We explain what a belief is, its function, types and examples. Also, what are popular beliefs and limitations.
What is a belief?
A belief is a mental attitude that consists of the acceptance of an experience, an idea or a theory considering them true without any need for argumentative or empirical demonstrations. That is, it is what we decide to believe and affirm without us having the knowledge or evidence that it is or could be true.
Human beings have beliefs of all kinds. They are almost always expressed as propositions or logical statements about the real or imaginary world, since they are one of the first ways of approaching the world that our civilization had at its beginnings. Today they still exist, although we have other, more reliable knowledge tools.
Not every belief is necessarily false but the moment we proceed to verify them factually or scientifically, they cease to be beliefs and become knowledge, scientific laws or other types of knowledge. There are even deep beliefs, of which we are not fully aware, and which nevertheless play some role in shaping our way of seeing the world.
Types of beliefs
According to their origin, beliefs can be of two types:
- External When they come from outside the individual, either because we accept those of our social environment to fit in better, or because we receive an inheritance or informal education in this regard. This is the case of religious beliefs (concerning God and the divine), cultural (related to one's own tradition and that of others), social (related to the treatment of others) or political beliefs (which have to do with the exercise of power). ).
- Internal When they come from the individual's own mind, as a result of their direct experience with the world, or from the interpretation (wrong or not) that a person may make of some event. This is the case with many personal beliefs, especially during childhood.
There are also other ways of classifying beliefs, distinguishing between opinions (which are based on some type of interpretation or speculation based on reality), ideologies (which are born from the very sense of identity of the group to which one belongs) or religions (which have no appreciable link with the knowledge of the world).
Examples of beliefs
Some examples of beliefs are:
- The flat earther collective has the firm belief that planet earth is flat instead of spherical.
- In certain regions of Latin America there is a popular belief that Sweeping a person's feet prevents that person from getting married. In other places the same is believed, but regarding opening an umbrella indoors.
- The Catholic creed defends the belief that Jesus of Nazareth was the messiah son of God, and that his death freed the world from its sins.
- There is a denialist movement in different Western countries that defends the belief that the holocaust that is, the extermination of almost 6 million Jewish people by the Nazi regime in Germany during World War II, It was a hoax concocted by Jewish Zionism to justify the creation of the State of Israel.
- Some economists believe that The capitalist market is regulated by an “invisible hand” which sooner or later always balances supply and demand.
Function of beliefs
Beliefs are approximations to the real world that try to satisfy our needs, through some type of more or less plausible explanation. Beliefs guide us through the world, guide us about who we are and what we want without really telling us what things are, but rather who we are who observe them.
In many cases, shared beliefs allow for friendlier social interaction provide a sense of belonging. They can even serve to establish a certain idea of the norm within a group, as many religions did in ancient civilizations.
Every belief is, at its core, an attempt to calm the anguish caused by living in a world devoid of more meaning than that which we ourselves give it.
popular beliefs
Popular beliefs are known as those that belong to the collective, which are inherited from previous generations and lack authors or singular defenders, but they simply “say themselves.” They may be due to remains of extinct religions or cultural traditions lost in time, or they may be the result of the collective unconscious's way of facing a specific reality.
Urban legends are an example of popular belief. They consist of supposedly true anecdotes, always occurring to someone outside our circle, and which vary according to each society.
The same thing happens with superstitious beliefs, such as that sweeping at night attracts the devil or that opening the refrigerator after ironing, cooking or some activity close to heat, causes shocks or fainting.
Limiting beliefs
It is called a limiting belief. a perception of oneself that, despite having no further foundation, prevents us from carrying out some action that we would like to do, and therefore causes us suffering. That is to say, these are personal beliefs that we never dare to test, because we are convinced of their certainty.
For example: a teenager has the belief that his physique is unpleasant and that he could never interest a girl romantically. This is not true, since he is an average young man, neither very handsome nor very ugly, but he is so convinced of his ugliness that he never dares to approach a girl, much less ask her out, which eventually It would make him realize the truth.
Continue with: Skepticism
References
- “Belief” on Wikipedia.
- “Belief” in the Language Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy.
- “Belief” in Catholic Online Encyclopedia.
- “What is actually a Belief? And why is it so hard to change?” by Ralph Lewis in Psychology Today.
- “Belief” in The Encyclopaedia Britannica.
