Recognizable questions

- Do you recognize how some beliefs or reactions can feel so familiar that you almost automatically adopt them?

- Have you ever noticed that a certain way of thinking only feels strange once you consciously step back from it?

- Do you recognize the tension between something that felt familiar for years and something new that still feels awkward?

- Do you ever wonder whether something feels true to you, or mostly familiar because you have heard it so often?

- Which ideas in your life have become familiar mainly through repetition?

- What is learning through repetition?

Our brain is constantly learning.

Through:

  • repetition;

  • practice;

  • observation;

  • feedback;

  • experience;

  • active recall.

The more often we use or encounter certain information, the easier it usually becomes to access.

You can see that with skills:

riding a bike

driving a car

typing

speaking a language

playing a musical instrument

But words, beliefs, and fixed thought patterns can also start to feel more familiar through repetition.

repetition
   ↓
recognition
   ↓
familiarity
   ↓
more readily available in memory
   ↓
can start to feel self-evident

Automation

When we practice something often, we usually have to think about it consciously less and less.

Psychologists call that automatization.

The first driving lesson requires a lot of attention:

clutch

mirror

gear

traffic

After years of driving, many actions happen almost automatically.

The same principle applies to certain mental processes.

An answer you have heard hundreds of times can pop into your mind faster than an answer you have never thought about before.

That does not mean both processes are exactly the same.

A motor skill and a belief are not learned in precisely the same way.

But in both cases, repetition plays an important role in how easily something becomes available.

Familiar often feels easier

Our brain usually processes familiar information more easily than completely new information.

That can have an important effect.

When a statement is repeated several times, it can sometimes start to feel more believable, even when the repetition itself adds no new evidence.

This is known as the illusory truth effect.

‘I hear this again’
       ↓
‘This sounds familiar’
       ↓
‘This is easy to process’
       ↓
‘It feels plausible’

That is why it is important to distinguish between:

FAMILIAR
=
I have heard this often

and

TRUE
=
there is sufficient evidence for it

Those two can overlap.

But they do not have to.

A simple example

Suppose someone hears for years:

“People from group X cannot be trusted.”

After much repetition, that statement may start to sound familiar.

That does not automatically mean someone has consciously decided to adopt that thought.

The message has simply been presented often.

When that person later meets someone from group X, the old association may come up faster than a new, more neutral assessment.

message heard often
       ↓
strong association
       ↓
new situation
       ↓
old thought comes up quickly

That is why consciously looking again can sometimes be necessary.

How are beliefs learned?

Beliefs rarely arise from a single sentence.

They can be shaped by a combination of:

  • what parents tell us;

  • what friends believe;

  • education;

  • books;

  • talks or lectures;

  • examples from others;

  • reward and disapproval;

  • personal experiences;

  • repetition.

When the same explanation comes back from different directions for years, it becomes part of the familiar worldview.

same message
at different times
        ↓
always the same explanation
        ↓
more and more familiar
        ↓
‘that’s just how the world works’

That is not specifically religious.

It happens within families, cultures, political movements, schools, companies, and other groups.

How can this be recognizable within Jehovah’s Witnesses?

Jehovah’s Witnesses have an extensive religious education program.

Members attend meetings, read and discuss publications, listen to talks, answer questions, and talk to others about their faith.

Many core ideas come back regularly in that process.

For example, themes around:

  • Jehovah;

  • God’s Kingdom;

  • Armageddon;

  • the world;

  • Satan;

  • obedience;

  • the organization;

  • preaching;

  • the new world.

In itself, that doesn’t have to be unusual.

Other religions, schools, and organizations also repeat important knowledge.

After all, repetition is a normal way of learning.

It becomes psychologically interesting when someone later asks themselves:

Why does this conclusion feel so immediately self-evident?

A possible answer is:

Because I have heard it not just once, but for years in many different situations.

meeting
   +
study
   +
talk
   +
preaching
   +
conversations
   +
publications
       ↓
the same core ideas
become increasingly accessible

That in itself says nothing about whether those ideas are true or false.

It does explain why they can become deeply familiar.

Why can new information initially feel strange?

New information has to compete with what is already known.

Imagine you have heard one explanation for twenty years and today you read a different explanation for the first time.

Then it is not strange if the old explanation immediately feels more logical.

Your brain knows that route.

OLD EXPLANATION

heard often
↓
familiar
↓
easily accessible
↓
feels logical


NEW EXPLANATION

just heard
↓
unfamiliar
↓
requires more attention
↓
feels awkward

That uncomfortable feeling does not prove the new information is wrong.

But it also does not prove the old information is wrong.

What it mainly means is:

My brain knows one story much better than the other.

That is why it helps to assess new information not only by asking:

“Does this feel right?”

but also:

“What evidence supports this?”

Repetition and emotion

Repetition becomes stronger when a message is linked to emotion.

Think of messages associated with:

  • fear;

  • hope;

  • guilt;

  • safety;

  • love;

  • rejection;

  • salvation;

  • loss.

A message like:

“Be careful.”

can stick more strongly when someone is feeling fear at the same time.

A message like:

“This is the way to everlasting life.”

can gain extra meaning because it is tied to hope.

message
   +
repetition
   +
strong emotion
       ↓
can become especially
memorable

That still does not mean emotionally charged beliefs are automatically wrong.

It means that emotional weight can influence how strongly information is stored and recalled.

Why do some answers come up automatically?

If the same question gets the same answer for years, a quick mental connection can form.

For example:

‘Why is the world getting worse?’
        ↓
fixed answer

‘Why are we being persecuted?’
        ↓
fixed answer

‘Why does someone doubt?’
        ↓
fixed answer

Over time, someone may barely need to consciously compare different explanations anymore.

The answer is already waiting.

That happens everywhere, by the way.

A political party, family, profession, or group of friends can just as easily develop fixed explanations.

The important question is therefore not:

Do I have automatic answers?

We all do.

The more important question is:

Can I still examine them?

Can you learn again?

Yes.

Our brain remains changeable throughout life.

We can:

  • take in new information;

  • make new connections;

  • change habits;

  • develop skills;

  • re-examine old assumptions.

But a belief that was familiar for years does not necessarily disappear because you read new information once.

OLD PATH
used for years

NEW PATH
just started

So the old thought may still come up first for a long time.

That does not automatically mean you still consciously endorse it.

Sometimes an automatic reaction lags behind what you now think rationally.

For example after leaving a religion

Someone may rationally think:

“I no longer believe Armageddon is coming soon.”

and yet immediately feel, when there is war or world news:

See?

Or think:

“I no longer believe that people outside the organization are bad association.”

but still feel uneasy about certain choices.

OLD AUTOMATIC THOUGHT
comes first

        ↓

NEW CONSCIOUS THOUGHT

‘Wait a minute.
Do I actually still believe this?’

That moment in between is precisely what matters.

There is room there to re-examine things.

Repetition works the other way too

If repetition can reinforce old thought patterns, practice can also help make new ways of thinking feel more familiar.

For example:

Old:

“What should someone my age have achieved?”

New:

“What do I value in my life?”

Old:

“What am I supposed to think about this?”

New:

“What facts do I have, and what conclusion do I draw myself?”

Old:

“This thought feels strange, so it must be wrong.”

New:

“New and wrong are not the same thing.”

old automatic reaction
        ↓
notice
        ↓
examine
        ↓
practice a new response
        ↓
the new path becomes more familiar

What can you do with this?

When a belief or reaction comes up automatically, you can ask yourself:

1. WHERE DID I LEARN THIS?

2. HOW OFTEN HAVE I HEARD THIS?

3. FROM WHOM DID I LEARN IT?

4. DID I EXAMINE IT MYSELF?

5. WHAT EVIDENCE IS THERE FOR IT?

6. WHAT COULD BE AN ALTERNATIVE EXPLANATION?

7. DO I STILL WANT TO HOLD ON TO THIS BELIEF?

That does not mean rejecting your past.

You are only making a distinction between:

knowing something

and

consciously choosing something.

Questions to think about

  • Which beliefs have I heard very often for years?

  • Which answers come up automatically in my mind?

  • Which ideas feel especially familiar, and which ones have I actually examined?

  • Have I also checked certain beliefs outside my own environment?

  • Can something feel familiar without automatically being true?

  • Which old thought still comes up first, even though I now think differently about it?

  • Which new way of thinking do I want to consciously practice more often?

In summary

Repetition makes information
more familiar and accessible.

Familiarity can sometimes
feel like truth.

But:

FAMILIAR
is not the same as
PROVEN.

An automatic thought
is also not automatically
your conscious belief.

You can learn to recognize:

‘This is what I
have heard thousands of times.’

and then