BUS603: Managing People

So - what can theories do for us? Their main function is to help us make sense of phenomena, including human behavior. They help us answer "why" and "how" questions about the world. More specifically, they can fulfill three major functions.

The first function is explanation. Theories can help us understand why entities - physical objects, processes, or people - behave the way they do, individually or in interactions with each other.

The second function is "postdiction". Theories can help us interpret specific past incidents and events and account for why they would be expected to happen as they did. Thus, they give us assurance that order exists in at least part of the world.

The final function is prediction, whereby theories help us gain confidence in describing what is likely to take place in the future. Many physical phenomena occur with a degree of stability and consistency over time. Although human beings often surprise each other, psychologists have contended that someone's past behavior is the best predictor of that person's future behavior. Thus, if our theories have properly and accurately postdicted the way someone has acted, they should lead us to a clear picture of what future behavior that person will exhibit.

Before they had reasonable theories regarding physical science, our ancestors found events like eclipses and earthquakes to be inexplicable. They responded to such phenomena with dread or superstitious speculation. The same was true with respect to complex bodily functions and the spread of disease. Having theories about our natural world and our place in it gives us as human beings a comfortable, reliable foundation upon which to strengthen and enlarge our knowledge. Theories, in short, free us to spread our mental wings and fly into new territory.

Three other characteristics are associated with good theories. First, they exhibit parsimony; that is, they are as simple as possible. Second, they should be consistent with previous theories. Third, they also need to be deniable.

Deniability means that those who hold a theory should be able to describe evidence which would cause them to abandon it. If this weren't the case, choosing among competing theories would be a matter only of who spoke loudest or fought hardest on behalf of their opinions.