Recent exchanges initiated by Ekaterina Damer’s thread have seen various psychologists share pivotal literature on Twitter, offering a broad array of recommendations for individuals intrigued by psychological theories. Below is a handpicked compilation of these suggestions, along with the names of the psychologists who proposed them. Although these works have not been personally vetted, they are recognized within the psychological community and further recommendations are welcomed in the comments section.
Suggested Readings:
(Iris van Rooij)
“How does it function?” vs. “What are the principles?” Two perspectives on psychological explanation by Robert Cummins
(Ed Orehek)
Constructing Theories in Social Personality Psychology: Personal Insights and Lessons Learned
(Djouria Ghilani)
Personal Insights on Theory and Psychology by Gerd Gigerenzer
(Various contributors, particularly Tal Yarkoni)
“Meehl articulated most of what is relevant to discuss”
- Theory-testing in psychology and physics: A methodological quandary
- Evaluating and revising theories: The Lakatosian defense strategy and two principles that justify it
- Reasons why research summaries on psychological theories often lack interpretability
(To explore additional insights from Meehl, check out Paul Meehl on philosophy of science: video lectures and papers on PsychBrief)
(Burak Tunca)
What Theory is Not by Robert I. Sutton & Barry M. Staw
(Joshua Skewes)
Valerie Gray Hardcastle’s “How to construct a theory in cognitive science”
(Randy McCarthy)
Chapter 1 of Gawronski, B., & Bodenhausen, G. V. (2015). Theory and explanation in social psychology. Guilford Publications.
(Kimberly Quinn)
Creative hypothesis generation in psychology: Some practical heuristics by W. J. McGuire
(Daniël Lakens)
Jaccard, J., & Jacoby, J. (2010). Theory Construction and Model-building Skills: A Practical Guide for Social Scientists. Guilford Press.
(Tom Stafford)
Roberts and Pashler (2000). How convincing is a good fit? A commentary on theory testing
The ongoing dialogue underscores that the investigation of theories in psychology will persist in its complexity and diversity as the discussions surrounding research methodologies continue.
Updates as of August 16, 2018:
(Richard Prather)
Simmering et al (2010). To Model or Not to Model? A Conversation on the Role of Computational Modeling in Developmental Science
(Brett Buttliere)
Participate in the Psychological Theory Discussion Group on Facebook for more theory-related discussions.
(Eric Morris)
Wilson, K. G. (2001). <a href="http://www.ij