What makes someone run into a burning building? What causes us to fall in love, to lie, to hope, to despair? These aren’t just scientific questions—they’re deeply human ones. And for thousands of years, we’ve been answering them with the most ancient, intuitive, and powerful tool we possess: folk psychology.
Folk psychology is the informal framework we use every day to explain and predict behavior. It’s what allows us to say, “She’s anxious because she has a job interview,” or “He didn’t call because he forgot, not because he doesn’t care.” It’s the world of beliefs, desires, intentions, and emotions—the internal dramas we assume are playing out in other people’s minds, and often in our own.
But in an era where science peels back the brain’s machinery and algorithms analyze our choices, one might ask: Is folk psychology still valid? Or is it an illusion waiting to be replaced by something more objective?
Let’s explore what philosophers call “folk-psychological commitments” and why, far from being obsolete, they may be the invisible framework that holds our social world—and perhaps even our scientific understanding of the mind—together.
What Is Folk Psychology?
Folk psychology is the everyday theory we all seem to possess about how minds work. It tells us that people act for reasons: that thoughts cause actions, that emotions follow events, and that minds are filled with representations of the world.
It assumes:
- People believe things.
- People desire things.
- People form intentions based on those beliefs and desires.
- People’s actions follow from those intentions, more or less rationally.
This intuitive model lets us navigate a world of other minds without ever peering into a single brain scan. You don’t need a degree in neuroscience to know that your friend is upset because someone betrayed her trust. You just know—and usually, you’re right.
The Philosophical Question: Is Folk Psychology Real?
Here’s where things get interesting. Some philosophers and cognitive scientists argue that folk psychology is not a real theory—at least, not in the scientific sense. They point out that folk physics (the belief that heavier objects fall faster, or that objects at rest stay at rest unless pushed) has been largely abandoned in light of Newtonian and Einsteinian physics. Should folk psychology suffer the same fate?
This view—called eliminativism—suggests that mental terms like “belief” and “desire” may not correspond to anything real in the brain. Instead, they may be like phlogiston or the ether: pre-scientific placeholders that will one day be discarded.
But others push back. They argue for realism about folk psychology: the belief that our everyday mentalistic vocabulary actually tracks something real and enduring. Beliefs and desires may not be “things” you can hold under a microscope, but they are essential parts of any coherent theory of human action.
Why Folk Psychology Matters
- It Works
Folk psychology is stunningly effective. It allows us to make rapid predictions about others’ behavior in ways that outperform even sophisticated AI systems. It’s the foundation of empathy, negotiation, storytelling, and parenting. Any attempt to replace it must reckon with this fact: folk psychology has survived not because it is a poetic myth, but because it is useful. - It Shapes Our Institutions
Our legal systems, moral judgments, educational models, and political ideologies all rest on the idea that people have intentions, make decisions, and are accountable for their actions. If beliefs and desires were illusions, then responsibility, praise, and blame would need to be redefined from the ground up. - It’s Developmentally Embedded
Children begin attributing mental states to others as early as age 2 or 3. The ability to understand that “Mom thinks the cookie is in the jar, even though I know it isn’t” marks a critical milestone in cognitive development. Known as theory of mind, this capacity appears to be both universal and necessary for healthy social functioning. - It’s an Anchor for Scientific Psychology
Even cognitive science often begins with folk-psychological assumptions. Researchers talk about memory, attention, and decision-making in ways that assume the mind is a rational, intentional system. Rather than being displaced by science, folk psychology has often guided it.
The Future of Folk Psychology: Integration or Elimination?
Philosophers George Botterill and Peter Carruthers argue that folk psychology is not destined for elimination but for integration. Scientific psychology, particularly cognitive science, doesn’t aim to disprove folk psychology. Instead, it builds on it—refining, explaining, and sometimes revising it.
This is not unlike how modern physics extended (rather than discarded) Galileo’s early theories. Folk psychology may not be the final word on the mind, but it is likely the first language of any mature psychological science.
Some theorists go even further, suggesting that folk psychology is actually a theory in the strong sense: a conceptual framework with rules, assumptions, and predictive power. It’s not static either. Just as science evolves, so too does our folk theory of mind—taking in new ideas about trauma, unconscious bias, neurodiversity, and emotion regulation.
Living with Folk Psychology
What does all this mean for you?
It means that when you say, “I think she’s angry because she was left out,” you are doing something profound. You are reaching across the divide of two minds, using a shared conceptual bridge built not from data but from centuries of lived human experience.
It means that your inner dialogue—the silent explanations you give yourself for your actions, your hopes, your regrets—has a language. And that language, though invisible, is powerful.
And it means that understanding folk-psychological commitments isn’t just a philosophical exercise—it’s a way to understand how we live, love, argue, heal, and grow.
Final Thought
Folk psychology may not be the whole story of the mind. But it is the story we use to make sense of ourselves and each other. It is not perfect, but it is precious. And as we continue to peer deeper into the brain and further into consciousness, we might find that the oldest story we tell—the one about beliefs and desires, intentions and choices—still has many chapters left to write.