12. Eiko Fried: Being a generalist, theory building in psychology, and useful fictions

Eiko Fried is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology at Leiden University. He recently published a target article in Psychological Inquiry about the lack of theory building in network and factor models, and how this impedes progress.

In this conversation, we talk about that article, problems with theories in psychology, Eiko's general approach to science, and much more.

BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith. New conversations every other Friday. You can find the podcast on all podcasting platforms (e.g., Spotify, Apple/Google Podcasts, etc.).

Timestamps
0:00:04: Eiko's photography
0:03:33: The Lancet Psychiatry profile about Eiko / being a generalist
0:15:42: Eiko's "No Committee"
0:26:33: Begin discussing Eiko's paper "Lack of theory..."
0:49:55: Theories don't have to be correct
0:53:02: Model comparison in network and factor models, and constraints of the scientific (publishing) industry
1:14:14: Useful fictions in science
1:22:03: Writing critiques without pointing fingers
1:25:03: Paul Meehl
1:28:09: Education in Psychology

Podcast links

• Website: https://bjks.buzzsprout.com/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/BjksPodcast

Eiko's links

• Website: https://eiko-fried.com/
• Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.de/citations?user=DUK0qQoAAAAJ
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/EikoFried

Ben's links

• Website: www.bjks.blog/
• Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=-nWNfvcAAAAJ

Paul Meehl's lectures on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzRWx56_mpAT5yWRI-po-ybK9uAyZNX_z

References
Borsboom, D. (2013). Theoretical amnesia. Open Science Collaboration Blog.
Feyerabend, P. (1993). Against method.
Fried, E. I. (2020). Lack of theory building and testing impedes progress in the factor and network literature. Psychological Inquiry.
Fried, E. I., Greene, A. L., & Eaton, N. R. (2021). The p factor is the sum of its parts, for now. World Psychiatry.
Frith, U. (2020). Fast lane to slow science. Trends in Cognitive Sciences.
Kellen, D., Davis-Stober, C., Dunn, J. C., & Kalish, M. (2020). The problem of coordination and the pursuit of structural constraints in psychology. PsyArXiv.
Kendler, K. S., Aggen, S. H., Werner, M., & Fried, E. I. (2020). A topography of 21 phobic fears: network analysis in an epidemiological sample of adult twins. Psychological Medicine.
Meehl, P. E. (1978). Theoretical risks and tabular asterisks: Sir Karl, Sir Ronald, and the slow progress of soft psychology. Journal of consulting and clinical Psychology.
Meehl, P. E. (1990). Appraising and amending theories: The strategy of Lakatosian defense and two principles that warrant it. Psychological Inquiry.
Meehl, P. E. (1990). Why summaries of research on psychological theories are often uninterpretable. Psychological Reports.
Morgan, J. (2019). Eiko Fried: organising incoherence with models, networks, and systems. The Lancet Psychiatry.
Smaldino, P. E. (2017). Models are stupid, and we need more of them. Computational Social Psychology.
Yarkoni, T. (2020). Implicit realism impedes progress in psychology: Comment on Fried (2020). Psychological Inquiry.