Many psychological constructs that have traditionally been investigated
are defined as "dispositions," that is, internally held attributes that can be
reduced to regular or expectable responses of individuals, generalizable
across different circumstances or contexts (e.g., empathy is the ability to
attribute mental states to another person; Baron-Cohen & Wheelwright,
2004). Other psychological constructs can be defined as "situational,"
whose theoretical definitions refer to specific situations and occurrences
to which the construct is inherently linked, as well as the dynamics of
change over time (e.g., empathy is a reaction to the observed
experiences of another, Davis, 1983).
The primary goal of psychometrics is to operationalize and accurately
measure psychological constructs, thereby representing their
characteristics and properties as defined at the conceptual level (Chiorri,
2025). Operationalization choices refer not only to the creation of stimuli
but also include procedural instructions for administration and design
related decisions. However, a key issue is the mismatch between
construct definitions and their measurement, reflecting a gap between
theory and psychometric practice. For instance, it is increasingly
common to assess dispositional constructs using ecological approaches
and short-term repeated assessments to capture their fluctuations,
despite being conceptually defined as stable dispositions. Similarly,

situational constructs are often measured using global assessments and
collected through cross-sectional designs, thereby excluding the
situational and temporal properties that characterize their definition from
operationalization.
Psychometric theories that formalize the relationship between stimuli
and dispositional constructs are widely acknowledged, as are the
practices for evaluating the quality of such measures. In contrast,
reflection on the operationalization and measurement of situational
constructs is still in its early stages of development. This contribution
aims to foster discussion on how to develop measures that
operationalize the situational dimension of psychological constructs and
how to evaluate the quality of such practices, striving to reconnect
psychometric theory with its practical applications.