The Role of Faith in

Cognition
By Anoushka Kannan and Megha Shastry
Real Life Situation
An article published by Vox on April 18th, 2019 highlighted the recent case of
a measles virus outbreak in the United States, as a result of states that permit
a variety of nonmedical — religious or philosophical — exemptions from
vaccines. Although measles was eradicated in US by 2000, it has reappeared
and has been spreading among Orthodox Jews who reject vaccines due to
unfounded safety concerns.
The outbreak could have been entirley avoided, but the relaxed state laws
regarding vaccination policies have made it entirley too easy for influenced
groups and communities to avoid being vaccinated.
Both groups largley responsible for this outbreak opted out of vaccinations
based on largley unproven saftey concerns. The faith they placed in the
mispropogated news eventually lead to the current state of America's health
system.
Knowledge Question
What role does faith play in reasoning and decision
making?
Knowledge Claim
Faith influences cognition

Counter Claim
Faith is independent of cognition
Faith
Faith is the complete trust or confidence placed in
someone or something. Faith in a person or idea creates
strong beliefs based on unproved conviction rather than
proof.
Faith does not always involve religion, and can just
indicate a close affiliation or trust in someone.
Blind Faith can be defined as the beliefs founded without
true understanding, perception or discrimination.
Reason
Reasoning is the process of thinking about something in a logical way to form
a conclusion or a judgment. It is a logical process in which a conclusion is
based on the concordance of multiple premises that are generally assumed to
be true.
We use reasoning whenever we make a decision, and this happens
instinctively most of the time. We depend on previous experiences and similar
situations to reason when we take decisions.
Rationality is obtained by the ultimate control of our otherwise unconscious
reasoning. Once a person is aware of every choice they make, they are
deemed rational.
Without the concsious control over our reasoning, fallacies become
inevitable.
Religious Knowledge Systems
Religion is the belief in a postulated supernatural agent for whose existence
our senses can’t give us evidence, but which is invoked to explain things of
which our senses do give us evidence. Religions can be identified by a set of
beliefs or practices. Religion does not involve logical reasoning as it is by
definition the blind faith placed in an unseen body of power.
Knowledge Question: Should we trust knowledge claims based on faith?
Claim: Blind Faith creates trust that overrules reasoning
Evidence for claim: An organization called PEACH is propagating
misinformation about vaccinations by appealing to Jews with extracts from the
Hebrew Bible
Counter Claim: Reasoning wins regardless of faith
Evidence for counter claim: Jewish nurses debunk anti-vaxxer misinformation
as measles spreads in an Orthodox Jew community
Human Sciences – Psychology
Psychology is a Human Science that is the scientific study of the human mind and its
functions, especially those affecting behavior in a given context. The Social
Cognitive Theory concerns the acquisition of knowledge by observation. The theory
proposes the effect of the ingroup vs the outgroup. This mentality of us vs them
builds sense of belonging but clouds independent thinking.
Knowledge Question: To what extent does faith influence behavior?
Claim: Faith justifies initiation of decisions
Evidence for Claim: Heaven's Gate, an American religious cult, believed that they
would be taken to a new a world if they "shed" their bodies.
Counter Claim: Faith is independent of Decision Making
Evidence for counter claim: Members who voluntarily left a cult.
Conclusion
After evaluating and re-evaluating all of the facts and evidence, we reached
the conclusion that, to an extent faith plays a role in thinking and decision
making and the process of cognition as a whole.
Through various situations we noticed the theme of faith affecting the initiation
of decisions, the creation of beliefs and the confirmation of opinions. Faith
seems to be influencing our basic rationality or coming in the way of using
logical reasoning.
However, there is also evidence to show that the effect of faith can be
overcome when given conscious rational thought.
Implications
1. Through the facts laid out in our presentation, our conclusion can help bring
clarity to people who place a large amount of faith.
2. Psychological behavior
3. Religious Knowledge
4. Mathematics – Kurt Gödel’s discovery was called “The Incompleteness
Theorem.”
“Anything you can draw a circle around cannot explain itself without referring
to something outside the circle – something you have to assume but cannot
prove.”
5. Faith in daily life such as in our own abilities, our friends, etc.
 Perspectives
•Medical - Rebecca Feldman is an orthodox jew but a nurse. "None of us thinks that
the people choosing to not vaccinate are doing it for a negative reason," Feldman
said.
"They've been told a lot of bad information. One of the main things that we can
provide that sets us apart, as nurses, we trained to educate our patients," Feldman
said.
•Medical - The Orthodox Union, one of the nation's largest Orthodox Jewish
organizations, even came out in favor of vaccines in November, saying the measles
outbreak could bear "very serious consequences."
•Anti-vaccination - "Vaccines are just a way for pharmaceutical companies and
doctors to make money." (losss of faith in health officials)
Perspectives
•Ingroup - "It was the early 1970s - a confusing time to be human,
amidst the Vietnam war, the continuing struggle for human rights
and the disruption of all kinds of traditional values. She found
sanctuary in a cut which offered a roadmap to the meaning of life."
•Outgroup - "With cults, like any abusive relationship, the red flags
are there all along and denial is such a powerful thing."
•Rationalism - 'What is true for you, may be false for me'
Bibliography
https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2019/2/16/18223764/measles-outbreak-
2019-vaccines-anti-vax
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-6851879/Orthodox-Jewish-nurses-fight-
against-anti-vaxx-propaganda.html
https://www.tokresource.org/religiosity-and-faith
https://www.theoryofknowledge.net/ways-of-knowing/reason/
http://heavensgate.com/