Treat Your Beliefs Like a Scientist
Your values aren't sacred truths — they're hypotheses to keep testing.
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~ongoing to results
- Steps
- 3
- Confidence
- 86%
Most of our beliefs weren't reasoned out — they were absorbed subconsciously from caregivers, pop culture, teachers, and peers, and childhood ones are especially sticky because they're bound up with love and belonging. A change reveals these hidden beliefs, giving a rare chance to examine them. Shankar's method is to treat beliefs and values not as sacred truths but as hypotheses, interrogating each like a scientist: how did I arrive at this, would trusted people endorse it, what evidence would change my mind?
Origin
Shankar illustrates this with Ingrid, who got amnesia in a biking accident; when her family's cultural stories resurfaced without the old shame attached, she embraced them, revealing the shame had been an over-interpreted childhood caution, not a truth.
Core principles
- 01Most of our beliefs were absorbed subconsciously from caregivers, culture, and peers — not reasoned out.
- 02Beliefs learned in childhood are sticky because they're wrapped in our sense of love and belonging.
- 03No belief is a sacred, immutable truth; they're things we happened to arrive at.
- 04Treat beliefs and values as hypotheses to be continually tested.
How to run it
- 1
Surface the belief
Identify a value or belief you carry, especially one a change has brought into the light.
Pro tip Change serves as a point of revelation, exposing beliefs previously hidden from view.
- 2
Trace its origin
Ask how you actually arrived at the belief — was it reasoned, or absorbed from others?
Watch out Childhood beliefs resist challenge because they're tied to love and belonging.
- 3
Test it like a hypothesis
Ask whether trusted people would endorse it and what evidence would make you update it.
Pro tip Stay curious; treat values as hypotheses to continually test, not fixed truths.
In the wild
Ingrid felt shame about her Colombian heritage. After a biking accident gave her amnesia, her family stories resurfaced without the shame attached, and she found them delightful and shared them liberally. When the memory of shame returned weeks later, she'd already decided the stories were beautiful.
→ She realized the shame was an over-interpreted childhood caution, not a truth, and reclaimed her cultural heritage.
Common mistakes
Treating beliefs as immutable truths
Beliefs feel like sacred facts but are largely things we happened to absorb and never revisited.
Is it for you?
Best for
Anyone using a change as a chance to re-examine the values driving their life.
Not ideal for
People needing immediate emotional relief rather than reflective inquiry.
From the transcript
“we need to be curious and to treat the beliefs we carry and our values as almost hypotheses that we should be continually testing”
“How did I actually arrive at this belief? Would the people I trust endorse this belief? What evidence and theory would convince me to change…”
From the episode
Dr. Maya Shankar: The Science of Decision Making
Dr. Maya Shankar