From psci-skills
Guides writing the theory and hypotheses section for Psychological Science manuscripts, ensuring clear separation of confirmatory (preregistered) vs exploratory analyses and preventing HARKing.
How this skill is triggered — by the user, by Claude, or both
Slash command
/psci-skills:psci-theory-and-hypothesesThe summary Claude sees in its skill listing — used to decide when to auto-load this skill
Psychological Science rewards a **clear theoretical claim** and **honest hypothesis status**. Because
Psychological Science rewards a clear theoretical claim and honest hypothesis status. Because preregistration quality is weighed and a Research Transparency Statement is required, the cardinal rule is: state theory and confirmatory hypotheses before the data, and label exploratory results as exploratory.
psci-review-process).The two-study attention package, written so hypothesis status is legible at a glance.
Theory: Brief mindfulness induction transiently broadens attentional
control, reducing automatic capture by emotional distractors.
H1 (confirmatory, preregistered, S1+S2):
Induction reduces capture cost vs. control (directional; d ≥ 0.30 SESOI).
H2 (exploratory in S1 → confirmatory in S2):
Effect is larger for high trait-anxiety participants
(interaction; preregistered only for Study 2).
Disconfirming: a CI for H1 centered near zero, or a reversed sign, counts
against the broadening account — stated up front.
Post-credibility-revolution, name the boundary of the claim explicitly rather than implying universal scope. Confirm current wording against the journal's submission guidelines, but include the substance:
Constraints on generality: We expect H1 to hold for healthy adults under
brief laboratory inductions and screen-based capture tasks. We do not claim
it generalizes to clinical anxiety, sustained meditation training, or
real-world attentional demands without further test.
| Reviewer pushback | Psychological Science fix |
|---|---|
| "Atheoretical / mechanism unclear" | state the broadening mechanism in one crisp sentence before the hypotheses |
| "This looks HARKed" | show the preregistration timestamp; relabel post hoc analyses exploratory |
| "Claims outrun the manipulation" | scale H1's scope to what the induction plausibly does; add a constraints-on-generality clause |
| "Non-directional hypothesis" | commit to a sign and, where possible, a SESOI magnitude |
psci-review-process.【Theory】the mechanism/principle, briefly
【Hypotheses】directional, testable (H1, H2, …)
【Status】which are confirmatory (preregistered) vs exploratory
【Disconfirming evidence】what would count against the theory
【Format fit】Research Article vs Registered Report (if confirmatory + prospective)
【Next】psci-study-design
../../resources/external_tools.md — preregistration templates and tools../../resources/official-source-map.md — preregistration and transparency policynpx claudepluginhub brycewang-stanford/awesome-journal-skills --plugin psci-skillsStructures the theoretical framing and hypothesis section for a Journal of Educational Psychology manuscript, requiring a clear psychological mechanism, directional confirmatory vs. exploratory hypotheses, and preregistration status.
Guides building theoretical models and directional hypotheses for Journal of Applied Psychology manuscripts. Emphasizes mechanism, level specifications, and confirmatory vs. exploratory splits.
Builds theoretical arguments and derives testable hypotheses for JPSP manuscripts. Structures the theory section and maps hypotheses to studies, helping clear the innovation gate.