A new preprint on arXiv takes on a long-standing gap in psychology: many principles of cognition have been proposed, but each was studied separately, so it was unclear how they work together. The authors set out to test whether a small set of established principles could be combined into a single model.
They report that assembling these principles into one model allows it to explain human behavior at scale. The abstract does not name the specific principles or the model itself, but the claim is that a compact cognitive core can capture broad behavioral patterns.
If the approach holds up, it could offer a more unified foundation for psychological theory, moving from isolated effects to an integrated account of how people behave.