Gifts bestowed, gifts withheld. Assessing psychological theory with a Kochian attitude.

Sigmund Koch, along with several members of his generation, insisted on a critical and self-critical stance toward psychological theory. Blending critique and possibility, Koch and others focused on the intricate links between theory and practice, morals and values, and the actual, although usually unacknowledged, choices open to theorists. An examination of "theory biographies" heightens appreciation of the legacy of such analyses as well as the positive promise of a Kochian perspective on psychological studies.