Age of propaganda : the everyday use and abuse of persuasion / Anthony R. Pratkanis and Elliot Aronson.

"First published in hardcover in 1992 by W.H. Freeman and Company. First Owl Books edition 2002."

Includes bibliographical references (p. [357]-397) and index.

Our age of propaganda -- Mysterious influence -- Mindless propaganda, thoughtful persuasion -- The rationalizing animal -- The four stratagems of influence -- Words of influence -- Pictures in our heads -- Saddam Hussein : the Hitler of Baghdad? -- Questionable persuasion -- The power of decoys -- The psychology of factoids -- The credible communicator -- Breakfast of champions, junk food for the self -- How do you persuade if everyone knows you are untrustworthy, unbelievable, and disliked? -- The manufacture of credibility -- Prizefighter slays eleven with one look : the influence of mass media models -- Packages -- Self-sell -- Naked attics and neighborhood war heroes : on vividness in communication -- Why do they keep repeating the same ads? -- If you have nothing to say--distract them -- If you want to gain an inch, ask for a mile--sometimes! -- Protagoras' ideal : one-sided puffery versus two-sided debate -- The fear appeal -- The granfalloon technique -- Guilt sells -- What is the influence of one flower given? -- The committed heart -- To practice what you preach -- The psychology of scarcity and the mystique of phantoms -- Education or propaganda? -- What is news? -- On the ineffectiveness of information campaigns -- Subliminal sorcery : who is seducing whom? -- Persuasion direct -- How to become a cult leader -- Propaganda in the Third Reich : a case for uncertainty -- Is forewarned forearmed? Or how to really resist propaganda -- What we can do to stop propaganda in its tracks -- Peitho's children.