Navigating the dynamic complexities of human processes

From substances to processes

From a substance approach, human beings and human functioning are taken to be physical substances that are made up of solid and static physical substances that people have in varying amounts, from intelligence and thoughts; to motivation and emotions; to identities, self-concepts, and self-esteem. The solid and static physical substances that comprise human functioning are taken to be universally the same for all people, for all time, everywhere. However, as the authors cogently argue, human beings and human functioning are made up of processes that are evident in what people do, such as thinking, feeling, interacting, and identifying who one is.

van Geert and de Ruiter use Heraclitus’ claim about not being able to step into the same river twice as a guiding metaphor for understanding human functioning in terms of processes. You cannot step into the same river twice because flowing water is a dynamic process that goes on over time. Thus, a river is never made up of the same water, currents, sand, chemicals, or fish. Just as dynamic processes comprise a river, human functioning is made up of dynamic processes. van Geert and de Ruiter explain a process approach clearly with empirical evidence and accessible examples. They use systems theory to more specifically conceptualize the dynamic complexities of the processes that comprise human functioning.

What people do is made up of interrelated processes that consist of events that emerge over short-term and long-term timescales. As human functioning emerges in relation to changing social, cultural, and environmental processes, it can be and is organized in different ways. There can be stability as well as variability in how processes are organized, including the emergence of new modes of functioning. In addition to conceptualizing human functioning processually, the book explains the implications of a process approach for a wide range of topics and issues in psychology, including causality, measuring, replicating, and generalizing. With regard to measuring, for example, the book explains intelligence processually as activities that people do that can emerge in different ways for different people, as well as for the same person at different times. Thus, variability in intelligence (or any mode of human functioning) is “not a sign of measurement error or noise added by independent factors” (p. 212), but an aspect of human functioning that requires investigating. In other words, you cannot measure the same intelligence twice. With regard to variability and measuring, I always think of test/retest reliability. From a process approach, a lack of test/retest reliability does not necessarily mean that there is a methodological problem with how some aspect of functioning was assessed. It could reflect inherent process variability that merits systematic analyzing.

Taking the plunge

Upon reading Toward a Process Approach in Psychology, psychologists will be ready not merely to step into Heraclitus’ River, but to plunge into it and pursue new directions in psychology. The plunge begins with reflecting on psychology by recognizing and evaluating the assumptions and premises about the world that inform a substance approach. The authors point out that psychologists rarely take this first step because it involves getting philosophical and we all know that psychology split from philosophy in the late 19th century. Rather than using our philosophical roots to inform psychological science, most psychologists unreflectively use a substance approach and proceed to studying human functioning in terms of static, quantifiable, and universal substances.

However, if you start from the premise that the world—including people—is made up of systemic processes, then you will conceptualize some aspect of human functioning from a process approach. Doing so involves conceptualizing the aspect of human functioning that you are interested in as action, that is, in terms of what people do rather than in terms of substances that they have. In conjunction with systems theory, a process approach further involves conceptualizing aspects of human functioning in terms of interrelated processes that mutually affect each other and that are played out in varied ways across individuals and cultures. As you move on to identifying research questions, you will ask questions such as: How is this psychological process played out in what people do? How is it played out in different ways for different people, as well as for the same people? How is it played out over different timescales? How does this aspect of human functioning emerge through interrelations among processes and subprocesses? How is this aspect of human functioning both stable and variable? In this book, you will find some answers to these and other process-based research questions in relation to varied aspects of functioning, including in two chapters on self-esteem. The book also provides invaluable insights into methods for addressing research questions that are derived from a process approach. For example, de Ruiter presents research on self-esteem processes using diaries, interviews, and observations of adolescent–parent interaction.

Embodiment as process

Some may balk at antisubstance talk and think that a process approach either promulgates dualism or totally ignores human embodiment. In fact, it does neither. Of course, human beings are embodied and thus physical substances partly comprise our functioning. Everyone has a brain and the brain is a favorite go-to substance for understanding human functioning. However, rather than substantializing our embodiment, starting from a process approach leads to recognizing that the body is made up of processes galore. The brain and any aspect of our embodiment are made up of ongoing and interrelated processes. Bodily processes occur over time and can be played out in both stable and variable ways over different timescales. The brain is not a static substance. It is made up of ongoing neurological processes, making for neural plasticity or flexibility. Neurological processes are sustained by other bodily processes, such as circulating blood and oxygen. A process approach involves considering how bodily processes partly comprise human functioning, as well as how they both affect and are affected by other processes that comprise human functioning, such as individual, social, cultural, and environmental processes.

Overcoming divisiveness with a process approach

Toward a Process Approach in Psychology emphasizes the point that human functioning is not made up of static universals, making the goal of establishing universal “laws” of psychology futile. van Geert and de Ruiter argue for analyzing individuals to discern how human functioning emerges and is organized because the processes that comprise human functioning are played out in individuals and “are often highly idiosyncratic” (p. 123). Yet, at the same time, are we not all human beings with some similar characteristics and some common humanity? How can we conceptualize and investigate being human in general and being an individual in particular? How can we conceptualize and investigate being individuals and also sharing some cultural and group ways of functioning with others? In other words, and echoing Kluckhohn and Murray (1948/1956), how is every person like most other people, like some other people, and like no other person?

A process approach leads me to thinking about how human functioning emerges through general human processes that can be played out in varied ways, including in individualized ways and culturally particular ways (Raeff, 2020). Identifying general processes and discerning how they are structured in varied individual and cultural ways is not only important for the sake of furthering our understanding of people. I believe that it can contribute to overcoming some of the divisiveness that characterizes the world today because it can provide insight into our common humanity while simultaneously giving voice to particular individuals and groups.

Taking a process approach also entails thinking about how processes can be played out in new ways. New ways of functioning can emerge that simultaneously promote individuality and forge common ground among people around the world. Although stability and maintaining some ways of functioning are necessary, constructing new ways of functioning is also necessary. How fortunate that we are made up of dynamic processes and cannot step into the same river twice. How fortunate that we have Toward a Process Approach in Psychology to guide us in navigating the dynamic complexities of human processes.