Dimensions of identity-representing belief

Recent work has proposed that there may be two kinds of beliefs: Symbolic beliefs which express the believer's identity and epistemic beliefs which represent facts. On this proposal, several disparate features of belief - from whether a belief is important to identity to whether it is sensitive to evidence - would be related to a single dimension. In five studies, participants rated beliefs on features that were related to symbolicness and epistemicness. Study 1 found that beliefs which were important to participants were consistently rated higher on the symbolic features, but not consistently lower on the epistemic feature. Study 2 found that the symbolicness features loaded onto a single factor, while the epistemic feature did not. Study 3 expanded the assessment of epistemicness to a series of features related to objectivity, but found that symbolicness and objectivity features loaded on separate, uncorrelated factors. Study 4 recalibrated the assessment of epistemicness using a series of features related to the evidence-drivenness, and again found symbolicness and epistemicness loaded on separate factors. In the final study, third-party participants rated the beliefs from Study 4 on symbolicness and evidence-drivenness, and largely replicated the findings from Study 4. These results suggest that symbolicness and epistemicness are coherent dimensions of belief, but that these dimensions are largely orthogonal.