Psychological warfare article about psychological warfare. Many people believe that a scientific development in the name of war is justifiable only when it is used to conserve life, or if it is in responsedirect or anticipated. Targetcommunities introduction drone warfare refers to the use of weaponized unmanned aerial vehicles uav, henceforth simply bdronesinmilitary encounters. Destroy by any method that must prevent disclosure of contents or reconstruction of the document. Separately, iran accused the us central intelligence cia of waging psychological warfare against it through fake reports, saying the cia knows tehrans nuclear programme has no military aims. Psychological warfare idioms by the free dictionary. Psychological warfare definition of psychological warfare. Psychological operations psyop are operations to convey selected information and indicators to audiences to influence their emotions, motives, and objective reasoning, and ultimately the behavior of governments, organizations, groups, and individuals the purpose of united states psychological operations is to induce or reinforce behavior favorable to u. Rand has studied military information support operations miso in many countries and war zones and has provided objective and supportable recommendations to policymakers on methods and tactics to. Psychological warfare psywar, or the basic aspects of modern psychological operations psyop, have been known by many other names or terms, including psy ops, political warfare, hearts and minds, and propaganda. It is recommended that you seek outside research of topics where we mention that theres much more to a topic e. Psychological warfare is a term that came into vogue in the united states during world war n to identify an activity as old as the history of conflict. The primary purpose of psychological warfare is to influence the opinions, emotions, attitudes, and behavior of hostile foreign groups in such a way as to support the achievement of national objectives. During world war ii, the united states joint chiefs of staff defined psychological warfare broadly, stating psychological warfare employs any weapon to influence the mind of the enemy.
Types of information warfare the form of information warfare is the way of its exposure and it is expressed through the structure of events and activities related to the processes that take place in it. The term psychological warfare is believed to have migrated from germany to the united states in 1941. Psychological warfare is a highly specialized topic requiring advanced knowledge of psychology. Psychological warfare is a broad term, but in all documented cases, the concept uses actions intended to reduce an opponents morale or mental well being. Lecture given by sir leslie glass to the national defence college on 14 march 1973. Such propaganda is generally intended to demoralize the enemy, to break his will to fight or resist, and sometimes to render him favourably disposed to ones position. Rand has studied military information support operations miso in many countries and war zones and has provided objective and supportable recommendations to.
Strategic psychological warfare is aimed at discouraging and altering the opinions of large groups of people, military and nonmilitary, over a significant area and for a long period of time. As kenneth osgood notes, the cold war was novel in the extent to which it was fought by words and ideas. So much so that he lends his name to the term machiavellianism, the use of cunning and duplicity in conducting business. Psychological warfare definition is things that are done to make someone such as an enemy or opponent become less confident or to feel hopeless, afraid, etc how to use psychological warfare in a sentence. In military tactics, a broad class of activities employed to affect the behavior of an opposing military or civilian populous. Psychological warfare definition in the cambridge english. Dont let psychological warfare from an advertisement campaign blind you from the truth of your beauty, possibility, worthiness, and purpose. It provides abbreviated chapters from his previous books and articles and adds new ones covering the period from approximately 1945 till 1982, the misnamed second intifada 20002006, branding of the name itself being a psychological warfare success for the palestinians, operation cast lead 20082009 and the mavi marmara affair 2010. We will provide some science, some history, and some examples along with more specific howto instructions. The term hybrid war military institutions use the term hybrid threat connotes the use of conventional military force supported by irregular and cyber warfare.
The internet, psychological warfare, and mass conspiracy. Dwight eisenhower was notably supportive of psychological operations, had psychological warfare organization in the staff of all his commands, and worked with oss and owi. Psychological warfare, as previously defined, gave way to new termspsychological operations psyops and psychological activities. The term pychological warfare has always been considered problematic and offensive. Kennedy special warfare center and school usajfkswcs. Unless this publication states otherwise, masculine nouns and pronouns do not refer exclusively to men. Psychological operations tactics, techniques, and procedures.
This means that the form of information warfare is a special feature that. Psychological warfare law and legal definition psychological warfare is the use of psychological plan of action to destroy the adversaries morale and to influence the mind of the enemy. Haha lung, martial arts expert and author of mind manipulation, demonstrates stepbystep how to break through an enemys defenses to use their fears, insecurities, superstitions, hopes and beliefs against them. The use of military power is increasingly not any more on the level of an local armored conflict, but on the global basis using mass media. The use of various techniques to demoralize or intimidate someone. Psychological warfare is the use of psychological plan of action to destroy the adversaries morale and to influence the mind of the enemy. Each of these is a partial definition which is inadequate if the real function of political warfare as an indispensable component of total war is. As one might guess, acting lends a lot of skills to psychological warfare. Psychological warfare, the use of propaganda against an enemy, supported by such military, economic, or political measures as may be required. It is recommended that you seek outside research of topics. This means that the form of information warfare is a special feature that distinguishes it qualitatively from other forms. Submit comments and recommended changes to commander, usajfkswcs, attn.
Propaganda is also used to strengthen the resolve of allies or. Definition of psychological warfare in the dictionary. Even today, it explains the basic principles of propaganda and psychological warfare both white and black, from organization and planning to analysis and response. The weapons are psychological only in the effect they. Information operations information warfare while there is currently no official u. The primary purpose of psychological warfare is to influence the opinions, emotions, attitudes, and behavior of hostile foreign groups in such a way as to. Psychological warfare, also called psywar, the use of propaganda against an enemy, supported by such military, economic, or political measures as may be required. Propaganda definitionconcept types characteristics of propaganda mediums propaganda techniques examples 3. Psychological warfare consists of attempts to make your enemy lose confidence, give up. Psychological warfare in the broad sense, consists of the application of parts of the science called psychology to the conduct of war.
Psychological warfare was first published in 1948, and it became the authoritative text on the subject for decades. 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. Define psychological warfare list and describe the techniques used in psychological warfare. Our task force therefore had to consider a variety of data sources including. Oct 22, 2019 psychological warfare is the planned tactical use of propaganda, threats, and other noncombat techniques during wars, threats of war, or periods of geopolitical unrest to mislead, intimidate, demoralize, or otherwise influence the thinking or behavior of an enemy. Psychological warfare involves the planned use of propaganda and other psychological operations to influence the opinions, emotions, attitudes, and behavior of opposition groups. Psychological warfare definition and meaning collins. The nato uses the term psychological operation psyop people are trying not to use the term psychological warfare.
The hoover institutions propaganda collections are unrivalled in the world, beginning with its extensive poster collection and large holdings of communist party literature soviet, chinese and other, through sound recordings and film footage the alexander and ethel pronin collection holds hundreds of reels of soviet propaganda film, these collections allow researchers to. Each of these is a partial definition which is inadequate if the real function of political warfare as an indispensable component of total war is to be understood. Empirical psychological research on drone warfare is extremely sparse. Psychological warfare definition is things that are done to make someone such as an enemy or opponent become less confident or to feel hopeless, afraid, etc how to use psychological warfare in. Although the term gained wide currency in popular and scientific discussions in the united states and europe within a decade after the end of world war ii, meanings ascribed to it were not always clear, and there were several views concerning. Information and translations of psychological warfare in the most comprehensive dictionary definitions resource on the web. The ethics of psychological warfare in many ways, psychological warfare can be seen as another example of both the military uses and abuses of science in the second world war. Definition of psychological warfare in the idioms dictionary. An introduction to psychological warfare thoughtco. Introduction a new type of war has emerged, in which armed warfare has given up its decisive place in the achievement of the military and political objectives of war to another kind of warfare information warfare. 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. Uavsareusedformultiplepurposes,civilianand military, weaponized and nonweaponized. Psychological warfare law and legal definition uslegal, inc. The meaning, techniques and methods of political warfare.
Psychological methods of warfare are generally grouped into two main categories. Psychological warfare, a project gutenberg ebook by paul m. Psyops were defined as political, military, economic, and ideological actions planned and conducted to create in enemy, hostile, neutral, or friendly foreign groups emotions, attitudes, or behavior favorable to. Psychological warfare simple english wikipedia, the free. Although the term gained wide currency in popular and scientific discussions in the united states and europe within a decade after the end of world war ii, meanings. Italian renaissance author niccolo machiavelli was a famous proponent and codifier for many psychological warfare techniques. The military did theaterlevel white propaganda, although the black propaganda function varied, often carried out by joint u. What are the best books about psychological warfare. This superb study of the eisenhower administrations psychological warfare programs offers rich insights into the cold war battle for hearts and minds. Sir leslie charles glass was an army officer in the psychological warfare division in south east asia in the second world war, directorgeneral of information in cyprus during the emergency and later chairman of the counter subversion committee. Psychological warfare definition, the use of propaganda, threats, and other psychological techniques to mislead, intimidate, demoralize, or otherwise influence the thinking or behavior of an opponent. Upon completion of this lesson, students will be able to. The proponent of this manual is the united states army john f.