The Psychology of Spies and Spying

Written by John Taylor and Adrian Furnham

Narrated by John Taylor

The Psychology of Spies and Spying tells the story of the people involved in spying: the human sources (agents) who betray their country or organisation and the professional intelligence officers who manage the collection and reporting process. It provides a rigorous psychological analysis of the personality and motivation of individuals involved in spying.
This book shows the importance of developing trust between agents and handlers, between agencies and their government and ultimately the public. It shows how agent handlers, operating in environments of complete secrecy, need to manage dark side behaviours because agents are selected for their access to secrets, not for their qualities. It explains why motivation is rarely simple since it is invariably a combination of many issues.It explains how fiction writers are good at developing plots and the characterisation of spies, but few capture the motivation of agents well. Finally spy gadgets and techniques are also described in detail. Included are twelve agent case studies in which most were motivated by ideology, had significant misfortune in their youth and offered their services rather than being coerced into betrayal.
The Psychology of Spies and Spying promotes the view that in the world of intelligence, it is trust not betrayal which dominates the mindset.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Troubador Publishing Ltd
• Release date: Dec 23, 2022
• ISBN: 9781803134529

John Taylor

John Taylor (b. 1952) is an American writer, critic, and translator who lives in France. Among his many translations of French, Italian, and Greek literature are books by Philippe Jaccottet, Pierre Chappuis, Pierre-Albert Jourdan, Georges Perros, Jacques Dupin, José-Flore Tappy, Pierre Voélin, Catherine Colomb, Lorenzo Calogero, Franca Mancinelli, Alfredo de Palchi, and Elias Petropoulos. About the latter Greek writer, he has written Harsh Out of Tenderness: The Greek Poet and Urban Folklorist Elias Petropoulos. Taylor's translations have been awarded grants and prizes from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Academy of American Poets, Pro Helvetia, and the Sonia Raiziss Charitable Foundation. He is the author of several volumes of short prose and poetry, most recently The Dark Brightness, Grassy Stairways, Remembrance of Water & Twenty-Five Trees, and a "double book" co-authored with Pierre Chappuis, A Notebook of Clouds & A Notebook of Ridges.