This research undertakes an analysis of the semantic network of amānī in the Holy Quran and its reinterpretation in light of cognitive psychology. Its central problem is the explication of the multifaceted nature of this concept and the subtle boundaries distinguishing it from co-field concepts such as rajāʾ (hope) and amal (expectation); concepts that, despite superficial similarity, bear a distinct evaluative and functional weight within the Quranic semantic apparatus. The objective is to present an interdisciplinary reading demonstrating how amānī transforms into a mechanism of cognitive self-deception. The research was conducted using a descriptive-analytical approach and an integrative method combining Quranic semantics, exegetical analysis, and adaptation to psychological theories. Data were gathered through library studies and content analysis of verses, authoritative exegeses of both Shīʿa and Sunni traditions, and lexicographical sources, and were organized within the framework of concepts such as wishful thinking, self-deception, and confirmation bias. The findings formulate amānī along four semantic-exegetical axes: 1. the unscientific fancies of the uneducated strata in the absence of knowledge; 2. exclusivist claims devoid of practical backing; 3. false promises and deceptive suggestions of deviant elites; and 4. delusory fantasies for escaping reality. These axes, when illuminated by cognitive psychology, demonstrate that amānī, through a disturbance in the appraisal of reality, creates a gap between mental image and action and, by consolidating "wishful self-deception," arrests the individual in misguidance. In contrast, rajāʾ is an active hope, reliant upon knowledge and accompanied by righteous action. The result of the research is the presentation of a three-level model—mental image, cognitive appraisal, action—for explicating the process of the formation of constructive or destructive wishes within a novel reading of the Quran.