TABLE 1.

Levels of research and working formats in the “building” of Psychological Research.

Metaphor	Level	Format	Type of variables	Techniques	Models	Implications
(3) Journey	MOLAR (person in context)	Interactive and contextual/applied	Subject × context self-regulation externally-regulated.	Observation, self-reports other-reports experiments	SR vs. ER	Practices applied to molar and contextualized processes
(2) Car	MOLECULAR (person)	Discrete/conceptual personalistics	Subject (context) meta-attention meta-motivation self-control self-regulation	Observation self-reports experiments clinical cases	SR (or SRL)	Practices applied to molecular and molar processes
(1) Engine	MICRO-ANALYSIS (brain)	Basic/neurological	Brain, microprocesses medication	Tomography, scanner tests clinical cases	EF	Practices applied to basic and Molecular processes

EFs, executive functions; SR, self-regulation; SRL, Self-Regulated Learning; SRL vs. ERL, Self-Regulated vs. Externally Regulated Learning.