Concept
Dan Sperber’s distinction between two ways a person can hold a belief. Intuitive beliefs are integrated with one’s other beliefs and freely drive inferences and action — they are load-bearing. Reflective beliefs are held propositionally without integration — verbal, contextual, often shared as identity-signals or coalition-markers, but inert with respect to action. The split underwrites Mercier’s reading of the paradox-of-virality: ‘most false rumors are held reflectively, for they would have much more serious consequences if they were held intuitively.’ Conspiracy theories, witches’ confessions, absurd flattery, and political-affiliation claims are typically reflective. Explains the share/endorse gap without needing a strong gate-amplification story — the gap is by design at the cognitive layer.
Connections
- Defined in: Emotional Memetics As The Floor
- Discussed in: Ch 7 — Emotional Memetics As The Floor, Ch 5c — Truth, Compression, and When Each Wins
- Evidenced by: Not Born Yesterday
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