind could be direct, indirect, obvious, obscure, or even unrecognizable. I found the double bind to be a remarkable force, but dangerously double edged. In negative, enforced and competitive situations the double bind yields unfortunate outcomes.
As a child, for example, I knew where all the best berry picking patches were. I'd offer to show them to my companions if I could keep all I picked plus half of what they picked. They would accept the deal eagerly but later they would greatly resent it when they actually saw how much I got.
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ADVANCED DOUBLE BINDS IN DEBATES
