The 10 types of beliefs, and how they speak about who we are.

These cognitive schemas and ways of interpreting the world express how we are and how we act.

In many ways, we are what we do and what we think. The beliefs that we internalize and through which we live define who we are and, for example, focus us towards certain moral values or others, make us have certain kinds of priorities, etc.

In this article we will see a classification about the main types of beliefs and the way in which they affect us in the day to day.

The types of beliefs and their characteristics

Beliefs are fundamentally memorized ideas about how the world is and how we should act. Concretely, they are cognitive schemesthat is, systems of relationships between concepts in our memory.

For example, for some people the term "anti-system" has connotations associated with terrorism and insecurity, so when entering this topic, their thoughts will move through the semantic field of vandalism and violence; but for others, it has positive connotations associated with participatory democracy and collaboration, so through this scheme they will reach very different conclusions.

Having said that, let us now turn to the types of beliefs..

Depending on whether they are normative or not

Beliefs can be descriptive or, on the contrary, indicate a direction in which our actions should go. We therefore distinguish between descriptive beliefs and moral beliefs.

Descriptive beliefs

These beliefs are assumed to be a simple (imperfect) tracing of reality: They show what is in the present, whether we want it or not.. For example, some people believe that the evolution of species follows a logic whereby individuals must fight each other to survive, while others believe that evolution also creates frameworks in which those who survive the most are those who collaborate.

2. Moral or normative beliefs

This type of beliefs are those that that tell us what is right and what is wrong.. For example, believing that inequality is something that must be fought.

According to their link with religion

Historically, religions have had a very important weight both in the lives of individuals and in political and social events. It is therefore useful to distinguish between religious beliefs and secular beliefs.

3. Religious beliefs

Religious beliefs, as their name indicates, are linked to a religion, regardless of their degree of extension and popularity. This means that are attached to dogmatic ideas that should not be questioned, to certain rituals, and to principles based on the supernatural.and to principles based on the supernatural.

4. Secular beliefs

The secular beliefs are not linked to religion, at least directly. For that reason, they are all those that cannot be included in the previous category.

According to the degree of consciousness

In many aspects, there are beliefs so deeply implanted in our way of thinking that they are unconscious, automatic. This distinction is confusing because it is not easy to know to what extent an idea is unconscious or not, or if an apparent unconscious belief only arises in moments of intense emotionality or under certain circumstances, or if on the contrary it is always there, latent and hidden.

5. Conscious beliefs

This type of belief is part of our daily discourse, the way in which we make our convictions explicit, either in spoken or written form, referring to our opinions.

6. Unconscious beliefs

Unconscious beliefs are expressed through biases, involuntary acts and mental experiments. and mental experiments. For example, a person who claims that lying is always wrong may realize that he really does not think so if he is presented with a situation in which not lying has catastrophic consequences.

According to their usefulness

Beliefs also have an impact on one's quality of life. That is why we distinguish between adaptive and maladaptive beliefs.

7. Adaptive beliefs

They are those that allow us to adjust to our daily life without causing suffering to others or to ourselves. Aaron Beck's cognitive therapy, for example, is based on making our core beliefs adaptive.

8. Maladaptive beliefs

As their name indicates, they are those that do not allow us to adapt to our life in a correct way, since they generate stridencies and conflicts both intrapersonal and interpersonal.

For example, believing that the right thing to do is to weigh less than 40 kilos is a maladaptive belief related to extreme thinness, and the same happens with the belief that homosexuality is unnatural or that there are inferior races. In the first case this idea causes Pain mainly to oneself, while the others cause suffering to others.

Depending on whether they are internal or external

Beliefs can be directed towards oneself or towards others.

9. Beliefs about self-identity

They are closely related to self-esteem, self-concept and the expectations we place on ourselves. the expectations we place on ourselves.

10. Beliefs about the environment

These can be beliefs about the society in which we live, friends and acquaintances, etc. It is very important in the so-called attribution styles, through which we attribute the causes of what we experience to others, to luck or to ourselves.