All posts tagged: Belief

Which Belief Would You Find Unbearable to Revise?

Which Belief Would You Find Unbearable to Revise?

Published by Jenni Sidey

When we hear the concept of “sacred belief,” we naturally think of religion. Yet moral psychology shows that everyday beliefs can be sacred as well. A belief becomes sacred when a person refuses to question it due to deep emotional investment and a strong sense of personal and group identity built around it. The psychological machinery behind sacred beliefs is motivated reasoning. We hold on to a belief, regardless of its empirical defensibility, by filtering out contrary evidence, consciously or otherwise. The antidote is simple to state but difficult to practice: critically interrogating precisely those beliefs we hold most dear. Doing so is essential to epistemic humility, something I learned the hard way. Despite the title of my blog, I wasn’t always “post-tribal.” I spent my young adult life identifying avidly with the progressive left. I worked for labor unions and community organizations, and had a few jail stints, one in Mexico, for getting into “good trouble.” Years of activism prolonged my Ph.D., and the low pay of social justice work left me paying off …

This powerful belief can help you accomplish more

This powerful belief can help you accomplish more

Published by Jenni Sidey

In the 1970s, academic psychology escaped from studying just behavior to start studying mental life. Albert Bandura, the father of this cognitive revolution within social psychology, led the way in 1977 with “self-efficacy.” An “efficacy expectation” is the belief — the conscious thought — that you, yourself, can bring about the goal you desire, and this is distinguished from an “outcome expectation,” which is the belief that your goal will happen, even if you are not the agent who brings it about. Self-efficacy implies the existence of much more than the bare fact that depriving people of control results in passivity or the bare fact that control is rewarding. Those effects may or may not be caused by thoughts. Self-efficacy claims that there are conscious expectations of the future that cause trying in the future. Indeed, this turns out to be true and is the strongest sense of efficacy. Richard Lazarus, across the bay from Bandura (at Stanford) in Berkeley, proposed appraisal theory. When an event occurs, the person first assesses the consequences of the …

The ABC’s of Belief: Aliens, Bigfoot, and Chupacabra

The ABC’s of Belief: Aliens, Bigfoot, and Chupacabra

Published by Sam Flores

A recent poll found an interesting blend of belief and skepticism among the general public when it comes to the ABCs: Aliens, Bigfoot, and Chupacabra. In a YouGov poll of 1,114 American adults, when asked “How likely do you think it is that each of the following beings exist?” about aliens, Bigfoot, and the chupacabra, more than half of those polled, 56%, said that aliens definitely or probably exist, while 31% expressed doubt, saying they definitely or probably do not; only 14% said they weren’t sure. Extraterrestrials are one thing, but (presumably) terrestrial cryptids didn’t fare quite so well. 28% said that Bigfoot definitely or probably exist, while 60% expressed doubt, saying they definitely or probably do not; only 12% said they weren’t sure. And as for my favorite vampire, the chupacabra, 16% said they definitely or probably exist, while 60% expressed doubt, saying they definitely or probably do not, and 24% said they weren’t sure. It’s interesting that, statistically, most people don’t believe in the two monsters, suggesting that while many may find popular …

You can’t argue your way out of a limiting belief

You can’t argue your way out of a limiting belief

Published by Jenni Sidey

For years, I wanted to be a writer, and for years, my wanting added up to exactly zero actions required to be a writer. I had my idols: Mark Manson, Tim Ferriss, Brené Brown, Ramit Sethi, James Clear, people who thought for a living and put it on a page. I looked at them and thought, “I want to do that.” But I couldn’t hit publish, not in public. Academic articles were fine. They were a currency and a necessity to earn my PhD, part of the game I’d signed up for. And if we’re honest, probably fewer than 10 people were going to read those anyway. But public writing would be my name, on LinkedIn, with the workings of my heart and mind revealed, and people could see it. The horror! So I waited for a long time. For more experience. For more craft. For the day when I’d acquire enough of whatever it was that writers had and I did not. Then a friendly bet with two friends (write one post a week …

France fuelled by unshakeable belief, says Deschamps

France fuelled by unshakeable belief, says Deschamps

Published by Sam Flores

BOSTON, July 9 : France never doubted they would go through despite Kylian Mbappe missing a penalty and having wasted several chances in the first half in their World Cup quarter-final clash against Morocco, coach Didier Deschamps said on Thursday. Mbappe had his 28th-minute penalty stopped by Yassine Bounou but Les Bleus continued to press and came close on the brink of halftime when Lucas Digne’s long-range attempt crashed onto the bar. France, however, showed no signs of frustration as they patiently poked the ball around waiting for Mbappe, Michael Olise, Desire Doue or Ousmane Dembele to find the space they needed. “We lacked efficiency and had this penalty saved in the first half, several chances, but there was never any doubt, especially not Kylian,” Deschamps told a press conference after the 2-0 win sent them through to face either Spain or Belgium for a place in the final, which would be Les Bleus’ third in a row after their 2018 triumph and the 2022 heartbreak. “We have done everything right to pin them. We suffocated them …

IM Youngzoo’s ‘The Late’ Meditates on Belief and Technology

IM Youngzoo’s ‘The Late’ Meditates on Belief and Technology

Published by Jenni Sidey

It’s hot out and the sun must be at its zenith because you can spot a woman’s shadow against the parched asphalt as she walks down the street. The woman, however, isn’t quite visible. Sometimes you see a bit of her hat, her jacket, or her hands, but mostly she is obscured by a spray of scattered light that warps the world around it. At “The Late,” artist IM Youngzoo’s solo show at Brooklyn’s Space ZeroOne—on view until July 25—the shadow and the attendant wormhole of light leap from one screen to another and another in many different direction. Behind the shadow is Youngzoo with a camera made for filming VR environments, cut to focus on the one point that is usually edited out: the emanating blind spot of the camera. Source link

Humanism After Belief: What Responsibility Requires

Humanism After Belief: What Responsibility Requires

Published by Sam Flores

Secular humanism has been remarkably effective at dismantling religious metaphysics. It has been far less willing to ask what it owes the people who must live without them. For many secular humanists, this omission feels reasonable. If a belief is false, arbitrary or harmful, then exposing it should be enough. Truth, after all, is a moral good which respects the dignity and rationality of human beings. But this confidence rests on an assumption that deserves closer scrutiny: that removing belief is ethically sufficient, regardless of the psychological and moral weight that belief had been carrying. It is here that humanism encounters an unresolved moral responsibility—one that critique alone cannot discharge. Dignity, Purpose, and the Human Condition Human dignity is inherent. It does not depend on status, achievement, belief or obedience. But lived dignity—the experience of oneself as a moral agent—does not exist in abstraction. It must be enacted. And enactment requires orientation. Human beings cannot live a dignified life without a sense of purpose that renders their actions meaningfully directed—not because their worth must be …