Perspectiveless Certainty in Socio-Cultural-Political Beliefs

Despite the ubiquity of conflict, it is not inevitable. In any given dispute, other outcomes are possible. Why then does conflict grip us repeatedly despite the horrors that war veterans, movies, television, and history books promise? Undoubtedly, many factors specific to the time and place of a conflict are ultimately responsible for its occurrence. Here we explore one factor that may contribute to the amazing energy that people exert in pursuing their own interests, and in denying those of others. Our premise is that perceptions of certainty are central to selfishness and conflict, and also to their resolution. We first distinguish two ways that people can perceive certainty: perspectiveless certainty (C), and perspectival certainty (C P). We then describe two domains where perceptions of certainty apply: the basic perceptual domain (BP), and the socio-cultural-political domain (SCP). After introducing these distinctions in certainty and domain, we explore two possible relations between them: covariance and independence. In particular, we suggest that people tend to adopt C independent of domain, with one outcome being selfishness and conflict in the SCP domain. We then explore two possible reasons for independence: (1) the grounding of higher cognition in the brain's perceptual systems, (2) the social process of in-group bonding. Finally, we explore ways to induce greater C P in the SCP domain. By certainty we mean strength of belief, or what is often called truth. As described shortly, we avoid the use of truth, given its ontological and epistemological implications. Instead, we focus on the psychological construct of certainty and explore two forms it can take: perspectiveless certainty (C) and perspectival certainty (C P). We use C and C P to convey the idea that perspectiveless certainty does not entail a perspective (C alone), and that perspectival certainty does (C with a P). Perspectiveless certainty (C). Perspectiveless certainty is the idea that a belief is " true " or 2 " the way things are " from no perspective. Consider the belief that " the world is flat. " Adopting C means viewing this belief as not dependent on perspective. Even if no person existed to perceive the Earth's surface, this statement is nevertheless viewed as " true. " Even when people exist who perceive the Earth as flat, certainty about this belief does not depend on their perspective. It is essential to note that we are using certainty here as a description of people's …