Thinking & Learning

Human life continually requires people to acquire information, interpret changing realities, reason about problems and revise understanding through experience. This domain concerns the functional use of information and learning in everyday life. It is not a sy

HUMAN CAPACITY

Thinking & Learning

Learning, reasoning and problem management support adaptation to new information, changing conditions and unfamiliar problems.

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The domain includes learning and applying knowledge, critical thinking, problem-solving and decision-making. These capacities matter because many life problems are novel. Rules change, technologies change, relationships change, institutions change and information is often incomplete.

The scientific challenge is to separate general capacities for learning and reasoning from specialized expertise. Knowing how to evaluate options in ordinary life is not the same as being trained in medicine, engineering or law. The domain connects to cognitive science while keeping the focus on recurrent human functioning.

Evidence & scientific lineage

World Health Organization. WHO Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS 2.0). Cross-cultural measurement of functioning across cognition, mobility, self-care, getting along, life activities and participation. WHO — WHODAS 2.0

World Health Organization. International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). Contextual framework for functioning and disability, including environmental factors. WHO ICF

Human Capacity Initiative

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