Romance and interpersonal relationships seem to be areas where beliefs in beliefs and similar phenomena sometimes occur. For example, sometimes people are able to correctly predict a lot of other person’s reactions, yet, at the same time, they seem reluctant to update their beliefs about the “big picture”. Or a person might actively avoid finding out anything about the other person’s past, because they fear that it might be upsetting to know it, and therefore they prefer maintaining an illusion. Of course, these are not very good examples of beliefs in beliefs, because beliefs in question are rarely clearly articulated, therefore it is not always clear what exactly is the content of a belief. In addition to that, even believer himself/herself would often admit their uncertainty, therefore it is more often about avoiding negation of the belief rather than affirming it. But this phenomenon seems closely related and worth mentioning.
Perhaps some occurrences are partially because of wishful thinking and partially because they are closely related to the concept of trust. On the other hand, concept of trust seems important in these areas, which leads to an interesting situation.
What “beliefs in belief” have you observed in your own thinking, or those around you?
Romance and interpersonal relationships seem to be areas where beliefs in beliefs and similar phenomena sometimes occur. For example, sometimes people are able to correctly predict a lot of other person’s reactions, yet, at the same time, they seem reluctant to update their beliefs about the “big picture”. Or a person might actively avoid finding out anything about the other person’s past, because they fear that it might be upsetting to know it, and therefore they prefer maintaining an illusion. Of course, these are not very good examples of beliefs in beliefs, because beliefs in question are rarely clearly articulated, therefore it is not always clear what exactly is the content of a belief. In addition to that, even believer himself/herself would often admit their uncertainty, therefore it is more often about avoiding negation of the belief rather than affirming it. But this phenomenon seems closely related and worth mentioning.
Perhaps some occurrences are partially because of wishful thinking and partially because they are closely related to the concept of trust. On the other hand, concept of trust seems important in these areas, which leads to an interesting situation.