🧱 SECTION C — Major Subfields of Psychology (Green / Yellow / Red Audit)

Psychology is not one field — it is a federation of incompatible paradigms sharing a name. This audit makes that explicit.

✅ GREEN — Subfields with empirical, reproducible, substrate‑anchored foundations#

These areas behave like real science. They use controlled experiments, validated measurements, and falsifiable hypotheses.

Cognitive Psychology#

• Memory, attention, perception, decision‑making
• Strong experimental tradition
  Substrate: measurable behavior and neural correlates

Neuroscience / Cognitive Neuroscience#

• Brain imaging, lesion studies, neural circuits
  Substrate: biological tissue and activity

Behavioral Psychology (strict form)#

• Operant conditioning, learning theory
  Substrate: observable behavior

Psychometrics#

• Test construction, reliability, factor analysis
  Substrate: statistical structure

Developmental Psychology (empirical branches)#

• Language acquisition, motor development, attachment studies
  Substrate: observable developmental trajectories

Comparative Psychology#

• Animal behavior studies
  Substrate: measurable behavior across species

Why green:
These subfields produce reliable, falsifiable, substrate‑anchored data.

⚠️ YELLOW — Mixed validity, partially empirical, partially interpretive#

These subfields use empirical methods but rely heavily on theoretical framing, cultural assumptions, or contextual variability.

Social Psychology#

• Strong experimental tradition, but replication crisis exposed fragility
  Substrate: partial; context‑dependent

Personality Psychology (mainstream)#

• Big Five, HEXACO
• Empirical clusters, but constructs are not biological entities
  Substrate: statistical, not physical

Educational Psychology#

• Learning theories, instructional design
• Empirical but highly contextual
  Substrate: mixed

Industrial‑Organizational Psychology#

• Workplace behavior, performance metrics
• Empirical but influenced by cultural norms
  Substrate: partial

Health Psychology#

• Behavior change, stress, coping
• Empirical but conceptually broad
  Substrate: mixed

Developmental Psychology (theoretical branches)#

• Piaget, Vygotsky
• Historically important, not fully empirical
  Substrate: conceptual

Why yellow:
They mix data with interpretation, and their constructs are not substrate‑anchored.

❌ RED — Non‑scientific, mythic, or unfalsifiable subfields#

These areas rely on narrative, interpretation, or cultural myth rather than empirical evidence.

Psychoanalytic Psychology#

• Freudian, Jungian, Lacanian
  Substrate: none; unfalsifiable

Humanistic Psychology#

• Maslow, Rogers
• Meaningful but not scientific
  Substrate: none

Transpersonal Psychology#

• Spirituality, altered states
  Substrate: none

Parapsychology#

• ESP, telepathy, psychokinesis
  Substrate: none; pseudoscientific

Typological Systems#

• MBTI, Enneagram
  Substrate: none

Pop Psychology#

• Self‑help, motivational narratives
  Substrate: none

Why red:
These subfields are interpretive, mythic, or pseudoscientific, even if culturally influential.

🧩 Section C Snapshot (Psychology)#