I think it's more likely that psychology offers a lot of potentially marketable propositions, such as lie detection, effective lying, covert behavioral control,

I think it's more likely that psychology offers a lot of potentially marketable propositions, such as lie detection, effective lying, covert behavioral control, secret information about the movements of financial markets, etc. Therefore, a lot of snake oil is sold, and people's careers advance proportionally to the amount of snake oil they can sell. The job has often been to come up with a marketable theory; to design experiments and write papers to imply that that theory is true without quite proving it; and to avoid the possibility, through any means, that someone will weaken or disprove the theory.