Conversation

What’s the most important belief you hold where the only evidence for it is 1) people’s answers to survey questions and/or 2) people’s behavior in contrived laboratory experiments?
24
76
Replying to
what evidence do you have that anybody actually forms beliefs on such a basis? I think people mostly form beliefs based on magical thinking, and then decorate them with survey results or lab results. It's a kind of performance art.
1
14
Replying to
Hmm... maybe beliefs like a survey on vegetarian/vegan self identification or pure sensory tests like response speed to flashing images (I assume we're talking mostly of social psych type stuff, not general beliefs like speed of light)
1
2
Replying to and
More shaky stuff, I don't think belief is even the right word for how I hold certain propositions. I "entertain" them seriously is more like it. Like say ego depletion or power poses. Having them falsified does not disturb me the way discovering that the earth is flat would.
Replying to
lol, yeah that that would be traumatizing. A lot of such things fall into the category of wishful thinking etc. "I *hope* it wasn't my friend who took the money from my wallet and it was a stranger even though they had the most means/motive/opportunity"
2