EMPG Keynote lecture by Denny Bors­boom, Univer­sity of Amster­dam: Escape from Data­polis

In this talk, I will identify some important problems that hamper our ability to escape the theory crisis in psychology and propose solutions to deal with them. First, psychological methodology relies on an outdated philosophy of science that equates scientific method with hypothesis testing and new data collection. As an alternative, I propose organizing research around the distinction between data, phenomena, and theory. This framework, developed in contemporary philosophy of science, offers a more productive foundation for psychological methods. Second, formal theory is hampered by the absence of a concrete connection between theory and applications. As a result, formal theory rarely makes a real difference to psychological applications and can easily be dismissed as a silly mathematical circus. To address this issue, I will discuss some possible applications where formal theory can make a material difference to people’s everyday experience. Third, we lack the disciplinary organization, training programs, and methodological tools necessary to create and improve theories. Here, I will highlight a number of promising initiatives and argue that the advent of artificial intelligence creates entirely new possibilities for theory construction in psychology.