What about statements that are so loaded to their listeners that they’re rejected outright, with seemingly no consideration? Are they subject to the same process (and have such outrageous implications that they’re rejected at once), or do they work differently?
To take a more extreme example, when we read the following:
You’re a tree.
we must believe this claim as we do. But our belief only lasts the fraction of a second that it takes us to conclude that we’re not a tree, and we’ll therefore likely have no recollection of it.
So, although we always believe a claim upon it entering our mind—whether it was produced by our own mind or someone else’s—that belief can also then be replaced with equal ease, and possibly by an immediately preceding belief, and possibly within such a short period of time that we have no recollection of our brief belief. Therefore, upon being presented with this theory of belief formation, and then thinking about how we form beliefs in practice, we may falsely recall, or imagine, cases of us not believing claims upon them entering our mind. Also, as will be explained in part seven, the briefness of such beliefs is one of several reasons why our belief of every claim that enters our mind doesn’t naturally come to our attention.
To think X is to believe X
Regarding claims, as explained, if claim X exists in our mind, then we must be either thinking X or thinking about X. Therefore, as we’re simply thinking ‘There’s milk in the fridge’, we’re not thinking about this claim. That is, we’re simply thinking about the existence of milk in the fridge, and not about this claim about the existence of milk in the fridge. Therefore, as we’re simply thinking this claim, its content can’t exist in our mind as the content of a claim, because that would involve thinking about the claim. And if, as we’re simply thinking this claim, its content doesn’t exist in our mind as the content of a mere claim—a mere representation—then the only other logical possibility is that it exists in our mind as reality. And to say that the content of a claim exists in our mind as reality is to say that we believe it. Therefore, simply thinking ‘There’s milk in the fridge’ involves believing that there’s milk in the fridge. And the same logic applies to our thinking any claim: thinking claim X necessarily involves believing X.
This link seems to be assuming that one’s prior internal state does not influence the initial mental representation of data in any way. I don’t have any concrete studies to share refuting that, but let’s consider a thought experiment.
Say someone really hates trees. Like ‘trees are the scum of the earth, I would never be in any way associated with such disgusting things’ hates trees. It’s such a strong hate, and they’ve dwelled on it for so long (trees are quite common, after all, it’s not like they can completely forget about them), that it’s bled over into nearly all of their subconscious thought patterns relevant to the subject.
I would think it plausible that the example claim in the article you link wouldn’t reach whatever part of this person’s brain/mind encodes beliefs in the form “You’re a tree”. Instead, their subconscious would transform the input into “<dissonance>You’re a <disgust>tree</disgust>.</dissonance>”. Or perhaps the disgust at the term tree would inherently add the dissonance while the sentence was still being constructed from its constituent words. Just as their visual recognition and language systems are translating the patterns of black and white into words and then a sentence before they reach their belief system, their preexisting emotional attachments would automatically be applied to the mental object before it was considered, causing their initial reaction to be disbelief rather than belief.
It may be more accurate to say we believe everything we think, even if only for a moment; and in most cases we do think what we read/hear in the instant we’re perceiving it. But when the two are different I’d expect even our instantaneous reactions to reflect the actual thought, rather than the words that prompted it.
What about statements that are so loaded to their listeners that they’re rejected outright, with seemingly no consideration? Are they subject to the same process (and have such outrageous implications that they’re rejected at once), or do they work differently?
This paper gives a logical account. Excerpt -
To think X is to believe X
This link seems to be assuming that one’s prior internal state does not influence the initial mental representation of data in any way. I don’t have any concrete studies to share refuting that, but let’s consider a thought experiment.
Say someone really hates trees. Like ‘trees are the scum of the earth, I would never be in any way associated with such disgusting things’ hates trees. It’s such a strong hate, and they’ve dwelled on it for so long (trees are quite common, after all, it’s not like they can completely forget about them), that it’s bled over into nearly all of their subconscious thought patterns relevant to the subject.
I would think it plausible that the example claim in the article you link wouldn’t reach whatever part of this person’s brain/mind encodes beliefs in the form “You’re a tree”. Instead, their subconscious would transform the input into “<dissonance>You’re a <disgust>tree</disgust>.</dissonance>”. Or perhaps the disgust at the term tree would inherently add the dissonance while the sentence was still being constructed from its constituent words.
Just as their visual recognition and language systems are translating the patterns of black and white into words and then a sentence before they reach their belief system, their preexisting emotional attachments would automatically be applied to the mental object before it was considered, causing their initial reaction to be disbelief rather than belief.
It may be more accurate to say we believe everything we think, even if only for a moment; and in most cases we do think what we read/hear in the instant we’re perceiving it. But when the two are different I’d expect even our instantaneous reactions to reflect the actual thought, rather than the words that prompted it.