Is the “theory-theory” of understanding a mistake? An interactive perspective on knowledge and explanation

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Abstract

Shiffrin, Stigler, and Keil worry that science frequently falls victim to an illusion of understanding. We take their argument a step further, arguing that psychological scientists often fundamentally mischaracterize human understanding as rooted in internally represented theories of any kind. We propose an alternative, interactive notion of understanding.

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europepmc
last seen: 2026-05-20T01:45:00.602351+00:00
unpaywall
last seen: 2026-05-30T02:00:01.510937+00:00
License: CC-BY-4.0