Title: Things That Affect a Person's Beliefs | The Classroom
Headings: Things That Affect a Person's Beliefs
Things That Affect a Person's Beliefs
Attitudes, Opinions and Beliefs
Cultural and Home Influences
Education and Formal Training
Learning Experiences

Content: Things That Affect a Person's Beliefs | The Classroom
Things That Affect a Person's Beliefs
Anthropologists, social psychologists, neuroscientists and social scientists debate the impact of things that affect personal beliefs. Although scientists do agree that intelligence, brain development, culture, education and experience affect the development of personal belief systems. Understanding how humans form beliefs helps businesses, agencies and schools deal with people as individuals and groups. Attitudes, Opinions and Beliefs
People have general attitudes about a variety of general topics and then use this collection of attitudes to create a specific opinion about a narrow topic. The person then uses a group of opinions to shape firm values as part of a belief system. Attitudes include feelings, for example, about the best restaurant for specialty food or the best type of seasoning for poultry. People develop opinions about supporting political parties and selecting brands of cars based on a number of attitudes about voting and driving. Beliefs, however, include closely held values that rarely change such as the belief in a specific religion. People frequently change attitudes and occasionally opinions, but rarely do individuals change beliefs, according to therapist Steve Sisgold reporting in ''Psychology Today.'' Cultural and Home Influences
Parents, parenting practices and family culture help influence beliefs, including adopting a religion and child-rearing practices.