ArticlePerspectives on psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science2021
Invisible Hands and Fine Calipers: A Call to Use Formal Theory as a Toolkit for Theory Construction.
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 46 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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Who cites it
46 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- An individual participant data meta-analysis of how physical activity relates to affective well-being in daily life.Nature human behaviour · 2026Pooled it
- Efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy in treating repetitive negative thinking, rumination, and worry - a transdiagnostic meta-analysis.Psychological medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Psychotherapy for PTSD - a scoping review of how change during treatment has been studied.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2026Article
- Analyzing multidimensional formal dynamic models in psychology: A tutorial using graphical tools.Behavior research methods · 2026Article
- Common cause versus dynamic mutualism: Insights into ADHD's common comorbidities.JCPP advances · 2026Article
- Testing the robustness of daily associations of affect with alcohol and cannabis use.Journal of psychopathology and clinical science · 2026Article
- To Be FAIR: Theory Specification Needs an Update.Perspectives on psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science · 2026Article
- Negative parenting styles and disordered eating: an item-level bridge network and simulation-based intervention analysis.Journal of eating disorders · 2026Article
- Improving statistical reporting in psychology.Communications psychology · 2025Review
- Bridging Inductive and Deductive Reasoning: A Proposal to Enhance the Evaluation and Development of Models in Sports and Exercise Science.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2025Article
- Examining dynamic patterns of problematic cannabis use: Results from a multilevel network analysis.Journal of psychopathology and clinical science · 2025Article
- Examining the research methods of early warning signals in clinical psychology through a theoretical lens.BMC psychiatry · 2025Review
- A biopsychological network approach to variables contributing to preoperative quality of life in patients undergoing cardiac surgery.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- A topological data analysis method for revealing dynamic changes in psychotherapy microprocesses.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Affective integration in experience, judgment, and decision-making.Communications psychology · 2024Review
- Network analysis: An overview for mental health research.International journal of methods in psychiatric research · 2024Review
- The Problem-Ladenness of Theory.Computational brain & behavior · 2024Article
- Estimating the Reliability and Stability of Cognitive Processes Contributing to Responses on the Implicit Association Test.Personality & social psychology bulletin · 2024Article
- Heterogeneity in suicide risk: Evidence from personalized dynamic models.Behaviour research and therapy · 2024Article
- Common Cause Versus Dynamic Mutualism: An Empirical Comparison of Two Theories of Psychopathology in Two Large Longitudinal Cohorts.Clinical psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
In recent years, a growing chorus of researchers has argued that psychological theory is in a state of crisis: Theories are rarely developed in a way that indicates an accumulation of knowledge. Paul Meehl raised this very concern more than 40 years ago. Yet in the ensuing decades, little has improved. We aim to chart a better path forward for psychological theory by revisiting Meehl's criticisms, his proposed solution, and the reasons his solution failed to meaningfully change the status of psychological theory. We argue that Meehl identified serious shortcomings in our evaluation of psychological theories and that his proposed solution would substantially strengthen theory testing. However, we also argue that Meehl failed to provide researchers with the tools necessary to construct the kinds of rigorous theories his approach required. To advance psychological theory, we must equip researchers with tools that allow them to better generate, evaluate, and develop their theories. We argue that formal theories provide this much-needed set of tools, equipping researchers with tools for thinking, evaluating explanation, enhancing measurement, informing theory development, and promoting the collaborative construction of psychological theories.
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Registered trials
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.