Measurement Maturity Levels (MML): grading the measurement readiness of psychological constructs
Preprint · PsyArXiv, August 2026 · DOI: 10.31234/osf.io/ujctf_v1
343 elements ╱╱4 layers ╱╱
A periodic table for the human interior.
HES organizes 343 traits, skills, states, and emotions into four layers — Core (hardware), Derived (software), Quantum (crash and surge states), and Emotional (weather) — so that the language of human qualities becomes precise, comparable, and open to measurement.
Scroll to learn more
╱╱ What is HES
Everything a human is made of, catalogued.
343
Elements catalogued
04
Layers of structure
46
Thematic blocks
05
MML maturity tiers
HES is a structured reference for the elements that compose human behaviour, cognition and physiology — 343 distinct passports across four layers, from the millisecond reflex to the slow weather of mood. A field guide, not a personality test.
╱╱ What HES is not
╱╱ ∅
HES is not a personality test, a diagnostic system, or a moral verdict.
It does not tell you whether you are good or bad, healthy or sick, better or worse than anyone else. It is a shared vocabulary for the specific mechanisms that make up a human being — one that can be measured, translated across languages, and revised as the science improves.
14 Blocks106 Elements
Core
HARDWAREThe Core layer contains the relatively stable foundation of the human system: processing capacity, sensory thresholds, temperamental baselines, and the biological architecture that everything else runs on. Core qualities change slowly and constrain what the rest of the system can do. Analogy: the processor, RAM, and battery of the system.
14 Blocks154 Elements
Derived
SOFTWAREThe Derived layer contains learned, practiced, and installed patterns that run on top of Core hardware. Derived qualities can be updated, patched, and replaced through training and experience, but they are always constrained by what the underlying hardware can support. Analogy: applications, operating systems, and learned routines.
10 Blocks40 Elements
Quantum
CRASH STATESThe Quantum layer contains temporary mode-shifts in which the system’s normal operating parameters change significantly. Quantum states are not traits; they are state-episodes with identifiable entry conditions, characteristic dynamics, and natural resolution patterns. Analogy: blue screen of death, kernel panic, safe mode — or, for surge states, overclocking and turbo mode.
8 Blocks43 Elements
Emotional
WEATHERThe Emotional layer contains episodic affective programs with identifiable triggers, characteristic outputs, and natural resolution patterns. These are the weather of the human system: transient, recurrent, and context-sensitive. Rain is not a malfunction. Sadness is not a bug. Analogy: the atmospheric conditions that affect visibility, movement speed, and what is possible today.
╱╱ The four layers
Four strata of being, stacked from 'hardware' to 'weather'.
Every element in HES sits in exactly one layer. The layers are ordered: each one rests on the substrate of the one below it. Core comes first because nothing else runs without it.
╱╱ The book
HES — Human Elements System
The Periodic Table of Human Self
PaperbackHardcoverKindle
A complete reference to the Human Elements System: 343 elements of human nature across four layers — Core, Derived, Quantum, and Emotional — each with a structured passport that defines what the quality is, what it is not, and how well science can currently measure it. Written for anyone who wants to think about people with more precision than everyday labels allow.
FIRST EDITION2026
From the Blog
Before Asking If a Scale Is Good, Ask If the Thing Is Measurable
Aug 15, 2026
A new paper introduces MML. Some constructs are ready to be measured. Others aren't.
Guilt Says You Did Something Bad. Shame Says You Are Bad.
Aug 12, 2026
Shame (E019): four emotions we collapse into one word — and why the confusion is expensive.
╱╱ MML Framework
Measurement Maturity
Not every psychological construct rests on the same weight of evidence. The Measurement Maturity Levels (MML) framework grades each HES element from established to speculative, making both the strength and the gaps of the underlying science explicit — so the reference stays honest about what is actually known.
╱╱ Research Articles
The Human Elements System: Rationale and Structure
In preparation, 2026