vi
now you see it: our brains predict the outcomes of our actions, shaping reality into what we expect. that’s why we see what we believe
daniel yon 2019
https://aeon.co/essays/how-our-brain-sculpts-experience-in-line-with-our-expectations
implicit pattern learning predicts individual differences in belief in god in the united states and afghanistan
adam b. weinberger et al. 2020
doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-18362-3
Our hypothesis is that people whose brains are good at subconsciously discerning patterns in their environment may ascribe those patterns to the hand of a higher power," he adds.
"A really interesting observation was what happened between childhood and adulthood," explains Green. The data suggest that if children are unconsciously picking up on patterns in the environment, their belief is more likely to increase as they grow up, even if they are in a nonreligious household. Likewise, if they are not unconsciously picking up on patterns around them, their belief is more likely to decrease as they grow up, even in a religious household.
The study used a well-established cognitive test to measure implicit pattern learning. Participants watched as a sequence of dots appeared and disappeared on a computer screen. They pressed a button for each dot. The dots moved quickly, but some participants -- the ones with the strongest implicit learning ability -- began to subconsciously learn patterns hidden in the sequence, and even press the correct button for the next dot before that dot actually appeared. However, even the best implicit learners did not know that the dots formed patterns, showing that the learning was happening at an unconscious level.
The U.S. section of the study enrolled a predominantly Christian group of 199 participants from Washington, D.C. The Afghanistan section of the study enrolled a group of 149 Muslim participants in Kabul. The study's lead author was Adam Weinberger, a postdoctoral researcher in Green's lab at Georgetown and at the University of Pennsylvania. Co-authors Zachery Warren and Fathali Moghaddam led a team of local Afghan researchers who collected data in Kabul.
"The most interesting aspect of this study, for me, and also for the Afghan research team, was seeing patterns in cognitive processes and beliefs replicated across these two cultures," says Warren. "Afghans and Americans may be more alike than different, at least in certain cognitive processes involved in religious belief and making meaning of the world around us. Irrespective of one's faith, the findings suggest exciting insights into the nature of belief."
"A brain that is more predisposed to implicit pattern learning may be more inclined to believe in a god no matter where in the world that brain happens to find itself, or in which religious context," Green adds, though he cautions that further research is necessary.
"Optimistically," Green concludes, "this evidence might provide some neuro-cognitive common ground at a basic human level between believers of disparate faiths."
abstract Most humans believe in a god, but many do not. Differences in belief have profound societal impacts. Anthropological accounts implicate bottom-up perceptual processes in shaping religious belief, suggesting that individual differences in these processes may help explain variation in belief. Here, in findings replicated across socio-religiously disparate samples studied in the U.S. and Afghanistan, implicit learning of patterns/order within visuospatial sequences (IL-pat) in a strongly bottom-up paradigm predict 1) stronger belief in an intervening/ordering god, and 2) increased strength-of-belief from childhood to adulthood, controlling for explicit learning and parental belief. Consistent with research implicating IL-pat as a basis of intuition, and intuition as a basis of belief, mediation models support a hypothesized effect pathway whereby IL-pat leads to intuitions of order which, in turn, lead to belief in ordering gods. The universality and variability of human IL-pat may thus contribute to the global presence and variability of religious belief.
battling the gods: atheism in the ancient world
tim whitmarsh 2015
the misinformation age: how false beliefs spread
cailin o’connor, james owen weatherall 2019
the little book of humanism: universal lessons on finding purpose, meaning and joy
andrew copson, alice roberts 2020
belief in own worth
we are often exhorted to be confident our courageous, but these qualities come from belief in our own abilities and our capacity to deal with things. that is why these traits are good or attractive, because they show our capabilities. it also follows that if we wish to be truly confident or courageous then what we need to do is learn, reflect on, and build our capabilities.
belief in worth of others
this is often called idealism by people who do not understand what it means that everyone is someone worth cherishing.
interpreting attachment theory
lacks belief in own worth
anxious attachment style
lacks belief in worth of others
avoidant attachment style
lacks belief in own worth and worth of others
anxious-avoidant attachment style
has belief in own worth and worth of others
secure attachment style
we are enslaved by our beliefs, in a way that might seem impossible at first glance. when you try to understand it, it turns out to be much worse and at the same time, much better than it seems.
murder in the name of honor or justice or god might seem wrong to some people who are privileged not to believe in those specific beliefs. but we all believe some things which, if we were privileged not to believe them, we would find abhorrent.
i am as influenced by my emotions and beliefs as everybody else. but we can also try to change those emotions and beliefs for the future.