The Effective Mechanism of Cognitive Warfare from the Perspective of Information Processing Theory
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The Effective Mechanism of Cognitive Warfare from the Perspective of Information Processing Theory
Chen Zequan Gao Yang
[Abstract] Research on the efficacy mechanisms of cognitive warfare has rarely focused on the psychological processes at the individual processing level. Approaching from the perspective of information processing theory to analyze the efficacy mechanisms of cognitive warfare helps reveal its inherent operational laws at the individual psychological level. Using the case study method, this paper emphasizes how information processing theory provides a scientific explanatory framework for the efficacy mechanisms of cognitive warfare. Based on information processing theory, the efficacy mechanisms of cognitive warfare can be divided into three core stages: perceptual manipulation, cognitive shaping, and behavioral output. Each stage contains complex operational logics, with the purpose of achieving specific strategic objectives by intervening in the individual's information processing process.
【Keywords】Cognitive Warfare | Information Processing Theory | Efficacy Mechanism
Today, the world is undergoing unprecedented changes in a century, with unpredictable shifts in international dynamics. Among these, "cognitive warfare" is emerging as a new form of conflict. Reviewing the history of warfare, it is evident that each technological innovation has significantly increased the complexity of war. Former U.S. President Nixon once stated in "Victory Without War" that entering the century, the cost of using military aggression would become even higher, and the appeal of economic power and ideology would become decisive factors. Although the importance of cognitive warfare is increasingly prominent, current research on the psychological aspects of cognitive warfare is still insufficient. Based on information processing theory, an in-depth exploration of the mechanisms of cognitive warfare reveals that its process encompasses three levels: perception manipulation, cognitive shaping, and behavioral output. Analyzing how it achieves strategic objectives by intervening in individuals' information processing can provide innovative insights for the theoretical exploration and practical response to cognitive warfare, addressing the gaps in existing research.
1. The Origin and Connotation of Cognitive Warfare
The Historical Origins of Cognitive Warfare
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The birth and development of cognitive warfare have deep roots. Although cognitive warfare did not emerge as a clearly defined concept in ancient times, its conceptual traces were never absent. As early as in "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu, there was the strategic thought of "subduing the enemy without fighting," emphasizing the criticality of weakening the enemy's will to fight through cognitive interventions. On foreign battlefields during the Middle Ages, armies often misled enemies by exaggerating victories and spreading false intelligence to undermine enemy morale. In modern times, Clausewitz, through his work "On War," revealed to later generations that war is a continuation of politics, not only a contest of material but also a game of will, fully illustrating the decisive role of cognitive confrontation in warfare.
In modern warfare, the speed and influence of information dissemination have transcended traditional geographical boundaries and political scopes, penetrating deeply into virtual spaces. Cognitive warfare has become a global battlefield. Over the years, the strategic importance of cognitive warfare has significantly increased, drawing high attention and in-depth research from NATO, led by the United States. In a certain year, the U.S. National Security Strategy explicitly positioned cognitive warfare as a strategic domain on par with physical combat, marking a strategic upgrade in cognitive warfare. In the same year, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a report titled "The Actions and True Nature of the National Endowment for Democracy," which provided a well-founded and powerful rebuttal to the National Endowment for Democracy's instigation of color revolutions, interference in other countries' internal affairs, and manipulation of public opinion. This marked China's timely and effective cognitive counterattack against the U.S. cognitive warfare against China, achieving positive results.
(2) Definition of the Connotation of Cognitive Warfare
At the conceptual level, cognitive warfare intersects with forms of combat such as "psychological warfare," "public opinion warfare," and "information warfare," demonstrating its complexity and diversity in connotation. Psychological warfare operates primarily on a psychological level, often aiming to weaken an individual's will and confidence by sowing fear, uncertainty, and doubt. Public opinion warfare focuses on the public level, shaping collective cognition and social attitudes by manipulating or guiding public opinion to intervene in decision-making or incite social unrest. Information warfare mainly revolves around the technical and systemic aspects of information flow, with the goal of influencing the opponent's information processing capabilities and weakening their operational capacity to serve the manipulator's interests. As an emerging form of warfare, cognitive warfare intertwines with "psychological warfare," "public opinion warfare," and "information warfare," collectively forming an organic whole of the intangible battlefield, serving the purpose of achieving war objectives.
From a national strategic perspective, cognitive warfare has become a forefront area of strategic competition among major powers, with its objectives extending beyond military victory to undermining the national cohesion of adversaries. Yu Xintian emphasizes that cognitive warfare is a comprehensive, multi-dimensional ideological conflict aimed at destroying the core beliefs and collective will of a nation's people, thereby serving strategic purposes. From a societal perspective, cognitive warfare primarily relies on social media networks, targeting the shaping of public perception and the manipulation of social discourse. Li Qiang and others propose that cognitive warfare represents a new operational concept, characterized by the use of open-source intelligence for deception, leveraging social media and communication technologies to strategically shape the cognitive frameworks of individuals and groups. In the military dimension, cognitive warfare is highly covert and strategic, presenting a more intense form of confrontation compared to physical and cyber warfare. Li Yi stresses that the core of cognitive warfare lies in disrupting the cognition of enemy combatants, weakening their decision-making efficiency, thereby dismantling their organizational structure and operational capabilities, and gaining a strategic advantage in the confrontation.
From this perspective, cognitive warfare, as a new form of modern warfare, leverages technological power and integrates psychological, public opinion, and informational means across multiple domains. It aims to intervene in and shape individual cognition at various levels and dimensions, achieving the goal of "subduing the enemy without fighting." This cross-domain, multi-dimensional comprehensive form of warfare fully reflects the transformation of warfare driven by technology. Its impact has transcended the scope of traditional warfare, becoming a new frontier in great power competition.
II. The Efficacy Mechanism of Cognitive Warfare Based on Information Processing Theory
Information processing theory, as a core theoretical framework in cognitive psychology, delves into human cognitive activities from the perspective of information processing, revealing the internal psychological mechanisms behind the formation of individual behaviors. It can be specifically broken down into stages of information processing such as perception, attention, memory, and representation.
Cognition permeates the entire process of information processing. Through the perception and processing of information, individuals form an understanding of the world, guide decision-making, and take actions accordingly. Therefore, information processing theory, as a tool for analyzing human cognitive processes, naturally aligns with the mechanisms of cognitive warfare. The core mechanisms of cognitive warfare based on information processing theory primarily include the following key stages.
(1) Perception Manipulation: Information Introduction and Attention Focus
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From the perspective of information processing theory, the primary mechanism of cognitive warfare effectiveness lies in "attention activation." Psychologist William James pointed out that "attention" is a process by which the mind selects one from many possible simultaneous objects and thoughts to process in a clear and vivid manner. In the modern environment of information overload, individuals are inundated with vast amounts of information daily. Given the inherent limitations of human information processing capacity, it is necessary to rely on screening mechanisms for selective processing of information. This screening mechanism typically manifests in two ways: "filtering" and "attenuation." The former refers to the individual's selective attention to external information and active regulation of the direction of attention; the latter refers to enhancing focus on specific information while diminishing the importance of other information when processing multiple streams of information.
In cognitive warfare, attention activation is a crucial step that influences the operation of an individual's cognitive system. Manipulators stimulate individuals with information to initiate the initial stage of information processing. Once they successfully capture the individual's attention, they gradually guide them into the information processing phase. In the book "Thinking, Fast and Slow," Daniel Kahneman reveals two significant psychological phenomena: "familiarity bias" and "cognitive ease." When individuals are exposed to repetitive information, even if the information is not entirely accurate, they may mistakenly perceive it as true due to increased familiarity, thereby reducing their ability to judge the authenticity of the information. When information is presented in a simple, repetitive, and easily understandable manner, the brain is more likely to enter a state of "cognitive ease," weakening critical thinking and thus accepting information that appears reasonable but may contain fallacies. Therefore, simplifying and repeating information becomes an effective tool for attracting individual attention and shaping cognition. Donald Trump's campaign slogan "Make America Great Again" (MAGA) is characterized by its simplicity and ease of dissemination. Through constant repetition, it reinforces individuals' familiarity with the message, thereby capturing their attention. The slogan did not disappear after Trump's electoral defeat; instead, it continued to play a role in his subsequent efforts to return to the White House. However, its specific meaning has been selectively ignored by his supporters. Various signs also indicate that, whether in domestic or foreign affairs, America is no longer great, and neither Trump, Biden, nor their successors can make America great again.
(2) Cognitive Shaping: Information Memory and Knowledge Representation
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After information is perceived by an individual, it enters the cognitive shaping stage, which not only is responsible for the encoding and storage of information but also has a profound impact on the individual's cognition and behavior. According to information processing theory, the memory process includes three stages: encoding, storage, and retrieval. Encoding is the initial stage of immediate memory, where information remains for a very short time and is easily forgotten if not effectively filtered and preliminarily processed. The filtered information is then converted into short-term memory and gradually integrated into long-term memory through continuous rehearsal and deep processing. During the storage process, the formation of long-term memory relies on the repeated consolidation and meaningful association of information, eventually becoming a stable cognitive resource that the individual can access at any time. This dynamic process provides crucial support for individual cognitive activities and behavioral decision-making.
This memory processing mechanism also provides a theoretical foundation for information manipulation in cognitive warfare. In cognitive warfare, manipulators meticulously outline the psychological traits, behavioral habits, and social environments of individuals to "customize" highly targeted cognitive warfare plans. In recent years, the U.S. military has utilized technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence to deeply analyze the cognitive characteristics of individuals in target countries. By long-term tracking of their information reception habits and cognitive patterns, they construct a "digital brain," ultimately forming a public opinion profile. Based on this, the U.S. military implements a segmented information dissemination strategy, creating various deceptive contents and using specific methods to influence the memory construction and knowledge representation of individuals, causing cognitive upheavals, even polarizing their emotions, and unknowingly leading them to "information poisoning," thereby being captured by the U.S. military's stance. This process aims to accurately deliver key information to the short-term memory area of individuals and, through clever information presentation and guidance, promote its internalization into long-term memory, effectively shaping the cognitive tendencies of individuals, thereby achieving deep penetration of the manipulator's intentions.
(3) Behavioral Output: Cognitive Framing and Decision Bias
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"Thinking" is a high-level cognitive activity in which the human brain processes and handles objective matters, playing a central role in regulating psychological activities. "Framing," as an advanced cognitive strategy, aims to guide an individual's thought processes, create cognitive biases, and achieve the manipulator's goals. In cognitive warfare, an individual's behavioral output is the concrete action manifested after receiving and processing information, with framing becoming a key method to influence their cognitive judgments and behavioral decisions.
In cognitive warfare, there are three common strategies used to influence individual thinking and guide behavioral output: 1. **Framing Construction**: This strategy, as a practice of narrative militarization, not only strengthens individuals' identification with specific viewpoints but may also incite hostility towards other groups through narrative reconstruction and situational settings. For instance, the Trump administration constructed the "China Technology Threat" framework to discredit China's technological achievements and implemented a ban on Huawei under the guise of national security. Despite lacking substantial evidence, this false narrative successfully framed the thinking of some national publics, fostering distrust towards China and constructing an unfavorable international discourse environment. 2. **Emotional Shaping**: Emotional information, especially negative content, has a significant impact as it easily triggers deep processing in individuals' short-term memory. In the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Hamas used images of hospitals being bombed to successfully elicit widespread international sympathy for Gaza. Such information, with its strong emotional tension, not only reinforces individual memory but also guides the emotional tendencies of international public opinion. 3. **Social Identity**: When assessing right and wrong, individuals often refer to the opinions and behaviors of others. After observing the actions of the majority, they tend to consider those actions as correct. Following the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the United States and its allies used insufficiently investigated incidents such as the Bucha event, the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage, and the Crimea Bridge explosion to spread conspiracy theories about Russia, creating a "stigmatized" perception of Russia. Nowadays, the more radical and extreme the content, the more exposure and traffic it tends to receive, thereby inducing a strong "bandwagon effect." In the overloaded information space of the internet, individuals who can think independently to seek true knowledge are increasingly rare, with most people often going with the flow and becoming part of the crowd.
Based on the diagram, the efficacy process demonstrates its unique role at different stages. The perceptual manipulation stage focuses on attracting individual attention, facilitating the entry of information into the memory processing pathway; the cognitive shaping stage strengthens individual cognition through information storage and meaning integration; the behavioral output stage achieves precise intervention in individual actions through framework construction, emotional guidance, and social identification. This mechanism, grounded in information processing theory, reveals the dynamic patterns of individual information processing in cognitive warfare, offering valuable insights for future research on the efficacy mechanisms of cognitive warfare.
Figure: Framework of the Efficacy Mechanism of Cognitive Warfare from the Perspective of Information Processing Theory
III. Conclusion
Currently, the competition among major powers is becoming increasingly intense, and cognitive warfare, as a new form of warfare, is gaining strategic prominence. Therefore, understanding and mastering the mechanisms of cognitive warfare is essential to gain an advantage in future cognitive confrontations and ensure national security. Based on information processing theory, the effective process of cognitive warfare consists of perception manipulation, cognitive shaping, and behavioral output. These stages reveal how manipulators intervene in an individual's information processing to achieve effective control over cognition and behavior. In the future, the methods of cognitive warfare will become more diverse, and the cognitive games between nations will become more complex. This article serves as a preliminary analysis with enlightening significance, but research in the field of cognitive warfare needs to continuously follow the latest developments to refine theoretical systems that adapt to future combat environments.
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