Lecture

Bernhard Kleeberg

Autosuggestion: On The Early History of Advertising Psychology

14 August 2026

(0:50 h)

Lecture

Bernhard Kleeberg

Autosuggestion: On The Early History of Advertising Psychology

In 1900, psychologist Harlow Stearns Gale published what is probably the earliest psychological study of advertising. His main interest was the process of convincing potential buyers by attracting their attention, suggesting a need and a product to satisfy it, and making its brand memorable. In this lecture, I will trace the historical background that made it seem necessary to stimulate consumption through new forms of advertising and thus motivated the psychotechnical modelling of consumer behaviour. I argue that to awaken and stabilize needs against the background of mass production and distance media, a new type of psychotechnology was required: autosuggestion.

Bernhard Kleeberg is Professor of the History of Science at the University of Erfurt. His research focuses on political epistemology, praxeologies of truth, and the history of social psychology. He is editor-in-chief of the book series ‘Studies in the History of Knowledge’ and of NTM: Journal for the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine.