Moving Beyond the Content An Examination of Principles Underlying Lay Reasoning in Hypertension

The purpose of this study is to examine lay individuals’ gaps in understanding and misconceptions surrounding hypertension for more fundamental issues with reasoning about complexity. We coded for issues with complexity thinking in 100 posts from the online hypertension discussion forums, Ehealth.com and BPlog.com. Complementing the findings on novice and expert reasoning in the learning sciences literature, we identified four major issues with complexity thinking: Oversimplification of contributing factors, simple linear thinking, static reasoning, and discrete boundary thinking. We conclude with practical implications for these findings and suggestions for future research.