P. Totterdell et al., FINGERPRINTING TIME-SERIES - DYNAMIC PATTERNS IN SELF-REPORT AND PERFORMANCE-MEASURES UNCOVERED BY A GRAPHICAL NONLINEAR METHOD, British journal of psychology, 87, 1996, pp. 43-60
Two simple non-linear techniques are shown to be useful for understand
ing the dynamics of affect, symptoms, social interaction experience an
d cognitive performance. The techniques are justified by arguments der
ived from chaos theory, and demonstrated using data from an intensive
time sampling study in which 30 subjects completed a set of self-ratin
gs and a memory task on a hand-held computer every two hours during wa
king hours for 14 days. The data were pooled and two types of Poincare
plot were constructed for each variable. The first was a plot of each
value against its predecessor, and the second was a plot of each chan
ge in value from one interval to the next against the previous change.
These plots are particularly suitable for uncovering asymmetric state
-dependent changes in control between time points. The plots showed a
number of distinctive 'fingerprints' for the different variables. Alto
gether, the results suggest that the plots are a novel and useful meth
od for understanding psychological variables in terms of their dynamic
control.