Personality Traits: Idiographic vs. Nomothetic
However the whole issue of whether a trait exists in all people to a
greater or lesser degree is complicated by different views of the trait
perspective.
There are two different views as to whether all traits exist in all
people:
-
Idiographic: people have unique personality structures; thus some
traits (cardinal traits) are more important in understanding the
structure of some people than others
-
Nomothetic: people's unique personalities can be understood as
them having relatively greater or lesser amounts of traits that are
consistently across people (e.g., the NEO is nomothetic)
The Idiographic view emphasizes that each person has a unique
psychological structure and that some traits are possessed by only one
person; and that there are times when it is impossible to compare one
person with others. This viewpoint also emphasizes that traits may
differ in importance from person to person (cardinal, central and
secondary traits). It tends to use case studies, bibliographical
information, diaries etc for information gathering.
The Nomothetic view, on the other hand, emphasizes comparability
among individuals but sees people as unique in their combination of
traits. This viewpoint sees traits as having the same psychological
meaning in everyone. The belief is that people differ only in the amount
of each trait. It is this which constitutes their uniqueness. This
approach tends to use self-report personality questions, factor analysis
etc. People differ in their positions along a continuum in the same set
of traits.
Most contemporary psychologists tend towards a nomothetic approach (and
the trait approach is often viewed solely as a nomothetic approach these
days), but they are aware of how a trait may be slightly different from
person to person in the way that it is expressed.
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