ABSTRACT
Physicist and Nobel Prize winner Murray Gell-Mann once said “Imagine how difficult physics would be if electrons could think”. This highlights the great challenges social scientists have to face when studying systems composed of human beings, as opposed to natural phenomena. There are two methodological approaches that could help to advance in our understanding of this interesting trait. The more traditional – typological – approach would start by defining more precisely what reflexivity is. This would certainly imply devising a measure of reflexivity, studying how reflexivity is related to other human cognitive abilities and how it is influenced by cultural and social factors. Instead, reflexivity can be described as a process that takes place between humans and the social phenomena around them. In this way, our understanding of reflexivity will be advanced by learning its relations and consequences, instead of its defining features.
