Pragmatic nihilism: how a Theory of Nothing can help health psychology progress

Gjalt-Jorn Ygram Peters,Rik Crutzen

doi:10.1080/17437199.2017.1284015

Abstract

ABSTRACTHealth psychology developed a plethora of theories to explain and change a wide variety of behaviours. Several attempts have been undertaken to build integrative theories, some even striving for a Theory of Everything. We argue against these efforts, arguing that instead a ‘pragmatic nihilism’ perspective may be more fruitful to understand and change health behaviours. The first tenet of pragmatic nihilism is that psychological variables are usefully considered as metaphors rather than referring to entities that exist in the mind. As a consequence, the second tenet emphasizes theories' definitions and guidelines for the operationalisation of those variables. The third tenet of pragmatic nihilism is that each operationalisation represents an intersection of a variety of dimensions, such as behavioural specificity and duration, and most importantly, psychological aggregation level. Any operationalisation thus represents a number of choices regarding these dimensions. Pragmatic nihilism has two implications. First, it provides a foundation that enables integrating theories in a more flexible and accurate manner than made possible by integrative theories. Second, it emphasizes the importance of operationalisations, underlining the importance of investing in the careful development of measurement instruments, thorough reporting of measurement instruments' specifics and performance, and full disclosure of the instruments themselves.

Highlights

There have been many efforts to integrate health psychology theory (Hagger, 2009), such as the integration of self-determination theory (SDT) and the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB; Hagger & Chatzisarantis, 2014), the multi-theory integration in the iChange model (de Vries et al, 2003), and the ambitions recently presented by Michie (2015)
Because overt behaviour results from activation patterns of the motor cortex and activation patterns in the motor cortex are the result of activation patterns elsewhere in the brain (Graziano & Aflalo, 2007), all overt behaviour is necessarily caused by such psychological variables in all conceivable cases except physical coercion
We have compiled a number of recommendations that follow from pragmatic nihilism

Summary

Introduction

There have been many efforts to integrate health psychology theory (Hagger, 2009), such as the integration of self-determination theory (SDT) and the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB; Hagger & Chatzisarantis, 2014), the multi-theory integration in the iChange model (de Vries et al, 2003), and the ambitions recently presented by Michie (2015). The literature on behavioural determinants is extensive, and theories aiming to explain behaviour such as the Reasoned Action Approach (RAA; Fishbein & Ajzen, 2010) and its predecessors (e.g., the TPB; Ajzen, 1991), SDT (Ryan & Deci, 2000), and the Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM; Witte, 1992) are popular. Such theories provide definitions of psychological variables as well as of processes operating on those variables. They have been argued to be emergent properties: ‘beer bottleness’ exists as a property of the system of our minds, no single neuron or cluster of neurons represents this concept

Objectives

Conclusion