Dynamic Multilevel Affective-Rational Expectation-Reconfiguration Theory (DMAERT)

The Dynamic Multilevel Affective-Rational Expectation-Reconfiguration Theory (DMAERT) is proposed as a domain-general candidate framework for examining how expectations, evidence-based appraisal, affective significance, regulatory processes, observable behavior, feedback, and longer-term adaptation interact over time.The primary case, termed Hope-Evidence Discrepancy under Rational Appraisal (HEDRA), concerns a person who identifies with analytical reasoning and critically evaluates an emotionally consequential question. The person's evidence-based evaluation may fail to support an outcome that they had hoped for. They may nevertheless accept the logical result while experiencing a distinct affective response. The person may recognize, reinterpret, regulate, disclose, or fail to identify that response. None of these outcomes is assumed to be inevitable.The central theoretical distinction is between cognitive acceptance, affective response, regulatory strategy, and overt expression. These are related but non-identical constructs. Their relationships may be moderated by personal importance, uncertainty, developmental history, metacognitive awareness, physiological state, social norms, and contextual constraints.The framework integrates 22 analytical layers, operational definitions, candidate mathematical representations, 12 research hypotheses, alternative explanations, boundary conditions, falsifiability criteria, ethical safeguards, and a staged empirical research program. Its formal equations are intended to guide measurement, model comparison, and hypothesis testing; they are not presented as a complete description of neural function.DMAERT is a proposed synthesis rather than an empirically established universal theory. Its distinctiveness, predictive advantage, measurement properties, causal assumptions, and cross-domain generality require systematic literature review, preregistered studies, independent replication, and direct comparison with simpler competing models.Keywords: affective appraisal; expectation discrepancy; rational judgment; emotion regulation; implicit processes; motivated reasoning; developmental conditioning; dynamic systems; multilevel modeling; observable behavior; longitudinal adaptation; HEDRA; DMAERT.