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How Lay Theories Influence Our Mental Health

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The Science of Lay Theories

Abstract

This chapter looks at the predominantly psychiatric and psychological literature on how lay people understand mental health and illness. It is concerned with the attribution of cause as well as the understanding of the mechanisms and processes that lay people employ to comprehend mental health and illness in themselves and others. It looks at the typical types of explanations they favor for the cause of mental illnesses from biological and genetic to psychological and sociological. It also examines what people believe are the most efficacious ways of treating these problems from pharmaceutical cures to classic psychotherapy. The chapter also looks at the literature that examines the link between lay theories of cause and cure: whether these are coherently and logically linked. The great rise in mental health literacy (MHL) research shows what an important and applied area of research this is.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, 26 Bedford Way, London, WC1 0AP, UK

    Adrian Furnham

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  1. Adrian Furnham
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Correspondence to Adrian Furnham .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California, USA

    Claire M. Zedelius

  2. Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    Barbara C. N. Müller

  3. Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California, USA

    Jonathan W. Schooler

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Furnham, A. (2017). How Lay Theories Influence Our Mental Health. In: Zedelius, C., Müller, B., Schooler, J. (eds) The Science of Lay Theories. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57306-9_15

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