Definition
Lay beliefs represent an individual’s subjective and informal explanation for the world around them (including explanations relating to health and illness) that do not necessarily have to concur with scientific knowledge (Furnham 1988). As lay beliefs are subjective, they will differ from person to person such that one person’s understanding of their world will not necessarily be the same as another person.
Description
Lay beliefs develop from our individual experiences, developmental and cultural upbringing, social mores, and education. As such, we continue to develop new beliefs and alter current beliefs throughout the lifespan as we learn, experience new situations, and endure changes in culture (Zlius et al. 2017). It is thought that lay beliefs influence the way information from the environment is encoded, interpreted, and recalled, leading to interindividual differences in...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References and Further Reading
Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Orgnizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50, 179–211. https://doi.org/10.1016/0749-5978(91)90020-T.
Boot, C. R. L., Meijman, F. J., & van Dulmen, S. (2009). Beliefs about the causes of health complaints: A study in primary care. Health Communication, 24(4), 346–350. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410230902889373.
Denscombe, M. (1993). Personal health and the social psychology of risk taking. Health Education Research, 8(4), 505–517. Retrieved from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.1003.9731&rep=rep1&type=pdf
Evans, M. R., Prout, H., Prior, L., Tapper-Jones, L. M., & Butler, C. C. (2007). A qualitative study of lay beliefs about influenza immunisation in older people. British Journal of General Practice, 57(538), 352–358. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15239914
Fernandez, M. E., McCurdy, S. A., Arvey, S. R., Tyson, S. K., Morales-Campos, D., Flores, B., et al. (2009). HPV knowledge, attitudes, and cultural beliefs among Hispanic men and women living on the Texas-Mexico border. Ethnicity & Health, 14(6), 607–624. https://doi.org/10.1080/13557850903248621.
Figueiras, M. J., Cortes, M. A., Marcelino, D., & Weinman, J. (2010). Lay views about medicines: The influence of the illness label for the use of generic versus brand. Psychology and Health, 25(9), 1121–1128. https://doi.org/10.1080/08870440903137170.
Frosch, D., Kimmel, S., & Volpp, K. (2008). What role do lay beliefs about hypertension etiology play in perceptions of medication effectiveness? Health PsychologyHealth Psychology, 27(3), 320–326. https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-6133.27.3.320.
Furnham, A. (1988). Lay theories: Everyday understanding of problems in the social sciences. Oxford, United Kingdom: Pergamon Press.
Kaufman, A. R., Koblitz, A. R., Persoskie, A., Ferrer, R. A., Klein, W. M. P., Dwyer, L. A., & Park, E. R. (2016). Factor structure and stability of smoking-related health beliefs in the National Lung Screening Trial. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 18(3), 321–329. https://doi.org/10.1093/ntr/ntv091.
Leventhal, H., Phillips, L. A., & Burns, E. (2016). The common-sense model of self-regulation (CSM): A dynamic framework for understanding illness self-management. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 39(6), 935–946. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-016-9782-2.
Porteous, T., Francis, J., Bond, C., & Hannaford, P. (2010). Temporal stability of beliefs about medicines: Implications for optimising adherence. Patient Education and Counseling, 79(2), 225–230. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2009.07.037.
Shaw, I. (2002). How lay are lay beliefs? Health, 6(3), 287–299. https://doi.org/10.1177/136345930200600302.
Siegel, K., Schrimshaw, E. W., & Dean, L. (1999). Symptom interpretation: Implications for delay in HIV testing and care among HIV-infected late middle-aged and older adults. AIDS Care, 11(5), 525–535. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540129947686.
Weinman, J., Petrie, K. J., Moss-Morris, R., & Horne, R. (1996). The illness perception questionnaire: A new method for assessing the cognitive representation of illness. Psychology and Health, 11, 43–5. Retrieved from http://www.uib.no/ipq/pdf/Theillnessperceptionquestionnaire.pdf
Zlius, C. M., Müller, B. C. N., & Schooler, J. W. (2017). The Science of lay theories: How beliefs shape our cognition, behavior, and health. Cham: Springer.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature
About this entry
Cite this entry
Kilby, C.J., Sherman, K.A. (2018). Lay Beliefs. In: Gellman, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6439-6_101997-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6439-6_101997-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-6439-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-6439-6
eBook Packages: Springer Reference MedicineReference Module Medicine