Mind the gap: in praise of informal sources of formal theory

Personality and Social Psychology Review : an Official Journal of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc
Susan T Fiske

Abstract

Theory-making can be taught and learned. New theories aim to fill a gap in existing explanations. Although mathematical statements are privileged elsewhere, social psychology's impactful theories tend to be verbal, perhaps because of the arbitrary scales of our variables. Good theories posit causal relations, attempt coherence, form a good narrative, aim for parsimony, are testable, prove fertile, and solve problems. Theories' sources can be intellectual, personal, group, or worldview. As long as the theory is stated logically, any source can be heuristic.

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Citations

Oct 28, 2010·American Journal of Community Psychology·Greg TownleyMargarita M Franco
May 25, 2012·Journal of Adolescence·Nicole E Caporino, Marc S Karver
Jun 6, 2008·Social Science & Medicine·Jo C PhelanJohn F Dovidio
Aug 16, 2006·The Nursing Clinics of North America·Rachel Jones
Jul 8, 2009·Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences·Tamás Tófalvy, Hugo Viciana
Sep 13, 2008·Conservation Biology : the Journal of the Society for Conservation Biology·F Stephan Mayer, Cynthia McPherson Frantz
Nov 3, 2011·The British Journal of Social Psychology·Jan-Willem van Prooijen, Emiel F P Kerpershoek
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Nov 19, 2013·Research in Developmental Disabilities·Huei Lin HuangJune Hui Huang
Jul 20, 2010·The American Journal of Orthopsychiatry·Sharon Scales RostoskyJulia Darnell Huellemeier
Sep 14, 2006·Annual Review of Psychology·Kipling D Williams
Aug 3, 2012·Personality and Social Psychology Review : an Official Journal of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc·Paul A M Van Lange
Oct 10, 2014·Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience·Ullrich WagnerHenrik Walter
Mar 22, 2019·Cognitive Processing·Marc Jekel

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