The new person-specific paradigm in psychology
Abstract
Most research methodology in the behavioral sciences employs interindividual analyses, which provide information about the state of affairs of the population. However, as shown by classical mathematical-statistical theorems (the ergodic theorems), such analyses do not provide information for, and cannot be applied at, the level of the individual, except on rare occasions when the processes of interest meet certain stringent conditions. When psychological processes violate these conditions, the interindividual analyses that are now standardly applied have to be replaced by analysis of intraindividual variation in order to obtain valid results. Two illustrations involving analysis of intraindividual variation of personality and emotional processes are given.
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Aggregated inter-individual data analyses do not account for intraindividual patterns of change during a clinical intervention.
“Statistical investigations have shown that although aggregated inter-individual data analyses are the most widely used analyses, they do not account for intraindividual patterns of change throughout the course of a clinical intervention (Molenaar & Campbell, 2009).”
From A Mindfulness-Based Intervention: Differential Effects on Affective and Processual Evolution (2018) · cites this paper as Molenaar & Campbell, 2009
SCEDs provide evidence of the effectiveness of interventions, drawing on substantially fewer participants than nomothetic approaches such as RCTs.
“In doing this, SCEDs provide evidence of the effectiveness of interventions, drawing on substantially fewer participants than nomothetic approaches (such as RCTs) [51,52,53,54,55,56,57,58].”
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- Authors
- Molenaar, P. C. M., & Campbell, C. G.
- Affiliations
- Pennsylvania State University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Molenaar, Peter C.M.
- Venue
- Current Directions in Psychological Science
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2009-04
- Volume
- 18
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 112-117
- ISSN
- 0963-7214 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-8721
- OpenAlex
- W2112420523
- Cited by
- 1,088
- References
- 13
- Citations by year
- 2026: 50 · 2025: 61 · 2024: 83 · 2023: 75 · 2022: 80 · 2021: 87 · 2020: 129 · 2019: 88 · 2018: 59 · 2017: 60 · 2016: 56 · 2015: 67 · 2014: 65 · 2013: 34 · 2012: 44
- FWCI
- 39.83
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Current Directions in Psychological Science (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Mental Health Research Topics
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Statistics and Probability › Statistical Methods and Bayesian Inference
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Management Science and Operations Research › Psychometric Methodologies and Testing
- Keywords
- within-person variability, ergodic theorem, individual differences, personality, emotional processes
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