🧱 SECTION B — Methods & Research Approaches (Psychology)

(Mirrors the psychiatry audit for later synthesis.)

Psychology’s methods range from hard‑science experimental paradigms to soft, interpretive, or unreliable techniques. This section exposes that spread cleanly.

✅ GREEN — Empirical, reproducible, substrate‑anchored methods#

These are the parts of psychology that behave like real science. They use controlled experiments, quantifiable data, and falsifiable hypotheses.

Experimental methods (lab‑based cognitive psychology)#

• Reaction time tasks
• Memory paradigms
• Perception experiments
• Attention studies
  Substrate: measurable behavior, reproducible effects.

Psychometrics (validated instruments)#

• Reliability testing
• Factor analysis
• Item Response Theory
  Substrate: statistical structure, measurement theory.

Behavioral methods (strict behaviorism)#

• Operant conditioning
• Classical conditioning
• Reinforcement schedules
  Substrate: observable behavior.

Neuroscience‑linked methods#

• fMRI, EEG, MEG
• Lesion studies
• Neuropsychological testing
  Substrate: brain activity, circuits, physiology.

Quantitative methods#

• ANOVA, regression, SEM
• Computational modeling
  Substrate: mathematical structure.

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

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

These methods use empirical tools but rely heavily on theoretical framing, subjective interpretation, or contextual variability.

Self‑report questionnaires#

• Widely used, but vulnerable to bias
  Substrate: partial; relies on introspection.

Survey research#

• Empirical but highly sensitive to framing, culture, and sampling
  Substrate: partial.

Qualitative methods#

• Interviews, thematic analysis
• Useful for exploration, not falsifiable
  Substrate: interpretive.

Observational studies#

• Naturalistic observation, coding schemes
• Empirical but subjective
  Substrate: mixed.

Implicit Association Test (IAT) and similar tools#

• Empirical but low reliability
  Substrate: partial.

Social psychology experiments#

• Historically strong, but replication crisis exposed fragility
  Substrate: mixed.

Why yellow:
They produce data, but the constructs and interpretations are not substrate‑anchored.

❌ RED — Non‑scientific, unreliable, or unfalsifiable methods#

These methods do not meet scientific criteria, even if they are still used in some corners of psychology.

Projective tests#

• Rorschach
• Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
  Substrate: none; interpretive, low reliability.

Dream analysis#

• Freudian/Jungian methods
  Substrate: none.

Astrology‑adjacent personality systems#

• Enneagram, MBTI (as used clinically)
  Substrate: none.

Uncontrolled introspection (as method)#

• Early Wundtian introspection
  Substrate: none.

Therapeutic “insight” as evidence#

• Using subjective experience as validation
  Substrate: none.

Why red:
These methods are unfalsifiable, non‑reliable, or conceptually mythic.

🧩 Section B Snapshot (Psychology)#