 The term "brainwashing" was first used by Edward Hunter in 1950 to describe how the Chinese government appeared to make people cooperate with them.Research into the concept also looked at Nazi Germany, at some criminal cases in the United States, and at the actions of human traffickers.In the 1970s there was considerable scientific and legal debate, as well as media attention, about the possibility of brainwashing being a factor in the conversion of young people to some new religious movements, which were often referred to as cults at the time.