The Believing Brain Workshop (IIRP)

Workshop Abstract:

Note that my comments come from half century in education, including alternative schools and prison and from my book 20 Opportunities to Transform Yourself While Teaching (Bickart, 2022). Your belief systems powerfully influence your biology, decisions, behaviors, and the community and world at large. Experience interactive Belief Exercises and the science behind them. You will learn how beliefs influence human:

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• perception of reality
   

• learning and emotion
   

• biology and behavior
   

• teams, communities, and societies
   

The Science ...
​We are what we believe. Our brain is wired to allow emotions, motivations, goals, thoughts, expectations, social contexts, memories, and more influence how we perceive reality. It mediates mind-body interactions, or the impact that the mind - your thoughts, attitudes, and beliefs - have on your body, not just the internal workings of your body, but your behavior, habits, decisions, reactions, and interactions with others. In fact, the contents of your mind influence far beyond the reaches of your own body. They are the seeds of culture, revolutions, wars, societal norms, in-group out-group mentalities, prejudices, and so on...

You've seen emotions spread through a room, read about attitudes corrupting a society, and belief systems driving communities to war. You have also seen the better side of this story, the utility of understanding your beliefs, sharing them with others, and working to arrive at a solution to construct better habits, more positive working environments, and motivating team culture. Beliefs can work against us just as easily as they can work for us. The solution is to be mindful of the content that you carry around in that 3lb piece of meat between your ears.