Theoretical psychology addresses the theoretical and philosophical aspects of psychology, operating as an interdisciplinary field with an expansive scope of study. It combines and incorporates existing and developing psychological theories in a non-experimental way, originating out of the philosophy of science with logic and rationality as foundational ideas, and its prominent early figures include Wilhelm Wundt, William James, Sigmund Freud and John B. Watson, with later contributors such as Jerome Kagan, Alan E. Kazdin, Robert Sternberg, Kenneth J. Gergen and Ulric Neisser publishing in general psychology journals as well as specialized publications such as Theory and Psychology and the Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology.
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Central QuestionWhat logic and rationality underlie psychology's own theories and concepts, quite apart from what any single experiment can establish? 1 Key DebateWhether theoretical psychology can ever settle competing psychological theories, since it is built to describe the logic of an idea rather than judge which one is more correct, a limit the field's own struggle to explain consciousness puts on display. 1 Theoretical Psychology
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Theoretical psychology is the logic of psychology and all of its components.
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One challenge of theoretical psychology is the difficulty to explain consciousness: there are many competing theories revolving around consciousness, and theoretical psychology struggles to fully explain or justify consciousness.
Related Branch: Experimental Psychology, Article text
Theoretical psychology existed long before any branches of traditional empirical and experimental psychology.
View the Source Wikipedia: Mathematical psychology
Wikimedia FoundationRelated Branches: Mathematical Psychology, Article textQuote, Related Branches: Mathematical Psychology, Article text
Mathematical psychology is not to be confused with theoretical psychology: the latter is concerned with the conceptual understanding of psychological phenomena, often through verbal reasoning which lacks mathematical formalism; the former is concerned with the formal modeling of these phenomena, often lacking conceptual explanation.
Franz Brentano (Wikipedia)
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His 1874 Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint, considered his magnum opus
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