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Our beliefs are shaped on an individual level by our life experiences and on a social level by the groups that we are members of.
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Level 1
“For brains, everything is noise at first.”
Science journalist David McRaney summarizes how beliefs form. Surrounded by noise, our brains, mostly unconsciously, start recognizing causal patterns. This recognition involves formulating and testing causal predictions.
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Level 2
Based on our experiences, we construct broader beliefs about how things work. Out of noise, we create a predictable order. Since everybody experiences different life situations, everyone’s beliefs are different. This is hard for us to understand because our beliefs feel normal.
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Level 3
“[Brain] modules /…/ can simultaneously hold different, mutually contradictory views”.
According to evolutionary psychologist Robert Kurzban the brain consists of multiple modules, each with a different function and often working independently. The modules can have different views and even keep information from each other.
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The modularity of our brain causes our beliefs to be inconsistent. This inconsistency brings the risk of being seen as hypocrites and cast out of society.
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Level 4
“Our brains are /…/ relentless and compelling improvisers, creating the mind, moment by moment.”
Behavioral scientist Nick Chater rejects the idea of us having an inner world with beliefs. He writes: “We generate our beliefs /…/ in-the-moment.”
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Chater doesn’t think that our beliefs are created out of nothing. Our past experiences constitute the starting point but only to be creatively reinterpreted.
In effect, Chater tells us that we continually reinvent ourselves.
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Level 5
“[P]eople are surprisingly ignorant, more ignorant than they think.”
Cognitive scientists Steven Sloman and Philip Fernbach claim that our brains are too limited to create justified beliefs about our complicated, dynamic surroundings. We fill the gaps with other people’s beliefs.
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We don’t know how ignorant we are, because we don’t notice how heavily our beliefs depend on others. Since other people’s beliefs and our beliefs reinforce each other we unjustly think there must be a firm basis for our beliefs.
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Level 6
“[T]he groups people belong to are often fundamental to their /.../ understanding of who they are”
According to psychologists Jay Van Bavel and Dominic Packer, we are members of multiple groups. To a different degree, every group triggers a particular social identity in us with accompanying beliefs.
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When activated each social identity has a profound effect on us. Each social identity co-shapes our perception and interpretation of the world.
