Vance Packard's 1957 book The Hidden Persuaders described how advertisers, whom he called depth men, used psychology to find people's weaknesses and self-images. Earlier, personality tests were developed to sort workers, including Robert Woodworth's 1917 Personal Data Sheet and projective tests such as the Rorschach inkblot test and the Thematic Apperception Test. Packard reported that psychologists at tobacco companies claimed they could predict a person's cigarette brand from a Rorschach result. Other critics, such as William Whyte in The Organization Man (1956), warned that these tests rewarded conformity, and Whyte even published advice on how to cheat them. The Bernreuter Personality Inventory was used by about 2 million people by 1946.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.