Belief Formation Research Articles

The Role of Religious Metaphors in Cognition Based on the Bible

The intricate relationship between religion and metaphor has long been a focal point of academic inquiry. This study uses the Bible as its main research topic to analyze the function and varieties of metaphors in religious texts and their effects on human cognition. It does this by drawing on cognitive linguistics and hermeneutic techniques. The study divides religious metaphors into two categories: single- and multi-interpretation kinds. It then uses concrete examples to examine how these metaphors are expressed and what cognitive underpinnings they have in the Bible. The paper underscores the diversity and dynamic nature of metaphor interpretation, revealing the essential role metaphors play in religious communication and belief formation. Ultimately, this study not only enhances our cognitive understanding of religious metaphors but also offers new perspectives for cross-cultural religious research.

Understanding friendship

AbstractThis article takes issue with two prominent views in the current debate around epistemic partiality in friendship. Strong views of epistemic partiality hold that friendship may require biased beliefs in direct conflict with epistemic norms. Weak views hold that friendship may place normative expectations on belief formation but in a manner that does not violate these norms. It is argued that neither view succeeds in explaining the relationship between epistemic norms and friendship norms. Weak views inadvertently endorse a form of motivated reasoning, failing to resolve the normative clash they seek to avoid. Strong views turn out to be incoherent once we consider the question of whether the requirement to form an epistemically partial belief is independent of whether the belief in question would be true. It is then argued that an epistemology of friendship should recognise the special role that understanding plays in friendship. On this view, friendship normatively requires understanding the truth about our friends. This entails that epistemic partiality, far from being a requirement, is in fact at odds with good friendship.

Evolution of Teachers' Teaching Beliefs About Mathematics in a Teacher Education Program.

Teachers' teaching beliefs encompass the underlying perspectives that they hold. These beliefs significantly influence teacher actions in complex ways, thereby impacting the implementation of curriculum reform. However, existing research has revealed inconsistencies between teaching beliefs and actual practices. Employing a case study approach, this study adopts a reflective belief model to address this issue and explore the mechanisms of teaching belief formation within the context of a teacher education program in China. The findings indicate that teaching beliefs can evolve and develop through five dimensions: justification, exemplification, consistency, connection, and practicality. By considering these dimensions within the framework of the reflective belief model, we can better comprehend the inconsistencies between belief and practice. Teacher educators can utilize this understanding to foster the cultivation of reflective teaching beliefs for teachers within training programs.

From menus to misbeliefs: Absolute frequencies of healthy and tasty dishes predict the unhealthy = tasty belief in restaurants

We examine whether the prevalence of healthy and tasty food options in restaurant menus leads to the formation of beliefs about the relationship between healthiness and taste that deviate from the correlation of healthiness and taste ratings. Participants (N = 195) rated the healthiness and taste of twelve dishes from two different restaurant types (American and vegetarian restaurants), estimated the frequencies of healthy and tasty options, and reported their health-taste beliefs. Results show that ratings of perceived healthiness and expected taste are uncorrelated in both restaurant types, but participants formed the misbelief that unhealthy dishes taste better than healthy dishes to a greater extent in American than in vegetarian restaurants. Regression analyses revealed that the absolute frequencies of food options were significantly related to participants' health-taste beliefs while controlling for the correlation between healthiness and taste ratings in both restaurant types. Participants were more likely to believe that healthy food tastes better than unhealthy food when they perceived that healthy and tasty food were both frequent (or infrequent) in the respective restaurant type. Our results provide evidence that relying on absolute frequencies, rather than covariation, to infer the relationship between healthiness and taste may lead to misbeliefs that do not reflect the health-taste correlation of individual food items.

Exploring Students’ Perceptions of New Media Impact on Their Ideal Beliefs

The purpose of this article is to study the impact of the new media platform called TikTok impact on the formation of ideal beliefs. An online survey of 150 active TikTok users identifies their beliefs, opinions, and perspectives related to the content they watch on this platform. This study applies an experimental approach: it uses the questionnaire method to examine the influence of new media and the digital environment on the formation of ideal beliefs. The results of the study confirmed that TikTok and the digital environment significantly impact the formation of beliefs among users: 35% of participants noted a strong influence of viewed content on their beliefs, 25% admitted frequent influence, and 20% experienced a moderate influence. The practical significance of the article is that it emphasizes the need to understand how media and digital platforms impact the worldviews and beliefs of users.

The boundaries of gnoseology

AbstractAccording to Sosa (2015, 2021), the domain of epistemic normativity divides into gnoseology and intellectual ethics, a boundary that results from the key notion that gnoseological assessments are telic. We share this view here and highlight the implications that the telic claim has for different debates in contemporary epistemology. However, we also raise the complaint that Sosa’s analogy of the archer has suggested that this boundary aligns with those of the instant of cognitive performance and its attributability to an individual, as featured in the Cartesian fundamental epistemic question: What should I believe now? Against this Cartesian imprint, we claim that temporality and sociality may be constitutive features of gnoseology. In order to show this, we introduce alternative analogies of belief formation processes that illustrate how cognitive achievements may be collectively attained across time, features that may manifest as an epistemology of conversation.

Constructing a combined brand identity

Identity has acquired the status of a key concept in social, cultural and economic contexts, because it affects the formation of human values, beliefs, preferences and behavior, in particular, consumer behavior. Moreover, consumption itself has long been a stable form of organizing social life, as it focuses on almost all social positions, becoming an almost ideal identifier. Because of this, the research of the target audience is considered the basis of bran­ding, because its coincidence with the brand identity significantly increases consumer loyalty to the brand. On the other hand, brands tend to become part of the consumerʼs self-concept, influencing his values and lifestyle. It highlights the different roles of identity as an influencer (consumer on the brand) and as an object of influence (brand on the consumer). The search for ways to achieve a balance between consumer identity and brand identity outlined the research hypothesis, that systemic and structural app­roach will allow taking into account all elements of the consumerʼs identity in the process of brand identity formation and bring the "brand-consumer" relationship to a new emotional level through the construction of a complex, joint identity. Based on the methods of scientific ana­lysis and synthesis, conceptualization and struc­tural modelling, the key components of consumer identity and brand identity were identified. The structure of the consumerʼs identity has been improved by supplementing it with goals and ambitions of the consumer. A categorical apparatus of brand management has been developed due to the introduction of the concept of "combined brand identity", the starting condi­tion for the construction of which is the analysis of the consumerʼs identity. The result of the proposed system-structural approach is a gene­ralized matrix that allows forming a combi­ned brand identity through a combination of diffe­rent level factors of consumer identity and constituent elements of brand identity. The appli­cation of a system-structural approach will provide a detailed analysis of various consumer segments and will allow determining which elements of the consumerʼs identity should be reproduced in the brand for each segment. This will help to transform the brandʼs partnership with the consumer into a vital priority based on emotional intelligence

Democratic Education in Ukraine:Specifics, Problems, and Ways to Solve Them

The relevance of the article is due to the development of civil society, the presence of democratization processes and the search for effective mechanisms for strengthening democratic institutions and values, globalization, which requires the active formation of cooperation skills, the emergence of which should be facilitated by democratic education, given its orientation to the formation of democratic values and beliefs, involvement in the adoption decisions, development of pluralism of opinions, dialogue between different groups, etc.The article aims to highlight the specifics of democratic education in Ukraine, outline its problems, and propose ways to solve them.Methodology. The descriptivemethod, the analysis, synthesis, generalization and systematization were used.Research results. The article examines trends in democratic competencies in Ukrainian educational institutions and verbalizes risk zones that can inhibit the process.Conclusions. Therefore, democratic education can be effective only under the condition of the existence of real democracy in Ukraine, the presence of a comprehensive approach to the implementation of democratic education and the formation of state policy in the field of youth education according to the principles: violation of rules, misdemeanors, crime –responsibility», observance of the balance of rights and obligations of the It is necessary to ensure real, not formal, equality of all participants in the educational process, by putting people-centrism as the basis of education , as specified in Ukrainian legislation, and not child-centrism, the active implementation of which can lead to the undermining of the foundations of a democratic society, in particular, itwill contribute to the education of a free but selfish personality. unable to respect the rights of others. Keywords : democratic education, Ukraine, student self-government, democracy.

Aggregate Shocks and the Formation of Preferences and Beliefs

Aggregate Shocks and the Formation of Preferences and Beliefs

Knowledge transfer, not just true beliefs: virtue epistemology as a philosophical basis for education

Introduction. Modern pedagogical practice is being reformed due to systemic changes in the ways of social interaction. Knowledge transfer is being significantly modified under the influence of technical innovations, although it remains traditionally one of the main tasks of the educational process. The development of artificial intelligence, neural networks and other analytical computer systems shows that propositional knowledge is not the privilege of the human mind. This state of affairs changes the idea of knowledge as such. In this regard, the participants of the educational process face the task of revising the philosophical basis of modern learning in terms of finding a new definition of knowledge. It is also necessary to develop new methodological recommendations that would correspond to modern epistemological theories of knowledge, belief and understanding. Materials and research methods. The article uses the methods of conceptual analysis and comparative study characteristic of philosophy. The research materials are sources on theory of knowledge, education and also on applied epistemology. Results. Virtue epistemology is one of the most actively developing theories of knowledge in contemporary philosophy and humanities. It is based on the idea that knowledge cannot be an accidental belief, but must be the merit of a cognitive agent. This approach solves many problems of the philosophical theory of knowledge and creates a subjectoriented view of the nature of the cognitive process. This attitude allows us to use virtue epistemology in debates about applied issues, including those related to the explanation of the tasks and content of education. Discussion. A feature of the analysis within virtue epistemology is attention to cognitive skills (reliabilism) and sustained intellectual dispositions (responsibilism) in their relationship to the process of formation of true beliefs. Virtue epistemology defines knowledge through the notion of merit in the manifestation of subjective qualities, so the student's motivation and the context of belief formation should be taken into account when developing specific methodological recommendations. Such an approach explains why standardized testing cannot serve as the sole and primary means of assessing learners. At the same time, the general semantic peculiarity of the notions of virtue allows us to appeal to examples of individuals as ideal types of certain qualities (this is called exemplarism). At the same time, it is necessary to explain why these traits are the excellences that make their bearer better in epistemic terms. Conclusion. In explaining the knowledge transfer, pedagogy can be based on the philosophical principles of virtue epistemology. Such integration enriches both disciplines: pedagogy gets a conceptual scheme adequate to the modern social and technological situation, and epistemology gets a practical application.

THE IMPACT OF ATTITUDE CHANGE FOR CLEANLINESS AMONG LOW COST FLAT RESIDENTS TOWARDS QUALITY OF LIFE IN JOHOR BAHRU, MALAYSIA

The primary cause of cleaning problems in low-cost flats is the attitude of the residents, who are frequently perceived as disliking their shared accountability and dedication to maintaining their dwelling zones. Hence, these attitudes will impact low-cost flats' quality of life (QOL). However, the relationship and effects of a change in attitude toward cleanliness from a property management perspective have received less attention in the literature. This study is conducted to determine attitude change factors for cleanliness among low-cost flat residents and to analyse the impact of attitude change factors towards resident's quality of life (QOL) near Johor Bahru. The quantitative method was used through a questionnaire survey from 100 respondents among low-cost residents. Descriptive analysis, factors analysis and correlation analyses were used for the data. The result shows that cognitive biases and belief formation are the top attitude change factors among the residents. The correlation between attitude change factors and QOL showed a strong correlation between cognitive and behavioural elements. This result can be a basis for further exploration of the change in the cleanliness attitude of low-cost residents.

Political Identity in the Digital Age: Analysis of the Impact of Social Media on the Formation of Youth Beliefs and Values

Political Identity in the Digital Age: Analysis of the Impact of Social Media on the Formation of Youth Beliefs and Values

Tracking politically motivated reasoning in the brain: the role of mentalizing, value-encoding, and error-detection networks.

Susceptibility to misinformation and belief polarization often reflect people's tendency to incorporate information in a biased way. Despite the presence of competing theoretical models, the underlying neurocognitive mechanisms of motivated reasoning remain elusive as previous empirical work did not properly track the belief formation process. To address this problem, we employed a design that identifies motivated reasoning as directional deviations from a Bayesian benchmark of unbiased belief updating. We asked members of a pro-immigration or an anti-immigration group how much they endorse factual messages on foreign criminality, a polarizing political topic. Both groups exhibited a desirability bias by over-endorsing attitude-consistent messages and under-endorsing attitude-discrepant messages and an identity bias by over-endorsing messages from ingroup members and under-endorsing messages from outgroup members. In both groups, neural responses to the messages predicted subsequent expression of desirability and identity biases suggesting a common neural basis of motivated reasoning across ideologically opposing groups. Specifically, brain regions implicated in encoding value, error detection, and mentalizing tracked the degree of desirability bias. Less extensive activation in the mentalizing network tracked the degree of identity bias. These findings illustrate the distinct neurocognitive architecture of desirability and identity biases and inform existing cognitive models of politically motivated reasoning.

Autonomy and knowledge: comments on Adam Carter’s Autonomous Knowledge

ABSTRACT In his book Autonomous Knowledge. Radical Enhancement, Autonomy, and the Future of Knowing (OUP, 2022). J. Adam Carter argues that both propositional knowledge and know-how must include a condition of autonomy in their analyses. The book aims to propose a theory of the nature of knowledge and its value that responds to the challenge raised by cases of undue epistemic dependence and radical performance enhancement. Throughout the book, Carter articulates an idea of epistemic autonomy that fluctuates between its positive component, expressed in terms of self-direction and (rational) self-governance, and its negative component, referring to the lack of a history of compulsion or interference in the formation and retention of belief. In this article, I argue that Carter needs to bet more clearly on a positive model of autonomy. This would allow him both to unify the explanation of both know-how and propositional knowledge and to answer how the value of self-constitution, from which the value of autonomous belief derives, finds its place in the epistemic domain.

ФОРМИРОВАНИЕ ГЕРМАНОФОБСКИХ ВЗГЛЯДОВ УИНСТОНА ЧЕРЧИЛЛЯ В 1880-1890-Х ГГ.

The article examines the process of formation of Sir Winston Churchill's Germanophobic views in the 1880s-1890s. The British Prime Minister is known as an eccentric man not so much in his actions as in his statements. This became the basis for the study of this side of Churchill's life. His views were contradictory and partly inconsistent with public morality. For example, he was accused of latent anti-Semitism manifested in domestic relations, called a racist because of the belief that white Protestants are superior to Catholics, and Indians are superior to Africans, criticized his actions in various political positions, etc. Based on what was attributed to W. Churchill throughout his long life, accusations of Germanophobic views were an accompanying norm of his political existence. The author conducts a historical analysis of the main events and context of that time period that influenced the formation of such beliefs. The Churchill family, their relationships with other representatives of the political elite, as well as the first love relationship of the prime minister are considered as the main catalyst for such views. The results of the study allow us to better understand the factors that contributed to the development of anti-German views in one of the outstanding politicians and figures of the 20th century.

Epistemic Bystander

AbstractEpistemic bystanding occurs when an agent has all the competences, knowledge and opportunity to prevent another person from forming a false or risky belief, but does not prevent the belief formation. I provide a definition of an epistemic bystander and explain the mechanism that makes someone an epistemic bystander. I argue that the phenomenon is genuinely epistemic and not merely linguistic. Moreover, I propose an account of the mechanism of epistemic bystanding building on Ishani Maitra’s notion of licensing. An epistemic bystander licenses a risky belief-forming process in another person and thereby performs a blameworthy epistemic action. This form of licensing explains the distinctive wrong of being an epistemic bystander.

Training of Physical Education and Sports Specialists for the Organization of Active Leisure in Places of Mass Recreation of the Population

The purpose of the article is to update the role of active leisure in preserving the health of the population, popularizing a healthy lifestyle, and analyzing the specifics of the training of physical education and sports specialists for the organization of active leisure in places of mass recreation of the population. The issue of professional training of physical education and sports specialists has been updated in the context of the expansion of the areas of sports and health work with various population groups and the organization of active leisure. The orientations of professional training for specialists in physical education and sports recreational and recreational activities have been determined, the main aspects of training specialists in the field of physical culture and sports have been revealed. Approaches in the process of training physical education and sports specialists to the organization of active leisure (epistemological, axiological, systemic, personal, activity-based, and competence-based) are highlighted. The content of the training of physical education and sports specialists for the organization of active leisure in places of mass recreation has been determined (understanding of the basic concepts, legal bases and program and normative requirements for the organization of active leisure of the population; availability of systemic and integral knowledge regarding the forms and methods of organizing active leisure; the formation of relevant beliefs, views, value attitudes, social norms, positive motivation; integration of theoretical and practical tools; ability to independently design means of sports and health activities, etc.).

Epistemic Hubris

ABSTRACT It is common nowadays for laypeople to take public stances on complex issues, such as the effectiveness of a vaccine or the seriousness of anthropogenic climate change, without any kind of disciplinary expertise. Yet those who do so act as if they were experts in the field, disseminating their thoughts and sometimes also spreading their advice. Scholars have ascribed this phenomenon to various kinds of individuals, such as conspiracy or contrarian thinkers, science denialists, know-it-all experts and celebrities. This paper aims to argue that behind such different manifestations lies a common, independently identifiable epistemic disposition that will be called epistemic hubris that will be fully explained in relation to other epistemic vices already discussed in the literature. Epistemic hubris includes, but is not limited to, overconfidence; it may or not entail arrogance; it is similar to yet distinct from hyper-autonomy and conspiracy thinking. Its peculiarity is that individuals who develop it seem to believe that they can easily become experts, even without special training. This disposition negatively affects individuals’ epistemic conduct, hindering knowledge and true belief formation, and can generate morally relevant consequences when people who falsely consider themselves experts begin to share their mistaken beliefs.

How Therborn's Theory of Ideology Enhances Bourdieus's Theory of Fields

AbstractPierre Bourdieu's theory of subjectivity is perhaps the most elaborate within the broad constructivist tradition, and Göran Therborn's is perhaps the most elaborate within the Marxist tradition. These traditions emphasize opposite components and tend to produce different explanations on micro‐cognitive levels. But this article demonstrates a striking complementarity and ventures elements of synthesis. The two theorists are contrasted on four broad areas of social science: consciousness versus unconsciousness, identity formation, class, and discourse. Bourdieu emphasizes unconscious dispositions generally unamenable to individual control, whereas Therborn emphasizes formation of conscious beliefs. By bracketing the unconscious processes that Bourdieu captures, Therborn omits key mechanisms of social reproduction. Yet the mechanisms he does capture fit almost seamlessly into Bourdieuian theory on the mutual constitution of individual‐level subjectivity and societal‐level reproduction. Each theorist supplies what the other is missing for a theory of subjectivity with greater explanatory power than either offers alone.

Preservice teachers’ beliefs toward online learning and future teaching: Redesigning teacher training

Global health and political crisis lead to the development of educational practices. This study examined pre-service teachers’ beliefs concerning online learning and their future teaching in online environments. Seven hundred sixty four participants responded to online questionnaires at three points in time during the Covid-19 period. It was found that the average level of beliefs in readiness for future online learning and teaching is moderate. Whereas, the level of beliefs in online teaching is consistently high compared to beliefs in online learning. Three of the four components of the Dynamic Change of Personality Traits Theory (DCPT) showed higher levels of Pre Service Teacher (PST) beliefs in future online teaching than beliefs in their ability to learn online. Findings of this study propose that radical changes in learning environments impact the formation of beliefs. As beliefs contribute to the construction of motivation they must be acknowledge as essential for future teaching environments.