A psychologist proposes a new theory of memory: "Every individual possesses an unconscious cognitive buffer that completely shields them from the emotional distress of trauma. However, this buffer operates in a way that makes it entirely undetectable by any brain imaging, physiological measure, or self-report scale."
According to the features of science, which of the following best explains why this theory is considered unscientific?
It fails to undergo a paradigm shift, as it relies on traditional psychodynamic assumptions instead of establishing a new scientific framework.
It is unfalsifiable, because it is formulated in such a way that no empirical evidence could ever be gathered to disprove it.
It lacks replicability, because other researchers cannot use different experimental methodologies to obtain identical results.
It is subjective, because the theory is based on qualitative observations of clinical cases rather than objective, numerical measurements.
47 exam-style questions on OCR A Level Psychology How science works. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.