Beliefs as Actions Supporting an Identity

Why We Act in Contradictory Self-defeating Ways

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Why do we think we know what we think we know? Consider the word “acknowledge,” where knowledge is combined with acquiescence, giving us the concept of perspectival confirmation. In other words, facts really do care about your feelings. Not in the sense of feelings determining what is and isn’t true at the level of a shared reality, but certainly in the sense of contributing to what is simply felt to be right. And those feelings, that felt a sense of rightness, stems not from analysis, not from a careful articulation of epistemic claims based on the notion of increasingly approximate truth claims, but from who we believe ourselves to be in relation to others. Truth, socially speaking, is identified, determined to be, and supported by Identity.

In the previous article, truth claims were seen as directional, stemming from a self-image given structure in no small part through genetics, referred to as personality. Claims were then funneled into social experience through the lens of Identity, whichever one happened to be ascendant at the time. This is why we can often see or create a narrative of continuity for someone despite them showing up in different social situations but then struggle to understand why they may espouse or even act in seemingly contradictory ways within those various contexts. This is most often seen in juxtaposing how a person shows up with their family and how they may be at work, or, more pronounced, who or what they may support politically.

There is no contradiction at the individual level; there is only the desire to maintain social status and connection and, therefore, a sense of continuity in managing their resources.

Identity Provides a Focus for Group Solidarity

At first glance, participating in large social events like sports, concerts, and political rallies seems like a huge waste of resources. Particularly for concerts where, for some artists, people are traveling to another country, the expenditure of finances and time is prohibitive. However, increasingly, purchasing merchandise at political rallies is an entrepreneurial dream come true.

These expenditures highlight a dedication to an Identity, itself a way of connecting with others of similar minds and means. Showing up to a beloved singer’s concert is not just an auditory celebration, it’s a gathering in solidarity with others that supports the actions that got them there. Participating in a political rally and wearing a t-shirt, hat, or fake ear bandages can be for fun, but it, more importantly, is a means of broadcasting to those around you that you belong, that you’re one of us and, uniquely, in the case of the bandages, that you projectively identify as participating in the attack on another person. It’s a means of sharing in the perceived persecution, no differently fundamentally than wearing a cross.

“Put your money where your mouth is” isn’t just a provocation; it points to a deeper truth about actions: the spending of limited resources is seen socially as a dedication to a worldview. An Identity is simply a shorthand identifier for a socially shared perspective, worldview, or philosophy. Resources aren’t just money; they’re time, attention, physical well-being, and future planning. Every moment of every day we’re showcasing our allegiance to one of several Identities we hold to as a way to tell the particular group we’re connected, from work to politics to family: “I’m with you.”

Truth is About Social Need

Why do we think we know what we know? We return to this question to connect group solidarity through Identity support with truth claims as a functional tool to shore up that support. In his book “Breaking the Spell,” Daniel Dennett explored the notion originally considered by William James that believing something isn’t a singular statement but a belief in a belief, an act of social confirmation rather than a rational, reflective conclusion. While Dennett was focused on religious belief, the social confirmation role of beliefs or truth claims isn’t isolated only to that.

As already noted above, our actions are always in service of supporting one or another Identity within the social context we find ourselves in and are focused on. Belief isn’t a separate cognitive or mental act because the mind isn’t disembodied. Seeing the mind as embodied and embedded in social relationships helps us recognize how our beliefs and the outward articulation and declaration of them are just as much an action as wearing merchandise, going on a trip to a concert, spending time with your kids, and reaching out to friends and loved ones.

Often, our beliefs or mental statements, internally thought or externally expressed, are less about making statements about the world, including ourselves, but a way of finding conformity and solidarity with an Identity we’re adhering to. This is massively important for one’s own mental health and in the analysis of other people’s actions. The first question to ask when considering a thought/belief you’ve had or heard from another is not “Is this true?” but “What/who does this serve?” The negative judgment you’ve made about yourself may or may not be true, but it is definitely in service of a social Identity and the associations one has with it. The assessment of another person’s statement or other action as being foolish may also be either true or false, but it is most definitely an act in service of group cohesion and belonging.

Freedom, or, to use a concept from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), psychological flexibility, is found in seeing one’s truth claims or beliefs and the other actions one does in service of them as primarily functional, as having an aim towards Identity support. We can’t stop the way our brains work, being the embodied and embedded creations of evolution that we are. Instead, we can harness the process for our well-being, and rather than wrestling with every thought or outward action as definitive, we can hold such things more lightly and actively engage in Identity expansion, giving ourselves more paths to act on instead of being trapped on a single one.