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Falsifiability in Psychology

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I might be taking a shot in the dark but, this is what I think is an example falsifiability criteria to psychology is the theory of Sigmund Freud and Alfred Adler.

Freud theorized that instinct forces drove people and early childhood events affected the individual's future behavior. In other words, Freud theorized human behavior was based mostly by the past, and people were not free to make choices, but were compelled to react to internal and unconscious directives (Corey, 2009).

Adler on the other hand theorized people could and can make a conscious decision and he also theorized that a conscious aspect of the human mind was a powerful component to create goals, and make choices. Also Adler theorized that the individual should focus on the present...by this he meant if an individual was having a mid life crisis he should seek therapy within the present time are at the time of the mid life crisis.

Freud and Adler did agree on fundamental personality characteristics, are born within the first six years of life (Fisher, 2001).

Which brings me to my point if an individual was abused in their early childhood was the individual forever impacted by this tragic event and not be able to lead a normal life?

Or like Adler stated that an individual should focus on the present and make a conscious decision on their behavior. Can Freud's or Adler's theory be disproved or proven incorrect, it is falsifiable.

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Solution Summary

The expert explains the concept of falsifiability in terms of theories in psychology.

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Hi,

It sounds like you essentially need to address what makes a theory falsifiable, so I'll give you some guidance on how to judge that, and then leave the decision about whether these theories are falsifiable up to you.

When we say that a good theory should be falsifiable, we mean that it would be possible to prove that the theory is incorrect. Consider a simple example. Suppose that you ...

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