Belief and Belief Formation: Insights from Delusions

摘要: Beliefs are stable mental representations of reality that we accept as true. As such, they play a critical role in shaping our phenomenological experiences and determining the choices actions make. Despite their considerable importance, cognitive nature belief underlying processes involved forming beliefs have received little formal investigation own right. This may be due, part, to challenges operationalising intimately familiar, yet highly complex distributed processes. One promising avenue, however, has come from neuropsychiatry into delusions, considered by many pathological forms belief. Identifying responsible causal pathologies can used reveal some likely present non-pathological formation. In this chapter, describe tentative five-stage account formation accommodates key features both delusions We provide evidence for discuss its implications understanding