On Mainstreaming Philosophy of Science in Psychology Through “Psychological Theoretics
Abstract
The principal goal of psychological science is not application but theory. This is because a good theory yields accurate predictions and control, two preconditions for applications. Thus, good psychological science is one that produces good theories. Against the background of reproducibility crisis and the apparent non-existence of an integrated subfield of psychology addressing those issues, I submit psychological theoretics (or psycho-theoretics) as a potential solution. The scope of psychological theoretics is outlined and distinguished from other closely related subfields. It was argued that psychological theoretics has the potential to make a unique contribution to the advancement of good psychological science. It is also worth noting that even if the global community of psychologists might not be ready for psychological theoretics as a new subfield, the reforms proposed under its rubrics would still remain relevant today and in the future. Indeed, the question of whether it is completely new will surely be the subject of scientific debate.
References
Alatas, S. A. (2000). Academic dependency in the social sciences: Reflections on India and Malaysia. American Studies International, 38 (2), 80–96.
American Psychological Association. (2011). Careers in psychology. Author.
APA Task Force. (2009). Report of the task force for increasing the number of quantitative psychologists. http://www.apa.org/research/tools/quantitative/quant-task-force-report.pdf
Asendorpf, J. B., Conner, M., De Fruyt, F., De Houwer, J., Denissen, J. J. A., Fiedler, K., Fiedler, S., Funder, D. C., Kliegl, R., Nosek, B. A., Perugini, M., Roberts, B. W., Schmitt, M., Vanaken, M. A. G., Weber, H., & Wicherts, J. M. (2013). Recommendations for increasing replicability in psychology. European Journal of Personality, 27(2), 108–119. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.1919
Borghi, A. M. & Fini, C. (2019). Theories and Explanations in Psychology. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 958. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00958
Brzezinski, J. M. (2014). On what is important when we think of psychology in Poland. Annals of Psychology, 17(3), 495–515.
Campos, F., Frese, M., Goldstein, M., Iacovone, L., Johnson, H. C., McKenzie, D., & Mensmann, M. (2017). Teaching personal initiative beats traditional training in boosting small business in West Africa. Science, 357, 1287–1290. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aan5329
Carpenter, J. & Kooistra, N. (2014). Engaging Africa: The prospects for project funding in selected fields. Study prepared for the John Templeton Foundation and The Issachar Fund. Nagel Institute of Calvin College.
Carr, S. C. (2007). I-O psychology and poverty reduction: Past, present, and future? The Industrial-Organizational Psychologist, 45(1), pp. 43–50.
Cesario, J. (2014). Priming, replication, and the hardest science. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 9(1) 40–48. http://doi.org/10.1177/1745691613513470
Creighton, J. E. (1902). The purposes of a philosophical association. Philosophical Review, 11(3), 219–237.
Cronbach, L. J. (1957). The two disciplines of scientific psychology. American Psychologist, 12, 671–684.
Ettinger, R. H., & Spires, W. E. (2008). Understanding psychology (3rd ed.). Horizon Textbook Publishing.
Fahrenberg, J. (2012). Wilhelm Wundts wissenschaftstheorie: Ein rekonstruktionsversuch. Psychologische Rundschau, 63(4), 228–238.
García, J. E. (2018). Creativity in psychological theories and the place of history. In J. C. Penagos-Corzo and M. A. P. Vargas (Eds.), Challenges in creativity & psychology in the XXI century (pp. 177–191). Fundación Universidad de las Américas.
Gilbert, D., King, G., Pettigrew, S., & Wilson, T. (2016). Comment on “Estimating the reproducibility of psychological science”. Science, 351 (6277), 1037a–1037b.
Greenwald, A. G. (2012). There is nothing so theoretical as a good method. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 7(2), 99–108. http://doi.org/10.1177/1745691611434210
Griffith, C. R. (1921). Some neglected aspects of a history of psychology. Psychological Bulletin, 30, 17–29.
Griffith, C. R. (1922). Contributions to the history of psychology: 1916–1921. Psychological Bulletin, 19, 411–428.
Grzelak, J. (2014). Polish or global psychology. Roczniki Psychologiczne, 17(3), 543–551.
Hall, G. S. (1879). Philosophy in the United States. Mind, 4, 89–105.
Hall, G. S. (1885). The new psychology. Andover Review, 3, 120–135, 239–248.
Jensenius, A. R. (2012). Disciplinarities: Intra, cross, multi, inter, trans. http://www.arj.no/2012/03/12/disciplinarities-2
Kerlinger, F. N. (1964). Foundations of behavioral research. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Leahey, T. H. (1992). A History of Psychology: Main Currents in Psychological Thought (3rd ed.). Prentice-Hall, Inc.
LeBel, E. P. (2015). A New Replication Norm for Psychology. Collabra, 1(1), Art. 4. http://doi.org/10.1525/collabra.23
Machamer, P. (1998). Philosophy of science: An overview for educators. Science & Education, 7, 1–11.
Machungwa, P. D. (1989). Postgraduate training in industrial psychology: Issues and Problems. Paper presented at seminar on the Current Status of Teaching of Psychology and Psychological Research in Eastern and Southern Africa, Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya.
McKnight, K. M., Sechrest, L., & McKnight, P. E. (2005). Psychology, psychologists, and public policy. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 1, 557–576.
Mills, L., Abdulla, E., & Cribbie, R. A. (2010). Quantitative methodology research: Is it on psychologists’ reading lists. Tutorials in Quantitative Methods for Psychology, 6(2), 52–60.
Nakawake, Y., & Kobayashi, Y. (2022). Negative observational learning might play a limited role in the cultural evolution of technology. Scientific Reports, 12 (970). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-05031-2
Nsamenang, A. B. (2007). Origins and development of scientific psychology in Afrique Noire. In D. Wedding & M. J. Stevens (Eds.), Psychology: IUPsyS global resource (Edition 2007). International Journal of Psychology, 42, (Suppl. 1).
Open Science Collaboration. (2015). Estimating the reproducibility of psychological science. Science, 349 (6251). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aac4716
Oppong, S. (2014). Psychology, economic policy design, and implementation: Contributing to the understanding of economic policy failures in Africa. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 2(1), 183–196. https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v2i1.306
Oppong, S. (2015). Psychology in the service of public policy and development planning: The case of Ghana. Africanus, 45(1), 42–61. https://doi.org/10.25159/0304-615X/254
Oppong, S. (2022). Locus of control and the misreading of culture of poverty: An appraisal of Lawrence M. Mead’s ideas in “Culture and Poverty”. Academicus, 13(25), 226–234. https://dx.medra.org/10.7336/academicus.2022.25.14
Rosenberg, A. (2005). Philosophy of Science: A contemporary introduction (2nd ed.). Routledge.
Simons, D. J. (2014). The value of direct replication. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 9(1), 76–80. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691613514755
Slife, B. D. (2000a). The practice of theoretical psychology. Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, 20(2), 97–115. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0091300
Slife, B. D. (2000b). Theoretical psychology. In A. E. Kazdin (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Psychology (Vol. 8). Oxford University Press.
Slife, B. D., & Williams, R. N. (1997). Toward a theoretical psychology: Should a subdiscipline be formally recognized? American Psychologist, 52(2), 117–129. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.52.2.117
Stam, H. J. (2020). On the importance of theory and contagion. Theory & Psychology, 30(6), 878–884. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959354320970642
Swedberg, R. (2012). Theorizing in sociology and social science: Turning to the context of discovery. Theo Soc., 41, 1–40. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11186-011-9161-5
Teo, T. (2020). Theorizing in psychology: From the critique of a hyper-science to conceptualizing subjectivity. Theory & Psychology, 30(6), 759–767. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959354320930271
Thayer, L. (2022). The grand challenges of psychological science. Observer, January/February. https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/grand-challenges
Tyson, P. J., Jones, D., & Elcock, J. (2011). Psychology in social context: Issues and debates. John Wiley & Sons.
van Fraassen, B. C. (2011). Logic and the philosophy of science. Journal of the Indian Council of Philosophical Research, 27 (2), 45–66.
Walliman, N. (2011). Research methods: The basics. Routledge.
Westfall, J., Judd, C. M., & Kenny, D. A. (2015). Replicating studies in which samples of participants respond to samples of stimuli. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 10(3), 390–399. http://doi.org/10.1177/1745691614564879
Copyright (c) 2022 Annals of Psychology
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
