Goodness has nothing to do with it: Why problem orientation need not make for parochial theory
Carol Slater a1 a1 Department of Psychology, Alma College, Alma, MI 48801
cslater@alma.edu
Abstract
Social-cognitive psychologists' problem orientation is, in itself, no threat to the generation of normatively neutral general theory. What would put general theory at risk is, rather, the reliance on a valence-balancing explanatory heuristic. Fortunately, social-cognitive research communities have resources to override this heuristic and utilize more epistemically effective cultural tools.
