Beliefism: How to stop hating the people we disagree with
May 2025 · Hachette UK
Ebook
240
Pages
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infoThis book will become available on May 8, 2025. You will not be charged until it is released.
About this ebook
Beliefism (noun): Discrimination against people who disagree with us
Do you avoid people who are strongly against immigration? Or strongly for trans rights? Against abortion? For drug legalisation? We might like to think that we're tolerant, but many of us struggle to engage with people whose opinions differ strongly from our own-even if they might have something useful to contribute to the debate. That means we're falling victim to what behavioural scientist Professor Paul Dolan defines as Beliefism: discrimination against those with different beliefs to us.
Drawing on the evidence from across the social sciences, Dolan shows how easy it is for us to divide ourselves into opposing camps - and how harmful that can be. Using the central metaphor of the duck-rabbit illusion-where the same image can be viewed as one animal or the other-the book shows that looking at an issue from only one perspective can lead to bad decisions and unnecessary conflict. The world would be a better place if there was less beliefism and Dolan shows how more tolerance is only possible "by design". We need to embed less beliefism into our organisations and lives and he provides a checklist called EMBRACE to help us do that.
Combining curiosity, irreverence and warmth, Beliefism is a definitive behavioural science take by a leader in his field. Whether it's among friends, at university or at work, being less beliefist will make you a better partner or parent, and a more effective buddy or boss.
Do you avoid people who are strongly against immigration? Or strongly for trans rights? Against abortion? For drug legalisation? We might like to think that we're tolerant, but many of us struggle to engage with people whose opinions differ strongly from our own-even if they might have something useful to contribute to the debate. That means we're falling victim to what behavioural scientist Professor Paul Dolan defines as Beliefism: discrimination against those with different beliefs to us.
Drawing on the evidence from across the social sciences, Dolan shows how easy it is for us to divide ourselves into opposing camps - and how harmful that can be. Using the central metaphor of the duck-rabbit illusion-where the same image can be viewed as one animal or the other-the book shows that looking at an issue from only one perspective can lead to bad decisions and unnecessary conflict. The world would be a better place if there was less beliefism and Dolan shows how more tolerance is only possible "by design". We need to embed less beliefism into our organisations and lives and he provides a checklist called EMBRACE to help us do that.
Combining curiosity, irreverence and warmth, Beliefism is a definitive behavioural science take by a leader in his field. Whether it's among friends, at university or at work, being less beliefist will make you a better partner or parent, and a more effective buddy or boss.
About the author
Paul Dolan is Professor of Behavioural Science at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He trained as an economist over three decades ago, moving into psychology after working with Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman. He has published around 150 peer-reviewed papers in leading academic journals. He is author of best-selling books Happiness by Design and Happy Ever After, works that reshaped how we think about what a good life is. His new podcast is called Breaking Beliefism. He doesn't hate anyone who disagrees with him - unless they're fans of Coldplay.
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