Definition
In its primary meaning (Windelband formalization), the idiographic study of personality explores individual cases, their individuality and uniqueness as integrated people, rather than the commonalities between individuals associated with inferences and general theories that apply to the population level (i.e., nomothetic approach).
Introduction
To be qualified as idiographic, studies of personality should focus on describing themes and patterns of characteristics that are unique to an individual’s life (regardless of method employed) and possibly predict future behaviors for that individual, rather than focusing on basic traits or underlying causes common to all people. Additionally, the idiographic approach refers primarily to a philosophical position or an “objective” to describe and explain an individual...
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Barbot, B. (2018). Idiographic Study of Personality. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1311-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1311-1
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