International Journal For Multidisciplinary Research

E-ISSN: 2582-2160   •   Impact Factor: 9.24

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Volume 8 Issue 5
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Beyond Persuasion: Algorithmic Reality Engineering and Cognitive Substrate Hijacking (ARE-CSH) in Next-Generation Psychological Operations

Author(s) Majdi T. Rahman
Country Turkey
Abstract Psychological operations (PSYOP) have conventionally been theorized as linear acts of persuasion in which a sender transmits a message through a medium to a receiver presumed to evaluate it deliberatively. This research article argues that the model has become analytically inadequate in environments where the informational infrastructure itself mediates perception. It advances the Theory of Algorithmic Reality Engineering and Cognitive Substrate Hijacking (ARE-CSH), which holds that next-generation PSYOP operates less on beliefs than on the conditions under which beliefs are formed. By shaping recommendation systems, personalized micro-stimuli, and synthetic media, an operator can alter perceptual boundaries, a process termed epistemic conditioning, without engaging top-level cognitive evaluation. The research article specifies four stages of Cognitive Substrate Hijacking (epistemic pre-conditioning, affective resonance capture, algorithmic loop reinforcement, and reality bifurcation with neural exhaustion), derives four testable propositions, and situates the framework in a comparative matrix against twentieth-century PSYOP and early digital information warfare. It argues that fact-checking and media literacy, while valuable, are structurally insufficient against conditioning at the substrate level, and proposes a defense model built on structural algorithmic hygiene, epistemic isolation routines, and cognitive stress inoculation. The framework is offered as a set of falsifiable hypotheses rather than established findings, and boundary conditions are identified throughout.
Keywords psychological operations, cognitive warfare, algorithmic governance, epistemic conditioning, synthetic media, strategic communication
Field Sociology > Philosophy / Psychology / Religion
Published In Volume 8, Issue 5, September-October 2026
Published On 2026-10-22
DOI https://doi.org/10.36948/ijfmr.2026.v08i05.90203
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CrossRef DOI prefix of IJFMR is 10.36948/ijfmr

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