Riskier tests for p factor hypotheses: A reply to Watts et al. (2023)

Abstract

Watts and colleagues (2023) provide a comprehensive and critical evaluation of the p factor field, which concludes by suggesting ‘p-factor … theories … should stand up to risky tests’. In this commentary, we extend this conclusion by arguing that the riskiest tests come from computational, not statistical, models. We illustrate our point by drawing from a recent computational model of ours, which appears promising in explaining, not simply describing, the positive manifold of emotional psychopathology.