Cognitive and Affective Components of Cyber Operations

Miguel Gomez

2018 – 2023

The existing literature that addresses the decision to engage in and the responses to cyber operations are frequently grounded in either systemic or technological accounts of why states utilize cyber operations as an instrument of national power. Despite the growth of academic interest surrounding the exercise of power in cyberspace, little has been said regarding micro-level factors that influence foreign policy elites and publics. In response, this project surfaces the cognitive and affective components that (1) determine how cyber power is exercised, (2) facilitate the emergence of bias amongst decision-makers, (3) and how publics perceive cybersecurity incidents. By employing cross-national survey experiments and simulations, this project offers a nuanced understanding of strategic decision-making among policy elites and the formation of public opinion across publics, providing an opportunity to inform policy development in the future better.