On the Goals and Limitations of Psychological Science: Some Thoughts in Memory of Daniel Kahneman

Abstract

Daniel Kahneman was a prominent multifaceted psychologist whose work had a persuasive impact on the fields of attention (his initial research) and the field of judgment and decision-making (and the closely related domain of behavioral economics), for which he received the Nobel Prize. The current article was initiated by a correspondence with Kahneman regarding the scientific value of the two-system premise. This correspondence went much beyond the initial two-system issue, ending with a query regarding the methods and goals of psychological research and its inherent limitations. The major issue concerned the extent to which precision in psychological research can be achieved and, specifically, the value of formal models in psychological science. This article summarizes some fundamental controversial issues raised in this correspondence regarding the nature of knowledge attained in psychological science and the role of theories and models in the process of obtaining this knowledge.