%% Title: Lesson 1: Background Created: 2024-02-12 13:20 Status: Parent: [[Resources/Philosophy/Thinking/PSYOP/Course|Course]] Tags: Source: %% # Lesson 1: Background Note: I was trained in PSYOP and that’s what I did for eight years. I have some background in intelligence that is almost all incidental to my actual work at the time. - [[Resources/Philosophy/Thinking/CriticalThinking|CriticalThinking]] is the foundation of understanding when you’re targeted by influence operations. You can’t just immediately trust what you’re being told or shown. - [[Resources/Philosophy/Thinking/PSYOP/SCAME|SCAME]] is the process by which we analyze propaganda. - [[Resources/Geopolitics/Intelligence|Intelligence]] describes how we gather actionable information from information. This usually works hand-in-hand with [[Resources/Philosophy/Thinking/PSYOP|PSYOP]]. - [[Resources/Philosophy/Thinking/PSYOP/MisinformationAndDisinformation|Misinformation and disinformation]] describes two commonly used but often misunderstood terms. Note that PSYOP and intel have different goals: 1. Intelligence is used to provide actionable insights to decision makers. Intelligence helps to guide decision makers. 2. PSYOP has two main goals; in general, it considers and conducts influence campaigns. 1. An activity that seeks to effect or counter behavioral changes in a target audience. Decision makers direct PSYOP efforts to accomplish specific goals. 2. An activity similar to intel in that it seeks to understand, analyze, and interpret ongoing influence operations. This might be to assess the effectiveness of ongoing campaigns, identify ongoing campaigns from other actors, or to understand ongoing campaigns. In order to identify dis- and misinformation, we have to understand what our goals are. 1. Who is the target audience? If you’ll recall from [[Resources/Philosophy/Thinking/PSYOP/SCAME|SCAME]], there are multiple audiences that can be targeted. 2. Who is trying to influence a given target audience? 3. Why are they trying to influence a given target audience? Often you’ll need to dig beyond the surface reasons to get meaningful answers; you’re looking for specific goals. Sometimes, there might not seem to be a deliberate campaign, just misinformed people talking about what they actually believe. Usually, these people will have been influenced by someone else. That actor might even be a [[Resources/Reading/Readwise/Books/True Believer|True Believer]] trying to push their narrative, or that actor might be trying to gain power or wealth, or they might have some other goals. What are those goals? 4. How are they trying to influence a given target audience? What are their [[Resources/Philosophy/Thinking/PSYOP/LinesOfPersuasion|lines of persuasion]]? It’s worth reviewing the PSYOP manual section on these because there are a lot of ways, not all of which may be obvious, that actors might be using to persuade or influence people. 5. How effective is the campaign? What are the markers of effectiveness?