What is the hypothetico-deductive method? List some criticisms of Hull’s system.
Objective, mechanistic and reductionist behaviorism of Hull gives a fine view of what his procedures for study could be. Initially they had to be objective. Adding on, they would have to be quantitative, with the behavioral laws which were fundamental communicated in the accurate language of maths.
Hull noticed 4 ways he thought to be useful for the research. 3 were already used widely: observation which was controlled systematically, observations which were simple, and the hypotheses by empirical testing.
The fourth way proposed by Hull was the method of hypothetico-deduction, which used deduction by a series of formulations determined based on a theory. This way includes developing hypothesis from where empirically tested inferences could be derived.
Such inferences are submitted to empirical examination, and these should be revised when these are not backed by evidence from experiments. If these are verified and backed, then these should be incorporated in the field of science.
Hull had faith that if psychology was supposed to turn into something really objective and detached like any other sciences which were natural, the principle of behavioral program, then the proper method could be the hypothetico-deductive way.