How Memory Works (why changing behaviour is so hard)

Memories are stored in three different ways: as BELIEFS, INFORMATION (sometimes mistaken for facts), and as RECORDS (mostly used for reminiscing--"now as I recollect...").

A lot of unresolved arguments are due to the fact that one person has the topic being discussed stored under belief, while the other has it stored under information. It is very difficult to win an argument against someone who is arguing from belief -- for they will not be swayed by facts. Facts will be stored as information and the brain allows those items to contradict items stored as beliefs. Sometimes enough contradiction can build up to cause the person to change their belief (but more often they just reject the information).

Records are of the "this is the way it happened" type -- "good ole days" and all that. The process of reminiscing changes records, editting them to make them more pleasant and appropriate to the needs of the current self-image. Memories classified as information are edit-protected -- their recollection is different.

Beliefs are created by the AI theory of "chunking". That is: I don't know how to deal with this set of events or data, so (chunk!) -- a belief is born to handle this combination. Now every time the same situation pops up, the belief chunks into place (and logic goes out the window).

Beliefs are also created when a person does not have the resources and/or mental ability to process all the required information to take a complete argument to a conclusion. So they throw up their (mental) hands and skip to the conclusion (one reason post hoc arguments are so successful). This may be a satisfactory short cut on some matters (e.g., I believe Walmart has the best price on this item = It is not worth my time to do a price survey before I buy this $5 item), but a dangerous shortcut in matters less trivial.

What's really dangerous is that most people are not aware just how much of their lives are affected by beliefs. Much in our lives is the result of beliefs -- things like "I'm not good at sports" or "alcohol makes me feel good" or "people who are different are dangerous". Things that "chunked" into place long ago and haven't been reexamined because they were filed under belief. Many people spend their whole lives struggling with this. It is common for beliefs to have been imposed on them as children ("you're clumsy", "you're lazy"). Although they can see facts that contradict what they were told, the beliefs persist.

Beliefs are like records in that they supply emotional needs, and so they may change as those needs change over time. To successfully change a belief that is causing you problems, you must first be aware of the source of the belief -- so that you can determine what type of information is needed to contradict the belief. Keep in mind that it can take a LOT of contradiction to effect the change you desire.

--JustBetsy