Preface; Contents; About the Author; Chapter 1: Methodology as Foundation for Discovery; The Goal: Search for Universal Principles; The "Blind Spots" in Psychological Epistemology; A Methodological Need: Preserving the Whole; Basic Axiomatics for Human Psychology; The Principle of Parsimony; Chapter 2: General Epistemology of Open Systems; Organisms Exist Only as Open Systems; Making Sense of Living Organisms Without Vitalist Assumptions; The Borrowed Concept-Equifinality; The Steady State (Fliessgleichgewicht); General Idea of Development: Hierarchical Reorganization in Time

What Would Be Different in Open-System Methodology The Meaning of Objectivity; The Meaning of "the Data"; Conclusion: What Is Needed for Methodology?; Chapter 3: Methodology in the New Key: The Methodology Cycle; The Role of Intuition in Science; Chapter 4: Frames of Reference; Summary: Psychology Has Been Using Inadequate Reference Frames; The Individual-Ecological Reference Frame; The Individual-Socioecological Reference Frame; Example: The SELF as an Open System (elaborating George Herbert Mead); Conclusion: Needed-Consistency Between Basic Assumptions and Reference Frames

Chapter 5: The Role of Methods in the Methodology Cycle Studying Personality: Relocating Focus from Responses to Responding Processes; Taking a Dynamic View on Seemingly Static Methods: What Is a "Personality Test" Item?; Conditional-Genetic Analysis; Methods of Re- and Pre-construction (Post-factum and Pre-factum); How Do We Cover the Four Infinities?; Method Construction in Open-Systemic World: Exploring Relations Between Infinities; Externalizing the Flow of Thinking: "Thinking Aloud" and "Walking Along"; The Trajectory Equifinality Approach (TEA/TEM)

Conclusion: Methodology as MovementChapter 6: Introspection as the Basic Method in Psychological Science; Methods Capitalizing on Process Orientation; Introspection as a Method to Link Proactive and Retroactive Movements; Rating Scales: Trivialized Introspection; Conclusion: Why Is Introspection the Central Method for Psychology?; Chapter 7: Methods of Extrospection: Interview, Questionnaire, Experiment; Three Techniques in Extrospection: Interview, Questionnaire, Experiment; Intention to Enter into Research Relation: "Contacting Participants"

Interview as a Method: Coordinating Perspectives Interview Delegated to Fixed Messages: A Questionnaire; Experiment as Guided Observation; Process-Focused Methods: Utilizing the Guidance of the Mind; Reconstructive Memory and Conversational Reconstruction Techniques; Directing the Extrospective Process: Story Completion Methods; Conclusion: From Outcome-Focused to Process-Analytic Methods; Chapter 8: Generalization from Single Instances; The Base: Generalization Through Abduction; Fictional Characters as Data; The Real Nature of Fictions