Notes for Workshop discussion (From Powerpoint Presentation)

 

Slide 1

Why we believe what we believe?

...how our mind (thoughts, feelings, personality) affects our religious beliefs and practice

 

 

Slide 2

Hermeneutics

• ...the study of the interpretation of texts
• The writer —context and experience
• Genre
• Original hearers — what was the meaning for them
• Present hearers (us) — our context, pre-understanding

 

 

Slide 3

"You might think that you could arrive at a belief or a decision by non-rational means, and then try to justify it, and if you couldn't justify it, reject it.

 

But we change our minds less often — much less often than we think."

Yudkowsky 2007

 

 

Slide 4

Bias

• Prior attitude effect. Subjects who feel strongly about an issue - even when encouraged to be objective - will evaluate supportive arguments more favourably than contrary arguments.

• Confirmation bias. Subjects free to choose their information sources will seek out supportive rather than contrary sources.
• Attitude strength effect. Subjects voicing stronger attitudes will be more prone to the above biases.
  
  
• Sophistication effect. Politically knowledgeable subjects, because they possess greater ammunition with which to counter-argue incongruent facts and arguments, will be more prone to the above biases.

 

Slide 5

Task 1. LIFE HISTORY

Name the people who have had the most influence on you.....

Name Position
What did I like about them?

What did I learn from them?

 

Are there people who have had negative influences?

 

What did I not like about them?

 

What did I learn from them?

 

Slide 6

Identification

.... a psychological process whereby a person assimilates an aspect, property or attribute of another person and is transformed, wholly or partially, after the model the other provides.

It is by means of a series of identifications that a personality is constituted and specified

La Planche & Pontalis, 1985

 

Slide 7

Family Photos

 

 

Slide 8

Task 2. Family of Origin

Relationships

What was the feeling in your family?

Happy, sad, tense, crowded, empty, warm, cold

What was the level of affection?

Was there respect?

Were there shared activities?

Roles

Who offered care and support

Were jobs/roles set or flexible?

Who decided where you went for holidays?

Rules

Was your house neat and tidy?

Was your family punctual?

What was the attitude to money?

 

 

Slide 9

 

Cognitive dissonance

An uncomfortable experience caused by holding two contradictory ideas simultaneously

People have a motivational drive to reduce dissonance by changing their attitudes, beliefs and behaviours, or by justifying or rationalizing them

 

 

Slide 10

 

Aesop's Fable: The Fox and the Grapes

Desiring something then criticising it because it proves unattainable

- 'Adaptive Preference'

 

 

Slide 11

 

Task 3. Communication style

		Relationships Important
	Wants to be	|	Problems to be
	liked		solved
Passive				Assertive
	Withdraws into Shell	|	Tries to Force
	Avoids conflict		Viewpoint
		Relationships not so important

 

Slide 12

Task 3. Communication style

 

		Relationships Important
	Wants to be	|	Problems to be
	liked		solved
Passive				Assertive
	Withdraws into Shell	|	Tries to Force
	Avoids conflict		Viewpoint
		Relationships not so important

 

Slide 13

Exploring the communication of evangelical families

Colaner CW, Communication Studies 2009

 

 

Encourage individuality

Conformity orientation

Emphasis on obedience and uniformity in behaviour

 

 

Little interaction & connection

Conversation orientation

High levels of expressiveness, frequent Interaction, comfortable with debate

 

Egalitarian parents have greater use of conversation oriented communication

Hierarchical complementarians use greater conformity-oriented communication

 

Slide 14

Discussion

• What are the implications of this for the gender issue

 

 

Slide15

Summary: Why we believe what we believe

Attitudes, beliefs, values and behaviours are developed by 'modelling' through a series of identifications

This includes models of gender role, communication style, decision-making, conflict resolution

Cognitive dissonance will be resolved by:

• Changing attitudes, beliefs or behaviours
• Justifying or rationalizing (confirmation bias, selective attention)

Gender roles, communication styles and beliefs are all related