Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33404356›Full record

ArticlePerspectives on psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science2021

Theory Before the Test: How to Build High-Verisimilitude Explanatory Theories in Psychological Science.

Iris van Rooij, Giosuè Baggio

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Perspectives on psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 66 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
66citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

66 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Improving science will require more than just training.Clinical psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science · 2026
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  4. To Be FAIR: Theory Specification Needs an Update.Perspectives on psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science · 2026
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  17. Towards a Framework for Unifying Research in Theoretical Psychology.Integrative psychological & behavioral science · 2024
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6 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Iris van RooijDonders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University.ORCID 0000-0001-6520-4635
Giosuè BaggioDepartment of Language and Literature, Norwegian University of Science and Technology.ORCID 0000-0001-5086-0365

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Drawing on the philosophy of psychological explanation, we suggest that psychological science, by focusing on effects, may lose sight of its primary explananda: psychological capacities. We revisit Marr's levels-of-analysis framework, which has been remarkably productive and useful for cognitive psychological explanation. We discuss ways in which Marr's framework may be extended to other areas of psychology, such as social, developmental, and evolutionary psychology, bringing new benefits to these fields. We then show how theoretical analyses can endow a theory with minimal plausibility even before contact with empirical data: We call this the

Indexed as

Psychological TheoryBiological EvolutionHumansPsychologyPsychology, Socialcomputational analysiscomputational-level theoryformal modelinglevels of explanationpsychological explanationtheoretical cycletheory development

Identifiers

PMID33404356
PMCPMC8273840

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.