1. The Rules in Our Head

Imagine you're wearing a pair of glasses with colored lenses, like blue or pink. Everything you see through those glasses looks a bit different because of the color of the lenses. Theory-ladenness is kind of like that, but instead of glasses, it's about the ideas and beliefs in our minds.

Let's say you believe that dogs are super friendly. If you see a dog wagging its tail, you might think, "Oh, that dog is happy to see me!" But if someone else is a bit scared of dogs, they might think, "That dog might bite me!" Even though you both see the same dog, what you think about it is different.

This happens because everyone has their own 'mental glasses' that change how they see and understand things. It's like each person has their own set of rules in their head that tells them what things mean. And this is not just for seeing things, but also for understanding them.

So, theory-ladenness means that what we see and think about the world around us is influenced by ideas in our head. It's like each person has their own special way of seeing things, based on their own experiences and ideas.

Why do we have these rules in our head? What purpose do they serve, and how can we be more aware of them?