An introduction to the theory of sociocultural models

This article introduces the theory of sociocultural models ( TSCM ) along with its propositions, historical and conceptual foundations, ontology, and the methodology for its applications in sociocultural research. Sociocultural models ( SCM s) are a structured set of prescriptions for people to interpret the world, communities, other people, and themselves; they are a set of scripts for acting in accord with these interpretations. These models are developed by people's cultural communities, and they are learned and internalized by their members as validated recipes for their lives and actions. Members of communities continuously co‐construct their SCM s by enacting them through their everyday interactions. Culture is described as a distributed network of specialized SCM s that guides community members’ lives in different domains. According to the TSCM , to fully understand the nature of people’ actions and experiences, researchers first must examine the system of SCM s that these people were born into—the public aspects of SCM s. Subsequently, researchers must investigate how these people act, experience, and live through these models—the internalized aspects of SCM s—and determine what roles their autonomous agency and self‐determination play in their existence. To study SCM s, researchers use methods such as person‐centered ethnography, interviews, and experiments.