View source for Psychological operation

{{from wikipedia}}

'''Psychological warfare''' ('''PSYWAR'''), or the basic aspects of modern '''psychological operations''' ('''PSYOP'''), have been known by many other names or terms, including [[MISO]], Psy Ops, political warfare, "Hearts and Minds", and [[propaganda]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.journal.forces.gc.ca/vo9/no1/05-clow-eng.asp |title=Forces.gc.ca |publisher=Journal.forces.gc.ca |date= |accessdate=2011-05-18}}</ref> The term is used "to denote any action which is practiced mainly by psychological methods with the aim of evoking a planned psychological reaction in other people".<ref>{{cite book |last=Szunyogh |first=Béla |date=1955 |title=Psychological warfare; an introduction to ideological propaganda and the techniques of psychological warfare |url= http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.libezp.lib.lsu.edu/eds/detail/detail?sid=11483538-24de-49b9-a526-8708fa45e67e%40sessioGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d#db=edshtl&AN=mdp.39015002229154 |location=United States |publisher=William-Frederick Press |page=13 |accessdate=2015-02-11}}</ref>

Various techniques are used, and are aimed at influencing a target audience's value system, belief system, emotions, motives, reasoning, or behavior. It is used to induce confessions or reinforce attitudes and behaviors favorable to the originator's objectives, and are sometimes combined with [[black operations]] or [[false flag]] tactics. It is also used to destroy the morale of enemies through tactics that aim to depress troops' psychological states.<ref>{{cite book |last=Chekinov |first=S. C. |last2=Bogdanov |first2=S. A. |title=The Nature and Content of a New-Generation War |url=http://www.eastviewpress.com/Files/MT_FROM%20THE%20CURRENT%20ISSUE_No.4_2013.pdf |location=United States |publisher=Military Thought |page=16 |issn=0869-5636 |accessdate=2015-02-11}}</ref><ref>Doob, Leonard W. "The Strategies Of Psychological Warfare." Public Opinion Quarterly 13.4 (1949): 635-644. SocINDEX with Full Text. Web. 20 Feb. 2015.</ref> 

Target audiences can be governments, organizations, groups, and individuals, and is not just limited to soldiers. Civilians of foreign territories can also be targeted by technology and media so as to cause an effect in the government of their country.<ref>{{cite book |last=Wall |first=Tyler |date=September 2010 |title=U.S Psychological Warfare and Civilian Targeting |url= http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.libezp.lib.lsu.edu/eds/detail/detail?sid=bdb15c80-325b-4242-b111-aa740b093ab7%40sessionmgr112&vid=0&hid=117&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d#db=sih&AN=52975796 |location=United States |publisher=Vanderbilt University |page=289 |accessdate=2015-02-11}}</ref>

In ''[[Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes]]'', [[Jacques Ellul]] discusses psychological warfare as a common peace policy practice between nations as a form of indirect aggression. This type of propaganda drains the public opinion of an opposing regime by stripping away its power on public opinion. This form of aggression is hard to defend against because no international court of justice is capable of protecting against psychological aggression since it cannot be legally adjudicated. "Here the propagandists is [sic] dealing with a foreign adversary whose morale he seeks to destroy by psychological means so that the opponent begins to doubt the validity of his beliefs and actions."<ref>Ellul, Jacques (1973). ''Propaganda: The Formation of Men’s Attitudes'', p. xiii.Trans. Konrad Kellen & Jean Lerner. Vintage Books, New York. {{ISBN|978-0-394-71874-3}}.</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/?id=o6s84xxDakkC&pg=PA154&lpg=PA154&dq=kkk+psychological+terror |title=The Psychology of Terrorism: Clinical aspects and responses - Google Books |accessdate=2014-08-10|isbn=9780275978662 |last1=Stout |first1=Chris E. |year=2002 }}</ref>

Physiological warfare has been used since the beginning of time for many different things. Some of these things are not traditionally thought of as being physiological warfare. For example the use of propaganda. Propaganda can take many different forms. some of these forms were not traditionally thought of as being a form of psychological warfare.

==Methods==
{{Refimprove section|date=February 2011}}
Most modern uses of the term psychological warfare, refers to the following military methods:
* [[Demoralization (warfare)|Demoralization]]:
** Distributing [[pamphlet]]s that encourage [[desertion]] or supply instructions on how to surrender 
** [[Shock and awe]] military strategy
** Projecting repetitive and annoying sounds and music for long periods at high volume towards groups under siege like during [[Operation Nifty Package]]
** Tolerance indoctrination, so that the totems and culture of a defeated enemy can be removed or replaced without conflict.
* Propaganda radio stations, such as [[Lord Haw-Haw]] in World War II on the "Germany calling" station
* Renaming cities and other places when captured, such as the renaming of Saigon to [[Ho Chi Minh City]] after Vietnamese victory in the [[Vietnam War]]
* [[False flag]] events
* Use of loudspeaker systems to communicate with enemy soldiers
* Terrorism<ref>{{Cite journal | last = Boaz | first = Gaynor | title = Terrorism as a strategy of psychological warfare | journal = [[Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma]] | volume = 9 | issue = 1–2 | pages = 33–4 | doi = 10.1300/J146v09n01_03 | date = April 2004 | ref = harv }}{{paywall}}</ref>
* The threat of chemical weapons<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Romano Jr. | first1 = James A. | last2 = King | first2 = James M. | title = Chemical warfare and chemical terrorism: psychological and performance outcomes | journal = [[Military Psychology (journal)|Military Psychology]] | volume = 14 | issue = 2 | pages = 85–92 | doi = 10.1207/S15327876MP1402_2 | date = 2002 | ref = harv }}{{paywall}}</ref>
* Information warfare<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/?id=riH5CQAAQBAJ&pg=PA183&dq=he+enemy+and+the+public,+undermining+the+quality+of+opposing+force+information+and+denial+of+information-collection+opportunities+to+opposing+forces.+Information+warfare+is+closely+linked+to+psychological+warfare#v=onepage&q=he%20enemy%20and%20the%20public,%20undermining%20the%20quality%20of%20opposing%20force%20information%20and%20denial%20of%20information-collection%20opportunities%20to%20opposing%20forces.%20Information%20warfare%20is%20closely%20linked%20to%20psychological%20warfare&f=false|title=CYBERWARFARE SOURCEBOOK|last=Kiyuna|first=A.|last2=Conyers|first2=L.|date=2015-04-14|website=Lulu.com|isbn=9781329063945|language=en}}</ref>

Most of these techniques were developed during World War II or earlier, and have been used to some degree in every conflict since. Daniel Lerner was in the [[Office of Strategic Services|OSS]] (the predecessor to the American CIA) and in his book, attempts to analyze how effective the various strategies were. He concludes that there is little evidence that any of them were dramatically successful, except perhaps surrender instructions over loudspeakers when victory was imminent. Measuring the success or failure of psychological warfare is very hard, as the conditions are very far from being a controlled experiment.

Lerner also divides psychological warfare operations into three categories:<ref name=lerner>{{cite book | last = Lerner | first = Daniel | title = Psychological warfare against Nazi Germany: the Sykewar Campaign, D-Day to VE-Day | publisher =  [[MIT Press]] | location = Boston, Mass | year = 1971 | origyear = 1949 | isbn = 978-0-262-12045-6 }} Originally printed by George W. Stewart of New York. Alternative {{ISBN|0-262-62019-7}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=September 2010}}
* [[White propaganda]] (Omissions and Emphasis): Truthful and not strongly biased, where the source of information is acknowledged.
* [[Grey propaganda]] (Omissions, Emphasis and Racial/Ethnic/Religious Bias): Largely truthful, containing no information that can be proven wrong; the source is not identified.
* [[Black propaganda]] (Commissions of falsification): Inherently deceitful, information given in the product is attributed to a source that was not responsible for its creation.

Lerner points out that grey and black operations ultimately have a heavy cost, in that the target population sooner or later recognizes them as propaganda and discredits the source. He writes, "This is one of the few dogmas advanced by Sykewarriors that is likely to endure as an axiom of propaganda: Credibility is a condition of persuasion. Before you can make a man do as you say, you must make him believe what you say."<ref name=lerner/>{{Rp|28|date=May 2009}} Consistent with this idea, the Allied strategy in [[World War II]] was predominantly one of truth (with certain exceptions).{{Citation needed|date=May 2010}}

==See also==
* [[Directed-energy weapon]]
* [[Information warfare]]
* [[Media manipulation]]
* [[Mind games]]
* [[Psychological manipulation]]
* [[Special Operations]]

==Bibliography==
* Fred Cohen. ''Frauds, Spies, and Lies - and How to Defeat Them''. {{ISBN|1-878109-36-7}} (2006). ASP Press.
* Fred Cohen. ''World War 3 ... Information Warfare Basics''. {{ISBN|1-878109-40-5}} (2006). ASP Press.
* Gagliano Giuseppe. ''Guerra psicologia.Disinformazione e movimenti sociali''. Introduzione del Gen. Carlo Jean e di Alessandro Politi Editrice Aracne, Roma, 2012.
* Gagliano Giuseppe. ''Guerra psicologia.Saggio sulle moderne tecniche militari, di guerra cognitiva e disinformazione''. Introduzione del Gen. Carlo Jean, Editrice Fuoco, Roma 2012.
* Paul M. A. Linebarger. ''Psychological Warfare: International Propaganda and Communications''. {{ISBN|0-405-04755-X}} (1948). Revised second edition, Duell, Sloan and Pearce (1954).
* Roberts III, Mervyn Edwin. ''The Psychological War for Vietnam, 1960-1968'' (2018)

==External links==
{{Commons category|Psychological warfare}}
{{Wiktionary}}

* Movie: [http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26259.htm ''Psywar: The Real Battlefield is the Mind''] by [https://web.archive.org/web/20101113004054/http://metanoia-films.org/psywar.php Metanoia] films
* {{gutenberg|no=48612|name=Psychological Warfare|author=[[Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger]]}}
* [http://www.psywar.org/ The history of psychological warfare]
* [http://www.iwar.org.uk/psyops/ IWS Psychological Operations (PsyOps) / Influence Operations]
* [https://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-12-14-pentagon-pr_x.htm "Pentagon psychological warfare operation"], ''[[USA Today]]'', December 15, 2005
* [https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/18/washington/18terror.html? "U.S. Adapts Cold-War Idea to Fight Terrorists"], ''[[New York Times]]'', March 18, 2008
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090303085939/http://iamarmy.com/Reenlistment/PacketMOS/psyops.php US Army PSYOPS Info] - Detailed information about the US Army Psychological Operation Soldiers
* [http://www.iwar.org.uk/psyops/ IWS&nbsp;— The Information Warfare Site]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4396351.stm U.S.&nbsp;— PSYOP producing mid-eastern kids comic book]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100315213354/http://www.tioh.hqda.pentagon.mil/Heraldry/ArmyDUISSICOA/ArmyHeraldryBranch.aspx?b=232 The Institute of Heraldry&nbsp;— Psychological Operations]
* [http://cestudec.com/documento.asp?id=149— Psychological warfare]

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Mind control]]
[[Category:Propaganda techniques]]