When U.S. Senator Arthur Vandenberg famously told President Harry Truman that he’d have to “scare the hell out of the American people” to secure support for the coming Cold War, Vandenburg was tapping into a tried-and-true tradition of strategically cultivating fear to influence attitudes and change behavior. While this tactic has a long history of use, strikingly little has been written on precisely how, why, and when it actually works. In this talk, Greenhill offers just such an explanation. Drawing upon findings from her next book, Greenhill describes how and why cognitive and psychological biases can be triggered and strategically manipulated as means to political and military ends. Greenhill further explains why actors engaged in this particular kind of cognitive hacking frequently eschew fact-based arguments in favor of “truthier” alternatives, such as rumors, conspiracy theories, propaganda, fiction and so-called fake news, sources she collectively refers to as “extra-factual information” (EFI). She identifies the conditions under which policymakers and the public tend to find EFI-infused threat narratives persuasive, and shows that while information content and delivery platforms have changed, the underlying mechanisms that make this tool such an effective instrument of political influence, and EFI, such a useful handmaiden to it, have not.

Kelly M. Greenhill is a scholar of international relations and security studies. Greenhill’s research focuses on foreign and defense policy; the politics of information; the use of military force; and what are frequently called “new security challenges,” including civil wars and insurgencies, the use of migration as a weapon, and international crime as a challenge to domestic governance. She holds a Ph.D. and an S.M. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a C.S.S. from Harvard University, and a B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley. During the 2020-21 academic year, Professor Greenhill is on leave as a Leverhulme Trust Visiting Professor. Upon her return to campus in September 2021, Greenhill assumed the directorship of the MIT-Seminar XXI Program alongside her appointment at Tufts. Since September 2020, Greenhill has also served as an Editor of the Cornell Studies in Security Affairs book series. MIT Seminar XXI is an educational program for national security professionals.

This event is open to the public and registration is not required. You may simply show up at the door.