How do humans build better explanations?

We do not simply accumulate new beliefs. We build explanatory frameworks that organize beliefs, values, identities, and experiences into coherent understandings of the world. My research investigates how these frameworks are constructed, reorganized, observed, and used to support learning.

01Framework

ObservationAssumptionCauseInterpretationExpectation

02Challenge

ObservationAssumptionCauseInterpretationExpectationNew observation

03Reorganization

ObservationAssumptionCauseInterpretationExpectationNew observation
An explanatory framework encounters a challenge it cannot readily contain. Its elements can then be defended, discarded, reinterpreted, or reorganized.