Introducing Psychology: A Graphic Guide

by Nigel C. Benson

Why Can’t Anything Be Proved? Although we often use the word “prove” in everyday life, strictly speaking, NOTHING CAN BE PROVED. This is simply because NO amount of evidence is sufficient – there’s always the possibility of new, conflicting, evidence.

So, just collecting lots of data to SUPPORT a Theory is of limited use: a good Scientist looks for evidence to DISPROVE a Theory.

In Science, we can also never be certain that a Theory is “correct” or “true” – we therefore prefer to think of a Theory as being USEFUL, until a better one comes along. Newton’s Theory of Gravity (attraction of objects) was replaced by Einstein’s Theory of Gravity (distortions in space).