Abstract

This article explores the phenomena behind phenomena like Trumpism and religion, attributing them to fear and a lack of critical thinking. It suggests that to counter such beliefs, one must instill rational thought by addressing psychological needs such as status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness, and fairness. The author also advocates for teaching critical thinking skills from an early age to enable individuals to evaluate facts and original sources directly, thereby reducing susceptibility to manipulation.

How to replace faith-based beliefs with evidence-based ones

Now that it's in the rearview mirror, Trumpism deserves study to prevent it from happening again. I lump it together with religion and any faith or non-evidence-based belief, and attribute it fundamentally to two phenomena:

Fear, as I wrote before. How do you assuage fears? By instilling rational thought. Neuroscience teaches us that requires us to calm down the amygdala to divert blood to the neocortex. In order to do that, we need to get the listener/reader to perceive:

Status: they must feel good about themselves
Certainty: they must have some certainty about what will happen
Autonomy: they must feel empowered to make their own decisions
Relatedness: they must feel related or aligned with the other person, and
Fairness: they must feel treated fairly.

These principles ought to be worked into every democrat speech.

Lack of critical thinking. I bet you that, handed Trump's and Biden's last speeches, a lot more than 50.5% of Americans would deem the latter better than the former. The problem is that people don't judge others based on the facts of what they say and do, but rather on what they hear from trusted third parties, who themselves hear from others, who hear from pundits and professional manipulators. If people would just learn to evaluate the facts and original sources (the candidates) critically for themselves, then their perception would be closer to reality and less amenable to manipulation. This is the critical skill that needs to be taught. It should become a subject in every elementary and high school.

Cite This Work

Bäcker, Alex: How to replace faith-based beliefs with evidence-based ones. alexbacker.com/w/how-to-replace-faith-based-beliefs-with-evidence-based-ones. Originally published at http://alexbacker.pbworks.com/How+to+replace+faith-based+beliefs+with+evidence-based+ones.