Concept of «implicit theory»: a 60 years-history of research in psychology

In this article, the author represents results of theoretical analysis of scientific concept of implicit theory in psychology. Description is given for five theoretical approaches in studying implicit theories: «classical ap-proach», «constructive alternativism», «prototype approach», «psychosemantic approach», «theory of theory». An approach is considered to be a principal methodological orientation of researcher. It is shown that existing approaches share a number of common features in terms of their philosophical basis, theoretical principles and methods of research.