Rethinking the Evaluation of Psychological Theories: A Commentary on Calderon et al.’s Registered Replication Report

Abstract

Construal-level theory (CLT) is a well-established theory in social psychology that posits a relationship between psychological distance and mental abstraction such that greater distance is associated with more abstract representations. In a registered replication report, Calderon et al. presented findings that call into question the strength and generality of this relationship, including effects that were attenuated, null, or even opposite to those predicted by CLT across multiple domains of psychological distance. In this commentary, we engage with these findings at two complementary levels. We first reflect on design and measurement considerations that shape the evidentiary value of the current replication. We then situate the findings in discussions of theory evaluation amid ongoing discourse on the theory crisis in psychology. Rather than framing the results in terms of theoretical success or failure, we invite researchers to reconsider how psychological theories are evaluated, revised, and sustained as evidence accumulates. We outline how a findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR)-informed approach, applied to CLT, may support more transparent and cumulative theory development.