Why should a theory be tested in psychology research?
This is the same as for any other branch of science. Evidence based psychology is a fairly new phenomenon in human science (particularly since psychology itself is fairly new, and has come a long way since the days of phrenology.) Evidence is absolutely necessary in any discipline, though, to try to understand why things work and what will produce repeatable results. A theory should be tested to discern first, whether it is true, and also why it is true. For example, we know that things reliably fall due to gravity, and brakes work reliably because of friction. Do we need to know whether a person commits crime because of early childhood influences, mental illness, or other influences? Yes, if we mean to do anything about it. So you form a theory, you do your research, and then you come up with some evidence supporting or disproving your hypothesis. In the case of psychology, this is extra important, because a lot of what we thought we knew about psychology is wrong. For example, in cho
