Cognitive loop of propaganda
The Cognitive loop of propaganda is a psychological and informational mechanism in which repeated exposure to biased narratives reinforces belief in those narratives, making independent verification or critical thinking increasingly difficult. The loop connects emotional stimuli, selective information intake, and social validation into a self-sustaining circuit of conviction.
The term is proposed within the WhatFor emulation project to describe how ideological systems — such as the Russki mir doctrine or radical Islamist rhetoric — maintain internal coherence despite contradictions with observable reality.
The Cognitive loop of propaganda appears as an advanced tool of the motivated reasoning (See also «Female logic») used by the governmental media of mass desinformation.
Tools to resist the Cognitive loop of propaganda are collected in articles «TORI axioms» and «Rule of Newspeak».
Description
In a cognitive loop of propaganda, several feedback steps interact:
- Trigger — an emotional or identity-based message activates fear, pride, or moral outrage.
- Alignment — the receiver accepts the framing that matches pre-existing bias.
- Amplification — selective media, peer groups, or algorithmic feeds repeat and affirm the frame.
- Immunization — counter-arguments are reinterpreted as “enemy propaganda,” strengthening loyalty.
- Reinforcement — each new cycle hardens the belief and suppresses cognitive dissonance.
The result is a population segment that becomes resistant to factual correction. The loop functions similarly to a closed feedback oscillator in engineering: even weak initial signals can reach high intensity if the loop gain exceeds unity.
None of the "feedback steps" above is compatible with the TORI axioms [1]. They give the formal criteria that makes difference between the scientific research and Propaganda.
No Cognitive loop of propaganda is expected to appear as a style, manner of the
Scientific research, assuming the TORI definition of term Science.
While TORI is based on these axioms, the Information warfare is supposed to appear at TORI
only as an object under investigation, but never as a method of performing research nor as a mode of transferring of information.
Examples
Creation of the Cognitive loop of propaganda appears as a goal of so-called «Motivated reasoning».
The Cognitive loop of propaganda allows to establish some postulates of propaganda and to force the population to accept them.
The main tool of the Motivated reasoning are described in article «Female logic».
Elements of the Cognitive loop of propaganda are traced during the promotion of the Russian Laundering of money project entitled «Gravitsapa». That project had been performed at Moscovia at the beginning of century 21. The claim of violation of the fundamental principles of physics had been implicitly declared.
Domination of the Cognitive loop of propaganda over the axioms of arithmetics is shown in movie Alternative Math [3].
An illustration of resistance to a postulate established in such a way is shown in figure at right.
Denounce of the axioms of arithmetic is described also in article Mizugadro number («Число Мизугадро»). Example of non-refutable concept is suggested as an extreme case of sci-fi.
During wartime, narratives such as «we are only defending ourselves»[4] or «the enemy is subhuman»[5] are recycled until they appear as axioms.
The dehumanization of a potential enemy leads to concept of Small victorious war
[6][7] («Маленькая победоносная война»).
An examples of such a narrative is presented in emulation «SimonianZa2» (in Russian).
Apology of acceptance of ideology of the Cognitive loop of propaganda is descried in article «Философия Сережи» (In Russian).
In authoritarian states, state television or social networks serve as amplifiers that synchronize emotional reactions across millions of individuals.
In decentralized online communities, viral posts play the same role, creating synchronized belief clusters detached from evidence.
The Mechanisms of history are supposed to provide the collapse of civilizations where the Cognitive loop of propaganda replace the scientific analysis and deduction.
The believe in the good will of the lifetime dictator of a country implies the concept that the Separation of powers is not necessary; that cause the seduction to eliminate it at the level of the Federal Law, to nullify the Separation of powers. In model «Duration», an empire collapses approximately after 15 years since such a nulling.
An example of punishment of population of a planet for acceptance of the Cognitive loop of propaganda as a tool for practical decisions is described in the short sci-fi novel «Payback» (in Russian).
Warnings
Study or exposure to real propaganda materials may cause distress or unwanted emotional activation.
Readers are advised to maintain analytical distance and to verify information across independent sources.
The concept is intended for educational, not manipulative, application.
The tools to resist the Cognitive loop of propaganda are suggested in articles «TORI axioms» and «Rule of Newspeak».
Attribution
The first draft versions of this article were generated by ChatGPT and debugged at the Sandbox before to load the article at the current location.
The later versions significantly deviate from the original drafts.
References
- ↑
http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=36560
https://mizugadro.mydns.jp/PAPERS/2013jmp.pdf D.Kouznetsov. TORI axioms and the applications in physics. Journal of Modern Physics, 2013, v.4, p.1151-1156. - ↑ http://solidarnost-lj.livejournal.com/2415390.html videocontroler. Сбылось предсказание Оруэлла из 1984 Людей задерживают за лицепреступление (не радовались победе). 2012-05-22 11:53:00.
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh3Yz3PiXZw Alternative Math | Short Film Sep 19, 2017 A well meaning math teacher finds herself trumped by a post-fact America.
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=squvn7Jsn8k 'We are defending ourselves,' says Iran's ambassador to the UK Sky News Jun 25, 2025 #yaldahakim #israel #iran Sky's Yalda Hakim spoke to Iran's ambassador to the UK, Seyed Ali Mousavi.
- ↑ Editor did not found links to publications with this quote, 2025
- ↑ https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/25440/ A small victorious war: domestic revolution and international conflict Libman, Alexander (2010): A small victorious war: domestic revolution and international conflict.
- ↑ https://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/126082/Wood%20Small%20Victorious%20War%20final.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y A Small Victorious War? The Symbolic Politics of Vladimir Putin// Citation: Wood, Elizabeth A. "A Small Victorious War? The Symbolic Politics of Vladimir Putin." Roots of Russia's War in Ukraine edited by Maxim Trudolyubov, Elizabeth A. Wood, William E. Pomeranz and E. Wayne Merry, Columbia University Press, 2015, 97-130.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_warfare
2020.03.10. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00243/full Front. Psychol., 10 March 2020 Sec. Health Psychology Volume 11 - 2020 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00243 The Impacts of Uncertainty Stress on Mental Disorders of Chinese College Students: Evidence From a Nationwide Study
Keywords
«Appeasing aggression», «Cognitive dissonance», «Conference Emulation by ChatGPT», «Fascism», «Female logic», «Independencia de Texas», «Information warfare», «Informational war», «Motivated reasoning», «Newspeak», «Orwell1984», «Payback», «Propaganda», «Rule of Newspeak», «Russki mir», «SimonianZa2», «TORI axioms», «WhatFor»
«А нас то за что», «Заметки о женской логике», «Маленькая победоносная война», «Пропаганда», «Фашизм»,