The importance of psychological theory as a field of intellectual debate is well established. However, the conception of the field as something with a solid theoretical foundation has been challenged by recent years. The challenge comes from those who believe that a mere system of ideas and concepts is not enough for a discipline such as psychology. According to these critics, it would be a mistake to make psychology a purely theoretical academic science, since understanding the human mind is essential to psychological understanding.
In order to understand how psychology theories may differ from each other, it is important to examine how they differ from one another. One of the biggest theories to have been critiqued is the Social Learning Theory. This theory suggests that children are able to learn from both direct and indirect experiences. In direct experiences, children are exposed to both socially appropriate and inappropriate behaviors, which allow them to form both abstract and concrete mental states based on the information they have been exposed to. Over time, these abstract mental states to shape their behavioral patterns and, as a result, influence their future behaviors.
The second theory to be examined is that of contingency theory. According to this hypothesis, all psychological theories are nothing more than projections of future scientific reality onto a human behavior. For instance, if psychologists were to find that a particular type of behavior is associated with certain cognitive and emotional characteristics, then they would be able to link this characteristic to some psychological state that preexisting all of these traits. This way, psychologist could study human behavior and use theories to understand how we evolve over time and gain insight into the minds of individuals who might otherwise be considered out of touch.