3.1 Post summary / Table of contents

Part of the Valence series.

So far in the series, we defined valence (Post 1) and talked about how it relates to the “normative” world of desires, values, preferences, and so on (Post 2). Now we move on to the “positive” world of beliefs, expectations, concepts, etc. Here, valence is no longer the sine qua non at the center of everything, as it is in the “normative” magisterium. But it still plays a leading role. Actually, two leading roles!

Section 3.2 distinguishes two paths by which valence affects beliefs: first, in its role as a control signal, and second, in its role as “interoceptive” sense data, which I discuss in turn:
Section 3.3 discusses how valence-as-a-control-signal affects beliefs. This is the domain of motivated reasoning, confirmation bias, and related phenomena. I explain how it works both in general and through a nuts-and-bolts toy model. I also elaborate on “voluntary attention” versus “involuntary attention”, in order to explain anxious rumination, which goes against the normal pattern (it involves thinking about something despite a strong motivation not to think about it).
Section 3.4 discusses how valence-as-interoceptive-sense-data affects beliefs. I argue that, if concepts are “clusters in thingspace”, then valence is one of the axes used by this clustering algorithm. I discuss how this relates to various difficulties in modeling and discussing the world separately from how we feel about it, along with the related “affect heuristic” and “halo effect”.
Section 3.5 briefly muses on whether future AI will have motivated reasoning, halo effect, etc., as we humans do. (My answer is “yes, but maybe it doesn’t matter too much”.)
Section 3.6 is a brief conclusion.

3.2 Two paths for normative to bleed into positive

Here’s a diagram from the previous post:

We have two paths by which valence can impact the world-model (a.k.a. “Thought Generator”): the normative path (upward black arrow) that helps control which thoughts get strengthened versus thrown out, and the positive path (curvy green arrow) that treats valence as one of the input signals to be incorporated into the world model. Corresponding to these two paths, we get two ways for valence to impact factual beliefs:

Motivated reasoning / thinking / observing and confirmation bias—related to the upward black arrow, and discussed

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Motivated Reasoning

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