Mausfeld's research focused on perceptual psychology. He also worked on the theoretical foundations of
experimental psychology and the psychology of understanding. He also deals with the rivalry between
cognitive psychology and
cognitive neuroscience in
cognitive science. Another area of interest is the
history of ideas in the
natural sciences. In contrast to attempts to explain psychological functions on a biological basis, he adopts an
antireductionist stance.
Color perception Mausfeld argues that, contrary to
naïve realism,
color perception and other aspects of
visual perception do not simply reflect an objective, mind-independent external physical world. Color is a subjective product of an organism's visual system, not an objective property of the physical world. The "measuring instrument" conception of perception—according to which the perceptual system is a kind of measuring device that informs the organism about the physical input—is misguided.
White torture and responsibility of science In his work, Mausfeld illustrates the role of psychologists in the development, application, and justification of modern white torture methods. His work states that the goals of these methods are not, as claimed, the extraction of information, but rather breaking the will, disciplining,
humiliating, and
shaming the victims. Mausfeld uses the example of torture research to define ethical and legal principles and limits of scientific work. He regards the observance of human rights as fully binding.{{Cite news
Techniques of managing opinions and emotions Features and framework of manipulation techniques The most important feature of manipulative techniques, according to Mausfeld, is that they are invisible. To be effective, they must occur below the threshold of our awareness and take advantage of the "weak points" of our mind. This "opinion management," as Mausfeld puts it, which equals
propaganda in the sense of
Edward Bernays, is the means the formal democratic order adopts to exercise domination without visible force by creating voluntary consent in the minds of citizens. The techniques aim to make invisible not only facts, but also possibilities of thinking and thus alternative actions
(domination of perception). Mausfeld puts his criticism of manipulation techniques within the framework of a fundamental critique of the capitalist economic and social order.
Neoliberalism, in his view, has limited and narrowed the understanding of freedom to the choice of one's identity from an "identity basket" (i.e., to the "choice" of a given media-mediated lifestyle).
Affective techniques • Among the techniques to manipulate people's emotional lives, Mausfeld counts fear mongering, that is, the generation of fears. Thus, due to the natural inclination of people to the status quo, the fear of change is fueled. To assess the significance of this instrument, Mausfeld refers to the US political scientist
John J. Mearsheimer. • Furthermore, he mentions the creation of the feeling of powerlessness in the population, the feeling of not having control.
Cognitive techniques According to Mausfeld, cognitive techniques are more important than affective techniques, because opinions are more stable than emotions. Mausfeld examines the following methods: • Representation of facts as opinion • Fragmenting coherent facts so that the context, such as the historical context, is lost • Decontextualization of facts: The context of the facts is removed, so that the facts become incomprehensible isolated individual cases, which have no general relevance • Misleading recontextualization: Information is embedded in a foreign context, so that they take on a different character and, for example, no longer lead to outrage in human rights violations. • Repetition supports the "perceived truth" • Designing the range of opinions so that the desired seems to be in the middle, which most people strive for, if they are unfamiliar, because they then keep to the middle, seeing it as "neutral and balanced" • Making facts invisible through media selection, distraction and attention control • "Meta-propaganda": It is part of every propaganda to claim that the news of the enemy is wrong because it is propaganda
Analysis of "neoliberal postdemocracy" == Private life ==