Abstract

How do people reason about issues related to child and youth development? Are the patterns of reasoning in the lay public significantly different from the way experts reason about the issue? What can the anthropological theory of cultural models bring to efforts to improve the public’s understanding of child and youth development? In this article, the author explains the methods by which cultural models—the conceptual structures that shape how people perceive and understand their social worlds—are identified and how this mapping process serves as an essential step in closing the gaps between expert and lay understandings of social problems and, ultimately, informing communications strategies.