THINKER'S ALMANAC - December 20

Subject: Thinking - “Aliefs” and Beliefs

Event:  Birthday of philosopher Tamar Szabo Gendler, 1965 

Today is the birthday of philosopher Tamar Szabo Gendler, who is the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Yale.

With the coining of one simple word, Gendler has provided insight into human psychology.  We have all heard of “beliefs,” but how many of us know about “aliefs”?

According to Gendler, aliefs are our automatic, instinctive, attitudes towards our world.  Unlike our beliefs, which are conscious and rational, aliefs revolve around words beginning with the letter A: affective, associative, automatic, and irrational (1).

 

To illustrate the difference between aliefs and beliefs, and to show how they interact, imagine you are riding up to the top of a skyscraper in a glass elevator that runs on the outside of the building.  The elevator has been in operation for years, is maintained frequently, and is safe.  Nevertheless, you have a fear of heights, so as the elevator rises and you look down on the city below, you become fearful.  This instinctive fear represents an alief because it is not rational and springs from instinctive emotions.  Internally you are also experiencing belief since the rational side of you knows that you are safe and that there is no danger of falling.

Aliefs explain why we get scared at horror movies:  even though the rational part of us knows that images on a screen cannot hurt us, our aliefs still trigger our brains to feel fear.

Psychologist Paul Rozin has completed research that gives interesting insights into aliefs.  In one study, he offered subjects a delicious sample of pure chocolate; there was one hitch, however: the chocolate was molded into a dog poop shape.  Despite the fact that each subject knew that they were being offered pure chocolate, 40 percent refused the offer. Rozin got similar results when he asked subjects to drink apple juice out of a sparkling new bedpan (2).

 

The interaction of alief and beliefs also help us to understand the nature of prejudice and bias.  While we may believe that we harbor no racial prejudice against any group, it is possible that we hold aliefs that reflect implicit racial bias.  Similarly, we may claim to be progressive when it comes to eschewing stereotypes about gender roles; nevertheless, we should realize that our aliefs might reflect stereotypes about the acceptable roles of men versus women within the home or in the workplace.

Challenge - Simple as A and B: Write a public service announcement that explains the difference between aliefs and beliefs. Also, explain how each of us experiences both of these types of thinking on a regular basis.

 

Sources:

1-Santos, Laurie. “CRITICAL THINKING - Cognitive Biases: Alief.” YouTube 15 Sept. 2015.

2-Tsouderos, Trine. “That's disgusting! But we love it.” Chicago Tribune 27 Oct. 2005.