Skip to main content

Challenging the Canon: The Critique and Its Aftermath in Autobiographical Perspective

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Book cover Psychology’s Misuse of Statistics and Persistent Dismissal of its Critics

Abstract

This chapter is primarily autobiographical in nature. It begins with a discussion of certain early-career teaching experiences which inspired the author’s critique of the practices that have long been widely accepted among mainstream research psychologists for interpreting the results of population-level statistical analyses. The discussion then moves to an overview of publications stemming from the 1980s in which various facets of the critique and accompanying ideas were elaborated. The last major section of the chapter treats of the reception of the critique among defenders and devoted practitioners of the mainstream interpretive practices challenged by the critique.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 99.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Allport, G. W. (1937). Personality: A psychological interpretation. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.

    Google Scholar 

  • Allport, G. W. (1961). Pattern and growth in personality. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.

    Google Scholar 

  • Allport, G. W. (1966). Traits revisited. American Psychologist, 21, 1–10.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cattell, R. B. (1944). Psychological measurement: Normative, ipsative, interactive. Psychological Review, 51, 292–303.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cronbach, L. J. (1957). The two disciplines of scientific psychology. American Psychologist, 12, 671–684.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dar, R., & Serlin, R. C. (1990). For whom the bell curve toils: Universality in individual differences research. In D. N. Robinson & L. P. Mos (Eds.), Annals of theoretical psychology (Vol. 6, pp. 193–199). New York: Plenum.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Dilthey, W. (1894). Ideen über eine beschreibende und zergliedernde Psychologie [Toward a descriptive and analytical psychology] (Sitzungsberichte der Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, zweiter Halbband), pp. 1309–1407.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eysenck, H. J. (1954). The science of personality: Nomothetic! Psychological Review, 61, 339–342.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harré, R. (2006). Key thinkers in psychology. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hofstee, W. K. B. (2007). Unbehagen in individual differences—A review. Journal of Individual Differences, 28, 252–253. https://doi.org/10.1027/1614-0001.28.4.252.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holt, R. (1962). Individuality and generalization in the psychology of personality. Journal of Personality, 30, 377–404.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lamiell, J. T. (1981). Toward an idiothetic psychology of personality. American Psychologist, 36, 276–289.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lamiell, J. T. (1982). The case for an idiothetic psychology of personality: A conceptual and empirical foundation. In B. A. Maher & W. B. Maher (Eds.), Progress in experimental personality research (Vol. 11, pp. 1–84). New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lamiell, J. T. (1986a). Epistemological tenets of an idiothetic psychology of personality. In A. Angleitner, A. Furnham, & G. van Heck (Eds.), Personality psychology in Europe: Current issues and controversies (pp. 3–22). Lisse, the Netherlands: Swets & Zeitlinger.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lamiell, J. T. (1986b). What is nomothetic about “nomothetic” personality research? The Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, 6, 97–107.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lamiell, J. T. (1987). The psychology of personality: An epistemological inquiry. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lamiell, J. T. (1990a). Explanation in the psychology of personality. In D. N. Robinson and L. P. Mos (Eds.), Annals of theoretical psychology (Vol. 6, pp. 153–192). New York: Plenum Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Lamiell, J. T. (1990b). Let’s be careful out there. In D. N. Robinson & L. P. Mos (Eds.), Annals of theoretical psychology (Vol. 6, pp. 219–231). New York: Plenum Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Lamiell, J. T. (1997). Individuals and the differences between them. In R. Hogan, J. A. Johnson, & S. Briggs (Eds.), Handbook of personality psychology (pp. 117–141). New York: Academic Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Lamiell, J. T. (1998). ‘Nomothetic’ and ‘idiographic’: Contrasting Windelband’s understanding with contemporary usage. Theory and Psychology, 8, 23–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lamiell, J. T. (2000). A periodic table of personality elements? The “Big Five” and trait “Psychology” in critical perspective. The Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, 20, 1–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lamiell, J. T. (2003). Beyond individual and group differences: Human individuality, scientific psychology, and William Stern’s critical personalism. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lamiell, J. T. (2010). William Stern (1871–1938): A brief introduction to his life and works. Lengerich, Germany: Pabst Science Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lamiell, J. T., & Trierweiler, S. J. (1986a). Personality measurement and intuitive personality judgments from an idiothetic point of view. Clinical Psychology Review, 6, 471–491.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lamiell, J. T., & Trierweiler, S. J. (1986b). Interactive measurement, idiothetic inquiry and the challenge to conventional “nomotheticism”. Journal of Personality, 54, 460–469.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lamiell, J. T., Trierweiler, S. J., & Foss, M. A. (1983). Detecting (in)consistencies in personality: Reconciling intuitions and empirical evidence. Journal of Personality Assessment, 47, 380–389.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McClelland, D. C. (1951). Personality. New York: Sloane.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • McReynolds, P. (1989). Review of J. T. Lamiell, ‘The Psychology of Personality: An Epistemological Inquiry.’ Personality and Individual Differences, 10, 113.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Michell, J. (2003). The quantitative imperative: Positivism, naïve realism, and the place of qualitative methods in psychology. Theory and Psychology, 13, 5–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Michell, J. (2011). Qualitative research meets the ghost of Pythagoras. Theory and Psychology, 21, 241–259. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959354310391351.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mischel, W. (1968). Personality and assessment. New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Paunonen, S. V., & Jackson, D. N. (1986a). Nomothetic and idiothetic measurement in personality. Journal of Personality, 54, 447–459.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paunonen, S. V., & Jackson, D. N. (1986b). Idiothetic inquiry and the toil of Sisyphus. Journal of Personality, 54, 470–477.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rorer, L. G., & Widiger, T. A. (1983). Personality structure and assessment. Annual review of psychology (Vol. 34, pp. 431–463). Palo Alto, CA: Annual Reviews Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ross, A. O. (1987). Personality: The scientific study of complex human behavior. New York: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sanford, N. (1963). Personality: Its place in psychology. In S. Koch (Ed.), Psychology: A study of a science (Vol. 5, pp. 488–592). New York: McGraw-Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wiggins, J. S. (1973). Personality and prediction: Principles of personality assessment. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Windelband, W. (1894/1998). History and natural science (J. T. Lamiell, Trans.). Theory and Psychology, 8, 6–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to James T. Lamiell .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Lamiell, J.T. (2019). Challenging the Canon: The Critique and Its Aftermath in Autobiographical Perspective. In: Psychology’s Misuse of Statistics and Persistent Dismissal of its Critics. Palgrave Studies in the Theory and History of Psychology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12131-0_2

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics