Evaluation

• Research support – has there been controlled laboratory research to support the findings/proposals.
• Practical/real-world applications – can the theory/findings be used to support people in the real world? e.g., therapy, in schools etc.,
• Culturally universal– can the findings be applied to both individualistic/collectivist cultures to the same degree?
• Holism – is the theory multi-dimensional, taking several factors into consideration?
• Free will – does the theory emphasise the importance of free will and the autonomy of humans?
• Cause & effect – does the theory & findings clearly establish and demonstrate which variable is causing the outcome (effect)?
• Explains individual differences – are the findings universally applied to everyone regardless of their individual differences?
• Falsifiability – can the findings be scientifically tested to attempt to prove the theory wrong.
• Over-reliance on lab studies – does the theory focus solely on lab studies which limits its external/ecological validity?
• Theoretical/conceptual– is the theory purely theoretical and difficult to implement in the real-world practically?
• Culture bias – are the findings exclusively relevant within one culture (often individualistic) and irrelevant in other cultures (often collectivist)?
• Reductionism – does the theory chose to explain behaviour by focusing on a constituent (single) part instead of looking at the whole picture?
• Determinism – does the theory pin behaviour down to internal/external forces which govern our behaviour instead of our free will?
• Correlation not causation – does the theory & findings make a general link between two variables without clearly stating which one is the predictor variable and which one is the outcome variable (effect)?
• Individual differences not factored – do the findings apply only to specific people?
• Lacks falsifiability – are the concepts untestable, preventing us from proving it right or wrong?