What would Karl Popper say? Are current psychological theories of ADHD falsifiable?
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a common and highly heritable neurodevelopmental psychiatric disorder. Here, we critically review four major psychological theories of ADHD - the Executive Dysfunction, the State Regulation, the Delay Aversion and the Dynamic Developmental - on their abilities to explain all the symptoms of ADHD, their testability and their openness to falsification. We conclude that theoreticians should focus, to a greater extent than currently practiced, on developing refutable theories of ADHD.
Johnson
Katherine A
KA
School of Psychology and Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland. johnsoka@tcd.ie.
Wiersema
Jan R
JR
Kuntsi
Jonna
J