198 Christopher R. Bell
standing on trait variable X, one is positioned to say something
scientifically authoritative about individual A’s standing on trait variable
Y. (p. 68)Lamiell has argued that there is a fundamental conceptual—rather than
an empirical—problem in claiming that trait constructs studied at an
aggregate or population level can legitimately be used to make inferences
about individual human behavior. Following William Stern’s original
conceptual distinction between studying individual attributes via
Psychography, the in-depth study of one or more individuals, and
Variation/Correlational studies that examine pre-fabricated trait-constructs
across an aggregate or population, both Stern and Lamiell insist that only
Psychography can produce knowledge of individual traits. In contrast to
Psychography, Lamiell (2013) quoting Stern writes:
[I]t is the case in variation and co-variation studies that “individuals
[are] merely the means of the research by virtue of their status as carriers
of the attributes to be studied” (Stern, 1911, p. 318). The knowledge
yielded is thus not knowledge of individuals, but instead knowledge of
attributes. Unfortunately, this distinction would soon become obscured.
(p. 66)The implications of Lamiell’s critique of the applicability of the
aggregate level trait-construct studies to the predicting of individual
behavior is far reaching. Lamiell (2013) concludes:
The ontological reality with which 21st century personality
psychologists must finally come to terms is that the between-person
differences that have so pre-occupied them over the years simply do not
exist at the level of the individual. If and when this utterly fundamental
point is once again grasped by some critical mass of those psychologists
who profess an interest in the study of personalities, then this sub-
discipline will be able to get back on track, cured of its pernicious
statisticism. Until then, the field will remain what it really has always
been – a kind of psycho-demography – however stubbornly its
practitioners insist on pretending that matters are otherwise. (p. 70)