INTLPOL258

Propaganda has been a tool of statecraft since humans first organized themselves into societies. How do tools such as these convince people to change their attitudes, beliefs or behavior? What factors affect the psychological process related to social influence and persuasion? And how does the increasing importance of digital media as an information source affect these processes? This course will address these issues by focusing on the ways in which misleading and/or patently false information spread in today's information ecosystem, often as a result of foreign adversaries' efforts to shape public perception through the use of propaganda as well as coordinated bot networks and Internet trolls.