Psychological warfare (PSYWAR), or the basic aspects of modern psychological operations (PsyOp), has been known by many other names or terms, including Military Information Support Operations (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".
An example of a World War II era leaflet meant to be dropped from an American B-17 over a German city (see the file description page for a translation)
Mosaic of Alexander the Great on his campaign against the Persian Empire.
Lord Bryce led the commission of 1915 to document German atrocities committed against Belgian civilians.
A dummy Sherman tank, used to deceive the Germans.
Psychological operations (United States)
Psychological operations (PSYOP) are operations to convey selected information and indicators to audiences to influence their motives and objective reasoning, and ultimately the behavior of governments, organizations, groups, and large foreign powers.
Psychological operations (United States)
A Somali boy holding up a leaflet dispersed during Operation Restore Hope in the early 1990s
U.S. Army PSYOP soldiers with Detachment 1080, 318th Psychological Operations Company distribute newspaper products in the East Rashid region of Baghdad, Iraq, July 11, 2007.
Soldiers from the U.S. Army's 350th Tactical Psychological Operations, 10th Mountain Division, drop leaflets over a village near Hawijah in Kirkuk province, Iraq, on March 6, 2008.
