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or gossip. Hard scientific evidence about the reality of social situations is needed.

PSYOP is concerned with people's attitudes toward a variety of subjects: political ideologies; the enemy as a military force, as administrators, or as compatriots; and the friendly government, its bureaucracy, military forces, and aid. Also, it is important to understand the attitudes of particular age groups, social strata, and occupational groups. This information is needed for the development of a realistic communication strategy for specific PSYOP targets. As stated, important, significant, and typical audience samples should be used in assessing attitudes. There is considerable danger in assuming that the attitudes of one or two high-ranking defectors or several friendly civilians are typical.

Analysis of Current Vulnerabilities of Specific Audiences Within the Society An analysis of current dissensions, fears, anxieties, complaints, and "gripes" within a selected target audience is vital in order to determine PSYOP vulnerabilities. Accurate and current evidence is needed about real or imagined complaints dealing with political, social, economic, or military subjects. Obviously, it is important that the complaints be typical ones.

Examples of fears and anxieties on the part of military PSYOP targets could be:

1. Close surveillance by comrades

2. Fear of punishment or reprisal against an individual's family
3. Fear of mistreatment, killings, or torturing of prisoners by the
incumbent military forces

4. Fear of air and artillery bombardment

5. Anxiety over aerial surveillance

When assessed realistically and taken advantage of intelligently, many of the fears and anxieties mentioned above can be exploited as target vulnerabilities for PSYOP programs. The problem then becomes one of identifying them so that they can be exploited.

PSYOP vulnerabilities can be of long duration or of relatively recent origin. For example, a group can develop deep animosity, based on religious or racial prejudice toward another group. If the communicator adequately understands the nature of the animosity, it can be used for PSYOP exploitation. In this respect, the Viet Cong in their propaganda still equate the presence of U.S. forces in Vietnam with the colonial French forces, knowing, of course, that the majority of the people have a strong animosity toward both the French and colonialism.

PSYOP vulnerabilities are dynamic, and thus able to be reinforced or changed. By way of illustration, on August 8, 1968, the U.S. Ninth Infantry Division, reacting to a VC ambush, fired on the friendly hamlet of Yen Thuong, killing several innocent civilians. This incident made the people in the area extremely susceptible to anti-U.S. PSYOP. For example, rumors spread by the VC agents stressed that:

The Americans fired without provocation.

The Americans can't tell the difference between enemy and friendly, and open fire on all people in black pajamas. In this respect they are no better than the French.

The hamlet was caught in a crossfire in a fight between the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) and U.S. forces.

The American helicopters "callously" opened fire on the hamlet.

Typical thoughts and attitudes of the villagers were:

The Americans are just like the VC-kill innocent people.

The GVN should order the Americans to stop undisciplined firing because too many people get killed. They (the Americans) are just like the French. We used to think that the Americans came to help us (didn't they build schools and dispensaries?) but now the Americans show how they really feel toward the people.

The next morning (August 9) an ARVN political warfare team explained to the people of Yen Thuong and others in the general area that the Americans reacted to a VC ambush. They emphasized that, had the people informed or reported the VC activity, the tragedy surely would have been avoided. This message was also carried by the Vietnamese Information Service (VIS) to district towns and markets. This, plus the active concern of the government of Vietnam, the prompt medical attention given to the wounded, and the distribution of commodities and prompt indemnity payments by the Ninth Division tended to "cool" the situation and thus reduce this PSYOP vulnerability.

Determination of Message Content and the Most Effective Communication

Channels

Writing about PSYOP during World War II, Daniel Lerner makes the significant point that the development of PSYOP themes (message content) is the one most crucial element in the PSYOP process. He also notes that this is the point at which the considerations of policy, intelligence, and the target are brought to bear upon the use of available media and channels of communication. Once there is a clear understanding of attitudes and PSYOP vulnerabilities for definitive targets, and with the knowledge of policy guidelines, there is nothing difficult or magical about the selection of thematic content for PSYOP messages. Of course, without an understanding of current attitudes, motivation, and actual vulnerabilities of specific issues, thematic content could be very mysterious.

It is apparent that content for PSYOP messages must meet a triple test: first, it must be consonant with PSYOP policy guidance; next, it should support one or more significant objectives as stated in the PSYOP plan; and, finally, it should be based on as accurate an assessment of vulnerabilities as can be determined by scientific analysis and evaluation of target information.

It is obvious that PSYOP messages should be programed over communication channels that are readily available to the audience. It is a wasted effort to prepare extensive and varied radio programs for groups

in areas not possessing radio receivers, or to develop large quantities of printed matter for an illiterate audience. Deciding on the most effective communication channel or channels to reach a PSYOP target is an important and critical step in the planning of PSYOP programs. There is no doubt that, in many environments, PSYOP is more than a loudspeaker and leaflet operation, and all available communication channels should be considered as PSYOP options.

The first requirement, therefore, is for a scientific analysis of current communication patterns for the target(s). Some of the questions are: (a) What channels are open? (b) What media are credible? (c) What media are most appropriate to the thematic content? (d) What channels are capable of reacting to appropriate time and space requirements? It should be made clear that a considerable amount of current data is required to adequately understand the various communication channels and the pattern of communication for PSYOP targets.

Measuring the Effect of PSYOP Communications

In evaluating the effect of communication programs, consideration should be given to whether the concern is for the short term, long term, or institutional (very long term) effect. As stated previously, if PSYOP programs are to be accurately measured, information is required from many PSYOP sources. Also, measurement requires the use of a variety of techniques, depending, of course, on the location, importance, and size of the PSYOP audience. Specific data-gathering techniques for determining the impact or the effect of PSYOP communication will be discussed in subsequent paragraphs.

Measurement can be quantitative, qualitative, or textual. Quantitative measurement can be based on the number of prisoners, defectors, or refugees who came in during the reporting period; or on the number of hours of radio or loudspeaker broadcasts; or on the number of leaflets disseminated. The second and third measurements are production indicators only and do not measure the true effect of PSYOP communications in restructuring attitudes. Even the first set of criteria are not necessarily valid indicators of PSYOP effectiveness because it is necessary to demonstrate a relationship between the PSYOP media output and actions, and the inflow of persons. Qualitative measurement can be based on specific cases of measured attitude change. Most of these data are obtained from verbal accounts gleaned from in-depth interviews or survey measurements of the restructuring of attitudes. In addition, textual or content analysis can be used to obtain PSYOP effectiveness clues from enemy documents, newspapers, periodicals, and broadcast monitoring reports, among others.

There is no doubt that the focus of PSYOP EEI for an insurgency environment is more complex than obtaining information about the "enemy and his environment." PSYOP targets represent a broad spectrum of the population, and the exploitation of the varied targets for PSYOP programs requires considerable technical knowledge. The follow

ing paragraphs will discuss the utilization of PSYOP intelligence in the implementation of programs and the essentially technical method used to exploit major PSYOP information sources. The following discussion of the scientific techniques used to gather data from PSYOP information sources will expose the technical nature of PSYOP intelligence requirements.

UTILIZATION OF PSYOP INTELLIGENCE

Target Analysis (The Importance of Audience Research) *

An important first step, in both commercial communication research and psychological operations, is to understand clearly the nature of the audience(s) and the communication patterns related to those audiences. This is accomplished through audience research or target analysis.

The spectrum of information to be derived from audience research is very wide. Five components will be discussed. First, as indicated previously, an important aspect of audience research is concerned with the communication pattern: How does information get to people? Who depends on radio or newspapers or other individuals for a given kind of communication? Who listens to the radio, and when? Who can pick up leaflets, and when? Who goes to the movies? Who reads magazines, and what kind? Specifically, audience research is necessary in order to find. out what channels or combinations of channels to use for a given communication purpose.

Audience research is also used to find out what skills an audience has in reading or listening, and how the audience is likely to interpret a given text, illustration, picture, or slogan. This kind of data is essential so that the communicators will have the needed information to encode or prepare messages that are meaningful to the various PSYOP targets.

Another important point is that audience research is vitally concerned with the credibility of information, sources, and channels. In short, what kind of messages are likely to be believed, accepted, and lead to the desired action.

In addition, PSYOP media programmers require a clear understanding of how messages are understood or perceived, what part individuals and groups play, and how perception gives rise to the restructuring of attitudes and eventually a change in behavior.5

Moreover, audience research is necessary in order to find out something about the social organization of the audience, that is, to answer such questions as: Who are the opinion leaders (key communicators)? How are decisions on a variety of significant subjects likely to be made? What is the role of the primary group and the social organization in the communication process? This information is needed, specifically, to develop a rational communication strategy and to better understand what use to make of interpersonal communication, mass communication, and mixed. strategies in the development of the campaign.

It is very important in attempting persuasive communication to really understand the attitudes of people as individuals and as members of social groups. To a degree, Washington research can provide significant data, but, because target analysis is dynamic and should be based on the reality of "today's attitudes," the answer to the above questions can be obtained only after current field research.

The vital importance of audience research is clearly stated in a document prepared by the United States Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (USMACV). It states that:

Adequate audience analysis is the key to effective psychological operations and the basis for audience analysis is a sound responsive intelligence gathering effort [emphasis added]. Audience analysis provides the psyoperator and commander with the vulnerabilities of specific target audiences; susceptibilities to a variety of PSYOP appeals, available communication channels. With this information, the psy operator can develop PSYOP objectives. [Author's note: PSYOP objectives are provided by the command: the "psy operator" develops appropriate themes for media implementation.] 7

It is apparent that target analysis is necessary in order to identify meaningful population groups and subgroups as specific PSYOP targets. Furthermore, target analysis provides important clues to the attitudes of the selected audiences prior to exposure to PSYOP messages. In addition, it is important because it provides the data needed to anticipate what resistance might be met to communication content and to determine what message content and communication strategy might be most meaningful and effective. In sum, target analysis (through the use of surveys and other data-gathering techniques) tends to bring the selected targets closer to the PSYOP source, for example, the radio scriptwriter, the man at the microphone, the artist or illustrator, the newspaper copywriter or leaflet writer, and, of course, to the PSYOP cadres. Thus, it is evident that audience research is a broad and basic requirement of PSYOP programs.

Testing of Communication Content

The need for testing communication content before the message is disseminated is clear: After the message leaves the channel, it is lost to the PSYOP media programmer (the source); therefore, in the communication process, the source wants to know whether he is in tune with his audience, that is, if his messages are properly understood by the receiver.

In testing messages it is important to check the respondent for psychological as well as sociological representativeness (age, sex, occupation, education, and so forth). These two items should not be confused. Prisoners of war, for example, while they may be much like their uncaptured comrades from a sociological point of view, are very different from them, psychologically speaking. They are relatively safe in a prisonerof-war compound and no longer have the physical fears associated with the combat area; also, they are no longer under the strict influence of their political officers and the military primary group (squad and platoon).

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