What is it about?
We explain why and how to transform psychological research so that it is robust and replicable. The researcher needs to focus on the individual, and design methods that allow the individual to exert control over aspects of a real or simulated environment. The researcher then designs a functional model of the individual, optimises it to a task, and assesses the fit with a repeat of the same, or similar, task. The aim is to find consistency in the variables that the individual controls across situations. The tighter the fit of the model, the closer it is to the psychological functioning of the individual, and the greater the validity of the theory from which the model is designed. We show how perceptual control theory has been tested this way, provide recommendations for resources, and address limitations of this approach.
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Why is it important?
Psychology will be taken seriously as a scientific discipline when its methods and results are replicable and consistent with one another. The use of working models - prototypes if you like - will show clearly when a psychological theory is correct, and when it is not. When our models are ‘fit to fly’, then their underpinning theory can be shown to be valid.
Perspectives
I have learned so much since starting to use these methods in my own research. I want to share this perspective as widely as possible to share this experience and see if it can see through it’s promise for psychology.
Warren Mansell
University of Manchester
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The Assessment and Modeling of Perceptual Control: A Transformation in Research Methodology to Address the Replication Crisis, Review of General Psychology, September 2018, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1037/gpr0000147.
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