Persuasion and influence in the media has the spectre of illusion and brainwashing. The reality is that the 'art' of persuasion and influence is both teachable and scientifically fascinating. The Propaganda for Change project aims to help students both recognise persuasion techniques and to use their knowledge to create pro-social messages that can survive in the public marketplace of ideas. Thus, Propaganda for Change uses the power of student's interests to help them create content, crowdsourcing the usual 'direct instruction' to the distributed mind of the students.

Thomas Hills is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Warwick. His research focuses on how people search for and use information to make decisions (involving memory, decision making, and problem solving). He is particularly interested in applying these findings to practical domains such as negotiation, marketing, and behavioural economics. More information is available on his staff page.