Opening Pandora’s Box: Person-sensitive conceptualization and measurement in psychological science

Abstract

Although distinctions between the study of persons, the study of populations, and the study of mechanisms are helpful for illuminating mismatches between research assumptions, problems, and methods, it may be difficult to construe these as entirely discrete branches of psychological science. I suggest that it is more appropriate to view person-levelness (or person-sensitivity) as an ideal we should actively aspire toward, within the constraints placed by other goals such as generalizability and feasibility, when pursuing knowledge about individuals. It is an ideal that we can never hope to perfectly realize—the degree to which it is realized will always be a matter of degree, and there is therefore no clear line of demarcation between the person level and other branches of psychology. This ideal can nonetheless stimulate more person-sensitive conceptualizations, measurements, and analyses.