A technique from the plays of Bertolt Brecht — making that which is familiar seem strange. The goal of the verfremdungseffekt is that of waking up the audience, through this distanced perspective, making people aware of something that is surprising and upsetting in the real world. While Brecht saw defamiliarization as a way to shock an audience into seeing the world and taking action “become socially active”, it might also be one way to induce reflective thinking.
This kind of intentional alienation of the audience from the performer was positioned by Brecht as a kind of path to education. Brecht thought of his work as making suggestions to the audience — a kind of subtle persuasion. This might be thought of as the forerunner of behavioral design.