Our perception is a function of our worldview. It is the home of our beliefs and values. Our memory and emotions are part of the equation. We know memory becomes less accurate over time, and emotions can be unreliable. So, how do we know what is real and what is fiction? Is it possible to have a truly objective point of view? Yes, come and find out.
Perception happens in the mind. The senses are the only aspect of the input that makes up our worldview. Our beliefs, values, and memory play a large part in perception. These elements are part of the filter in our worldview; they judge and evaluate our personal experience.
What we think is perception is a picture created by our mind. It isn’t an exact image of reality. It’s how two people can see the thing but explain it differently. The level of your objectivity affects how you view reality.
A healthy worldview reconciles the differences between objective truth vs personal experiences. If we cannot reconcile the differences, we create a state of stress known as cognitive dissonance. This mental condition causes physical pain.
What is interesting is that many people seek the thrill of mortal danger. For example, some people love roller coasters. People can become addicted to the adrenaline rush of fear. They look forward to being sacred. Others avoid roller coasters for the same reasons, except they do not like to be scared. This shows the difference between the two different perspectives on amusement park rides.
Unwelcoming or Welcoming New Perspectives
A rational mindset based on critical thinking welcomes new ideas. This mindset is better at problem-solving and developing new solutions. A mindset that limits the consideration of new information also limits problem-solving abilities. In short, good decision-making skills are based on having an open mind and using rational thinking skills.
Creating and cultivating a healthy mindset is better for the individual and society. People with a healthy outlook promote social cohesiveness. People who have biased and prejudiced mindsets create conflicts and divide the culture.
The mindset for welcoming new perspectives sees the value in other people and their ideas. Diversity, inclusion, and equality are the mantra of a welcoming mindset.
The only limits on thinking are those that cause harm. These include bias, prejudice, discrimination, and favoritism. Extremist religious and political ideologies are, therefore, unhealthy and irrational. It puts religious beliefs and objective truth at odds.
It would seem obvious to most people that welcoming new perspectives is preferred to limited perspectives. But our modern society not only allows but protects the right to uphold unhealthy, irrational beliefs.
The Psychology of Irrational Beliefs and Its Elements
Four main elements drive rational and irrational thinking:
— beliefs
— social influences
— emotions
— health
The difference between rational and irrational thought is simple to understand. Rational thought is based on facts and evidence, while irrational thought is not. These two kinds of thinking produce specific traits and emotional indicators.
If you learn to spot these traits and indications, then you have a good indication of the thought process behind it. Being able to spot the difference is helpful. It will help you spot when you are slipping into irrational thought and help you spot it in other people.
Understanding the Psychology of Irrational Beliefs
Our beliefs are more than mere decisions to accept or reject something. What you believe changes the psychic structures of the mind. A belief can trigger our most primitive instinctual fight, flight, or freeze response (3F response). If you have a fear of spiders, you can reprogram your 3F response. You can reach the place where you aren’t terrified at the sight of the common spider. It is the same for snakes or any other creature.
Why are some people triggered with bouts of terror at the sight of a spider, while others are not? We don’t really know. It could be a trait that is passed down through our DNA. Or it might come from learned social or cultural responses. Modern culture and hunter-gatherer communities view insects differently. For many indigenous people, insects, including spiders, are a normal part of their diets. Most people living modern lifestyles would have a hard time living with an indigenous tribe. They would need to be able to face a plethora of fears about insects and reptiles.
A bad experience or nightmare may be the source of a phobia. Movies have brought a whole new set of experiences into our lives. For example, the scene of Indiana Jones falling into the snake pit gives our imaginations fuel for nightmares. All we know is that our response is something we can reprogram.
Another thing we know is exposure makes all the difference. The longer you expose yourself to images and stories, the more likely you are to accept it. This is something that religions bank on, literally. They depend upon the fears and greed they trigger to make many people return customers.
The ancient mystery religions created propaganda to control people. It is based on triggering emotional responses. And it works as well today as when it was invented 6000 years ago. It was used to change German attitudes in the 1930s, which led to World War II. The psychology of irrational beliefs creates scapegoats or targets on which to direct fear and anger. The Germans picked the Jews and other undesirables like the Gypsies and Homosexuals as scapegoats. They used irrational prejudice to segregate and then exterminate them systematically.
Irrational beliefs are behind some of the most destructive behaviors in society. It’s what creates the cycle of abuse and discrimination to the violence of the suicide bomber. The longer you are exposed to indoctrination techniques, the more likely you are to accept its programming. What does indoctrination involve?
Groupthink Manipulation Tactics of Indoctrination
Boot camp is the military term for intensive indoctrination. Boot camp is a process that strips the candidate of their individuality and identity. They take away all personal possessions, cut off all their hair, and place them on strict 24-hour routines. The routines are composed of activities designed to erode free thinking and drive compliance. Candidates receive rewards for compliance and punishment for failures or disobedience. It is a process of continual testing. Whether you succeed or fail, this experience leaves mental programming. It leaves scars that last a lifetime.
You’d think everyone would want a mind uncluttered by thoughts and values that cloud their thinking. Unfortunately, a sizeable number of people fight to hold on to irrational beliefs, falsehoods, and lies. You know them as “believers.” If religious beliefs and objective truth are opposites, what entices people to become believers?
Irrational thinking starts with the acceptance of a false premise, something that cannot be proven with facts or evidence. The most common is the belief in an imaginary friend. Children create imaginary friends as a way of learning and testing role models. They know they are just pretending and their imaginary friend isn’t real. However, when adults pretend the existence of an imaginary being is real, that creates a delusion. Delusions become your objective truth vs personal experiences in ordinary life.
The Slippery Slope Psychology of Irrational Beliefs
Why would an adult accept the existence of an imaginary being as something real? Indoctrination based on fear is the answer. The premise of God is based on fear. People want to believe that something, someone, somewhere is looking out for them. Their existential fear of death also drives them. The belief in God solves both issues. The concept of God provides a false sense of security. Religion has created a multibillion-dollar enterprise capitalizing on our insecurities and fears.
The programming of the mind is a form of self-hypnosis. It uses group or peer pressure to reinforce ideas. Preachers in the faith movement cause people to fall down with the wave of his hand. Once you accept the initial premise, everything else becomes easier to accept. The more you are exposed to these groupthink tactics, the more you become susceptible to their suggestions.
As you accept more and more, you change the structure of the brain. People who adopt fundamentalist (1) religious beliefs are changing their brains. They are creating neuroglial pathways for triggering cognitive distortions. These distortions are similar to people with traumatic brain injuries.
Religious Beliefs and Objective Truth
In other words, people who consider themselves religious fundamentalists have damaged their brains. This condition is likely the brain’s response to living in a constant state of cognitive dissonance.
Imagine living in a state of constant stress. You struggle to maintain the belief that fairy tales are real. But you live in a modern world filled with scientific marvels. Delusions of magical thinking drive their personal experiences. Objective truth vs personal experiences is a battle that creates an infinite dilemma.
Religious beliefs rely on unbelief as much as belief. To be a believer, you must sustain unbelief in everything that conflicts with the belief in mythology and superstition.
The Psychology of Irrational Beliefs and Social Influences
Religious beliefs are the single most influential social entity. They influence all other social structures, from families to whole societies. Religion uses various methods to indoctrinate.
Religious beliefs are irrational; they are not based on sound facts, evidence, or logic. So, religion created a playbook to overcome facts and evidence. They call this system apologetics.
Apologetics is an organized attempt to justify errors and inconsistencies. This system promotes pretending as a rational position. It vindicates the use of discriminatory practices and violence in the name of God. Apologetics makes the case for subjective truth vs personal experiences based on facts.
Religions use faith and belief to overcome rational thinking. It uses a continual system of indoctrination. The tools of brainwashing that it uses are very effective. Prolonged exposure to these brainwashing tactics will eventually break down your resistance.
Intelligence alone is not a deterrent against the onslaught of cultural programming. The more you expose yourself, the more susceptible you become. Harmful cultural programming targets two groups in the population: children and those in crisis.
Targeting Those Most Vulnerable
Some believe that subjecting children to religious programming is “child abuse” (2). Richard Dawkins noted scientists are of this opinion. Others believe that as long as there is no apparent harm to the child, it is not child abuse. It is merely the structured indoctrination of established tradition.
“I am persuaded that child abuse is no exaggeration when used to describe what teachers and priests are doing to children whom they encourage to believe in something like…eternal hell.” — Richard Dawkins
The other large population susceptible to religious programming is those in crisis. People find religion when they are vulnerable because you are easier to brainwash when in emotional turmoil. It does not matter what the problem is.
The crisis could be financial, emotional, or health. The reason for the dilemma doesn’t matter. Religion is there to lend a helping hand. It’s waiting to make converts because believers eventually make them paying customers. You pay with money and with conformity to the religious stereotypes they provide. Once they get a critical mass of the population, they can program almost any beliefs and practices.
The earlier in life you are brainwashed, the more likely you are to remain a paying customer. Children are the most vulnerable because they are innocent and trusting. If their family has specific religious beliefs, these are almost always passed along. It is a generational psychological burden that gets replicated again and again.
If your parents believe it and your community has the same paradigm, you are more likely to follow along. Everyone you trust believes it, so it must be correct. When the community has well-established religious beliefs, it becomes very difficult to break free. There is immense peer pressure to remain in the cult, and there are often severe penalties for rejecting social and religious beliefs. Some cultures are so oppressive that anyone who they think is not a true believer is subject to public torture and execution.
Psychologically, it is safer to remain in the cult than to try to escape. If you even talk about leaving, you may be imprisoned and put through intensive indoctrination.
The goal of religion is to take control of the culture as it has done in many Arab-speaking countries and many parts of the United States. If it can’t, then it simply preys on vulnerable groups to build social mass. Those who are suffering from poverty or who have health issues are easy targets to assimilate.
Psychology of Irrational Beliefs, Emotions, and Health
Irrational beliefs create strong links to emotions. Some people cannot distinguish between thoughts or emotions. Religions leverage irrational beliefs by linking them with emotional triggers. Fear and anger are their go-to triggers. A properly programmed image or word can trigger their 3F response.
Religions and unethical political organizations know how to use emotions to trigger responses. For example, Cambridge Analytica (3) is a political consulting firm. Extremist right-wing parties used it to sway public opinion and impact elections. They did this all around the world. They simply copied the propaganda machine created by the Germans in the 1930s and translated it to social media for Donald Trump.
They made the catchphrase, “lock her up,” a rallying point on which to attack the character of his political opponent, Hillary Clinton. This use of propaganda turned public opinion enough to conclude with the election of Donald Trump. The emotional impact of this simple statement worked on those already susceptible. Believers already have unstable, unhealthy minds that make them pawns for any cult leader.
Reconciling Objective Truth vs Personal Experiences
Objectivity is being impartial and unbiased in assessing something. Being objective means reaching conclusions based on facts and evidence. It refrains from using feelings, emotions, or unproven claims.
Objective truth is a slippery subject. To be objective means to be based on facts, but it depends on how you define or measure them. You can firmly believe in something that isn’t true, and something that is factually stated may not be factually true.
People find security in believing what they know is true. Once they believe something, they protect it. Religion shuns any method that doesn’t require faith in their religious experience.
However, most believers do not investigate the facts that support their beliefs. One must be shrewd and have sharp critical thinking skills to tell the difference between fact and fiction. Our experience of reality plays a huge part in the decision process of determining truth.
If you ask any religious leader if their teaching is true, they will, of course, say yes. The best liars are those who firmly believe their lies are true. Their personal experience is based on a socially acceptable delusion. If they told you their imaginary friend’s name was Charlie, this would be seen as an unacceptable delusion. As a result, they would be subject to involuntary commitment to medical care. But, if their imaginary friend’s name is God, well, then that is socially acceptable. No need for concern here.
Religious beliefs and objective truth vs. personal experiences have a complicated relationship. We are surrounded by a modern world made of scientific objective truths. Almost everyone has a cell phone, uses GPS and the internet, and uses modern medicine. It is becoming increasingly difficult for the religious fundamentalist to reconcile these differences.
The only options for those who hold extremist ideologies are to segregate or integrate. You either leave and create your own community or take over the culture. We see how some countries have become havens for backward beliefs. These shield them from the inconsistencies and fallacies of their religion. Saudi Arabia exemplifies a backward culture that justifies religious persecution and gender discrimination.
In Conclusion
There is a vast contrast between unwelcoming and welcoming new perspectives. It shows how far apart religious beliefs and object truth are. They can’t be reconciled into a cohesive worldview; you must choose between subject or objective standards.
References
(1) Biological and cognitive underpinnings of religious fundamentalism. National Library of Medicine.
(2) Forcing a religion on your children is as bad as child abuse, Richard Dawkins.Time.com
(3) Cambridge Analytica, Wikipedia