Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Thought-terminating cliché
A thought terminating cliché is a commonly-used phrase, sometimes passing as folk wisdom, used to quell cognitive dissonance, especially in cases where the person experiencing the cognitive dissonance might resolve it by reaching a thought-provoking epiphany.
The term was popularized by Robert Lifton in his book Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism.
The thought-terminating cliché is related to the opaque pigeonhole, or closed category, which also does not permit analysis.
In George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four the fictional constructed language Newspeak is designed to reduce language entirely to a set of thought-terminating clichés.
See also
- loaded language
- slogan
- sound-bite
Last updated: 05-29-2005 10:18:18
09-23-2007 01:00:40
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The contents of this article is licensed from www.wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details