Psyop
Psychological operations: the military's term for communication aimed at the attitudes and behavior of foreign audiences, from leaflets dropped on enemy lines to broadcasts and, now, social media. The techniques are those of propaganda; the word marks the institution using them.
Armies have always tried to talk to the other side, and the leaflet, the loudspeaker, and the surrender pass are as old as modern war. The term psychological warfare was in use by the Second World War, and psychological operations, shortened to PSYOP, became the formal American doctrine term afterwards. The United States Army briefly renamed the function Military Information Support Operations in 2010 and reverted to PSYOP in 2017; the units, the training, and the methods were the same throughout.
Doctrine distinguishes psyops by their intended audience, which is foreign and usually hostile or contested, and by their chain of command. In the American case, the services are formally barred from aiming such operations at their own public, a line that is easier to draw on paper than on a global network. The distinction between psyops and the propaganda of a ministry of information is therefore institutional rather than methodological. The leaflet that tells a soldier his position is hopeless uses Appeal To Fear; the one that tells him his officers are lying uses Divide And Rule; the one that promises good treatment on surrender is a Testimonial from prisoners already taken.
In civilian use the word has drifted. "Psyop" now appears online as an accusation that any event or trend is a secret manipulation, which is itself a technique: a Thought Terminating Cliche that ends inquiry by naming a hidden hand.
Compare information operations and influence operation.
Sources
- Daugherty, William E., and Morris Janowitz. A Psychological Warfare Casebook. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1958.
- Linebarger, Paul M. A. Psychological Warfare. 2nd ed. Washington: Combat Forces Press, 1954.
- Taylor, Philip M. Munitions of the Mind: A History of Propaganda from the Ancient World to the Present Era. 3rd ed. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2003.