This section is excerpted from 
"The Tyranny of Belief" 
(a book in development)

The Tyranny of Belief provides an interdisciplinary look at how the human mind forms beliefs and how these beliefs can become rigid, dogmatic, and dangerous. We explore the roots of bigotry, extremism, fanaticism, and terrorism within the framework of current knowledge and emerging science. We also look at the more subtle effects of belief on political movements and how public sentiment is manipulated by media, marketing, propaganda, and other persuasion methods. We use vivid examples from history, current events, literature, philosophy, culture, and religion as well as psychological case profiles, to illustrate the many ways that belief interacts powerfully with every aspect of society and daily life.

Underlying Mechanisms

• Perception and Processing
• Creating Categories
• Salience and Tagging
  
• Embodied Cognition
• Emotion Cognition Interplay 
  
• Creating a Story About the World 
  
• Identifying Self with Belief 
  
• Investing in Cherished Beliefs 
  
• Attributing Worth and Motives 
  
• Search for Belonging 
  
• Search for Meaning 
  
• Search for Certainty

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We take readers on a journey to learn how beliefs are formed

We begin with a summary of basic brain mechanisms related to belief formation. We explore how the mind filters and selects ideas from vast amounts of stimuli to create stories to explain reality; how neural networks weave a tapestry of associations into meaningful mental models, and how an individual’s worldview develops over time. 

Scientists are beginning to understand how the mind makes sense of outside reality: how we process, categorize, and distort sensory information and apply interpretations in order to function in the world and cope with new challenges and unfamiliar situations. 

We review the scientific disciplines involved in the study of belief, with a focus on how research from the biological and evolutionary sciences overlaps with behavioral and social psychology. Scientists are just beginning this stage of inquiry and a vast realm of knowledge still needs to be synthesized.

We explore the following mechanisms related to hate, prejudice, dogmatism, and groupthink

Functional scan imaging and other technologies are providing us with direct access to brain processes

Mapping the activity and structure of the brain has given us unprecedented insight into human nature: we can watch the brain develop and respond to stimuli, and see how a mind can flourish, learn, and imagine. We can also observe how our minds can be damaged by the trauma and neglect that lead to impaired thinking and behavior. 

Cognitive neuroscientists are using new tools to pinpoint areas of the brain that are activated during moral dilemmas and decision-making; to study how the mind creates categories and how the brain can distort perceptions and memory leading to false assumptions about other people. 

These are some of the neural mechanisms that underlie stereotyping, implicit bias, and prejudice — the building blocks of hate.