Individuals can be viewed as dynamic systems, whose current state depends on their past state and external forces: For instance, a person’s level of stress today is likely to depend on his/her level of stress yesterday, but will also be influenced by other factors, such as social circumstances (e.g., whether it is a workday or a day off, and the nature of social encounters one has), and certain psycho-physiological factors (e.g., caffeine intake or hormone levels).

The Dynamic Modeling Lab (DML) was founded by Ellen Hamaker to develop and evaluate new statistical tools that allow researchers to investigate such psychological processes as they unfold over time.

The DML is located at the Department of Methodology and Statistics, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, at Utrecht University, the Netherlands.