Falsifiability

• Falsifiability is the ability of a theory or hypotheses to be found to be wrong (i.e. false)
• • If the theory is true then it should withstand testing
  • The theories which survive constant and continual testing are therefore the strongest
• Being able to falsify a theory means that scientific methods can be used to test it- why significance testing is based on either rejecting or accepting the null hypothesis
• The more a theory is tested and found to withstand the testing then the more scientific it is
• Theories which have been tested repeatedly using controlled methods are falsifiable e.g.

  • experiments on memory (e.g. Peterson & Peterson 1959)
  • localisation of brain function (e.g. Maguire et al., 2000)
• Some theories don't conduct hypothesis-testing and are thus unfalsifiable and unscientific e.g.

  • the humanistic idea of self-actualisation as this will differ from person to person and has no agreed-upon criteria