Psychological warfare | Wikipedia Easy Search

War
Part of a series on
History Prehistoric Ancient Post-classical Early modern napoleonic Late modern industrial fourth-gen
Military Organization Command and control Defense ministry Army Navy Air force Marines Coast guard Space force Reserves Regular / Irregular Ranks Specialties: Staff Engineers Intelligence Reconnaissance Medical Military police Land units: Infantry Armor Cavalry Artillery Special forces Signal corps Naval units: Warships Submarines Aircraft carriers Landing craft Auxiliary ship Air units: Fighters Bombers Command Close air support Electronic-warfare Reconnaissance Combat systems: Fire-control system Fire-control radar Director (military) Combat information center Sonar Radar Historical: Ship gun fire-control Gun data computer Torpedo data computer Development: Basic training Military manoeuvrers Combat training
Battlespace Aerospace Air Airborne Space Land Cold-region Desert Jungle Mountain Urban Subterranean Tunnel Sea Amphibious Blue Brown Green Surface Underwater Cyber Information
Weapons Air defence Armor Artillery Barrage Biological Camouflage Cavalry Horses Air cavalry Chemical Combined arms Conventional Cyber Denial Disinformation Drone / Robot Electronic Infantry Loitering Missile Music Nuclear Psychological Radiological Unconventional
Tactics List of military tactics Aerial Airlift Air assault Airbridge Airdrop Battle Cavalry Charge Counterattack Counterinsurgency Defeat in detail Foxhole Drone Envelopment Guerrilla Morale Rapid dominance Siege Swarm Screen Tactical objective Target saturation Trench Withdrawal
Operational Military operation Operations research Blitzkrieg Expeditionary Deep operation Maneuver Operational manoeuvre group Raid
Strategy List of military strategies and concepts Military campaign Attrition Commerce raiding Counter-offensive Culminating Defence in depth Fabian Mosaic Deception Defensive Depth Goal Naval Offensive Scorched earth
Grand strategy Asymmetric Blockade Broken-backed Class Cold war Colonial Conquest Containment Economic Endemic Fleet in being Irregular Liberation Limited Network-centric New generation Perpetual Political Princely Proxy Religious Resource Strategic Succession Technology Theater Total war World war
Administrative Branch Policy Staff Training Service Sociology
Organization Area of responsibility Chain of command Command and control Doctrine Principles of war Economy of force Medicine Engineers Intelligence Ranks Technology and equipment
Personnel Military recruitment Conscription Recruit training Military specialism Women in the military Children in the military Transgender people and military service Sexual harassment in the military Conscientious objector Counter-recruitment
Logistics History Military–industrial complex Arms industry Materiel Supply-chain management Main operating base Forward operating base Outpost
Science Power projection Loss-of-strength gradient
Law Court-martial Geneva Conventions Geneva Protocol Islamic rules Justice Perfidy Jewish laws on war Rules of engagement Martial law War crime
Theory Air supremacy Command of the sea Full-spectrum dominance Overmatch Unrestricted Warfare
Related Outline of war Just war theory Principles of war Philosophy of war War film Military science fiction War game Lanchester's laws Security dilemma Tripwire force Mercenary War novel Women in war War resister War studies Anti-war movement Horses in warfare Wartime sexual violence Fifth column
Lists Battles Military occupations Military terms Operations Sieges War crimes Wars Weapons Writers
v t e

Psychological warfare (PSYWAR), or the basic aspects of modern psychological operations (PsyOp), has been known by many other names or terms, including Military Information Support Operations (MISO), Psy Ops, political warfare, "Hearts and Minds", and propaganda.^[1] 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".^[2]

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.^[3]^[4]

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 on the government of their country.^[5]

Mass communication such as radio allows for direct communication with an enemy populace, and therefore has been used in many efforts. Social media channels and the internet allow for campaigns of disinformation and misinformation performed by agents anywhere in the world.^[6]

^ "Forces.gc.ca". Journal.forces.gc.ca. Retrieved 18 May 2011.
^ Szunyogh, Béla (1955). Psychological warfare; an introduction to ideological propaganda and the techniques of psychological warfare. United States: William-Frederick Press. p. 13. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
^ Chekinov, S. C.; Bogdanov, S. A. "The Nature and Content of a New-Generation War" (PDF). Military Theory Monthly = Voennaya Mysl. United States: Military Thought: 16. ISSN 0869-5636. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 February 2015. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
^ Doob, Leonard W. "The Strategies Of Psychological Warfare." Public Opinion Quarterly 13.4 (1949): 635–644. SocINDEX with Full Text. Web. 20 February 2015.
^ Wall, Tyler (September 2010). U.S Psychological Warfare and Civilian Targeting. United States: Vanderbilt University. p. 289. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
^ Kirdemir, Baris (2019). Hostile Influence and Emerging Cognitive Threats in Cyberspace (Report). Centre for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies. JSTOR resrep21052.