Thought reform in China
[6]: 275 According to Robert Jay Lifton, the CCP's program of thought reform emerged as one of the most powerful efforts at propaganda ever undertaken, and included imposed doctrines, ideological purges, and mass-conversion movements carried out in an organized and comprehensive way.[7][title missing] The thought-reform program applied in universities, schools, special "revolutionary colleges", prisons, businesses, government offices, and peasant organisations.[8] Chen reports that the CCP selected "model citizens" from various walks of life, including laborers, peasants, women, and youth to popularize the attributes of the concept.These include: absolute selflessness; obedience to the Communist Party; class consciousness; ideological study; participation in labor and production; versatility; and being a "Red expert".[9] In psychology, it was linked to Ivan Pavlov's theory of higher nervous activity and the method of conditioning, which were taken up by Chinese revolutionaries to promise the possibility of the "new man" to be created.