A Morality Based Target Audience Analysis and Quantum Open System Interaction Model for Propaganda

Abstract

Two people can view the same information but can take different actions. Most importantly, while thinking about moral and political issues, such as abortion, depending on the differences in the psychological systems, a perception of threat can arise. To exploit this aspect of the psychological systems, state and non-state actors make use of propaganda techniques to influence any target audience. Although the spread of disinformation is extensively studied in the information ecosystem, a model that represents the interactions between the schemata of the individuals and schemata of the perceptual stimuli has not been introduced. An interaction model is crucial to fathom the propaganda dynamics because while aiming to undermine the norms, values, and institutions in free societies, propaganda does not target the material objects or networks; it targets the psychological systems. Therefore, this research proposes to use the moral foundation theory (MFT) to define the system states of the interaction model for propaganda; doing so, the proposed model can represent the psychological systems of a target audience and schemata of the information stimuli with the same system states. This paper’s primary contribution is introducing an interaction model by capitalizing on a quantum open system model that captures the dynamics of two interacting systems in the information environment. The effects of non-selective measurement were studied by simulating a quantum open system-based cognitive model.