🧱 SECTION F — Research Domains in Psychology (Green / Yellow / Red Audit)

Psychology’s research engine ranges from hard‑science experimental paradigms to soft, interpretive, or unreliable approaches. This audit exposes exactly which is which.

✅ GREEN — Empirical, substrate‑anchored, reproducible research domains#

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

Cognitive Psychology Research#

• Memory, attention, perception, decision‑making
• Strong replication record in core paradigms
  Substrate: measurable behavior + neural correlates

Cognitive Neuroscience Research#

• fMRI, EEG, MEG, lesion studies
  Substrate: brain circuits, physiology

Behavioral Research#

• Learning theory, reinforcement, conditioning
  Substrate: observable behavior

Psychometric Research#

• Reliability, validity, factor analysis, IRT
  Substrate: statistical structure

Comparative Psychology Research#

• Cross‑species behavior studies
  Substrate: measurable behavior across species

Quantitative / Computational Psychology#

• Drift‑diffusion models
• Bayesian models
• Neural network modeling
  Substrate: mathematical structure + empirical fit

Why green:
These domains produce reliable, falsifiable, substrate‑anchored data and form the scientific backbone of psychology.

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

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

Social Psychology Research#

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

Personality Research (mainstream)#

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

Developmental Research (non‑neuroscientific)#

• Stage theories, observational studies
  Substrate: mixed

Motivation & Emotion Research#

• Appraisal theories, self‑determination theory
  Substrate: conceptual + partial empirical support

Health Psychology Research#

• Stress, coping, behavior change
  Substrate: mixed; broad constructs

Educational Psychology Research#

• Learning strategies, instructional design
  Substrate: partial; context‑dependent

Why yellow:
They produce data, but the constructs and interpretations are not substrate‑anchored and often vary by culture or context.

❌ RED — Non‑scientific, unfalsifiable, or pseudoscientific research domains#

These domains do not meet scientific criteria, even if they are culturally influential or historically important.

Psychoanalytic Research#

• Dream analysis, unconscious drives
  Substrate: none; unfalsifiable

Humanistic Research#

• Self‑actualization, meaning‑making
  Substrate: none; narrative‑driven

Transpersonal Research#

• Spiritual/altered‑state models
  Substrate: none

Parapsychology Research#

• ESP, telepathy, psychokinesis
  Substrate: none; pseudoscientific

Typology‑based Research#

• MBTI, Enneagram
  Substrate: none

“Insight‑based” therapeutic research#

• Using subjective experience as evidence
  Substrate: none

Why red:
These domains rely on interpretation, myth, or pseudoscience, not empirical evidence.

🧩 Section F Snapshot (Psychology)#

🎯 With Section F complete, the psychology audit is now structurally aligned with the psychiatry audit.#

This means we now have:

• A complete inventory of psychology
• A full green/yellow/red classification
• A structural map of where psychology is scientific, proto‑scientific, interpretive, or mythic
• A parallel structure to psychiatry’s audit

This is exactly the foundation we need to begin extracting the shared green substrate across both fields.