SOCIAL MEMBERSHIP AND BELIEF
Humans are social animals. They seek each other’s friendship, comfort, support, and respect. Joining groups is one way of fulfilling these desires. Adopting specific views may be an unstated yet necessary requirement for group membership.3 In effect, group membership and belief often interweave transparently, and the desire to fulfill social needs can override the critical evaluation of the beliefs that one embraces.4
The following excerpts from an interview with a fifty-five-year-old ex-Marine and member of a cult capture interweaving features of belief and social membership.
While still a teenager, the interviewee had a history of failing in school and multiple trips to the local county’s delinquency court. He viewed himself as “a bad and defiant boy, doomed for a life of breaking the law, interspersed by time in jail.” At age seventeen, the court’s judge was moments away from sentencing him to several years at youth camp. To avoid the sentence, he offered to join the United States Marines. The judge accepted the offer.
Interviewee: “It was an opportunity to be someone. I bought into the program fully. The Marines gave my life meaning. It was a cult with its own customs and language. Suddenly I was a hero. I was part of the team that defended America. For the first time in my life, I was somebody. I believed.
Then I went to Vietnam. It was there that I became disillusioned. I could see our negative influence on the locals. We tried to turn young girls into barmaids and disrupt families. When I arrived home, it was clear that I was no hero. I no longer believed.
I started taking drugs and kept asking, ‘Why am I living?’ I wandered around for a while. Then I joined the XYX cult and repeated what I did in the Marines. I bought into the entire system and the idea that God would save me. I changed my lifestyle, what I thought and said, what I ate, how I dressed and approached other people. The cult became my world.”
The interview highlights three signature features of belief. Belief and group membership are often conflated. Beliefs can permeate to the roots of one’s being and affect habits, personality, emotion, and social behavior. Divides tend to narrow during the process of accepting a belief.
BEHAVIOR EXPECTATIONS AND BELIEF
There are beliefs that are inseparable from behavior expectations. Individuals, families, social groups, tribes, and clans—groups of all types—organize their affairs around convictions ranging from the mundane to the supernatural. They are the source of rules, rituals, and expected social behavior often for which there are no formal laws. How to queue in line at a movie or in a grocery store, when and how to pay homage to one’s parents, standing to sing a national anthem or tribal chant, when and how to repay favors, what should and shouldn’t be eaten, how to behave at funerals, and when and with whom certain topics can be discussed—all are examples. Those who don’t comply invite criticism and, at times, ostracism.
BELIEFS WITHOUT CONSEQUENCES
There are beliefs that aren’t associated with action and have no obvious consequences. Unless one is an astronomer and one’s career hinges on it, believing that the universe is 4.45 or 13.7 billion years old doesn’t affect one’s sleep, love life, or self-image, and daily chores are the same with both numbers.
BELIEFS ASSOCIATED WITH ACTION
If there are beliefs that have no consequences, then there are also those that do. Their effects are not easily dismissed. With surprising frequency, families, friends, groups, and nations attribute their dissatisfactions with each other to differences in belief. Rarely does the story end there. Aftereffects often trail out for decades. The lingering regional and within-family animosities following the American Civil War and the current moral and political nastiness between the two Koreas and between the two parts of the former Czechoslovakia are examples. Or some people are convinced that killing doctors who perform abortions is serving humankind, while across town there are district attorneys who equally strongly believe that sending such individuals to prison is serving the human race. At times, groups come to believe that Armageddon is only weeks away and actively prepare for its arrival. Or who would argue that conflicting views were not significant contributing factors in the Hundred Years’ War, the American and French Revolutions, World Wars I and II, the Cold War, and a host of ongoing religious-ideological-territorial conflicts?
It was beliefs in the utopian and profitable opportunities to be found in the American West that were associated with numerous prospectors, homesteaders, and religious groups venturing across the United States during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.5 It was a combination of desperate hope and belief in Providence to which Sir Ernest Shackleton attributed his willingness to embark in a small, ill-equipped lifeboat on a near-impossible voyage across nine hundred miles of treacherous seas that separate Antarctica from South America. An entire shipload of stranded explorers survived because of the success of his trip.6 It was the conviction that David Livingston was alive in Central Africa that led Henry Morton Stanley to undertake one of the most daring and glamorous manhunts in history.7 Sir Richard Burton attributed his visits to Medina and Mecca in the 1850s while disguised as an Arab to his self-assurance about his linguistic talents.8 It is belief in the possible that often accompanies national unification, excellent science, great music and literature, the exploration of space, humanitarian acts in response to natural disasters, and personal sacrifice. Such actions are not random. They are inseparable from well-entrenched beliefs.
TRANSIENT BELIEFS
Some beliefs are transient. They have a here-today-gone-tomorrow quality. The phrase “he changed his mind” captures what’s involved. People change their minds about their wives and husbands, best friends, political parties, financial advisors, clothes, and Santa Claus. So too with what’s wise to eat, which car is best, and where it’s desirable to live. When change occurs, people often say that their newest belief might change in the future. That also is a belief.
Transient views often have their origins in new information and changes in preferences that accompany experience, aging, social relationships, and social status. Horses were faster than automobiles when the first automobile was manufactured. Then automobiles acquired greater horsepower and most people came to view the “iron horse” as faster. Or take flying: Two centuries ago, people proclaimed vigorously that it was impossible. Then came the Wright brothers, Charles Lindbergh, Wiley Post, DC-3s, 707s, 737s, and space shuttles. Or, for views that have lost much of their luster, consider those of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. During the first six decades of the twentieth century, many people embraced their explanations of the causes of mental discomfort and mental illness. Many entered treatment with the belief that their ailments would be cured. Different beliefs are in vogue today, such as that the origins of mental illness are to be found in clarifying interactions between genes, their expression, and the environment.9
BELIEFS WE WANT TO BELIEVE
There are convictions that people embrace because they find them pleasing. A utopian life, the Chicago Cubs will win the World Series, the universe is friendly, politicians will start telling the truth, and winning the lottery all qualify.
Excerpts from an interview with a sixty-year-old college graduate, self-employed male provide an illustration:
Author: “You said that you believe that human beings are essentially good and not evil. Can you elaborate?”
Interviewee: “There are life stories of which I am aware that cover goodness. Short of mental illness, those who have chosen evil can respond to love. In doing so, they realize that the essence of life is that good is a greater human force than evil. The discussions of good and evil in the Bible emphasize that essential point: humans have to be corrupted into evil. They can be uncorrupted.”
Author: “Go on.”
Interviewee: “For example, a next-door neighbor had a very difficult child. He was unable to accept boundaries or cooperate with his family. There were problems at school. Neighbors wouldn’t let their children play with him b
ecause he was mean. It was deeply disconcerting to his parents. And do you know how they handled it? His mother out-loved him. Yes, she out-loved him! And it worked. He changed. He is now an adult and a fine and sensitive young man.”
Author: “Are there events that might lead you to reevaluate your belief in human goodness?”
Interviewee: “Somalia and the hacking up of people who have different views is an example. They are innocent victims with alternative beliefs. They are deprived of food, which conveys the idea that one is not worth even a meal. In turn, victims often engage in evil acts to validate their worth. Or take the bankers who were largely responsible for the 2008 worldwide recession. They put thousands of people out in the street because of their greed. Their actions invalidate the lives of those affected. And how did they get so greedy? They lacked validation in their own lives and believed that money would provide it. Or take our current political system. Honesty is gone. It thrives on character assassination. Politicians are self-serving.”
Author: “These examples haven’t changed your mind?”
Interviewee: “Not yet. The essence of life is to be validated as a human being. This could still happen to Somalian warlords and the bankers and politicians.”
Author: “Is it possible that you have this belief because it pleases you more than believing in evil?”
Interviewee: “That might be true.”
PERSUASION AND BELIEF
There are views held by others that people actively work to change. Deliberate persuasion is one such means. Harriet Beecher Stowe’s 1852 antislavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin,10 Peter Singer’s Animal Liberation,11 and Jonathan Foer’s Eating Animals12 are examples. They changed the views and moral commitments of many readers and served as stimuli for active proselytizing and, at times, antiestablishment action.13
The works of Karl Marx provide another example. Ninety years ago, they persuaded millions of people that a new type of egalitarian society was possible. For many people, the ideas served as the justification for the Russian Revolution, and thousands of committed individuals risked their lives (and thousands lost them) in their attempt to create a new social and political reality.
BELIEFS ASSOCIATED WITH STRUGGLE AND PAIN
Parents who embrace the view that their children should be punished physically for wayward behavior struggle when the moment to act arrives. Similar struggles arise when one is deceived by a close friend, by a spouse, or in a business transaction. Beliefs have been violated.
BELIEFS WITH AND WITHOUT EVIDENCE
Some people are certain their views reflect how their world works—that is, they understand reality. Often there is compelling evidence and near consensus about their views. Examples include the unforgiving action of gravity when one carelessly drops a piece of fine china onto a tile floor or that many centuries ago, there was a Roman Empire. Rarely do such views change. Other people harbor views that are at odds with all available evidence, such as that the dead can communicate with the living or that levitation is possible. Nonetheless, they believe them anyway.
But even when evidence is present, beliefs may differ. For example, say a dozen people who believe in miracles visit Lourdes seeking cures for their ailments. After praying for a cure, ten individuals believe they have been cured and are so judged by independent evaluators. Understandably, the two events are intimately tied together by those who prayed and experienced cure. The lessening or disappearance of their ailments is evidence that a miracle has occurred and God has interceded on their behalf. Their belief in miracles and the power of prayer explains the evidence. There is no divide. But now let’s say that a concurrent scientific study demonstrates that the cures are not due to miracles. Rather, they occur because of known and predictable physiological effects of believing and praying, such as alterations in the immune and brain systems of believers.14 These findings also qualify as evidence but of a different sort than that held by those who prayed. With the scientific findings in hand, it is tempting to dismiss the possibility of miracle cures. But to do so would likely have minimal influence on the beliefs of those who were cured. They have a belief and they have evidence.
WRONG BELIEFS WITHOUT CONSEQUENCES
There are beliefs that can be proven wrong by independent measures but are believed anyway. Individuals are often comfortable with what they believe, irrespective of contradictory evidence. For example, person A believes that route X gets him from home to work faster than route Y. It turns out that person A is wrong by seven minutes. Nonetheless, person A continues to believe that route X is faster than route Y, gets to work on time each day, and receives a promotion for his promptness. Sometimes divides don’t matter.
WRONG BELIEFS WITH CONSEQUENCES
There are, however, wrong beliefs that do matter. The list is long.15 They range from those about the “true” personalities and motives of friends and family members to supposedly fool-proof investment opportunities such as Ponzi schemes—the Darwin Awards documents new instances each year.16 Or take natural resources: most people have been slow to relinquish their view of the Earth’s infinite generosity with respect to uncontaminated water, arable soil, and clean air. The construction of Aswan Dam provides another example. When it was built in 1953, it was believed that the dam would significantly improve water distribution in the Nile Delta. Recently its designers have come to recognize that the opposite is taking place.17 Then we have the 2003 invasion of Iraq by the United States, where the fundamental flaw was not military performance but the political beliefs and expectations that were put into place.
DISBELIEF
There is disbelief. It may deal with statements made by others regarding their personal accomplishments, the existence of UFOs, gods, higher powers, stories in the Old Testament, alleged motives of foreign powers, political ideologies, or tales of treasures buried in northern Arizona. Disbelief is another example of belief. Like belief, it too has no limits to its playing field.
AN INFORMATIVE CASE
What is to be made of organizations like SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence)? For over fifty years, its members have worked without success to identify signs of extraterrestrial civilizations, yet their efforts remain active.18
There are, of course, multiple technical and strategic issues associated with such an undertaking. What areas of the universe should be scanned? At what frequencies should listening instruments be tuned? Is the available detection technology capable of identifying extraterrestrial signals, should they exist?
And what do those who work at SETI believe? It is uncertain how many hold the conviction that intelligent life is present elsewhere in the universe. But surely not all do. Yet their doubt may be far less important than it might seem. This could be the case if doubters believe that their efforts at detection are worthwhile, perhaps even commendable in their own right. There is a familiar ring to this type of belief. Many of us engage in behaviors because we believe that doing so has merit, even in the absence of justifying evidence or desired outcomes.
A SYNOPSIS
Hours, days, weeks, and years pass. Beliefs, predictions, and events come and go. Families, friends, jobs, and the physical environment change, as do the social and political worlds. Wars, droughts, earthquakes, coups, epidemics, and technological advances take place. As all of this transpires, we often wrap ourselves in convictions to which we assign private meanings. We treasure what we believe; at least this is so for many of our beliefs. Further, hundreds—perhaps even thousands—of new beliefs enter the social arena daily. Some will achieve the status of “truths,” such as aliens living in New Mexico and that eating fish increases one’s intelligence. Others will disappear in hours, such as the world imploding on a certain day, apricots causing cancer, and that soon people will be able to live forever. Evidence may or may not be relevant or even considered. Divides will range from narrow to wide. The young, the old, males, and females—all are vulnerable and, to all who believe their beliefs, their beliefs matter.
/> Through all of this, we sense that our beliefs are the principal navigators for daily life, a point that holds even for skeptics: they too believe in their skepticism.
SOME NUMBERS
Further efforts to identify uses for and types of beliefs might continue. For example, beliefs might be classified as past, present, or future oriented. Or they could be grouped as self-, other, or event related. Another possible grouping is political, economic, religious, ideological, and physical-reality related. Nonetheless, the preceding examples seem sufficient to establish that beliefs are omnipresent, have multiple uses, and are associated with literally every decision we make and with every action we take. Moreover, the preceding examples address only the tip of the iceberg. For example, Wikipedia lists over seven hundred religious-ideological-political beliefs (e.g., Animalism, Aristotelianism, Atheism, etc.).19 The University of Oregon Belief System Survey lists another two hundred.20 Three centuries ago there were approximately five hundred Indian nations located in North America, each with its own nuanced version of nonhuman powers.21 Today there are a reported 4,200 different faith groups/religions. In addition, there are numerous superstitions, taboos, and omens (Friday the thirteenth, the number 7, the warning to not walk under ladders) that many accept and use to guide their behavior.22
According to academic etiquette, we should constrain from making pejorative comments about the research and ideas of colleagues, especially if they work in one’s department or university, but that doesn’t curtail the desire to do so or the practice.
Howard is a close friend. He is a professor of psychology, a “rogue psychologist,” as some call him. We have a long history together. It began with high school, then college, and, several years later, working at the same university. In high school, we skipped classes together, drank beer on the sly, smoked cigarettes, and once competed for the affection of the same young lady. In college, we supported both reasonable and unreasonable causes, played instruments in the same group, and started a landscaping business. His way of settling political discussions is to remind me that he has been arrested three times to my one for protesting injustices.
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