BAPS 2019 · The importance of theory and its implications for the replication crisis in psychological research [symposium]

Eline Van Geert & Ivan Grahek
Annual Meeting of the Belgian Association for Psychological Sciences 2019 · May 15, 2019 · Liège, Belgium

In recent years psychology has faced a replication crisis: large-scale replication projects have failed to replicate many prominent results in social and cognitive psychology. This crisis has often been framed as a methodological crisis. The aim of this symposium is to broaden this view, and show that the lack of replication of psychological findings might be in part due to a lack of rigorous theory development and evaluation. We bring together researchers at the forefront of this advocacy for better or different theories, who will provide multiple perspectives on the relationship between the current replication crisis and the state of theory in psychology. In that sense, this symposium opens an important discussion on acknowledging current issues related to replicability and theory in psychology, and outlines possible ways in which improving psychological theory may improve psychological science.

Speakers

• Fred Hasselman: The historical meaning of the crisis in psychology
• Markus Eronen: The replication crisis and causal theories in psychology
• Jan De Houwer: Psychology is in crisis not because some results do not replicate but because it is not clear what its goals are
• Julia Haaf: From theories to models to predictions with Bayesian model comparison