What exactly is a ‘belief’? The dictionary says, to believe is to have confidence or faith in the truth of something. People may ‘hold’ beliefs or ‘entertain’ them. To hold is to adhere or remain steadfast. To hold is to continue in the relationship – to be committed. To entertain is to be in an uncommitted relationship.
Do beliefs actually exist inside our heads?
Or are they more convenient labels for a broad range of mental products and processes?
How much thought goes into beliefs?
How stable are beliefs? From a matter of milliseconds to a lifetime?
(Maybe beliefs are momentary blips in the spreading activation. Associations. Memories. Transitory appraisals. More a snapshot in an ongoing stream...What comes to mind in certain situations. Or maybe they come and go, or the conviction with which they are held comes and goes.)
How unchallenged are beliefs within the person?
How deeply held are beliefs?
How much do beliefs motivate behavior?
How much does behavior motivate beliefs?
How much do questions about beliefs give rise to beliefs?
Does asking about a person's beliefs create a mental scrambling to express something coherent, something that will pass as a belief?
Does the belief exist before the question?
What are the effects of labeling something a 'belief'?
What’s the difference between beliefs, assumptions, and suppositions?