Critical thinkingArticle: Dennis & KintschEvaluating Theories A theory is a concise statement about how we believe the world to be.Theories organize observations of the world and allow researchers to make predictions about what will happen in the future under certain conditions. Science is about the testing of theories, and the data we collect as scientists should either implicitly or explicitly bear on theory. The characteristics that lead a theory to be successful from those that make it truly useful:Descriptive adequacy:Does the theory accord with the available data?Precision and interpretability:Is the theory described in a sufficiently precise fashion that other theorists can interpret it easily and unambiguously?Coherence and consistency:Are there logical flaws in the theory? Does each component of the theory seem to fit with the others in to a coherent whole? Is it consistent with theory in other domains?Prediction and falsifiability:Is the theory formulated in such a way that critical tests can be conducted that could reasonably lead to the rejection of the theory?Postdiction and explanation:Does the theory provide a genuine explanation of existing results?Parsimony:Is the theory as simple as possible?Originality:Is the theory new or is it essentially a restatement of an existing theory?Breadth:Does the theory apply to a broad range of phenomena or is it restricted to a limited domain?Usability:Does the theory have applied implications?Rationality: Does the theory make claims about the architecture of mind that seem reasonable in the light of the environmental contingencies that have shaped or evolutionary theory?...

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WSRt, critical thinking - a summary of all articles needed in the second block of second year psychology at the uva

WSRt, critical thinking - a summary of all articles needed in the second block of second year psychology at the uva

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This is a summary of the articles and reading materials that are needed for the second block in the course WSR-t. This course is given to second year psychology students at the Uva. This block is about analysing and evaluating psychological research. The order in which the articles are shown bellow is the order in which they have been studied in the course. In total, 13 articles are needed