En su definición técnica, guerra psicológica, o guerra sin fusiles, es el empleo planificado de la propaganda y de la acción psicológica orientadas a direccionar conductas, en la búsqueda de objetivos de control social, político o militar, sin recurrir al uso de la armas, o en forma complementaria a su uso. Como en la guerra militar, un plan de guerra psicológica está destinado a aniquilar, controlar o asimilar al enemigo. El fin de la guerra psicológica es destruir la moral del enemigo para lograr la victoria militar y para ello se emplean dos métodos diferentes, uno el militar y otro el político. El método militar se practica en los campos de batalla, directamente contra el combatiente, mientras que el método político se dirige hacia la retaguardia, básicamente contra la población civil. Desde antes de 1939 se practicó la guerra psicológica, pero durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial, tomó características de ciencia, debido a que se pudieron emplear técnicas que no se usaron antes, debido a las limitaciones que imponía el desarrollo tecnológico de la época. Pero, aparte de las ventajas que otorgaba la tecnología, la sutileza y el refinamiento de los métodos empleados, hizo que las actividades en este campo tomaran características muy especiales durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial.

Leer el artículo completo en Wikipedia · CC-BY-SA

Psychological warfare (PSYWAR), or the basic aspects of modern psychological operations (PSYOP), have been known by many other names or terms, including MISO, Psy Ops, Political Warfare, "Hearts and Minds," and propaganda. The term is used "to denote any action which is practiced mainly by psychological methods with the aim of evoking a planned psychological reaction in other people." Various techniques are used, and are aimed at influencing a target audience's value system, belief system, emotions, motives, reasoning, or behavior. It is used to induce confessions or reinforce attitudes and behaviors favorable to the originator's objectives, and are sometimes combined with black operations or false flag tactics. It is also used to destroy the morale of enemies through tactics that aim to depress troops' psychological states. Target audiences can be governments, organizations, groups, and individuals, and is not just limited to soldiers. Civilians of foreign territories can also be targeted by technology and media so as to cause an effect in the government of their country. In Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes, Jacques Ellul discusses psychological warfare as a common peace policy practice between nations as a form of indirect aggression in place of military aggression. This type of propaganda drains the public opinion of an opposing regime by stripping away its power on public opinion. This form of aggression is hard to defend against because no international court of justice is capable of protecting against psychological aggression since it cannot be legally adjudicated. The only defense is using the same means of psychological warfare. It is the burden of every government to defend its state against propaganda aggression. "Here the propagandists is [sic] dealing with a foreign adversary whose morale he seeks to destroy by psychological means so that the opponent begins to doubt the validity of his beliefs and actions."

Leer el artículo completo en Wikipedia · CC-BY-SA