Discovering the Genuine Research Paradigm for Psychology
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: For over a century, psychology has lacked a unified foundational paradigm, remaining fragmented and largely descriptive due to the prevailing dualisticassumption that humans possess both innate altruism and selfishness. Thisfundamental methodological error has stalled the discovery of root mechanisms formental disorders. Here we show a breakthrough methodological framework provingthat the structural principle of human psychology is exclusively self-interested. Byapplying this first-principles logic to evolutionary group survival and isolated feralcases, we demonstrate that genuine altruism does not exist; it is merely an acquired, targeted strategy fundamentally serving self-interest. Crucially, this unified paradigmprovides the correct research methodology for psychology, allowing us to trace theexact pathogenesis of mental illnesses by identifying the concealed self-servingmotives driving abnormal behaviors. This framework ends theoretical fragmentationand fundamentally redefines our understanding of the human mind.
Author: Chen, Zhiguo
Language: English
Subfield: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7225823284
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