Changes In Beliefs Research Articles

Belief Formation: A Cultural Evolutionary Lens

This paper investigates changes in belief and their evolution in relation to the paradigm of cultural evolution. It underlines the interaction of the environmental factor with the social dynamic. The model proposed herein is extremely widespread and involves the creation, maintenance, and diffusion of beliefs that afford a perspective on how such processes influence individual and collective psychological constructs. By synthesizing theories in the fields of biology, anthropology, and psychology, this research will argue that cultural evolution is one key mechanism able to explain both diversity and variability in human belief. The examination suggests that beliefs cannot be cast solely as some sort of passive variant of personal cognition; instead, they are actively generated by cultural dynamics and social learning techniques such as imitation and instruction. It is a book that places more emphasis on the role of political ideology in accepting scientific evidence and shows how directed reasoning leads to the perpetuation of noxious beliefs. It then investigates transfer biases supporting the reproduction of cultural traits across successive generations, hence affecting social structure and any effort of cooperation. This may lead to a nuanced grasp of how beliefs can be advantageous or disastrous, considering the prevailing social structures and ecology within which they live. Based on the wealth of research regarding under what circumstances beliefs arise and spread, this paper examines from a critical perspective psychological processes of belief systems and what they might portend for human behavior and social organization.

Learning from and about scientists: Consensus messaging shapes perceptions of climate change and climate scientists

Abstract Despite overwhelming scientific consensus on the existence of human-caused climate change, public opinion among Americans remains split. Directly informing people of scientific consensus is among the most prominent strategies for climate communication, yet the reasons for its effectiveness and its limitations are not fully understood. Here, we propose that consensus messaging provides information not only about the existence of climate change but also traits of climate scientists themselves. In a large (N = 2,545) nationally representative survey experiment, we examine how consensus information affects belief in human-caused climate change by shaping perceptions of climate scientist credibility. In the control group (N = 847), we first show that people learn both from and about climate scientists when presented with consensus and that perceived scientist credibility (especially skill) mediates up to about 40% of the total effect of consensus information on climate belief. We demonstrate that perceptions of climate scientists are malleable with two novel interventions that increase belief in climate change above and beyond consensus information.

Evaluating the usefulness of Protection Motivation Theory for predicting climate change mitigation behavioral intentions among a US sample of climate change deniers and acknowledgers

BackgroundThis paper summarizes data from 7 studies that used Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) to guide climate messaging with the goal of increasing climate-mitigating behavioral intentions. Together, the studies address 5 research questions. 1) Does PMT predict behavioral intentions in the context of climate change mitigation? 2) Does PMT work similarly for climate change deniers vs acknowledgers? 3) Are the effects of threat and efficacy additive or multiplicative? 4) Does adding measures of collective threat and efficacy improve the model accuracy for a collective problem like climate change? 5) Can threat and efficacy appraisals – and ultimately behavioral intentions – be shifted through climate messaging?MethodsSeven online experiments were conducted on US adults (N = 3,761) between 2020 and 2022. Participants were randomly assigned to a control condition or to one of several experimental conditions designed to influence threat, efficacy, or both. Participants indicated their belief in climate change, ethnicity, gender, and political orientation. They completed measures of personal threat and efficacy, collective threat and efficacy, and behavioral intentions.ResultsMultiple regressions, ANCOVAs, and effect sizes were used to evaluate our research questions. Consistent with PMT, threat and efficacy appraisals predicted climate mitigation behavioral intentions, even among those who denied climate change. Different interactions emerged for climate deniers and acknowledgers, suggesting that in this context threat and efficacy are not just additive in their effects (but these effects were small). Including measures of collective threat and efficacy only modestly improved the model. Finally, evidence that threat and efficacy appraisals can be shifted was weak and inconsistent; mitigation behavioral intentions were not reliably influenced by the messages tested.ConclusionsPMT effectively predicts climate change mitigation behavioral intentions among US adults, whether they deny climate change or acknowledge it. Threat appraisals may be more impactful for deniers, while efficacy appraisals may be more impactful for acknowledgers. Including collective-level measures of threat and efficacy modestly improves model fit. Contrary to PMT research in other domains, threat and efficacy appraisals were not easily shifted under the conditions tested here, and increases did not reliably lead to increases in behavioral intentions.

From Conflict to Cooperation: Norwegian Labour Market Institutions in the Making

Moving a relationship of widespread conflicts and distrust into a virtuous circle of trust and cooperation is challenging, yet the case examined in this article shows that it is possible. A problematic start can indeed lead to a positive outcome. In the early twentieth century, Norway experienced the highest levels of labour conflict in Europe. Class conflicts were intense and often violent, with deep mistrust between the parties in the labour market. This situation changed markedly when the Norwegian Employers’ Confederation and the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions signed the Basic Agreement in 1935. This agreement not only led to a lasting decline in labour conflicts, but it also marked a crucial early step towards a system of close collaboration between labour and capital in Norway. By focusing on the intimate relationship between beliefs, trust, and cooperation, this article explores how the labour market parties transitioned from widespread conflict and open struggle to a system of peaceful negotiations and compromises. Changes in beliefs enabled the parties to coordinate on a new cooperative equilibrium, an equilibrium that continues to characterise Norway’s labour market today.

Students’ perspectives on climate change—unveiling gender–interest associations in climate change beliefs

Climate change is one of humanity’s key problems. Younger generations’ beliefs about and perceptions of climate change are thus of particular importance, as these generations have to tackle the problem in the present and will have to do so even more in the future. Against this background, 4627 high school students in the federal state of Bavaria in Germany were surveyed in a quantitative questionnaire-based study. The analysis shows high values and gender differences for the four general climate change beliefs examined: (1) general perception of climate change as a problem, (2) possible solutions to the problem, (3) contributions to climate protection, and (4) effects on one’s own home. However, mediation analyses suggest that differences are more complex and are to some extent connected to gender differences in interest in climate change.

“I have learned that nothing is given for free”: an exploratory qualitative evaluation of a social norms edutainment intervention broadcast on local radio to prevent age-disparate transactional sex in Kigoma, Tanzania

BackgroundPromising evidence supports the effectiveness of edutainment interventions in shifting norms to prevent violence against women and girls and other harmful practices, yet further research into mechanisms and pathways of impact is needed to inform intervention development, delivery and scale-up. This exploratory qualitative evaluation examined the feasibility and indications of change in attitudes, beliefs, norms and behaviours following the broadcast of a radio drama aired to prevent age-disparate transactional sex in Kigoma, Tanzania.MethodsOver seven weeks, six episodes were broadcast on local radio weekly, between November and December 2021 in Kigoma, targeting adolescent girls (aged 13–15 years) and their caregivers. Reflection sessions were conducted twice a week with 70 girls across seven schools, supplemented by after-school Girls’ Club listening sessions for a subgroup of 30 girls. We conducted seven before and after focus group discussions, five with girls (n = 50), one with men caregivers (n = 9) and one with women caregivers (n = 9) and analysed them using thematic and framework analysis approaches.ResultsOverall, we found that while girls exhibited significant engagement with the drama, caregiver participation, particularly among men, was low. Thus, no clear changes were detected in men. We did not find any differences in impact based on listening sessions’ attendance vs. home listening. We detected positive changes among girls and women in four thematic areas after listening to the drama: (1) participant’s increasingly challenged perceptions about what kinds of girls and men take part in age-disparate transactional sex, what can be exchanged, and men’s motivations for engaging; (2) there was a shift from attributing blame for age-disparate transactional sex relationships from girls to men; (3) girl’s reported increased agency and confidence to avoid age-disparate transactional sex relationships; and (4) we found a heightened sense of responsibility and recognition for the role of parents, peers and community members in preventing age-disparate transactional sex.ConclusionsThese findings highlight the need for further implementation research to explore ways to effectively engage men. They also underscore the potential of engaging, evidence-based edutainment interventions in fostering spontaneous critical reflection about complex behaviours such as age-disparate transactional sex, and diffusing key messages among target populations without the use of organised diffusion activities.

A replication and development of the Short Cognitive Mediation Beliefs Questionnaire (CMBQ-S).

The Cognitive Mediation Beliefs Questionnaire is a 15-item tool that assesses individuals' emotion beliefs about the cognitive mediation of emotions. It measures two emotion beliefs: stimulus-response generation beliefs and cognitive mediation change beliefs. This study aimed to reduce the number of items and test the validity of a briefer version of the Cognitive Mediation Beliefs Questionnaire. We combined data from 13 unpublished data sets collected between 2019 and 2023 and reached a final sample of 2,872 participants. While this data set is relatively large and diverse (e.g., participants from 53 nationalities), most were from developed countries, and the data were not fully representative across demographic characteristics, such as age and ethnicity. The data were randomly split by 50%/25%/25% (60%/40% female/male) to conduct one exploratory factor analysis and two confirmatory factor analyses. Using an iterative process in the exploratory factor analysis, seven items were deleted for failing to meet item retention criteria, resulting in an eight-item solution across two factors. Across two confirmatory factor analyses with independent samples, the eight-item and the 15-item solutions were tested. The eight-item model was superior in terms of model fit in both samples. These results were in line with our hypothesis in that an eight-item Short Cognitive Mediation Beliefs Questionnaire confirmed the validity of the two-factor structure. The present study offers a valid and efficient measure of emotion beliefs that can be used to make a rapid assessment of beliefs about emotions and to support clinical interventions, particularly cognitive behavioral therapy approaches, where cognitive change is fundamental. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Participants' Perspectives on Diabetes Self-Management Programming at Church: Faith-Placed Versus Faith-Based Approach.

The purpose of the study was to explore Hispanic adults' experiences participating in the Building a Healthy Temple diabetes self-management education and support (DSMES) cluster randomized trial and collect their insights on intervention approach, delivery, content, impact, and suggested improvements for future DSMES programs delivered at church. Focus groups were conducted with participants from both intervention arms, that is, faith-based (FB) group and faith-placed group. Participating churches were predominantly Hispanic and located in San Antonio, Texas. Focus groups were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim. Inductive content analysis was performed with the assistance of NVivo software to code and categorize emerging themes. A total of 138 adult participants took part in the current study. Participants in both groups highly valued the church setting for its convenient location and support system and reported positive changes in diabetes-related beliefs, knowledge, skills, behaviors, and health outcomes. FB participants appreciated the incorporation of spiritual teachings and facilitation by lay leaders, which created a sense of empowerment and improved outlook on living with diabetes. Church holds promise as a setting for DSMES program delivery in Hispanic communities. Church-based DSMES programs using a FB approach may further facilitate program adoption and sustainability.

Social workers’ perceptions and attitudes of environmental issues and sustainable development as social work practice in Aotearoa New Zealand

INTRODUCTION: Environmental and sustainable social work is gaining momentum in social work due to the rising concern of climate change and environmental degradation. Despite the social work profession being committed to social justice, the perspectives of social workers practising in Aotearoa New Zealand on environmental/green social work are yet to be explored. This study explored social workers’ attitudes and beliefs on environmental justice and sustainable practice. It also examined what factors support them to consider environmental issues in social work practice. METHODS: A survey using an online portal was conducted with qualified social workers to assess their attitudes and knowledge. Descriptive, correlation and regression analyses were used to analyse the data. RESULTS: A total of 102 questionnaires were analysed. The results indicated moderate levels of pro-ecological perspectives and awareness of sustainability attitudes, high level of agreement including Māori and other indigenous tradition and wisdom in ecological justice, strong belief in climate change and the importance of factoring environmental issues in social work practice. While over 80% of the participants thought that environmental issues should be part of social work practice, there are still gaps in translating these into practice. Participants would like to see more environmental issues being integrated into social work education to better prepare graduates entering the profession. CONCLUSIONS: Social work education is urged to incorporate the natural environment, environmental justice and values and skills across the curriculum to advance the social justice mission to reduce the disparity among those who are vulnerable and marginalised.

Meritocracy and Inequality in South Africa: Understanding Changes in Beliefs and their Influence on Demand for Redistribution

In light of rising global inequality, public concerns for inequality have been declining. This paradox of inequality has been explained by the rise in meritocratic beliefs in some developed countries. Untested in South Africa, the most unequal society, this study aims to report on these issues by investigating the impact of meritocratic and nonmeritocratic beliefs on redistribution preferences in South Africa. Using the International Social Survey Programme data for 2009 and 2019, we find that contrary to some developed countries, meritocratic beliefs have declined despite persistent high inequality. Nonmeritocratic factors like sex and race are perceived as less critical for personal success, while bribery and political connections gain prominence. Results reveal that stronger meritocratic beliefs correlate positively with redistribution preferences, whereas nonmeritocratic beliefs have minimal impact. This challenges the notion that high inequality intensifies meritocratic beliefs and reduces demand for redistribution, suggesting the need to consider South Africa's unique historical and socioeconomic context.

Trust and distrust coexistence and change in the adoption of an emerging technology in organizations

Emerging technologies challenge organizations by introducing information systems that transform processes and introduce a series of risks and uncertainties for stakeholders. These conditions make trust and distrust important in the adoption and implementation of technology. Most of the trust in Information Systems literature has focused on building the constructs of trust and distrust between an artifact and the final user, but there is a gap in the analysis of changes in trust and distrust beliefs and their possible coexistence across time. This case study illustrates how trust and distrust manifest across a mobile health monitoring system implementation: the attitudes, objects of trust/distrust, and the changes they exhibit across four stages. The results point at the objects of trust/distrust corresponding to the technology frames that shift during the implementation from an artifact-centric to a more encompassing technology involving other users, programmers, and themselves. The actual technology use leads to changes in perceived risks and expectations, which are fed by the interaction of all users with the system. Behaviors are shaped by coexisting trust and distrust in technology beliefs, which usually compensate for the elements of the technology they distrust. The study concludes that the coexistence of trust and distrust in technology is a constantly shifting phenomenon, leading to a complex yet stabilized use of technology.

Developmental trajectories of students' beliefs about social success: Differences between students with and without a middle school transition.

Attaining social success is a significant concern during early adolescence. The characteristics that youth believe will bring social success are known to change over time and vary across contexts, especially over the transition to middle school. The analytic sample included 614 students (52% girls, 48% boys; 53% Black, 47% White) from the Midwestern United States. At yearly intervals during grades 6-8, participants completed self-report surveys assessing their endorsement of five characteristics (sincerity, academic responsibility, dominance, disingenuity, athleticism/attractiveness) that described peers in their grade who have lots of friends and get along well with others (i.e., social success). The sample included students who attended the same school from kindergarten-eighth grade (K8) and students who made a transition from an elementary to a middle school after 6th grade (ESMS). Multigroup longitudinal growth models revealed some concerning trends over time. For both ESMS and K8 students, their endorsement of sincerity decreased, their endorsement of disingenuity increased, and their endorsement of athleticism/attractiveness was high and stable. ESMS students' endorsement of academic responsibility decreased over time and their endorsement of dominance showed increasing trends. K8 students' endorsements of academic responsibility and dominance were stable. However, across contexts, compared to the other characteristics, sincerity was most often ranked the highest. The findings highlight that some changes in students' beliefs about social success may be unique to students who experience a school transition whereas others may be developmentally normative. Implications for the education of young adolescent students are discussed.

Longitudinal changes in self-reported medication adherence and beliefs about post-stroke medicines in Sweden: a repeated cross-sectional study

ObjectivesTo explore changes in beliefs about medicines and self-reported medication non-adherence between 3 and 24 months after stroke and to investigate associations between beliefs about medicines and non-adherence at 24...

Policy learning for policy change on energy efficiency in European companies

The EU energy efficiency directive (EED) includes provisions to stimulate increased energy efficiency in companies. Mandatory provisions were first introduced in 2012 and recast in 2023. Policy learning has been suggested as an important route to policy change. This paper analyses how and why policy learning helped revising EU legislation to enhance energy efficiency in companies, using provisions of mandatory energy audits as a case. Negative experience from member states’ governments with the original provisions were voiced shortly after the adoption of EED. A complex process going back and forth between member state and EU levels led by a learning agent facilitated collective learning and change of beliefs, first in member states then in the Council. Several cognitive biases among individuals in the European Commission led to non-learning at the individual level and blocked learning at the collective level. This further blocked policy learning in the EU when EED was amended in 2018. However, external crises and the entering office of a new Commission College in 2019 made the Commission to reconsider its beliefs. Political leadership opened a window for individual and collective learning in the Commission and policy learning in the EU when provisions were changed with the recast of EED in 2023. This suggests that individual and collective learning in the EC is key for policy change to happen. Without new beliefs in the EC, it is hard to get a topic onto the policy agenda. The paper proposes policy recommendations on how to facilitate policy learning and suggests areas for further research.

Just a drop in the ocean? How lay beliefs about the world influence efficacy, perceptions, and intentions regarding pro-environmental behavior

Climate change is a large-scale problem that might leave people paralyzed by feeling too small to make a difference. Indeed, low response efficacy has been shown to be related to low pro-environmental behavior. There have been some attempts to increase people's efficacy. However, these have often been less successful than hoped. In the present research, we suggest that response efficacy is informed by people's more fundamental understanding of how the world functions (i.e., their lay beliefs about the world): whether they think the world is changeable or fixed. In three online experiments (on samples from Austria and the USA) we manipulated participants' lay beliefs about the world and measured their response efficacy and different indicators of intentions and perceptions related to pro-environmental behavior (such as climate change belief, perceiving norms as changing and feelings of working together in pro-environmental behavior). People who were led to adopt the belief that the world is changeable (i.e., an incremental belief) reported higher response efficacy regarding climate change. There was also some indication that they had stronger pro-environmental intentions, felt more like working together with others when engaging in pro-environmental behavior, and perceived norms around pro-environmental behavior as more dynamic. These results indicate that people's global understanding of the world plays a role in how they view and tackle large-scale social problems such as climate change. Supporting an incremental belief might foster an agentic approach to such problems and promote social change.

The International Climate Psychology Collaboration: Climate change-related data collected from 63 countries

Climate change is currently one of humanity’s greatest threats. To help scholars understand the psychology of climate change, we conducted an online quasi-experimental survey on 59,508 participants from 63 countries (collected between July 2022 and July 2023). In a between-subjects design, we tested 11 interventions designed to promote climate change mitigation across four outcomes: climate change belief, support for climate policies, willingness to share information on social media, and performance on an effortful pro-environmental behavioural task. Participants also reported their demographic information (e.g., age, gender) and several other independent variables (e.g., political orientation, perceptions about the scientific consensus). In the no-intervention control group, we also measured important additional variables, such as environmentalist identity and trust in climate science. We report the collaboration procedure, study design, raw and cleaned data, all survey materials, relevant analysis scripts, and data visualisations. This dataset can be used to further the understanding of psychological, demographic, and national-level factors related to individual-level climate action and how these differ across countries.

Combining Probabilities with Full Beliefs

AbstractOne of the major problems in formal epistemology is the difficulty of combining probabilistic and dichotomous (all-or-nothing) beliefs in one and the same formal framework. Based on the properties of actual human belief systems, a set of ten desiderata is proposed for belief system models that contain both probabilistic and full beliefs. Previously proposed combined belief systems are shown to fall short of these desiderata. A proof of concept is provided to show that they can be satisfied in a formal model. In the proposed model, the amnesia problem of probabilistic updating is solved by introducing infinitesimal probabilities as carriers of memories of beliefs that have been given up. In the resulting system of probability revision, contingent propositions can be transferred in both directions between full beliefs and beliefs held to a lower degree, in a way that mirrors real-life acquisitions and losses of full beliefs. The subsystem consisting of full beliefs has a pattern of change that constitutes a credible system of dichotomous belief change.

Climate change as fake news. Positive attribute framing as a tactic against corporate reputation damage from the evaluations of sceptical, right-wing audiences

PurposeThe paper aims to examine whether CSR communication about a company’s support for climate change created using different content framing categories (positive vs negative) can lead climate change-sceptical audiences to positively influence their evaluations of the credibility of CSR communication, of a company and its actions, and lead to higher purchase intentions.Design/methodology/approachThe paper used an experimental design. About 266 respondents recruited via the Prolific platform were invited to participate in an online study. A between-subject design was used, and data was analysed using the bootstrapping technique, allowing to identify moderators of the relationship between CSR communication framing and different evaluations of a company.FindingsThe paper provides empirical support for the role of political preferences and climate change beliefs in predicting the preference for positive attribute framing among climate change sceptical audiences. It is argued that climate change sceptics are still in the process of deliberation about whether climate change is occurring.Research limitations/implicationsThe research findings may not be generalizable to countries where support for climate change is low, and a technique like attribute framing may not lead to noticeable differences in message reception.Practical implicationsThe paper underscores the impact of the type of attribute framing in CSR communication on different aspects of company evaluations depending on beliefs in climate change. Commercial communicators should additionally invest in climate change education to address the climate change challenge.Social implications Addressing climate change effectively requires support from companies to communicate their CSR efforts purposefully and to address climate change sceptical audiences.Originality/valueThe paper identifies beliefs in climate change as an important moderator of CSR communication attribute framing effectiveness.

Introducing pre-service teachers to game-based learning

Game-based learning has increased research and interest in teacher education and teacher pedagogy. However, there is still much to learn about how teachers understand and feel about game-based learning pedagogy in the classroom. This study utilized a quantitative research methodology to better understand the changes in beliefs and attitudes toward game-based learning of teachers before and after experiencing game-based learning opportunities first-hand. The participants in this study were ninety-six pre-service teachers enrolled in a Child Growth and Development course at a public Hispanic Serving Intitution in South Central Texas University. Findings from this study indicate that pre-service teachers are comfortable using game-based learning pedagogy prior to any game-based learning interventions. Specifically, game knowledge, game content knowledge, and game pedagogical content knowledge, had a strong positive relationship with learning opportunities, attitudes towards game-based learning and overall acceptance of digital game-based learning score. Access to game-based learning experiences significantly increased teachers’ game pedagogical knowledge, game content knowledge, and experience with games knowledge. Overall, pre-service teachers’ personal experiences with gaming and attitude towards gaming is one of the key factors that contributes to their positive attitudes towards game-based learning and their ability to see the learning opportunities games have in their future classrooms.

Sustainability Skepticism: Attitudes to, and Beliefs about, Climate Change

One of the most debated and researched aspects of environmental sustainability concerns the issue of climate change. This paper will review the literature on the individual difference correlates of climate change beliefs (CC), seen as a central aspect of environmental sustainability. It will look at how attitudes and beliefs are measured; the demographic, ideological, and personality correlates of these beliefs; and the research on how they can be changed. This is a rapidly developing area of applied research.