Social and cultural influences on causal models of illness

Causal models of illness vary extensively across socio-cultural groups. The current paper describes two studies that were designed to explore the role of universal domain-specific causal knowledge in causal models of illness. The first study compares illness causal models in three American groups: registered nurses, energy healers, and college undergraduates. The second study examines illness causal models in a group of Maya in Guatemala. In all groups illness models are composed of systematic combinations of domain-specific causes. It is argued that analysis of causal models in terms of domain-specific causal types reveals similarities in illness models that would be obscured by comparison of specific, detailed causes. The analysis of illness models as patterns of domain-specific causes suggests that American energy healers have models of illness that are more similar to those of the Maya than to illness models of American undergraduates and RNs.