Some Observations about Beliefs — Part 3

How to change the Beliefs of others — which will change their Actions…

When we use the word “Beliefs” many people think of religion. However, most of our Beliefs have nothing to do with religion. As outlined in Part 1 (w examples in Part 2), almost all of our Beliefs are our opinions about what things are, how things behave, etc. Examples of Beliefs are “Joe Biden is doing a good job as President” or “Unless we make radical societal changes, the world will soon cease to exist as we know it,” etc.

We are all frequently put in positions where we would like others to act differently — ranging from wanting them to support a certain political candidate, to keeping their dog off your property.

Most issues are not worth worrying about, but when any are (e.g., a close relative who is way off base on an important matter), you may decide that it is worth your time to try to fix that person’s misconception.

One of the most effective ways to get such people to change their Actions is to get to their Beliefs. There are four (4) basic options to get them to do our desired Action:

1. connect our desired Action to an existing Belief of theirs (that’s consistent with the desired Action),
2. modify an existing Belief of theirs (so that it now prompts the desired Action),
3. create a new Belief in them (that’s consistent with the desired Action),
4. eliminate an existing Belief of theirs (that’s blocking the desired Action).

Carefully think about these before proceeding on…

There are two methods to get people to change their Beliefs: Directly or Indirectly.

Directly (or consciously) would be (see this sample reference) to:

a) ask them what they think their relevant Belief is,

b) get a clear understanding of exactly what their relevant Belief is,

c) discuss the relevance of their Belief to the situation at hand,

d) assist them in scrutinizing any relevant Belief for its accuracy,

e) release any emotions tied to this Belief, and

f) break any bonds of faith that are established with this Belief.

Indirectly would be to use very different strategies than the direct approach.

Specifically, this would be accessing the other person’s subconscious mind (i.e., where their Beliefs are primarily located). If done right, they will not likely be aware that we are modifying their Belief system. However, before that can be explained, we must have a solid understanding of the two minds…

The Conscious mind vs the Subconscious mind might be compared to an iceberg. What we see (and deal with) in others, is the small visible part above water. That’s the Conscious Mind.

Below water is a MUCH larger part — the part that gives the iceberg its real strength. This is the Subconscious Mind, which is an accumulation of all your experiences.

We periodically give over control to our Subconscious Mind, without being aware of it.

A good example is when you are driving for a while on a highway. You start thinking about something else (e.g., an upcoming event). Suddenly you realize that fifteen minutes have passed where you were not consciously paying attention to driving. Yet, you still accelerated, braked, and steered around obstacles, while going 60 MPH. Your Subconscious Mind was controlling your actions.

Surprisingly, there is still a lot we don’t know about our Subconscious Mind, but here are some generally agreed on characteristics:

1. It is always on, 24/7. (It’s the Conscious Mind that goes to sleep.)
2. It processes millions of daily inputs that would overwhelm the Conscious Mind.
3. It puts many of your daily functions on auto-pilot.
4.  It doesn’t reason.
5. It records our emotional response to events.
6. It stores memories.

Understanding how the Subconscious Mind works will help us be happier, more effective people, as it enables us to communicate better with others.

It should go without saying the Critical Thinking about our Beliefs (their accuracy, their applicability, etc.) is exceptionally important.

(How to communicate to another person’s subconscious mind is a fascinating topic. If I get the time, I’ll write about this in a future installment.)

©2024. All rights reserved.

Here are other materials by this scientist that you might find interesting:

Check out the Archives of this Critical Thinking substack.

WiseEnergy.org: discusses the Science (or lack thereof) behind our energy options.

C19Science.info: covers the lack of genuine Science behind our COVID-19 policies.

Election-Integrity.info: multiple major reports on the election integrity issue.

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