Journal of Forensic Psychology

Techniques and Examples of Psychological Warfare

Elly Dolev^* Department of Psychology, Max Stern Jezreel Valley College, Emek Jezreel, Israel
^*Correspondence: Elly Dolev, Department of Psychology, Max Stern Jezreel Valley College, Emek Jezreel, Israel, Email:

Received: 02-May-2022, Manuscript No. JFPY-22-16801; Editor assigned: 05-May-2022, Pre QC No. JFPY-22-16801(PQ); Reviewed: 19-May-2022, QC No. JFPY-22-16801; Revised: 27-May-2022, Manuscript No. JFPY-22-16801(R); Published: 03-Jun-2022, DOI: 10.35248/2475-319X.22.7.226

Description

Rather than practising physical conflict, psychological warfare includes a mental or emotional battle. Psychological warfare employs specialised designs, such as propaganda and threatening comments, to influence an enemy's reasoning and behaviour. Control, pressure, or weakening of the enemy in both mind and body are some of the desired outcomes of psychological warfare.

PSYOPS, or psychological operations, are linked to psychological warfare. PSYOPS is a term that refers to the military-based functions that are employed to conduct psychological warfare. These activities are designed to compel civilians and/or enemy soldiers to behave in a certain way. PSYOPS are a sort of brainwashing in that they attempt to manipulate and control people's beliefs and actions.

Propaganda, a sort of communication or advertisement aimed at influencing a targeted group's way of thinking or decisionmaking, is an example of PSYOPS. A propaganda campaign's ultimate purpose is to persuade a populace to act in accordance with a given message through delivering influential facts. This result is intended to benefit the propaganda-delivery group's objectives. Propaganda has a wide range of target audiences, from civilians of all ages to military personnel, and it can be utilised in a variety of scenarios. A successful propaganda campaign will compel its audience to physically act on its agenda in order to see it through, rather than simply express support or agreement.

Psychological warfare techniques

To propagate propaganda, many psychological warfare techniques, methods, and tools are used. The following is a list of PSYOPS techniques, as well as some background information on why they are used.

• News outlets: Television and radio stations are used to transmit propaganda to large audiences across cities and, in extreme cases, entire countries.

• Media: Modern psychological warfare strategies include posting propaganda on social media sites like Facebook and Instagram. This can include false profiles and accounts aimed at swaying viewers' opinions, whether for or against a certain ideology.

• Leaflets: PSYOPS can sometimes reach civilian groups by dropping fliers onto enemy territory from aircraft. This was an efficient technique of conveying manipulative information, particularly to rural locations, prior to the widespread use of media outlets and the internet.

• False flags: When one party executes a specific action and blames it on the other, this is known as a false flag campaign. False flag events are planned with deception in mind, since they are intended to persuade the enemy that the act was carried out by their own adversaries.

Categories of propaganda

The following categories of propaganda are psychological warfare examples that distinguish the differences between the origins of the information:

• White propaganda: White propaganda promotes information that is basic and likely to be quite accurate. Consider the terms "white lies" and "lies by omission." The origins of white propaganda are open and honest, and they are most likely visible or audible.

• Black propaganda: The information promoted by black propoganda could be accurate or purposefully deceptive. The deceitful beginnings of black propaganda are its distinguishing feature. Individuals in charge of its distribution will say that it was created by the enemy, instilling suspicion and blame in the enemy.

Conclusion

Psychological warfare is employed on the battlefield to gain confessions, intelligence, capitulation, or defection by undermining enemy combatants' morale. During World War I, the first psychological warfare tactics were utilised. Governments found it easier to convey propaganda through mass-circulation newspapers thanks to technological improvements in electronic and print media. In all cases, the objective of battlefield psychological warfare is to destroy the morale of the enemy leading them to surrender or defect.