Images, like words, possess suggestive capabilities. Emerging in the human imagination through a multi-dimensional chain process (words, actions, other images, etc.), they initiate the next chain of processes, resulting in the creation of subsequent images with verbal and object embodiment.
Since the realms of words, images, and signs are intertwined, it is quite challenging to separate them from each other.
Many things with a purely functional nature are associated in our minds with self-perception and relationships with others.
For instance, a car is often perceived not only as a means of transportation but also as an indicator of achieving a certain life stage (adulthood, having a driver's license) and material status.
A home is not just a place where people sleep but also a symbol of shelter from the hustle and hardships of the world, a "home."
There are more specific connections between images and feelings: mother's cup, father's belt, grandmother's pastries, and so on.
«The essence of manipulation lies in the presence of a double impact. Alongside the message sent openly, the manipulator sends the recipient a hidden 'encoded' signal, hoping that this signal will awaken in the recipient's consciousness the images needed by the manipulator.
This hidden influence relies on the 'implicit knowledge' possessed by the recipient, on their ability to create images in their consciousness that influence their feelings, opinions, and behavior.
The art of manipulation lies in letting the imagination flow in the desired direction but in such a way that the person does not notice the hidden influence."
In everyone's consciousness, there are images of words and concepts, pictures that we see when someone informs us about something.
In interpersonal communication, the inconsistency of these pictures often leads to conflict, but it is usually not realized during the communication stage. For example, a grandmother gives her granddaughter a trendy dress, confident that the girl will like it. The grandmother judges in accordance with her image of "fashionable," while the granddaughter is disappointed and offended because that type of dress went out of style before her birth, thinking that her grandmother doesn't love her if she didn't bother to find out what the granddaughter really wanted.
The task of a professional manipulator is to ensure the emergence in the minds of the recipients of precisely the image of reality, things, etc., that will evoke the desired reaction.
For instance, this is how crime chronicle reports work, indicating the birthplace and/or ethnic origin of lawbreakers.
Many journalists and deputies note that emphasizing the nationality of criminals contributes to the incitement of xenophobic sentiments.
The primary tool for manipulating consciousness through images in our time is television – where the combination of text and image is most effective.
