Grey matters: Advancing a psychological effects-based approach to countering malign information influence

Abstract

Hostile political actors frequently engage in malign information influence, projecting antagonistic strategic narratives in targeted societies to manipulate the information environment and distort the perceptions of the citizens. Research examining malign information influence is growing, but more attention could be given to its psychological effects. Information operations are commonly assumed to affect the levels of trust and the emotional experiences of citizens who are targeted by them, but these notions are currently supported by limited evidence. We propose that experimental psychological research is a promising avenue to more clearly demonstrate these effects and individual differences of the target audience that may exacerbate these effects. This article discusses the knowledge gap regarding the psychological effects of malign information influence and suggests relevant psychological research that can be built upon when devising experimental studies that might address it. Finally, the article outlines key benefits that insights gleaned from this experimental research would offer to those seeking to counter malign information influence.

Portrait of liberal chaos: RT’s antagonistic strategic narration about the Netherlands

“…Conversely, emerging research indicating that those drawn to Russian state-sponsored media are typically already critical of Western liberal values (Wagnsson, forthcoming) might suggest that ‘a weird society’, focusing on the Dutch culture of liberal permissiveness leading to rising crime and vulgarity, or Dutch progressive policymaking coming at the expense of ethics and integrity, could lead to anger, shame or perceived degradation of the Dutch identity in citizens – ‘status loss for the readers’ (Wagnsson and Barzanje, 2021: 12). These predictions warrant attention from future psychological research, which may follow a research agenda positioning content analyses, such as this study, as the impetus for experimental designs examining audience responses (Hoyle et al, 2021).…”

“…But what precise psychological responses would be elicited in Dutch audiences consuming this antagonistic strategic narration? There is limited evidence of the psychological effects that such malign information operations are often assumed to trigger, and even less that can confirm causal relationships between antagonistic narratives and responses (Hoyle et al, 2021). Causal evidence could, however, not only confirm malign information influence’s destabilizing potential, but also inform policy towards countering it.…”

Cognitive and Emotional Responses to Russian State-Sponsored Media Narratives in International Audiences

“…Experimental research has been proposed as a method of attaining such evidence (Hoyle et al, 2021a), whereby experiments can test for psychological responses to narratives identified in prior qualitative analyses. In this study, we will use survey experiments to gauge the cognitive and emotional responses to two types of narrative strategies identified in Russian state-sponsored media (Wagnsson & Barzanje, 2021).…”