My Own Writing
Definition
Belief formation is the process by which people creates a representation of the world that they consider to be true.
There is wide disparity in the ways different people form their beliefs. Some simply accept ideas uncritically from another source (such as a religious text), while others are much more careful, and subject them to rigorous inspection and validation before incorporating them into their belief system.
Handling Conflicting Information
When I encounter a new belief (information purporting to represent the world), it either conflicts with one or more of my existing beliefs or it doesn’t. If it doesn’t, and if it appears to be true, then I simply incorporate it into my belief system (i.e. I learn something).
If it does conflict, then I must decide if the new information is true or if my existing belief is true. So I then carefully evaluate the conflicting idea. Is it logically valid? Is there evidence to support it? If not, I reject it. But if it appears to be true, I then closely examine my own beliefs, and reassess their validity. If my belief is not foundational, and changing it will have little ramifications, then I’ll probably accept the new idea and drop my earlier belief. But if it is foundational, then I’ll turn my attention back to new idea at look at it even more closely.
At a certain point in life, you’ve accumulated enough information which corresponds to reality so well that changes to foundational belief become very rare or non-existent.
Confirmation Bias
From Wikipedia on 1-Jan-2013
How beliefs are formed
Psychologists study belief formation and the relationship between beliefs and actions. Beliefs form in a variety of ways:
We tend to internalise the beliefs of the people around us during childhood. Albert Einstein is often quoted as having said that “Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.” Political beliefs depend most strongly on the political beliefs most common in the community where we live. Most individuals believe the religion they were taught in childhood.
People may adopt the beliefs of a charismatic leader, even if those beliefs fly in the face of all previous beliefs, and produce actions that are clearly not in their own self-interest. Is belief voluntary? Rational individuals need to reconcile their direct reality with any said belief; therefore, if belief is not present or possible, it reflects the fact that contradictions were necessarily overcome using cognitive dissonance.
Advertising can form or change beliefs through repetition, shock, and association with images of sex, love, beauty, and other strong positive emotions.
Physical trauma, especially to the head, can radically alter a person’s beliefs. However, even educated people, well aware of the process by which beliefs form, still strongly cling to their beliefs, and act on those beliefs even against their own self-interest. In Anna Rowley’s Leadership Theory, she states “You want your beliefs to change. It’s proof that you are keeping your eyes open, living fully, and welcoming everything that the world and people around you can teach you.” This means that peoples’ beliefs should evolve as they gain new experiences.