Researchers disproportionately develop and test research questions aimed at understanding the effects of extreme—compared to intermediate or fluctuating—positions and states. Commonly applied theoretical frameworks and methodological tools reflect and serve to perpetuate this binary focus on extreme effects. Here, I attempt to lay the foundation for researchers to more rigorously and consistently study middle-range effects in the psychological sciences in general and in the social power literature in particular. In proposing three different conceptualizations of “middle power,”—power fluctuation, power tension, and medium power—I identify theoretical and methodological obstacles and opportunities related to studying middle power. Overall, I argue that the landscape between a construct's poles is neither vacuous nor hypothetical space. Rather, it is potentially fertile, yet largely unharvested, scholarly terrain. Simply put, the middle matters, and deserves greater attention.

中文翻译：

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超越高低：与中等权力和其他中等影响概念化相关的障碍和机会

研究人员不成比例地开发和测试旨在了解极端（与中间或波动）位置和状态相比的影响的研究问题。常用的理论框架和方法工具反映并有助于使这种对极端影响的二元关注永久化。在这里，我试图为研究人员更严格、更一致地研究一般心理科学，特别是社会权力文献中的中程效应奠定基础。在提出“中等权力”的三种不同概念时——权力波动、权力紧张和中等权力——我确定了与研究中等力量相关的理论和方法上的障碍和机会。总的来说，我认为构造极点之间的景观既不是空洞也不是假设空间。相反，它可能是肥沃的，但主要是未开发的学术领域。简而言之，中间很重要，值得更多关注。