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Fundamental-versus-peripheral hypothesis taxonomy for model replication and falsification

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To answer criticisms that social-cognitive models are unfalsifiable, the authors classify each of the model's 23 hypotheses as fundamental or peripheral. Fundamental hypotheses test the three core propositions (H1-H5 and H15); peripheral hypotheses cover the belief-mediated pathways. The authors state that "Support for Hypotheses 1 to 5 is fundamental for the test of model to be accepted and a null finding for any of these hypotheses in an overall test of the model will render it rejected as a failed replication." Failure of peripheral hypotheses does not invalidate the core pathways, since mediation through any one belief-based construct suffices.

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  • Fundamental-versus-peripheral hypothesis taxonomy specifies criteria for rejecting or failing to replicate the model: To answer criticisms that social-cognitive models are unfalsifiable, the authors classify each of the model's 23 hypotheses as fundamental or peripheral. Fundamental hypotheses test the three core propositions (H1-H5 and H15); peripheral hypotheses cover the belief-mediated pathways. The authors state that "Support for Hypotheses 1 to 5 is fundamental for the test of model to be accepted and a null finding for any of these hypotheses in an overall test of the model will render it rejected as a failed replication." Failure of peripheral hypotheses does not invalidate the core pathways, since mediation through any one belief-based construct suffices. (Hagger et al. (2016))

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Key Sources

  • Hagger, M. S., & Chatzisarantis, N. L. D. (2016). The Trans-Contextual Model of Autonomous Motivation in Education: Conceptual and Empirical Issues and Meta-Analysis. Review of Educational Research. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654315585005
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type research-method
id fundamental-versus-peripheral-hypothesis-taxonomy-for-model-replication-and-falsification
title Fundamental-versus-peripheral hypothesis taxonomy for model replication and falsification
description To answer criticisms that social-cognitive models are unfalsifiable, the authors classify each of the model's 23 hypotheses as fundamental or peripheral.
status review
generated by process:settle-candidates on 2026-10-20
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