The Intrinsic Dynamics of Psychological Process

Psychological processes unfold on various timescales in accord with internally generated patterns. The intrinsic dynamism of psychological process is difficult to investigate using traditional methods emphasizing cause-effect relations, however, and therefore is rarely incorporated into social psychological theory. Methods associated with nonlinear dynamical systems can assess temporal patterns in thought and behavior, reveal the emergence of global properties in mental and social systems due to self-organization of system elements, and investigate the relation between external influences and intrinsic dynamics. The dynamical perspective preserves the insights that inspired the field's early theorists while connecting social psychology to other areas of science.