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Toward an idiothetic psychology of personality

Because individual differences research fails to confront the most basic problem of all in the scientific study of personality--that of providing an adequate framework for personality description--such research is fundamentally inadequate for the purposes of a science of personality. The author ther...

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Published in:	The American psychologist 1981-03, Vol.36 (3), p.276-289
Main Author:	Lamiell, James T
Format:	Article
Language:	English
Subjects:	Experimental Methods Human INDIVIDUAL AND INDIVIDUALITY Individual Differences PARADIGM Personality PERSONALITY AND HUMAN NATURE Personality Theory Personality Traits PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY
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container_title	The American psychologist
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creator	Lamiell, James T
description	Because individual differences research fails to confront the most basic problem of all in the scientific study of personality--that of providing an adequate framework for personality description--such research is fundamentally inadequate for the purposes of a science of personality. The author therefore proposes that a clear distinction be maintained between differential psychology and personality psychology and that individual differences research be recognized as relevant to the concerns of the former. An alternative to the individual differences paradigm, termed idiothetic, is suggested as a general framework for the scientific study of personality. Within this framework, the basic problem of personality description would be approached in an explicitly idiographic manner, while the search for nomothetic principles would center around questions of personality development. (94 ref)
doi_str_mv	10.1037/0003-066X.36.3.276
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subjects	Experimental Methods Human INDIVIDUAL AND INDIVIDUALITY Individual Differences PARADIGM Personality PERSONALITY AND HUMAN NATURE Personality Theory Personality Traits PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY
title	Toward an idiothetic psychology of personality
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