Amplification and simplification as modes of theoretical analysis in psychology

Abstract

Some theoretical projects are autonomous, in the sense that they can successfully be pursued without attending to the results of empirical research. Amplification and simplification are the most important of these. An amplification is a logical discovery about a theory which forces us to alter its probability. An example would be a discovery that the postulates of a theory lead to an unexpected inconsistency. A simplification is the invention of a new theory which has the same empirical consequences as an existing theory, but which is more probable than its predecessor. An example would be an “Ockham's razor” argument to the effect that certain postulated theoretical entities can be eliminated without altering the theory's observational consequences. Several subvarieties of amplification and simplification are distinguished, and examples are provided from the literature of theoretical psychology.