My Sincere thanks to:- Dr. Prof. V.Suresh, Head of the Department of Psychology, Annamalai University

1. BELIEF
By
S. Lakshmanan, M.Phil.(Psy), M.A.(Psy), PGDBA., DCL.,
Psychologist
Former Counselor cum Project Officer, NYK (Govt. of India), Pondicherry

2. Beliefs come from real experiences but often we
forget that the original experience is not the same
as what is happening in life now.
Our values and beliefs affect the quality of our work
and all our relationships because what you believe
is what you experience. We tend to think that our
beliefs are based on reality, but it is our beliefs that
govern our experiences.
The beliefs that we hold are an important part of
our identity. They may be religious, cultural or
moral. Beliefs are precious because they reflect who
we are and how we live our lives.
Belief

3. Beliefs are ideas based on our previous
experiences and convictions and may not
necessarily be based on logic or fact. You no
doubt have beliefs on political, economic, and
religious issues. These beliefs may not have
been formed through rigorous study, but you
nevertheless hold them as important aspects
of self
Belief

4. *Experience
*Reference
*Interpretation

5. Beliefs arise through experience. Experience needs
previous beliefs and reason to be assimilated, and
reason needs experience to be formed, as beliefs
need reason as well.
Beliefs, reason and experience, are based upon each
other. Context is dynamic, and formed upon beliefs,
reason and experience. This is where relative
understanding lies.
Beliefs arise through experience

6. As relative understanding is independent of our
context, it is also dependant on our beliefs,
reasoning, and experiences.
Contexts are dynamic because they are changing
constantly as we have new experiences and change
our beliefs and our ways of reasoning.
Beliefs arise through experience

7. Beliefs often serve as a frame of
reference through which we
interpret our world. Although they
can be changed, it often takes time
or strong evidence to persuade
someone to change a belief.
Reference and interpretation

8. A frame of reference is a complex set
of assumptions and attitudes which
we use to filter perceptions to
create meaning. The frame can
include beliefs, schemas, preferences,
values, culture and other ways in
which we bias our understanding and
judgment.
Frame of Reference

9. Example
I look at a group of young people wearing hooded
sweatshirts and immediately assume they are social
deviants who out looking for trouble. I avoid eye contact
and breathe a sigh of relief when they have passed by.
A person has a problem with their computer. They are not
very technical and see it as the computer as 'broken' like
a kettle may break and stop working. They call in a
technically able friend who sees it with a different frame
of reference, including how newly installed programs may
has disrupted things. This indeed turns out to be the case.
Frame of Reference

10. Our cultural background creates our frame of
reference. Our frame of reference or attitude set is that
unique set of beliefs, attitudes, values, and past
experiences that create a set way of looking and
perceiving the world. And it is our frame of reference
which forms the basis for how we interpret messages
that we receive.
Interpretation

11. Need of Change in Belief and Value

12. EXAMPLE
 Patanjali – change in belief foreign
brand to desi brands.
 Ola -change belief of Indian customer
use of tax/auto to cab.

13. Beliefs and Norms
•Beliefs are assumptions or convictions you hold
as true about some thing, concept or person.
•Norms are the rules or laws normally based on
agreed-upon beliefs and values that members of
a group follow to live in harmony.
•Formal- official standards or laws that govern
behavior.
•Informal- unwritten rules or standards that
govern the behavior

15. Belief systems are structures of norms that are interrelated
and that vary mainly in the degree in which they are
systemic. What is systemic in the Belief system is the
interrelation between several beliefs.
Belief systems are the stories we tell ourselves to define our
personal sense of Reality. Every human being has a belief
system that they utilize, and it is through this mechanism
that we individually, “make sense” of the world around us.
Perceived Reality is constructed by means of systems of signs,
being affected and being changed by means of Belief
systems.
Belief System

16. The classification of signs in closed typologies can be deceptive,
since the status of the sign depends strongly on the form in which
the sign is used within the Belief system.
A signifier can nevertheless be iconic in a belief context and be
symbolic in another context. From this we can see that people are
capable of constructing all manner of individual beliefs by which
they tell stories about how the world works.
As humans, we tend to use all these belief systems in varying
degrees to cope with events in our lives. Ultimately we need the
world to make sense . Therefore, those areas where that “sense
of reality” is most challenged will tend to be the areas in which
the most controversies exist.
Sense of Reality

17. These sets of beliefs are reinforced by culture, theology, and
experience and training as to how society works cultural
values, stereotypes, political viewpoints, etc.
Beliefs are often considered as convictions or as religious
beliefs, but as scientists there are also philosophical beliefs
relating to the sphere of daily life.
If a stimulus is received, it may be interpreted through the
belief system to be whatever the belief system might lead
the recipient to rationalize.
A belief system need have no basis in reality so long as it
consistently provides adequate explanations.
Belief as Conviction

18. • Belief- A belief is an internal feeling that
something is true,even through that belief may be
unproven.
• Attitude-An attitude is the way a person expresses
or applies their beliefs and values , and is
expressed through words and behaviour.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BELIEF AND
ATTITUDE

19. *The acceptance of
cultural of cultural and
societal norms.
*Once a person accepts a
belief about a product as
a truth they are willing
to defend it
*They are the mental
dispositions people
have towards brands
and the current
circumstances.
*People primarily form
attitude about product
or market from
underlying values and
beliefs
AttitudeBelief
Points of Relation
*A persons own
experience or experiments

20. *GUIDING BELIEFS AND VALUES

21. Intercultural communication
Above surface, primarily
in awareness
Under surface primarily
out of awareness

22. COGNITIVE DISSONANCE
•A feeling of tension experienced
when certain cognitions are
contradictory or inconsistent with
each other.

23. CognitiveDissonance
• A state of internal tension that results from an
inconsistency between any knowledge, belief, opinion,
attitude or feeling about the environment, oneself of
one’s behaviour
It is psychological uncomfortablity.
• Cognitive- being reduced to factual knowledge; act or
process of knowing including both awareness and
judgment.
• Dissonance- lack of agreement, inconsistency
between one’s actions and one’s belief

24. Understanding withbeliefs and attitudes
•Beliefs are translated into attitudes through
values
•BELIEF: Lawyers overcharge their clients
•VALUE: Fairness
•ATTITUDE: I don’t like lawyers

25. Cognitive Structure

26. Cognitivestructure changed
Level I

27. Cognitivestructure changed
Level II

28. Lawyers
help
everybody
Equality
Lawyers
overcharge
their clients
Fairness
Cognitivestructure
changed Level III
Beliefs
:
Lawyers
help their
clients lie
Values
:
Honesty
Attitude: I don’t like lawyers

29. Lawyers
help
everybody
Equality
Lawyers
overcharge
their clients
Fairness
Beliefchanged
Beliefs
:
Lawyers
help their
clients lie
Values
:
Honesty
Attitude: I don’t like lawyers I like lawyers

30. Waysto Reduce
“CognitiveDissonance”
Avoidance
Denial
Change

31. Conclusion
Conflict between two groups, including war, may be
defined as a battle between belief systems.
Symbols emerge strongly in such conflicts: they may be
revered objects like stones, writings, buildings, flags or
badges; whatever they may be, they may symbolize the
central core of belief system. When people become
symbols, the real person may become obscured behind
the projected symbolic image or person.
Organizations develop their own in-house culture and
belief system, too, which leads them to act and behave in
ways that might not seem entirely rational to an outsider.

32. Conclusion
Conflicts are not over Ideological Technology but over
what symbolizes technological difference.
Substantive beliefs are understood only in terms of
ideal values, criteria of validity, language and perspective.
 A Believer is usually better able to verbalize
substantive beliefs than values, criteria, logical principles
or orientation, which is apt to be the unquestioned basis
from which he proceeds.
 Ideal values, criteria of validity, language and
perspective may have been built up around a substantive
belief to give it significance and justification.

33. Thank you