Old Dominion University ODU Digital Commons Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations Graduate Program in International Studies Summer 2019 The Trojan Horse in Your Head: Cognitive Threats and How to Counter Them Lora Pitman Old Dominion University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/gpis_etds Part of the Cognitive Psychology Commons, Defense and Security Studies Commons, and the Political Science Commons Recommended Citation Pitman, Lora. "The Trojan Horse in Your Head: Cognitive Threats and How to Counter Them" (2019). Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Dissertation, International Studies, Old Dominion University, DOI: 10.25777/ dafa-tb52 https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/gpis_etds/111 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Program in International Studies at ODU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ODU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE TROJAN HORSE IN YOUR HEAD: COGNITIVE THREATS AND HOW TO COUNTER THEM by Lora Pitman LL.M. May 2014, Sofia University, Bulgaria M.A. May 2016, Old Dominion University A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Old Dominion University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE PROGRAM IN INTERNATIONAL STUDIES OLD DOMINION UNIVERSITY August 2019 Approved by: Regina Karp (Director) Bryan Porter (Member) Matthew DiLorenzo (Member) ABSTRACT THE TROJAN HORSE IN YOUR HEAD: COGNITIVE THREATS AND HOW TO COUNTER THEM Lora Pitman Old Dominion University, 2019 Director: Regina Karp Vulnerabilities of the human mind caused by the way it is designed to processes information have always been exploited in warfare, since the dawn of humanity. History is marked with frequent use of deceits and manipulations over the centuries, with examples ranging from the use of the Trojan Horse to Facebook’s user-profiling. While largely used over time, these tactics, that I call cognitive threats, have not been collectively examined. I hypothesize that they pose a security issue to which prevention strategies on different levels could be successfully applied. The research questions that this study asks are what the characteristics of these cognitive threats, and what specific techniques could be employed to counter them. To respond to them and to contribute to filling the gap in the literature, I describe four case studies that illustrate some of the most common types of cognitive threats in the 21st century - the case with Maria Butina, the case with Russian disinformation, the case with ISIS recruitment, and the case with Cambridge Analytica. Then I analyze them and suggest different approaches that are fit to respond to the contemporary political and psychological features of these cognitive threats. The findings from the study, the policy recommendations, and the additional measures I propose are grouped into six categories: creating alternatives, narrative change, official government statements, legislative measures, education, and awareness. iii Copyright, 2019, by Lora Pitman, All Rights Reserved. iv This dissertation is dedicated to Dr. Steve Yetiv who we lost in 2018 but who will always live in the minds of his students, mentees, colleagues and friends. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS There are many people who have contributed to the successful completion of this dissertation. First, I would like to thank my advisor – Dr. Regina Karp for teaching me to think critically, assess world events and facts analytically, and last but not least, for always believing in me in every step of my graduate studies at Old Dominion University. I would also like to thank Dr. Bryan Porter for introducing me to social psychology and for encouraging my interest to its application in politics. I am also very appreciative of the efforts of Dr. DiLorenzo for agreeing to share his valuable feedback for this work. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................1 2. COGNITION AND COGNITIVE THREATS ....................................................................11 2.1 The emerging cognitive threat: a result of political moves and processes ....................12 2.2 The individual in the study of politics ...........................................................................20 2.3 What is cognition and how does it work ........................................................................27 2.4 Social cognition .............................................................................................................40 2.5 The dual meaning of perception, emotions and actions in politics ................................56 3. HISTORY OF COGNITIVE THREATS ............................................................................71 3.1 Chronicle of cognitive threats through the ages ............................................................71 3.2 Evolution of cognitive threats: from the Trojan Horse to Facebook .............................89 3.3 The fight against cognitive threats ...............................................................................101 4. THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE COGNITIVE APOCALYPSE .................................121 4.1 Stories about cognitive threats .....................................................................................121 4.2 The case with Maria Butina .........................................................................................122 4.3 The case with Russian Disinformation ........................................................................134 4.4 The case with ISIS recruitment ....................................................................................154 4.5 The case with Cambridge Analytica ............................................................................173 5. CONNECTING THE DOTS: STRATEGIES FOR COUNTERING COGNITIVE THREATS ..........................................186 5.1 Countering cognitive threats in Russian espionage cases ............................................187 5.2 Countering cognitive threats in Russian Disinformation cases ...................................200 5.3 Countering cognitive threats in recruitment by radical Islamic organizations ............218 5.4 Countering cognitive threats in cases of political profiling by companies ..................231 6. CONCLUSIONS, POLICY IMPLICATIONS AND THE ROAD AHEAD ....................245 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................................257 VITA ......................................................................................................................................290 1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION The Trojan War, one of the most emblematic events in the ancient civilization still fascinates scholars and practitioners. It begins with the abduction of the Spartan queen Helen, by Paris – a Trojan prince. As a response, Menelaus, Helen’s husband and the king of Sparta asked his brother Agamemnon, king of Mycenae to join him for a campaign aiming to return Helen to Sparta and to punish the brazen Trojans. This mission was, reportedly joined by various of the ancient Greek heroes, including Odysseus, Achilles, and Ajax. Writers and historians in the antiquity claim that the siege of Troy lasted for ten whole years. Desperate from the lack of success, the Greeks knew that traditional military means would not ensure completion of their goal. Instead, they decided to implement a well-developed plan intended to make the Trojans open their own gates since the efforts to do so with force were hopeless. It is claimed that the Greeks built a giant wooden horse in only ten days. This creature was left in front the Trojan gates, with only one person around it, as the Greek ships were seen to slowly sail away from Troy, leaving their tents surrounding Troy in flames as a sign of retreat. Sinon, a Greek soldier, who was the only person around the horse, pretended to be abandoned by his people. He explained to the Trojans that the horse was a gift to the goddess Athena and symbolized entreaty of the Greeks for a safe return home in an act of remorse for destroying one of her temples in Troy. Perceived as a truthful story, the Trojans let the colossal horse figure inside the gates thinking it was a souvenir of their victory. What they did not know was that inside of the horse, there were 30 of the best Greek soldiers, waiting for the enemy to bring them effortlessly inside the gates. Not a single casualty marked the penetration of Greeks inside Troy, not a single sword 2 or a single weapon was used to get beyond the gates. When the night came, the Greeks returned with their ships to Troy. In the meantime, the Greek soldiers left the horse and opened the gates to the Greek army who defeated the Trojans, brought back Helen to Menelaus, and ended the war. Some claim that this story is a legend more than a historical fact, although Homer, Sophocles, Herodotus and Virgil all contribute with some details about the Trojan War that testify for its potential authenticity. Legend or not, the conflict in Troy ended with the victory of the Greeks only to open the door to other types of wars – those of the mind. What appeared to be the key to the Greek success was not military superiority but a simple trick that