What is this tool?
The Narrative-Credibility Index (NCI) is a 20-question worksheet that turns gut-level suspicion into a measurable score. Whether you’re looking at a viral TikTok, a breaking-news headline, or a friend’s Facebook post, the checklist helps you spot the classic fingerprints of a psychological operation (psy-op) before you hit share or send.
How to use it
- Read / watch the content once.
- Work through each item: 0 = not present, 5 = screaming loud.
- Add the column. A total ≥ 70 means the story shows the same emotional and structural tricks used in military-grade information warfare—treat it as deliberate manipulation until proven otherwise.
PsyOp Probability Checker
Narrative-credibility Index (NCI)
20-Point Narrative-Credibility Index (NCI) – score any story, post, or video
| # | Item | Typical red-flag example | Score 0-5 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Strong emotional hook | Headline: “Children will die unless…”; thumbnail of crying baby | |
| 2 | Clear villain | “Big Pharma”, “the deep state”, “Putin”, “the unvaxxed”—pure evil | |
| 3 | Clear hero / saviour | “Brave truckers”, “President X”, “This little-known supplement” | |
| 4 | Us-vs-Them framing | “Patriots vs. globalists”, “citizens vs. elites” | |
| 5 | Over-simplified cause | “Gas prices high ONLY because of greedy CEOs” | |
| 6 | Urgent call to action | “Share before they delete it!”, “Call Congress TODAY” | |
| 7 | Little hard evidence | No links, no data—just screenshots or “trust me” | |
| 8 | Anonymous / unverifiable sources | “High-level Pentagon source”, deleted tweet | |
| 9 | Story changes or vanishes | URL 404s after 24 h; headline quietly edited | |
| 10 | Heavy visual symbolism | Flags, eagles, red/black colours, raised fist | |
| 11 | Repetitive slogans | “Build back better”, “Stop the steal”, “Safe and effective” | |
| 12 | Black-and-white morality | “If you question this you support terrorists” | |
| 13 | Appeals to authority without data | “The CDC says…” (no study cited) | |
| 14 | Social-proof bandwagon | “Everyone knows this”, ticker: “1.2 M likes” | |
| 15 | Doomsday framing | “Civil war by Christmas”, “Mass die-off imminent” | |
| 16 | Too-good-to-be-true promise | “Earn $10 k a week working 2 h/day” | |
| 17 | Critics instantly demonised | “Shills”, “Russian bots”, “conspiracy theorists” | |
| 18 | Convenient timing | Story drops same day as big vote, IPO, rival scandal | |
| 19 | Cross-platform blast | Identical wording on Twitter, TikTok, Telegram within minutes | |
| 20 | No opposing view shown | Comments disabled, “fact-checkers are biased” | |
| Total Score | / 100 | ||
How to interpret
- 0 – 39 Low probability (still verify)
- 40 – 69 Mixed / stay sceptic
- 70 – 100 High probability of psy-op narrative
Why care about psy-ops?
Psychological operations aren’t movie plots—they’re daily tools used by governments, corporations, extremist groups, and click-bait farms. Their single aim is to change what you feel so they can steer what you do: vote, buy, protest, or simply panic-scroll and watch more ads.
Classic recipe
- Emotional spike (fear, pride, outrage) to short-circuit critical thinking.
- False urgency (“Act now, before it’s too late!”) to bypass second opinions.
- Villain + saviour narrative to give you a ready-made identity group.
- Repeat, repeat, repeat until the story feels like common knowledge.
Real-world ripple effects
- Health psy-ops can drive people to abandon life-saving medicine.
- Political psy-ops can suppress voter turnout or incite violence.
- Market psy-ops can inflate or crash stocks, currencies, or crypto.
- Social psy-ops can fracture families and friendships in a weekend.
Take-away
You don’t need to become a professional fact-checker—just slow the spread. When a story scores high on the NCI, pause, demand primary sources, and let the temperature drop before you amplify it. In the information age, attention is the real currency; spend yours on signal, not noise.