Chapter 18
About Belief
It’s
Thanksgiving evening. You are sitting at a dining table with a large turkey and
numerous relatives. You start talking politics (maybe not the best idea) with
your cousin who is visiting from out of state. Quickly, you are alarmed by her beliefs about the country's current problems and how to fix them. You
try to offer logical counterarguments on some sensitive issues, but you might as
well be talking to a brick wall. When the conversation drifts into religion,
she becomes as red-faced as you feel. What is happening here?
Beliefs
engage multiple overlapping brain systems, including those linked to reward,
evaluation, and prediction. Belief is a prediction mechanism. Our brains are
continuously generating models of the world based on sensory input coupled with
prior experience. When new input matches our internal models, we feel
validated. (Hurrah!) When they don’t, we feel challenged (Hey now!). If our
prefrontal cortex is doing its job, it is frequently absorbing new evidence,
making assessments, and updating its internal representation as needed. If we
fight this process, because, for example, of a strong ideological belief that
empowers our emotional or motivational systems, we are soon living in a false
universe.
Changing
beliefs is difficult because beliefs are more than cognitive constructs; they are linked to our amygdala-centric emotions of fear, threat, and morality, and
our “gut feeling”, associated with our Insula, reinforces our convictions or
doubts. When a belief is confirmed, the release of dopamine produces a sense of
satisfaction, and the belief is reinforced. Confirmation bias feels much better
than cognitive dissonance.
Furthermore,
changing a belief feels like an attack on our sense of self because it requires
the reorganization of neural networks that sustain our sense of coherence and
identity. Logic and reason are no match for the resisting powers of threat
avoidance, self-imaging, and emotional regulation. So, the next time you try to
change another person’s strongly held “weird” - even harmful - belief, know
that logic alone will rarely succeed. Research shows that logical arguments
often only strengthen their viewpoint. In the end, they are more likely to
choose their belief over your friendship.
We
will discuss the power of social relations in Part IV. But it is worthwhile at
this point to make a connection between social norms and neuroscience. Shared
beliefs generate group cohesion because our brains are wired to reinforce
bonding and cooperation. Challenges to group beliefs can trigger our threat
response and promote the defensive hostility we observe in ideological or
religious conflicts.
In
fact, moral beliefs are neurologically based and involve our capacity for
emotional empathy and abstract reasoning. The neurological coupling of reason
and emotion gives moral conviction its strength and inflexibility.
In
conclusion, belief is neither fantasy nor truth. It is our brain’s best bet at
making sense of an infinitely complex world. Beliefs help our brain minimize
the stress of uncertainty, maintain our social relations, and conserve precious
mental energy. Belief is one of our greatest gifts and greatest
vulnerabilities.