#81 Cassandra Brooker on the Effectiveness of Influence Activities

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association.</span> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">During this episode, MAJ Cassandra Brooker presents her Master’s research report entitled: “The Effectiveness of Influence Activities in Information Warfare.” Cass asserts that Western democracies are already at war in the information domain and are being out-communicated by adversaries. In her study, she fuses three research disciplines: systems thinking, influence, and behavioural science to better understand mental models and enable a deeper understanding of influencing tactics. We discuss the notion of feedback loops, which are critical to understanding influence. Finally, Cass reviews two case studies–ISIS and the Hillary Clinton 2016 Presidential campaign.</span></p> <p><strong>Resources</strong><span style= "font-weight: 400;">:</span></p> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;"><a href= "https://researchcentre.army.gov.au/library/occasional-papers/effectiveness-influence-activities-information-warfare"> The Effectiveness of Influence Activities in Information Warfare</a> by Cassandra Brooker</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><a href= "https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR1708.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;"> Rand Paper: Systems Confrontation and System Destruction Warfare: How the Chinese People's Liberation Army Seeks to Wage Modern Warfare</span></a></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;"><a href= "https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/160358580X/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=ipa09b-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=160358580X&linkId=0f65b3242fdba65ec73eee9c099e9a61"> Systems Thinking For Social Change: A Pra