How does cognitive warfare work in favor of the hegemonic narrative? (3)

Published at: 21/08/2026 06:32 PM

Cognitive warfare is a military and geopolitical tool that uses psychological manipulation, disinformation, social media and artificial intelligence to alter the way people think, feel and make decisions.

According to research carried out by the LISA Institute in Spain, its objective is not to destroy physical infrastructures, but to weaken the human mind, polarize societies and undermine institutional trust from within.

The political analyst in Asia for the news portal Extra News Mundo, Seyed Mohammad Javad Hosseini, conducted research called “Cognitive Warfare, the Formation of War Before the War” and in it he explained that “wars don't necessarily start with the first shot. Before that, a stage is formed where minds, perceptions and calculations are attacked. Cognitive warfare involves managing and directing perceptions, fears and hopes, where the opposing side suffers doubts, anxiety or miscalculations in the mental field before entering the real terrain. In this type of war, individuals' beliefs sometimes influence more than objective facts, and this characteristic makes it one of the most decisive stages of any confrontation”

It is important to know about this type of war because it uses the human mind as the new battlefield through disinformation, social networks and artificial intelligence. It then focuses on altering the way people think, feel and make decisions.

Among the reasons to learn about this lethal tool is the need for personal and social protection, since it allows us to detect cognitive biases that lead to psychological manipulation. It also prevents polarization, the destabilization of institutions, and collective hatred, as well as helping to identify fake news and false flag operations; which guarantees that your decisions and opinions are truly your own.

Understanding this threat is the first step in developing mental resilience and protecting social cohesion in the face of invisible but highly destructive attacks. Recognizing the pattern of cognitive warfare is the fundamental step in protecting our stability and learning to establish clear boundaries with maturity. Dispute also occurs through narratives; then, disinformation, polarization, and language manipulation are part of this soft war.

What are the consequences of being a victim of cognitive warfare?

This type of war impacts both individually and collectively, altering the perception of reality without people noticing it. The effect at an individual level is the loss of autonomy, in which your decisions, votes and opinions become shaped by external agendas and interests or not. The person suffers from a distortion of reality versus the inability to distinguish between real facts and manipulated information. This has consequences and emotional effects such as an increase in the level of stress, anxiety, anger and social fear.

Also, overinformation, regardless of its origin, leads to what they call “paralysis by saturation”, which is the overload of contradictory information that destroys the capacity for critical analysis.

At the collective level, the social impact of cognitive warfare is the rupture of the social fabric and division of communities into irreconcilable bands and creating extreme polarization. Trust within society is even eroded to the point that credibility in science, media and democratic institutions is being destroyed.

Consequently, this distrust brings with it a political destabilization due to the lack of credibility in institutions and the generation of doubts about the manipulation of electoral processes; which means that the exercise of governing is weakened, promoting social chaos without firing a single projectile.

What to do? How is this war being dealt with?

The recommendations to protect the mind against this permanent informational attack revolve around adopting habits of pause and cognitive skepticism, and they propose to apply the rule of 2 minutes, which consists of waiting two minutes before reacting, sharing or commenting on a post that generates an intense emotional response.

They also propose to question the intention of the content, ask yourself questions such as “why is the algorithm showing me this just now?” And, in addition, verify the original source, do not rely on screenshots or isolated quotes; search for the full document, video or interview. It is also recommended to detect your own cognitive biases, which occur when you are accepting information just because it confirms what you were already thinking or what someone you follow thinks.

Although it may seem unattractive to know about this type of war, in the long term, it acts as a silent wear on the mind, permanently modifying the structure of thought and psychological well-being.

AMELYREN BASABE/Mazo News Team