Choosing to believe

What we are also dealing with is the desire for the "false" to be true even if we know its not ,a good examlpe is how sports fans belive in the ability of their teams to win way beyond an infomation provided by past results , or how many people choose to belive they have a good chance of winning the lottery .if you go to your marsh , and have a life long desire to see a moose , you might "see" something and belive it to be a real moose , even if its just a tree branch and a clump of bushes ,further each person also puts different weighting on any evidence , some will choose the belive their family above and beyond so scientist in a different country .the way in which we choose to belive varies greatly between each of us . . . this is why advertizing is targeted by personality types .

you are spot on , and thats the issue the amount and type of evidence people need to belive in something varies greatly , and our desire will shape what evidence we reguard as valuable in the search for a truth to belive , further your past experience taints what value you put on both the evidence and the sorce of the evidence .....some people seem to need to belive in something greater that "us" be it god , ghosts , ufo's , lucky clover , ley lines , astrology . . . . . .these seem to treat evidence differently to the research scientist , evidence has to be personal , not second / third person ..Edited by ikabod, : No reason given.

is it not that the "belive" function IS different for everyone , the way in which the action of beliving is carried out is a method build up by each individual , from life experince , education , training et al . Beliving is not a simple single process, but a complex action , that is made up of many parts all competeing with each outer to make the whole "belive" function .might it be possible to brake down the "belive" function into components and thus see how each person version of the "belive "function is made up .?

arh but no one said life was going to be easy my son , how ever , i think it is also important to realise that such poeple are also found in the research scientist community , you can find cases of them clinging to "their" theory even when better supported theroies are overturning long held views .
I personaly have me people who seem open minded about 99% of things but are totally closed about one particular belief .as has been said before ...people are a problem .. well thats what i choose to belive . Edited by ikabod, : No reason given.Edited by ikabod, : No reason given.