Comprehending Differing Beliefs

[PsychoSarah]

I encounter a lot of people who just can't seem to understand how people can believe different things than themselves. Any thoughts on this?

 

[Received]

That's because they're not thinking rationally, and instead are thinking in terms of self-identification and a herd mentality. "You can't possibly be right on a belief that's mutually exclusive to mine, because you're 'them' and I'm part of 'us'."

 

[quatona]

I encounter a lot of people who just can't seem to understand how people can believe different things than themselves. Any thoughts on this?

I know a couple of persons who don´t speak a second language, and therefore can´t seem to understand how what rhymes in their language doesn´t rhyme in another, how the same statement can be much longer or shorter in another language, and how there are some words in their language that describe concepts for which there isn´t a word in the other language (or, more generally, how the meanings of a word are not completely congruent in two languages).
Must be about the same phenomenon...

 

[Paradoxum]

Perhaps because most people they have known have been people like themselves. Maybe without knowing people with a genuine different opinion, it's too easy to dismiss the 'other' as lying (even to themselves) because they are bad people.

 

[znr]

Self centeredness.

 

[andy b]

Its not a problem i have ever encountered in real life, Most people i have met are pretty easy going on others beliefs

 

[2PhiloVoid]

I encounter a lot of people who just can't seem to understand how people can believe different things than themselves. Any thoughts on this?

It's probably because many people don't study psychology and thus gain the insight that each of us have different brain patterns and aptitudes for perceiving, learning, understanding, and analyzing. Add to this the variable genetic traits, along with a vast array of life experiences, both good and bad.

Being that a good number of Christians tend to be anti-intellectual, they may assume that 'being made in the image of God' means everyone is supposed to reflect the same cookie-cutter expressions of humanity. Of course, we know this isn't so.

I suppose there are people who aren't Christians who also have the same problem understanding that each of us is different in our psychological makeup, and that a difference of opinion may not necessarily indicate an inferior intelligence.