2026-05-07 –, Track 1
The early decades of the 21st century have witnessed an increasingly fragmented landscape within naturalistic psychology, characterized by divergent epistemological commitments and methodological practices across subdisciplines. This theoretical analysis examines how three prominent psychological traditions—psychometrics, evolutionary psychology, and behavior analysis—differentially operationalize the foundational scientific concepts of premises, evidence, and proof. Each tradition is shown to embody distinct assumptions about what constitutes valid scientific inquiry, what counts as acceptable empirical support, and what standards must be met for knowledge claims to be accepted as provisionally true. Despite this fragmentation, all three traditions maintain commitment to naturalism, empiricism, and the self-correcting character of scientific knowledge accumulation. The analysis reveals both the productive diversity and problematic incommensurability that characterize contemporary psychological science, offering implications for interdisciplinary integration, training practices, and the future coherence of the field.
Professor of Psychology on Behavioral Genetics and BIopsychology, Faculdade de Ciências Médicas da Santa Casa de São Paulo. Associate Professor of PSychology and the Graduate Program In Health Psychology (Biopsychology) at the Methodist University, Brazil.