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What Are People’s Lay Theories About Mind Wandering and How Do Those Beliefs Affect Them?

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The Science of Lay Theories

Abstract

Many of the thoughts that pass through our minds are unrelated to our current activity or environment. The mind simply wanders, often spontaneously and without intention. Over the last couple of decades, much progress has been made in getting a better scientific understanding of the causes and consequences of such spontaneous stimulus-unrelated thoughts, or mind wandering, but only very recently have studies started to examine people’s lay theories about these thoughts. This chapter gives an overview of the current state of this research. First, we discuss lay theories about the frequency and importance of spontaneous stimulus-unrelated thoughts. We then review recent evidence suggesting that the extent to which people believe that their tendency to mind wander is controllable or outside their control affects how much they actually mind wander. We will also draw on clinical research addressing the aspect of controllability in the context of intrusive thoughts, which, while common among healthy individuals, are also a hallmark feature of a range of mental disorders. We examine the role lay theories about intrusive thoughts play in the development and maintenance of these disorders. Finally, we discuss ways in which it may be possible to change people’s lay theories about spontaneous stimulus-unrelated thoughts in adaptive ways.

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  1. Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA

    Claire M. Zedelius & Jonathan W. Schooler

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  1. Claire M. Zedelius
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  2. Jonathan W. Schooler
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Correspondence to Claire M. Zedelius .

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  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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Zedelius, C.M., Schooler, J.W. (2017). What Are People’s Lay Theories About Mind Wandering and How Do Those Beliefs Affect Them?. 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_4

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