The Rise of a Theoretical Crisis After the Methods Crisis

The Rise of a Theoretical Crisis After the Methods Crisis

This discussion initiated by Ekaterina Damer has elicited numerous suggestions from psychologists on Twitter.

Below are the majority of the suggestions, accompanied by their recommended sources in parentheses. I haven’t explored these yet, but I aimed to gather them in a single location. Feel free to leave comments with your own recommendations.

(Iris van Rooij)
“How does it work?” versus “What are the laws?” Two perspectives on psychological explanation. Robert Cummins

(Ed Orehek)
Theory Construction in Social Personality Psychology: Personal Anecdotes and Lessons Learned: A Special Issue of Personality and Social Psychology Review

(Djouria Ghilani)
Individual Musings on Theory and Psychology
Gerd Gigerenzer,

Selected Works of Barry N. Markovsky

(almost everyone, but Tal Yarkoni expressed it this way)
“Meehl articulated most of what can be said regarding this”

  • Theory-testing in psychology and physics: A methodological paradox
  • Evaluating and revising theories: The approach of Lakatosian defense and two principles that support it
  • Reasons why summaries of research on psychological theories often lack clarity

    • (This brings to mind, PsychBrief has been studying Meehl and offers comprehensive summaries here: Paul Meehl on philosophy of science: video lectures and papers)

    (Burak Tunca)
    What Theory Is Not by Robert I. Sutton & Barry M. Staw

    (Joshua Skewes)
    Valerie Gray Hardcastle’s “How to formulate a theory in cognitive science”.

    (Randy McCarthy)
    Chapter 1 of Gawronski, B., & Bodenhausen, G. V. (2015). Theoretical frameworks and explanations in social psychology. Guilford Publications.

    (Kimberly Quinn)
    McGuire, W. J. (1997). Innovative hypothesis generation in psychology: A few effective heuristics. Annual Review of Psychology, 48(1), 1-30.

    (Daniël Lakens)
    Jaccard, J., & Jacoby, J. (2010). Skills for Theory Construction and Model Development: A Practical Guide for Social Scientists. Guilford Press.

    Fiedler, K. (2004). Instruments, playthings, maxims, and theories: Reflections on the innovative cycle of theory development. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 8(2), 123–131.

    (Tom Stafford)
    Roberts and Pashler (2000). How influential is a good fit? A critique of theory testing

    The conversation indicates that the theory crisis will be as complex and contentious as the methods crisis.

    Updates 16 August 2018

    (Richard Prather)
    Simmering et al (2010). <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/