One of the main techniques for breaking morale through a strategy of terror consists in this tactic: "keep the person hazy as to where he stands and just what he may expect. You keep him in a mental limbo so he doesn't know what's happening. In addition, employ frequent vacillations between severe disciplinary measures and the promise of good treatment, together with the spreading of contradictory information, all serve to make the meaning or as the technicians say the "cognitive structure" of the situation utterly unclear, then the victim may cease to know whether a plan would lead toward or away from his goal. Under these conditions, even those individuals who have definite goals and are prepared to take risks find themselves paralyzed by the severe inner conflict regarding what to do.
source: Kurt Lewin Time Perspective and Morale 1942
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