Construct of Faith in Psychology: Beliefs, Emotions, Experience

Abstract

Digitalization, which has been developing in recent decades, leads to the availability and abundance of information, as a result the necessity to develop critical thinking arises. The formation of faith provides support, faith performs an important protective function of the mind. Faith is necessary for the development and functioning of the individual, it is of great importance for working with information, for solving problems and moral-ethical accomplishment of young people. The paper presents an overview of different approaches to the faith and belief, considers the connection of faith and critical thinking, motivation and presents three positions in the perception of faith. The article proposes a model of faith, describes three components of this construct: an empirical component (experience), a cognitive component (beliefs) and an emotional-volitional component (desires, aspirations, motive). The article emphasizes the connection between cognitions, emotions, will. In situations of uncertainty, there is a need to strengthen faith. We consider the mechanisms of changing the dynamics within the construct "faith" by means of strengthening or weakening the cognitive component - beliefs. The question of the difficulty of changing beliefs is raised due to the fact that beliefs are represented by a system, and not by individual elements. The set of beliefs of the individual is a complete whole structure, where each belief has its own degree of importance and degree of impact on the life of the individual. Changing one belief leads to an imbalance in the system, causes negative emotions and defenses. The article provides examples of studies of self-deception as a defense mechanism in a situation where an individual cannot change the belief system. The article uses a descriptive method, presents the structure of faith, its components and methods of working with beliefs (AGM).