Counter Intuitiveness of Influence Science, Social Judgment Theory, and Strategic Messaging in Great Power Competition

Abstract

Information is actively playing a strategic role in the Great Power Competition. China is playing a deliberate and well-orchestrated strategic game aimed at dominating the information space and through it changing opinions about China and Chinese actions across the globe. Russia meanwhile continues to use information to disrupt and create divides within the American public at every opportunity. At the same time, messaging from the United States continues to send mixed signals without any apparent coherence or strategy. In the Great Powers Competition, understanding the science of influence is paramount; however, the science of influence is complicated and counter-intuitive. To explain this, we developed several Maxims of, or basic principles, that we believe are essential to anyone trying to understand malign influence or conduct influence efforts themselves. The purpose of these maxims is to provide some general rules on how to think about the process of influence. Because the science of influence is counter-intuitive and without some fundamental principles to follow, many influence efforts devolve into simple marketing and advertising efforts that fail. These maxims are based on scientifically valid, empirically based research conducted over the past 100 years. Ultimately, these maxims help readers understand how messages appeal to some and/or cause others to reject ideas.