CTS As adults, we all have the freedom to believe whatever we want. Whether it is that we will go to a higher than human plane, as in the case of the recent mass suicides in Rancho Santa Fe, California, or believing that breast feeding should be done only in private. Each individual has a unique set of beliefs.
Groups form and have collective beliefs.
Those can identify and differentiate different communities whether religious, professional or cultural. At least 20 years ago, Dr Mark D. Epstein and Dr. Herbert Benson identified three overlapping ways that belief is influenced. They are the expectations of the individual, the expectations of the care giver and the third is the relationship between the two people. A simple example follows to demonstrate this thinking. They say that I will get a happy garden if I place a white rabbit statue in my garden.