This article aims to improve theory formation in psychology by developing a practical methodology for constructing explanatory theories: theory construction methodology (TCM). TCM is a sequence of five steps. First, the theorist identifies a domain of empirical phenomena that becomes the target of explanation. Second, the theorist constructs a prototheory, a set of theoretical principles that putatively explain these phenomena. Third, the prototheory is used to construct a formal model, a set of model equations that encode explanatory principles. Fourth, the theorist investigates the explanatory adequacy of the model by formalizing its empirical phenomena and assessing whether it indeed reproduces these phenomena. Fifth, the theorist studies the overall adequacy of the theory by evaluating whether the identified phenomena are indeed reproduced faithfully and whether the explanatory principles are sufficiently parsimonious and substantively plausible. We explain TCM with an example taken from research on intelligence (the mutualism model of intelligence), in which key elements of the method have been successfully implemented. We discuss the place of TCM in the larger scheme of scientific research and propose an outline for a university curriculum that can systematically educate psychologists in the process of theory formation.

本文旨在通过开发一种构建解释性理论的实用方法论来改进心理学的理论形成：理论构建方法论（TCM）。中医是五个步骤的序列。首先，理论家确定了成为解释目标的经验现象领域。其次，理论家构建了一个原型理论，即一组假定解释这些现象的理论原理。第三，原理论用于构建形式模型，即一组编码解释性原理的模型方程。四、理论家考察解释充分性通过形式化它的经验现象并评估它是否确实再现了这些现象来评估模型。第五，理论家通过评估所识别的现象是否确实被忠实地再现以及解释原则是否足够简洁和实质上合理来研究理论的整体充分性。我们以智力研究（智力的共生模型）中的一个例子来解释中医，其中该方法的关键要素已成功实施。我们讨论了中医在更大的科学研究计划中的位置，并提出了一个大学课程大纲，可以在理论形成过程中系统地教育心理学家。