Abstract

Following a brief discussion of the need for a psychology of personality conceived as something other than the assessment and study of individual differences, the present article is addressed to four misconceptions which must be eliminated if this goal is ever to be realized. The four misconceptions are that to abandon the traditional individual differences paradigm is to abandon the search for so-called nomothetic principles; that to advocate the study of individuals is to advocate the study of just one individual; that to argue against the assessment and study of individual differences is to deny that such differences paradigm are methodological “softies.” The author’s vision of explanation in a reconceived psychology of personality is developed within the context of the discussion of these misconceptions. 2012 APA, all rights reserved)