Analyzing intra-person variation: hybridizing the ACE model with P-technique factor analysis and the idiographic filter.

Integrating idiographic and nomothetic approaches to the study of behavior has met with success via the idiographic filter (IF) which separates irrelevant inter-individual differences from relevant inter-individual similarities at the level of construct measurement in order to facilitate drawing conclusions regarding nomothetic relationships among the constructs. We propose an integration of the IF and the ACE behavior genetics models through the use of P-technique factor analysis and its dynamic factor analysis extensions and examine how it can strengthen the modeling of genetic and environmental effects in behavioral data representing intra-person variation, change, and process.