A belief’s psychological basis determines how changeable it is

Evidence

The fear of criminal prosecution prompted her to do more in-depth research, including coming across a book by critical complementary medicine professor Edzard Ernst, and eventually distancing herself from alternative medicine in direct exchanges with Ernst and other skeptical authors that lasted several months. As an important step she mentions the spatial separation from her previous environment, which had consisted almost exclusively of believers. … So conversations with skeptics were very important to her transformation process, which she estimates to have taken about 9 months in total – but she didn’t seek out these conversations until she was already well into her turnaround. — Holm Gero Hümmler, Ulrike Schiesser, Fact and Prejudice, 201 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: External challenges to justify beliefs can trigger belief transformation — Holm Gero Hümmler, Ulrike Schiesser, Fact and Prejudice: How to Communicate…, 198; Centrality of a belief is measured by its resistance to change. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 1853; Genuine belief change is possible and rare, centered on an initial crack of doubt — Holm Gero Hümmler, Ulrike Schiesser, Fact and Prejudice: How to Communicate…, 214 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Belief change begins inside the believer before outside conversations matter #complicates (0.75) — Holm Gero Hümmler, Ulrike Schiesser, Fact and Prejudice, 201