From Heuristic to Reflective Worldview: A Mathematical Model of Belief Dynamics

This paper presents a mathematically formalized model for describing and analyzing worldview dynamics, distinguishing between heuristic and reflective worldviews. It formalizes the psychological mechanisms of authority-based belief and cognitive dissonance, demonstrating how humans evaluate new information through the filter of their existing worldview, with authority, social acceptance, and the avoidance of cognitive dissonance playing central roles. A key contribution is the mathematical operationalization of cognitive dissonance as a measurable quantity D, which emerges from the interplay between consonant and dissonant beliefs in relation to correlation C. By explicitly considering belief relationships, multidimensional evaluation systems, and consistency metrics, implicit heuristic thought processes are transformed into an explicit, traceable form. The paper also introduces the concept of reflective worldview refinement - a process that enables progression from an unreflective, inconsistent worldview to a more differentiated, consistent understanding. The work builds upon the method of reflective empiricism and extends it through a concrete model that makes unconscious distortion mechanisms and subjective filters visible. The model primarily serves for structural clarification rather than quantitative prediction, functioning as a conceptual bridge between subjective experience and scientific analysis. Beyond psychological and epistemological implications, applications in artificial intelligence are discussed, particularly the development of a reflective learning method for Large Language Models. The paper provides a valuable contribution to a deeper understanding of human cognitive processes and demonstrates how the supposed objectivity of science can be transcended through conscious reflection on one's own subjectivity.