The article discusses the concept of 'Good world belief,' which is a primal belief about the world's overall nature, either as good or bad. The author, a psychological researcher, emphasizes how these beliefs create persistent feedback loops, shaping perceptions and attitudes toward life and politics. Negative world beliefs lead individuals to perceive their surroundings negatively, while positive beliefs foster more optimistic views. Interestingly, the research finds little difference in how political ideologies perceive world beliefs, suggesting that ‘Good world belief’ may not be as relevant in political discourse as previously thought.
The power of this feedback loop is one of the greatest insights of modern empirical psychology. It underlies stereotype research, mindset research, most of social psychology, and even the most-used form of talk therapy in the world (CBT).
Where you fall on Good world belief theoretically influences how you interpret everything you encounter, placing you in an enormous feedback loop.
Seeing the whole world as bad might lead to rejecting everyone in power. But no amount of political reforms will likely ever convince people that the world is good.
Most primal world beliefs cluster statistically into the overarching belief that the world is a bad place- boring, dangerous, and ugly-versus a good place-full of beauty, value, and safety.
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