<p><strong>Are there models that attempt to chart how lay people develop psychological theories about themselves and their interactions with the world?</strong>  </p>

<p>For what it's worth, every time I read a post about emotions (or something psychological) on places like reddit, I often see so much strange logic and conceptual confusion. Their lay theories are incoherent and skew so far from scientific data/theory.  So how exactly do naive humans go about developing these theories? Do they perform some sort of hypothesis testing? Bayesian inference? How do they derive (and update) theory from the data? </p>

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2015-10-20T22:17:44.663Z
Is it possible to be more domain specific?
Vakalate
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2015-10-20T22:21:42.097Z
@U.Vakil  Good question.  I'm open to an answer about any particular domain, as I'm not really sure what kind of research has examined this (so I don't want to be too limiting).  But if it's possible to use a specific domain as an example, and then extract some potentially generalizable ideas, that would be great.
mrt
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2015-10-20T22:34:47.183Z
Lay Theories: Everyday Understanding of Problems in the Social Sciences
(edited by Michael Argyle). Pages 151-153. You asked a question earlier about Kahneman and Tversky's work, that means you're already on the right track.
Vakalate
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2015-10-23T19:26:35.070Z
try the search terms "folk psychology"
honi
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2016-06-05T08:05:52.007Z
I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it's too broad and OP hasn't responded to suggestions of the community in this respect
AliceD
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2016-06-05T16:05:45.020Z
@Christiaan  Well, FWIW, from the comments I was able to find a book that addressed development of lay psychological theory.  But if the question stands as too broad and unanswerable, we can close it.
mrt
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2016-06-05T19:37:01.490Z
Could you answer the question yourself perhaps? That would be great. Happy to retract that vote and upvote your answer
AliceD
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2021-11-03T06:23:18.960Z
Related: [What is it called when you imagine what other people would say or do in a certain situation?](https://psychology.stackexchange.com/q/23323/7001)
Arnon Weinberg
<cognitive-psychology>
How do lay people develop psychological theories about themselves and the world?
mrt
# How do lay people develop psychological theories about themselves and the world?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-10-20)

**Are there models that attempt to chart how lay people develop psychological theories about themselves and their interactions with the world?**

For what it's worth, every time I read a post about emotions (or something psychological) on places like reddit, I often see so much strange logic and conceptual confusion. Their lay theories are incoherent and skew so far from scientific data/theory. So how exactly do naive humans go about developing these theories? Do they perform some sort of hypothesis testing? Bayesian inference? How do they derive (and update) theory from the data?

**Tags:** cognitive-psychology

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Is it possible to be more domain specific?  
> **username_0**: @U.Vakil  Good question.  I'm open to an answer about any particular domain, as I'm not really sure what kind of research has examined this (so I don't want to be too limiting).  But if it's possible to use a specific domain as an example, and then extract some potentially generalizable ideas, that would be great.  
> **username_1**: Lay Theories: Everyday Understanding of Problems in the Social Sciences (edited by Michael Argyle). Pages 151-153. You asked a question earlier about Kahneman and Tversky's work, that means you're already on the right track.  
> **username_2**: try the search terms "folk psychology"  
> **username_3**: I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it's too broad and OP hasn't responded to suggestions of the community in this respect  
> **username_0**: @Christiaan  Well, FWIW, from the comments I was able to find a book that addressed development of lay psychological theory.  But if the question stands as too broad and unanswerable, we can close it.  
> **username_3**: Could you answer the question yourself perhaps? That would be great. Happy to retract that vote and upvote your answer  
> **username_4**: Related: [What is it called when you imagine what other people would say or do in a certain situation?](https://psychology.stackexchange.com/q/23323/7001)  

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