Alief (mental state)

In philosophy and psychology, an alief is an automatic or habitual belief-like attitude, particularly one that is in tension with a person's explicit beliefs.^[1] For example, a person standing on a transparent balcony may believe that they are safe, but alieve that they are in danger. A person watching a sad movie may believe that the characters are completely fictional, but their aliefs may lead them to cry nonetheless. A person who is hesitant to eat fudge that has been formed into the shape of feces, or who exhibits reluctance in drinking from a sterilized bedpan may believe that the substances are safe to eat and drink, but may alieve that they are not.

The term alief was introduced by Tamar Gendler, a professor of philosophy and cognitive science at Yale University, in a pair of influential articles published in 2008.^[2] Since the publication of these original articles, the notion of alief has been utilized by Gendler and others—including Paul Bloom^[3] and Daniel Dennett^[4]—to explain a range of psychological phenomena in addition to those listed above, including the pleasure of stories,^[3] the persistence of positive illusions,^[4] certain religious beliefs,^[5] and certain psychiatric disturbances, such as phobias and obsessive–compulsive disorder.^[4]