Contemporary Developments in Psychological Modelling

Editors


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Guest Editor
Facultat de Psicologia, Ciències de l’Educació i l’Esport, Blanquerna, Universidad Ramon Llull, 08022 Barcelona, Spain
Interests: personal construct theory; constructivist psychological assessment; repertory grid technique; psychological change processes; psychological change modeling; fuzzy logic; psychological network analysis; complex systems in psychology; constructivist case formulation; constructivist psychotherapy

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Guest Editor
Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), 28040 Madrid, Spain
Interests: personal construct theory; constructivist psychological assessment; repertory grid technique; psychological change processes; barriers to change; psychological change modeling; graph theory; psychological network analysis; complex systems in psychology; virtual laboratories in psychology; constructivist case formulation; constructivist psychotherapy

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In recent decades, psychological science has witnessed growth in the development of formal models aimed at representing, explaining and predicting the complexity of human experience and behaviour. From statistical and computational approaches to network analysis, dynamical systems, and artificial intelligence, psychological modelling has become an essential tool for advancing both research and professional practice.

Beyond purely methodological innovation, contemporary psychological modelling is increasingly oriented toward capturing the multilevel, contextual and meaning-based nature of psychological processes. This includes efforts to model subjective experience, interpersonal dynamics, identity construction, psychopathological organisation and therapeutic change. As a result, modelling is no longer confined to abstract quantification but is progressively bridging quantitative, qualitative and clinically grounded knowledge.

Particularly relevant in this evolution is the emergence of constructivist and meaning-oriented modelling traditions, which seek to formally represent how individuals and groups organise psychological reality. Approaches such as personal construct psychology, narrative modelling and other interpretative frameworks are now being integrated with formal systems methodologies. In this context, tools such as fuzzy cognitive maps (FCMs) and related complexity-based models offer promising avenues for representing psychological systems as dynamic, relational and graded structures, capable of capturing both experiential meaning and systemic interaction.

At the same time, the accelerating incorporation of digital data, artificial intelligence and complex systems science poses new epistemological and practical challenges. Questions regarding the interpretability, clinical utility, personalisation and ethical use of models are now central to the field. Consequently, there is a growing need to integrate diverse modelling traditions while preserving psychological depth, theoretical coherence and applicability to real-world clinical and health settings.

This Special Issue on “Contemporary Developments in Psychological Modelling” aims to present and foster cutting-edge research that advances the conceptual, methodological and applied frontiers of psychological modelling. We particularly welcome contributions that explore integrative frameworks, novel modelling techniques, constructivist and meaning-based approaches, and clinical and health applications grounded in systemic and complexity perspectives.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Computational and statistical models of psychological processes;
  • Network and dynamic systems approaches;
  • Fuzzy and complexity-based modelling;
  • Fuzzy cognitive maps and relational system modelling;
  • Constructivist and personal construct-based modelling;
  • Narrative and meaning-centred modelling frameworks;
  • The modelling of psychotherapy processes and outcomes;
  • Personalised and precision mental health models;
  • Integrative and multilevel psychological modelling;
  • AI-assisted psychological modelling;
  • Epistemological and methodological reflections on modelling in psychology.

We accept original research articles with quantitative or qualitative research, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses that contribute to the advancement of this evolving and interdisciplinary field.

Prof. Dr. Luis Botella
Prof. Dr. Luis Ángel Saúl
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • psychological modelling
  • fuzzy cognitive maps
  • constructivist psychology
  • complex systems
  • network analysis
  • dynamical systems
  • psychotherapy process modelling
  • personalised mental health

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

44 pages, 1407 KB  
Article
Semantically Constrained Detection of Systemic Archetype-Inspired Patterns in Idiographic Case Formulations: A Rule-Based Framework Using FCM-FRHP Functional Semantics
by Carlos Hurtado-Martínez, Luis Botella, Alejandro Sanfeliciano, Ernesto Aranda-Escolástico and Luis Angel Saúl
Eur. J. Investig. Health Psychol. Educ. 2026, 16(8), 117; https://doi.org/10.3390/ejihpe16080117 - 16 Aug 2026
Viewed by 464
Abstract
In psychotherapy, case formulation can organize clinically relevant information into a coherent account of how psychological difficulties emerge, persist, and may change. The Personal Meaning System Fuzzy Cognitive Map (PMS-FCM) represents the client’s bipolar construct system as a weighted directed graph, whereas the [...] Read more.
In psychotherapy, case formulation can organize clinically relevant information into a coherent account of how psychological difficulties emerge, persist, and may change. The Personal Meaning System Fuzzy Cognitive Map (PMS-FCM) represents the client’s bipolar construct system as a weighted directed graph, whereas the FCM-FRHP (Fuzzy Cognitive Map of Human Problem Formation and Resolution) provides a professional functional reference model for problem formation and resolution. This paper proposes a semantically constrained method for identifying systemic archetype-inspired configurations in PMS-FCM representations enriched with FCM-FRHP semantics. Rather than importing classical systemic archetypes directly, the method reformulates them as configurable graph templates adapted to intrapersonal bipolar construct systems. Detection combines FCM-FRHP functional roles, predefined semantic-affinity rules and PB-based structural criteria, edge-weight thresholds, and ranking criteria. The goal is to support the traceable identification of static structures that may inform the examination of clinically relevant systemic hypotheses, without treating them as diagnoses or evidence of observed temporal dynamics. The pipeline combines property-graph querying, RDF/SHACL conformance checking, ranked materialization, and rule-based trace generation. A local language model is used only after detection and conformance checking, as a constrained graph-to-text layer grounded in graph evidence and FCM-FRHP semantics. The approach offers a formally specified and reproducible method for conducting explicit, auditable pattern-level analysis of psychological case formulations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Contemporary Developments in Psychological Modelling)
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