<p>In folk psychology, we talk about beliefs. For instance, you can ask someone, why did you increase your investment in the stock market? He may say, well, I believe that the stock market will likely go up. He might even give you specific probability distributions (more granular belief) about different future stock returns.</p>
<p>However, from a &quot;mechanical&quot; standpoint, it seems to me that this &quot;belief&quot; --- if formed before the decision (investment) is made --- must be a form of memory. That is, the person may have done analyses earlier and somehow decided that the stock market is likely to go up, and that thought is stored as either long-term or short-term memory in his brain.</p>
<p>(Of course, it is also possible that his stated &quot;belief&quot; is an ex-post rationalization of his actions. In that case, it is not even a memory.)</p>
<p>Is what I am saying correct? Can there be &quot;beliefs&quot; (in folk psychology parlance) that are not just a specific type of memory?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-06-24T20:04:28.393Z
There are also implicit beliefs for example, such as "airplanes are louder than bicycles" or "87234 > 2.81", which you would believe long before explicitly forming it as memory (if ever).
Arnon Weinberg
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2021-06-24T20:14:32.957Z
@ArnonWeinberg good point. I guess those require both retrieving from memory and doing some on-line computation. For instance, I need to remember what airplanes sound like, what bicycles sound like, and do a comparison in my mind?
J Li
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-06-24T20:36:09.453Z
Maybe, but you can also hold a belief like "airplanes are louder than botflies" without having any memory of what a botfly sounds like.
Arnon Weinberg
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-06-26T02:08:36.713Z
@ArnonWeinberg I agree. In this case, I will be extrapolating from other memory. I know that flies are not too noisy, and I assume that botflies are like regular flies.
J Li
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-06-30T10:29:25.333Z
There is a perspective by which almost any mental process could be thought of as memory, e.g., see this paper. https://philpapers.org/rec/KLEWMI. "Memory" is often a misleading word when taken that broadly though, as it is often read to imply awareness, etc.
Cameron Brick
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-03T19:11:01.717Z
@CameronBrick Thanks for the reference!
J Li
<memory><belief>
Is "belief" in folk psychology just a sub-type of memory?
J Li
# Is "belief" in folk psychology just a sub-type of memory?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-06-24)

In folk psychology, we talk about beliefs. For instance, you can ask someone, why did you increase your investment in the stock market? He may say, well, I believe that the stock market will likely go up. He might even give you specific probability distributions (more granular belief) about different future stock returns.

However, from a "mechanical" standpoint, it seems to me that this "belief" --- if formed before the decision (investment) is made --- must be a form of memory. That is, the person may have done analyses earlier and somehow decided that the stock market is likely to go up, and that thought is stored as either long-term or short-term memory in his brain.

(Of course, it is also possible that his stated "belief" is an ex-post rationalization of his actions. In that case, it is not even a memory.)

Is what I am saying correct? Can there be "beliefs" (in folk psychology parlance) that are not just a specific type of memory?

**Tags:** memory, belief

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: There are also implicit beliefs for example, such as "airplanes are louder than bicycles" or "87234 > 2.81", which you would believe long before explicitly forming it as memory (if ever).  
> **username_0**: @ArnonWeinberg good point. I guess those require both retrieving from memory and doing some on-line computation. For instance, I need to remember what airplanes sound like, what bicycles sound like, and do a comparison in my mind?  
> **username_1**: Maybe, but you can also hold a belief like "airplanes are louder than botflies" without having any memory of what a botfly sounds like.  
> **username_0**: @ArnonWeinberg I agree. In this case, I will be extrapolating from other memory. I know that flies are not too noisy, and I assume that botflies are like regular flies.  
> **username_2**: There is a perspective by which almost any mental process could be thought of as memory, e.g., see this paper. https://philpapers.org/rec/KLEWMI. "Memory" is often a misleading word when taken that broadly though, as it is often read to imply awareness, etc.  
> **username_0**: @CameronBrick Thanks for the reference!  

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## 0 answers

