Thorngate's postulate of commensurate complexity, also referred to as Thorngate's impostulate of theoretical simplicity is the description of a phenomenon in social science theorizing. Karl E. Weick maintains that research in the field of social psychology can – at any one time – achieve only two of the three meta-theoretical virtues of "Generality", "Accuracy" and "Simplicity." One of these aspects therefore must always be subordinated to the others. The postulate is named for the Canadian social psychologist Warren Thorngate of the University of Alberta, whose work is quoted by Weick.