Dr. Burnett on the Art of Misleading

Under the auspices of the Philosophical Club, Dr. C. T. Burnett '00, instructor in philosophy at Bowdoin College, delivered a lecture in Sever 11 last night on "The Art of Misleading" or "The Psychology of Advertising."

There is a tendency on the part of most men, Dr. Burnett said, to assume things on utterly unsatisfactory grounds. This tendency is manifested when we substitute our feelings of absurdity, religious sentiment, mere physical pleasure, or extreme delight in the beautiful, for reasoning thought. It shows itself also when our moral feelings destroy our true perspective of the beautiful, or when our feelings for the beautiful usurp our moral ideas.

In these confusions of values, the art of misleading plays its part. Men are misled by men of tact and their methods, which are best illustrated in politics and in advertising.

In politics the terse campaign cry, the long campaign parade, and the eloquent speakers are all used to mislead people by numbers and effects. In advertising, numbers and bigness are used to convince people of excellence. Often our sense of humor instead of our reason is appealed to by advertisers, salesmen, and speakers.

The result of all these devices to mislead us depends on the fact that they suggest vividly those things which we wish to believe.