About processes
2025-05-09
MATILDA focuses on how to study processes as they unfold over time by leveraging intensive longitudinal data (ILD).
On this page you find: 1) a discussion on the central role of processes in the theories we have in psychology and related disciplines; 2) a definition of what a process is; and 3) a discussion of how research based on ILD forms a valuable approach to the study of processes unfolding over time.
1 On the centrality of processes
Processes play a central role in psychology and related disciplines. Many of the theories and concepts used are concerned with the way a person or other key entity—such as a dyad, family, company, or other case—varies and changes over time and across contexts. Psychological concepts concerned with processes include: coping, adaption, self-regulation, alternating between strategies or switching between distinct states, learning, habituation, thinking, development, goal pursuit, decision making, focusing, approach and avoidance, identity formation, functioning and dysfunctioning, social interaction, building and maintaining relationships, and the wax and wane of emotions—to name a few.
In addition to these inherently dynamic concepts, there are also concepts that may seem to be concerned with a static feature at first, but which—on closer inspection—are also deeply concerned with processes. Prominent examples of this are personality traits or cognitive traits.
For instance, the personality trait neuroticism is used to describe stable individual differences in typical ways a person responds to stressors. Individuals high on neuroticism tend to have stronger reactions to stressors and negative events, are more likely to interpret minor setbacks as extremely problematic, and engage in excessive worrying and rumination. All of these characteristics—react, interpret, worry, and ruminate— are processual, involving particular patterns of fluctuations in behaviors, experiences, and cognitions over time and across situations (Andresen et al., 2024).
Similarly, when considering a cognitive trait like intelligence, it is clear that this involves a plethora of processes, such as: being able to focus our attention; storing and manipulating information; developing strategies and planning steps to achieve a particular goal; inhibiting impulses; applying deductive and inductive reasoning to solve problems; comprehend complex concepts, relations, and symbolic representations; and monitoring and reflecting on our own problem-solving process.
These examples show that even though traits are defined as enduring—thereby suggesting stability and perhaps even invariance over time—at their core traits are associated with processes that manifest themselves through variation and changes over time. Specifically, traits seem to refer to particular features of temporal patterns in affect, behavior, and cognition, such that they summarize a specific aspect of a process rather than that they exist in contrast to a process.
2 What is a process?
There may be various ways to define what a process is. When considering the Cambridge Dictionary, a process is described as “a series of actions that you take in order to achieve a result” or “a series of changes that happen naturally”.
Two fundamental features stand out here:
a process is a series, which implies it takes place over time
a process is concerned with variation over time, either in the form of different actions, or through (naturally occurring) changes.
Hence, when we talk about processes, we are by definition concerned with something that varies or changes over time.
3 Studying processes with ILD
Given the ubiquity of processes in psychological theories, it is only natural that psychological researchers want to study them as closely and clearly as possible. This means we want to study a process as it is taking place, that is: within a person and over time (Hamaker, 2025).
A relatively novel and direct way of studying processes is by use of ILD. Obtaining data at a large number of occasions from the same case (e.g., a specific person), allows us to study the dynamic signature that characterizes this case. ILD also allow us to investigate whether this signature itself changes over time, reflecting developmental change, and whether it changes when we zoom in or out to adopt a different temporal lens.
Furthermore, if we have ILD from multiple cases, we can investigate whether these are characterized by the same dynamics or that each case has its own dynamic signature. In doing so we can determine whether there is a general law that operates underneath the dynamic fluctuations and changes of all cases, or that there is inherent individuality that makes each case unique to some degree (Hamaker, 2025).
ILD provide new and exiting ways to study processes as they unfold over time, thereby allowing us a direct perspective on some of the key elements of many of our theories. But how to best measure a process and analyze the resulting ILD such that you can capture the aspects of the theory you are interested in, is a major challenge of your study. MATILDA is here to help you tackle this challenge.
References
Citation
@online{hamaker2025,
author = {Hamaker, Ellen L.},
title = {About Processes},
date = {2025-05-09},
langid = {en}
}