|| -----Original Message-----
|| From: Miles Jackson ||
||
||
|| This is a pretty pessimistic view of the theories in social science.
|| We have plenty of examples of reasonable a priori predictions that
|| have been verified by empirical study in the social sciences. For
|| instance, clinical theorists have developed a cognitive theory of
|| depression, suggesting that maladaptive thinking habits (e.g.,
|| selective focus on negative events and negative reactions from
|| others) can provoke and intensify depressive episodes. (...)
||
|| In what sense is this not valid scientific research?
||
|| Miles
||
In many senses: You can't define maladaptive thinking formally. The thought itself and the negative value attributed to it are subjective and culture - specific. Moreover, the term "maladaptive" itself is politically loaded. It assumes that the goal of therapy is to ensure the individual's adaptation to society (assuming also, as a corollary, that social conditions for such adaptation exist: e.g. a classless, non-racist, non-sexist society with full employment).
Hakki