Elegant Theories and the Problems of Social Psychology

This perspective article provides a commentary on the current state of theories used in social psychology, with a particular emphasis on the importance of distinguishing between theoretical models and the statistical models used to evaluate them. A central argument of the essay is that the desire for unrestricted parsimony—often referred to as elegance—creates a problematic inference gap between statistical models and theories. The article is divided into three sections: 1) a brief review of the nature of scientific theory and the elegance criterion in social psychology; 2) three case examples (cultural self-construals, stereotype threat, terror management theory) to illustrate the problems raised; and 3) suggestions for how the field can move forward in a more productive direction.