Some Rough Notes on A Reconnaissance Pilot Study in Psychological Susceptibilities and Experience in Producing It

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00662R000100050055-9
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 24
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 29, 1998
• Sequence Number: 55
• Publication Date: April 14, 1951
• Content Type: STUDY

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I;'t. bbi4
R=gh Notes
Psychological Susceptibilit
14 April 1951
nt of State to whoa: the responsibilities for country studies
sty notes were made at the request of !r. U. J. lggIes
n assigned by C]1.
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i2a
To aid
following dents may be useful.
arranged primarily for the person acquainted
theoretical framework back
Itself.
Bence to the material in these rough notes
his of
Chile study as vell with the study
the reader's Interest is primarily the Immediate
1 one of getting hints for prosecuting or coaches a country
study, he should give special attention to Parts III (and IV'). If he is
Chile study dirg+
Part I, we suspect
of such studies ac
o note the way in which the
from stipulations therein,, he will center up
t to the administrator and the director
of these notes closely, it will probably be well for
ss reader to. scan thews as a whole before concentrating
to atintelligeneen Jargon and distinctions in
ence duties. As there has not been sufficient time to integrate
par*
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t!l
Table
Contents
Lepect of "Psychological Intelligence"
A Distinct Type of "Psychological Intelligence"
1. Theoretical V
the Product of the Stud,
.on of a Now Aspen
A Functional Specialty
d of Ccxparative Studies
d Social Science or "Technology"
lation to other
Assumption (where possible) of Prior Area k
nee or Cron Sense
General
B. The General Moth?
General vision of "Specifications" and "Principles"
do of the Pilot Study for General Procedure and for
,nd Positive Content
the Analysis of the Individual Psychological
s between Theoretical Objectives and Framework on
d, and Concrete, Substantive Facts on the other
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8. Specific SugZes
Additional .teriaa
inr
Indcct nation a Check-tea in General
ther Activities
To the Draftine of Policies
Psychological
Activities
eke." and Themes for xnfor
4 e' T
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A NCH IA MSA CE PILOT SAY IN PSYCHO
AND E ERIE 1 IN PRODUC
ONE ASPECT OF "PSYCHOLOGICAL I ELLDEfC'
T the interests of iatIng this type of
intelligence, Informational, and psychological-warfare fields, it is essential
precisely what this reconnaissance pilot study is. 'nose who
emzprehemi requests for country studies ---? for i&. this shady was
considered . a pilot
'or "psychological vulnerabilities" in one instance,
and #psychological factors that can be used as
does it fit in with other psychological and social
t one experimental reconnaissance study has been ecpleteds
the quoted statements meant and entailed., the adiate
n
or. Recognising that there were and are differences of
to be a distin
ch
ation of the roe
for psychological-warfare
of psychologll
* Viz,, " Reco3anaissance Stun of Chile ss Psychological Suscaptihil-
shoes that
Psychological Warfare.." to be published in sprit g of 19!1
produosd in
,
ae ordance with the draft "Specifications for Country-by-Country Studies
I Physical and Psychological Accessibility to Psychological Warfare,," of
other types of so-called intelligence on the
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a treatment of its "direct" or i diate "Busaeptibility
1.. Theoretical View of the Product of the Study
In essence the product of the study is the packet of susceptibility
situations and the core of each of those situations Is some :hm .ediately
f otioning- (individual- or) group-psycholi
reaction may be a psychol
emotion
cup--reactions are
opinion, belief or conviction, or a cc nb1natioa of them*
this collection of grs-reaction cores and th
developed about them or upon them, certain thi
noted:-
,, this means they a
do not take place in isolati
economic., sociologica
sentiment or attitude,
.ould be
to,, present,, current.
,rt of "cure:
and other psychol
y are reactions with respect to such phenomena
dge of these psychological group-- actions therefore
requires concrete knowledge of such political,
sociological and other psychological phencme
belo r
political? economic, eociOl gica
psychological intelligence may refer either to past, recent, and
events or conditions on the one hand, or to "estimated,"
predicted, anticipated events or conditions on the other,
reaction. That
l state (such as frustration a
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these psychological group-reactions may be ones 'which
been operative in the past and are continuing
nt" ) or may be prt,ats#`,0r1, imagined,
10 So far as they are the latter, th
present
sized
ae in the ease of "indirect" or
sceptibility situations loose are situations
s& or "estimate int encl.
noes and underlying psychological potentiali?
psycholagical-warf a
,e given persons or groups MsentXy susceptible
patterns 6 and ?, 2
Principles to
19.50 (CO.
same in draft 11 hotel.:
hologil-Warfare
Production Plan for Support of
1950 (Confidential)) As mentioned in Tab A of the
of the circinstan
In Append'
on of psyohologi l- 'ar `are
coxu issance Study of oilers Susceptibilities to Psychological
these "indirect" susceptibilities were in the
provided by the Chilean area
in a
heir assistance and more wou
research.
It rat not be assumed that the so-called suecep
e added
ups (or persons)., whether identified as currently
as likely to function
situation, constitute all the,
of Psychological lute
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An examination of them shows that
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ct
attitudes
enter
to. deeply laid in the habits and cultures
studied, or fleetingly
psychological traits could throw light on current susceptibilities
should be described prior to and separate from the analyses
of susceptibility situations themselves. (See "Specifications,"
pp. 2,0 3, and Via..) Unfortunately,, the limitations involved in a
study made this impossible. Fundamentally,, h
the job of unearthing, identifying, describing and defining
and dissolved a
It has been intended that so far as deeply laid
psychological traits as a whole constitutes a job
area analysis quite apart from and different from the study of
tionin psychological reactions observed to be
presently utili2abl by psychological warfare.. -To some
this prior area-enalysis job is one in the psychological aspects
abc
," not "current intelli ence." As always,
used to assume and build upon the basic, but
of to be confused with it.
vnet ores assumed that because, as indicated under b (-A-l-b)
ice f ron Analysts t Realization of a New Aspect
hological is more or less inevitably bound up with the
o their specialties. This is especially likes among "cur-
c, sological,, physical;, etc., that therefore the
n these spheres of knowledge should absorb the psycho-
d in the field of "estimates
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a. Firs
the Tzltiplicity of the prob:
itng for psychological contrast and cc*1 arison, discrimination and
ion, definition, and interpretation,, sew, to leave no
question in either the ordinary area specialist ts mind or the
sychological) specialist's mind that the task of
arieiysie here is a professional one. The fact
product should not cabs
e. To the dec.
.ssance study tends to give way to the kind
ch is needed, and hence, in particular, to elabo
nature or -tne
ask is the more obvious.
b. The second respect in which light T.s thr+
confusion,, was the way in which the
received the easignzent, took par In it, and learned
of the psychological reactions
tie requesters tried to elan
my deairod from the area analyst
professional
after hear
an illustration or two, declared -simply that they cou not
out, They were accustomed to thinking
tars relating to US
called for something entirely- different
Kett that. It required a complete reorientation in their think
a considerable period,
probi+
questions, and
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. After having gone thrc
ever, it should be noted, they came
ceptibiiit;
di; '; thereupon the functional. director had to center
e a* a es, And
on
;al attitude toward different
y, it might be added, there was
marked evidence of the area analysts' continued interes
nalyses. To them unquestionably
of intelligence.
A Pane
Fort ta%r,, expe
med to those quite innocent of social (Thnct
ps *c?hologica
lence in employing social science methods. in fact, among area
ve some assistance were persons with three further degrees
and experience in social scienw and applied
psychology. And on the mbole it can be claimed safely and judiciou
these persons' grasp of the essential. principles involved and their deve
t of ability to characterize susceptibility situations critically;
e very real proportion to their prior functional
experience. This is said, at this glace because it is further rea
evidence that this t, of study is a functional speci.aeity*
of a corroborating nature
e fact that one of the above
and another with considerable theoretical background but no relevant
ice,, beca. a over-canfiden_t of their grasp of the general approach
as aesis
is was in some very direct proportion to their
further intensive consideration of the entire
1 acquaintance with it; and their further usefulness
project vas not cone
ork provid
ARWq"dbFAr5PpWcW 2O i i. IA- 6611 OW' GO 5fr9a s
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implicit warning and partly to reinforce the ages
applied so
relativ
Lbility
chains of a ample nature resemb those in the Chile study,
initial idea gets across. Taut the more Intensive the study;
as a m
to be recognized frankly that the theoretical f aro
An Applied
pect,, s h o u l d now be apparent. ( IWA-1- + and, d above; also "The
is upon the psychological
Methodological Framework for the Country-by-Country Studies in CU's
pro
)rs, of relationships, of clificatic
d; (2) the f
of categorised
'actors and relation-
ships, and of conditioning cirt tances (3) the problem 'Of level Of
chnolo y
be
s types of personnel to tern out susO
aftecif'Icatione,c" constitutes what might be regard
lal science or technolo*
fence or Technol-
notional specialty may be considered an applied social
a
science point of Vie , june 1950 (Confiden-
'.ples" as a whole.) More abstruse', this
ggested by such considerations as
ohe configurational
ceptibil,ity situation only parts of which can
3d group-reaction relationships the one hand and of
and contingency relationships on the other (raised in section C
under Tab A of the Chile study); (fit) the Various
of the problem
of the ideational element in psychological susceptibility situations
specially Appen
on Psychological Petenninants in "Principles"
ions in the factors, in their relationships, in the
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~o substantive and Methodological probl
science. Ne rtheless, as hinted above, such social-ecien if
problems may be minimised In the process of producing
=ttidyr is closely super sed and a functiona'
of then,.
d of Comparative ft-Aies
ssure for mass production of ccuntr*r studies
possible that administrators untrained in the social sciences
view of the difficulty of sect
1 spec:talists thoroughly familiar with the
bility
by competent
"Specifications,," recourse should be bad to concrete
accounts of "psy chologj,e 1 susceptibilities" after an utte
otions. The chief di
the various countries must be co pa b
necessary
both for over-all planning and for regional operational treatment (as
in radio broadcasts to a number of countries together). (fie 111-A
also page 6 of draft "S pec-ifications."t)
.l C etence Here in Ttelation to other
Even thou: h the problem of training and coaching
ed (instead of merely concrete) country studies is taken up
below
other problems bearing on the ditficul
be helpful to tie it In here with
obtaining competent functional
treatment of psychologUal =: msceptibilities, Undoubtedly training and
personnel is a major aid in achieving such croten. However,
there are other important aids. Ono would be an wer-all theoretical
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~nc3 product desired In a c
po sibly be In cted into the "s
cite nba
ents for field collection of paychologi
d Part IV-B balm. And still another
causal terms, to which all analysts m king
ormational and psychological warfare programs and the operat-
As tion (ire possible) of Prior Area Aral
Terms
it each be assumed to have his own independent
r paragraph (A-1-d), reference was made
of significant psychological
traits deeply laid in the
psychological susceptibilities
ieent
1, econctti
ceptibilty data, as
to speak of other iortant spheres. However, just as the planner
access to the area analyst's full.range of all such facts about a
given people (so far as that is possible and feasible), so the
fotional
.'t Another is a
td culture a pew
:d to have like access to the
as background
he needs
special
as
~d out. Onlr when he has these
do his own particular job,
prior drawer together
in descriptive and
access.
og
, not
the functional
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narrative or description level, with the time, perso
relationships which might have been helpful to the
at hand. And there were a great many gaps in the knowledge
0 be m a:ch more specialized "bai
" if studies in depth ax
plarmed, regardless of when
No Substitute for Experience or Co=on Sense
thus far has been largely upon the particular
and
d aspects of the study in the psychological euseeptibilitieea
audiences prewmbly utilizable through information and
paholo
ialiet. All this handicaps the adequacy of the
programs. This has not been meant to minimize
id experience in identifying, analyzim, and
ptibili.ties. To mare the contribution of cox non
area analysts were
ion, on the contrary,
o present detailed descriptive
ions containing pertinent psychological
sm or cooperative emendation. Such
as indicted elsewherej and the functional analyzes
admitted to them
uti,,
these ar
by functional specialists were in turn
a felt, brought dividends.
ut together and considered part of a single susceptibility
ed, in
probe which is especially dependent upon experience
is the degree to which separate but, related ausceptibil->
of
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,tuation. Th general the principle followed was one favoring
thor than compounded mains. For it was thought that
be easier to pull out of the
dcsn and separate a ?~
.fit bilit
need hard be ids attempts were made to pool
1 specialization, experience,, and
n: sense of the teams wor
I. O LIE ATIO FROM THE "SPEC IFIGATIONSU
Under section B of Tab- A of the Chile report s
Yale E iri.oal' in the Theoret
of the Pointe made
follow the
g or.
together on a single
ti.r ns."
Long" (pp. 1-5) con'
cire stanc
future
b. to be made in depth?
three parts -- an introduction and spry, a treatment
of physical accessibility, and a treatment of psychological
bility.
he other hand, differed on all these points. First,
existing situations; and hence future
are considered Incidentally
ad of a study in depth, ti
study is a reconnaissance- one. Third, the kind of introdue-
k," The
there,
a study
A rovt#10~07??r~1~4'l! 0`62 F8 5uc
pp
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with the
1-d
hological Accessibi
physical accessibility was not included in the
quest,.
2 * To obtain a more comprehensive view of the content of the Chile
study, reference should be made to the contemplated scheme of analys
wed to
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vailable (see. h
d in I-A-/: above,, and the .bliograph in Tab D of the
opt that no priorities are indicated.* The heart Of
psycho:
ptlbi)J
(a) of section C represented In the Chile study by
"Packet of Individual Susceptibility
called for in 2, of section C, "Presentation of
ologi l-Susceptibility situations
contemplated at
the problems f(
This is given in I
udy
5, section Co
outline
present in the susceptibility situations.
nt is the orientation to
d as
he reader some idea
represented in this so:
country
Tab A, And Tab BO as Indicated above, p
biblio
to th
of relei
"Spec:fjcatjo
don C,referrin to future times and ciramm"ances was tted or
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on) presumed to be
e new type of undertaking
speeta of
 A.'
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Apx
nt is continued upon the its serially presented in the
"SP
ciri
l? raphe 1-4 on preliminary definitions, ware accepted as
applicable in the study, though needing.
2.
1b
bined" situations (a
h 5. the concept of ""direct" and "indirect""
prove espe
e study it 'will probably be
.ere so eas.,
section. III, "Pertinent Concepts
mined ones. On the other hand
or.,i of divisive and unifying pa,
jar components Of s oet tibil if:V A4m~-..a,4 4-
graph 6/of the "Specifications," appeared
Lion to
c) qualifica,tio
graph 7
tore, discuss
liminary info
actors or relationships, (d) conditioning cix-
eef factors, (b) significant
chief factors originally envisaged as in
i.ned in theory. The idea of check lists of three
Ph
attempted, Similarly',
seated in paragraphs 9 and
although
general concept
y to classifica
one pro-
felt to be valid, although only pre-
descriptive treatnt of qualifications was attempted
App r eI Ht4
elf, and then only in part of the
be rewritten.
Tab A in the Chile
ani ful because so
felt to still valid,
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appeared to call for no radical revision.
obvious rood for critical and systemat
Lp which might well be born
omprehensive country study.
situation
should be
Usti
ket of filled-in forms constituting part
his should be compared with the form listing
in Tab B of the "5
there
he
as possibly
In general, the substantive and topical aspects of the Chile study
of the Chile report,
es in the form Toyed. The new
blank 5 on the form provides for the topica;
susceptibility situation, as used in the Outline in
blank 6 gives the topical item(s)
psychological
slated in
he old
ink 6. In addition,, a blank in the upper left-hand corner gives
(precise muter) of the title of the susceptibility
and the blank in the upper right-
nee to the numbers o:
.e topical Outline...
ast to this attention to substantive topics,, the bi
stud
of susceptibility patterns are not filled
stud prevented
I patt
tentatively presented in A,
ApproWW&qr7~eggaag 210 /
V of the "Principles," Accordingly;
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d field data, and (b) more detailed and definitive policy
were not reasy.. to make decisions on them without (a) access to more
or the information and paychol
P75-006?tR000100050055-9
of the old form and item 11
not indicated because the initial area analysts
the brief documc
Country Studies In ClAts 1' Proje
Point View," hno 1 5O (confidential).
4, And incidentally.,, blanks 1,1 2, and 3 wex
Social Science
Requesterj blanks 4 and 5 in the old form were combed
4
bl.>nks 15 and 16 of the old form are beyond the
nt reconnaissance study. Blank 10, dates of produc-
s m1 r pos1tioa,
program of
"The Mathodological 'Framework for
tion and revisions,, are of first importan
cmae revision of these doewnents is undoubtedly needed.
of the "Principles," revision would need to wait upon x
. Howmer, the material on "qualifications" in several of the
pp.. n e s, and the class
ations and titling of patterns in Ai
n at once, des e.g., P. 10, line
'PtiONNS THE Pte`
1d be diffic
AND FORT :1 3':Tl AN ,Y T
id Framework on the
ductive study on the one hand, and the
Bided upon.)
e Facts on the oath,
point,
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deliberate cri
ital use of broad analytical concepts on the other. With-
and under the illusion of being inductive, the area anal t
able to couch his concre
uncritically in
a sources, and to do it so c
o habitual, and hence rats of conceptualization. If
ount studies are to be comparative., there seems no escape from
3 ; of the
critical selection of broad concepts for comparative hand.-
ndations to such categorized materials must of
course be made by both the area specialist and the functional, special.:ist,
but be done e
on between the area analyst(s) a
or director, the area analys
study
the problem by being asked whether people in the c
discontented or dissatisfied in any way,, whether they are
Wry or provoked on the one hand, or have strong enthusiasms, loyal-
ties,, likes,, etc.,