Methods of psychological warfare research

August 30, 2004 · Andrey Manoilo

This article dwells on new methods of research of modern information-psychological warfare as a sophisticated social-political notion in the social life. Nowadays, information-psychological warfare like a factor of external policy is examined along with diplomatic, economical, and armed struggle. Moreover, it evolves as a separate trend of scientific research. However, neither of current research defines the essence of information-psychological warfare as a political conflict, nor as a social notion, that may be the main reason of inefficiency of selected modern means and methods of political regulation of this category of social relations. Thus, it is necessary to work out new research methods of information-psychological warfare. As a result, it would be possible, depending on the definite political situation, to examine this notion at various levels of scientific knowledge: on a global scale – as a social notion, at geostrategic level – as sphere of information-political conflicts, at tactical level – as a peculiar form of political conflict, and at operational level – as a tool of information policy.

From our point of view, information-psychological warfare (IPW) within the framework of scientific research can be examined at different levels of knowledge:

as a social notion;
as a sphere of political conflicts;
as s peculiar form of political conflict;
as a system element of political regulation tools (a tool of information policy). It is within the framework of above-mentioned levels information-psychological warfare is examined in the framework of scientific hypothesis:

Sociological hypothesis of information-psychological warfare: information-psychological warfare is a social notion and a new form of social relations, which information society creates.
Statistic hypothesis of information-psychological warfare: information-psychological warfare is a sphere of political conflicts, which interact and interconnect closely.
Conflict hypothesis of information-psychological warfare: information-psychological warfare is a political conflict aiming at solving contradictions regarding power and leadership. Conflict between sides is expressed in the form of information-psychological operations with use of information weapon [1]. The target of information-psychological warfare is to solve conflict regarding power and political leadership in information-psychological sphere. Tasks of information-psychological warfare:

transformation of a structure of national, economical, political, social-cultural, information-psychological spheres of international relations participants in accordance with their own principles of building information-political world picture;
reaching military-political superiority and leadership in the sphere of international relations;
reaching goals of national economical, ideological, cultural, and information-psychological expansion;
provision of favorable conditions transformation of own national system of social-political relations into a new more developed and hi-tech stage of evolution; Features of information-psychological warfare:
violence as a basic interaction form of information-political conflict participants;
information-psychological operations as a special organizational form of political influence on conflict participants;
use of information weapon.

System-functional hypothesis of information-psychological warfare: information-psychological warfare is a part of political regulation system, a tool of information policy. In the framework of sociological hypothesis information-psychological warfare is considered as a new form of social relations (an object of sociological analysis), and spectrum of conflict situations caused by psychological warfare is regarded as external demonstration of system features of this object. In the framework of statistical hypothesis information-psychological warfare is considered as a complicated multi differentiated system (sphere) of political conflicts, which interact and interconnect closely. Every conflict is examined as single realization of an ensemble of conflict situations generated or displayed by a sphere of psychological warfare. In the framework of conflict hypothesis information-psychological warfare is considered as political conflict, which has its own meaning as an object of research and management, which interact and correlate with other political conflicts. In the framework of system-functional hypothesis information-psychological warfare is examined as a part of information policy system of both an aggressor and aggressor’s victim. It is within this framework that information-political conflicts caused by psychological warfare are integrated into a political system structure of conflict sides, and they employ them tools of political regulation [2]. It is noteworthy that arguments are needed to justify application of each hypothesis to the notion of information-psychological warfare. Theory 1. Information-psychological warfare is a social notion. Arguments: information-psychological warfare is a form of violence, under which a possibility of information influence on individual’s mentality is employed as a tool of compulsion. There are two basic sociality features of this notion:

use of violence as a main form of influence;
a possibility of information influence on individual’s mentality is employed as a tool of compulsion. Violence in social relations is a widely spread phenomenon that is why it can be regarded as social: violence is impossible without social organization and social-political hierarchy, obedience system of some society members to others. On using violence those means, methods and tools of social obedience are preferable which in conditions of this social organization are the most effective. Such instruments in information society are complex organizational technologies of information-psychological influence. Theory 2. Information-psychological warfare is a political conflict. Arguments: information-psychological warfare has the following features of political conflict:
conflict of opposing sides takes place. There are main stages of social conflict evolution: before conflict situation (escalation of social intensity or appearing of a conflict is characterized by incompatibility of interests and positions, consolidation of conflict sides, positioning of demands to the opponent), latent, an incident, escalation, balanced counteraction, culmination, and fading (solving of contradictions or transformation into another form).
like a social conflict information-psychological warfare has the following stages: confrontation (military), under which opponents are striving to protect their own interest at the expense of opponent’s one; compromise (political), under which opponents are striving to reach their goals through negotiations, during negotiations they exchange disputable interests into agreed ones, compromised; communicative (managerial), under which opponents are striving to agree that not only a conflict subject, but also its interest has sovereignty. They eliminate those discrepancies that are unlawful and those ones, which hinder to meet interests.
information-psychological warfare appears only as a result of redistribution of power and implementation of political leadership in society. Information-psychological warfare can categorized as political conflict while it possesses above-mentioned features. Theory 3. Information-psychological warfare is a field of political conflicts and a statistical system. Arguments: information-psychological warfare as a part of political relations system is an integrity of all political conflicts, under which preference is given to various types of information-psychological violence. That is a special organizational form of latent operations with necessary use of information weapon. Modern science (on account of lack of knowledge about this political notion) is unable to define the system of information-political conflicts in its dynamic and evolution in the analytical form (that is, a form of multi parametric function or operation). However, it is possible to consider a number of conflicts as political area with prescribed features, which define an interaction character of the substance and elements of this area with different political notions and processes beyond its area. That is examination of information-psychological warfare as an area of political conflicts and justification of use formalism and definition apparatus of area theory for giving a definition of this notion. Plurality and variety of forms of information-political conflicts let consider an area of conflicts as a statistical system. Thus, multifactor interaction, interdependence, and correlation of a number of elements lead to general behavior patterns and transformation of a structure of conflict substance at the level of big numbers law. Theory 4. Information-psychological warfare is a part of a political regulation system, a tool of information policy. Arguments: information-psychological warfare is a part of the system:
political regulation, while its target is to solve contradictions on account of power and political leadership in information-psychological area;
information policy, while for an aggressor a war is a means (a tool) of reaching political goals, for an aggressor’s victim it is a means (a tool) of riposte and recovery of military-political balance.

The above-mentioned hypotheses do not exclude and at the same time do not duplicate, but complement each other. Thus, it is possible to examine information-psychological warfare as complicated and sophisticated notion in social life, which examination includes not only one scientific discipline [5-9]. Indeed, the principle of detailed examination of the researched object is used for hypotheses priority:

examining information-psychological warfare in accordance with sociological approach, one points out an objective integral social notion, the importance of which one can determine only in comparison with other social notions of this scale.;
considering it in detail we can notice that the substance of the researched object consists of a variety of information-political conflicts, which are interrelated, correlated with each other. The variety of conflict forms does not allow an observer, who tries to notice some or all of them, to define whether this conflict was that, which he or she observed, or it is another one, the evolution of which resulted in appearance of features, which possessed the previous conflict (the average of the area of political conflicts). The observer meets the problem of information-political conflicts identification, the period of their latent evolution is long. Thus, it is important to introduce a definition of the political conflicts area in conditions of their multiple generation and fading, and using formalism of the area theory to research the most common patterns of conflict substance behavior, which appear as a result of multi factor interaction of a variety of different political conflicts.
rejecting the idea of examining the bigger part of political conflicts area, within the framework of conflict hypothesis we consider the separate information-political conflict and its evolution in time and space. Thus, approaching to the examined object - information-psychological warfare – we do not notice the variety of its internal structure, but it is possible to separate different elements from it, they are information-political conflicts, and to examine their individual features. The apparatus of modern political science about conflicts is used for this goal.
and the last, but not the least research of psychological warfare as information-political conflict, that allows to point out its structural features and elements, which can be integrated into information policy system. Thus, they can be at minimum managed, and at maximum perform in this system definite functions, including functions of a political regulation tool. Thus, information-psychological warfare is not considered at this (system-functional) level as a single political object, but as a structural element, a detail of a more complex political object – information policy system. The detailed examination levels of information-psychological warfare assume application of the following research methods:
sociological (research of information-psychological warfare as a social notion);
statistical (IPW research as area of political conflicts);
political science about conflicts and political psychology (IPW research as a form of political conflict);
logic-structural and system-functional analysis (IPW research as a part of system and a tool of information policy).

Literature:

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Site INFOPOLITICA: www.infopolitica.w6.ru
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