心理学专业外语：Idiographic VS. nomothetic approaches to psychology.docx

Idiographic VS. nomothetic approaches to psychology心理学之特殊规律与一般规律研究法Nomothetic approach VS Idiographic approach一般（普遍）规律研究法 VS 特殊规律研究法Definitions 定义Assumptions&methods 研究假设和研究方法Examples from psychology 心理学实例Advantages 优点Disadvantages 缺点Compromise 折衷Nomothetic approach - DefinitionsThe approach of investigating large groups of people to try to find general laws of behaviour that apply to everyone.此研究方法通过调查大群体的人，试图找到适用于每个人的普遍行为规律。Idiographic approach - DefinitionsThe approach of investigating individuals in personal, in-depth, detail to achieve a unique understanding of them.此研究方法通过对个体进行个人的、深入的、详细的调查，以获得关于他们的独特理解。Nomothetic approach-Assumptions&MethodsThe nomothetic approach (from the Greek word nomos meaning law) assumes that since individuals are merely complex combinations of many universal laws, people are best studied by large scale, preferably experimental, methods to identify those laws.一般规律研究法（源自希腊词汇nomos,意思是规律）假设，既然个体只是许多普遍规律的复杂结合体，那么在对人们进行研究时最好通过大规模的、更适宜的实验方法来证实这些规律。 The individual will be classified with others, measured as a score upon a dimension, or be a statistic supporting a general principle.这一个体将会与其他人进行分类，在一个维度上测得一个分数或一个典型统计量来支持一个一般原则。Idiographic approach-Assumptions&MethodsThe idiographic approach (from the Greek idios meaning private or personal) assumes that since each human is unique, they are best investigated by the case study method to provide a more complete and global understanding of the individual特殊规律研究法（源自希腊词汇idios，意思是私人的或个体的）假设，既然每个人都是与众不同的，因此最好采用个案研究法对他们进行研究，以提供对于个体的更完整、更全面的理解。 Individuals are studied using more flexible, long term and detailed procedures and may be put in a class of their own.采用更加灵活、长期的和详细的程序对个体进行研究并且这些个体可能被安置在“他们自己的班级里”。Nomothetic approach-Examples from psychologyNomothetic research is the main approach taken in scientifically orientated psychology:一般规律研究法是科学取向的心理学主要使用的研究方法： The behaviourists experiments on the principles of learning were conducted on many subjects, and replicated until the general principles of learning were well established.行为主义者关于学习规律的实验在许多被试身上实施，这些实验被一再地重复，直到形成了完善的关于学习的一般规律。 Most of the experiments were conducted on rats and pigeons, but the behaviourists belief in the universal nature of the laws they discovered allowed them to generalise their findings to humans.虽然绝大多数实验是用老鼠和鸽子进行的，但是基于他们的研究,行为主义者在普遍的自然规律方面的信念使得他们把这些发现普及到人的身上。The social psychology experiments of Asch and Milgram also used the nomothetic approach, aiming to reach general conclusions.阿施和米尔格兰姆的社会心理学实验也使用了一般规律研究法，目的是得出具有普遍性的结论。 All psychological theories that propose generalised principles of behaviour have nomothetic assumptions-所有揭示行为普遍规律的心理学理论有一般性的假设 Eysencks personality theory places individuals along a universal dimension of extroversion, intelligence tests measure people along the scale of IQ scores, the medical model classification manuals, e.g. the DSM-, classify people as suffering from particular types of disorder.艾森克的人格理论将个体按照外倾维度进行划分，智力测验则按照智商得分对人们进行测量，医学模型分类手册，比如：诊断与统计手册：精神障碍第四版，按照人们所具有的特定的障碍类型进行分类。Idiographic approach-Examples from psychologyThere are many examples of idiographic studies in psychology: Freud(1909) used the clinical case study method, seeing patients frequently, over long periods of time, and keeping detailed notes of his interpretations.在心理学中有许多关于特殊规律研究的例子：弗洛伊德（1909）使用临床个案研究法,在一段相当长的时期内，他会经常去看望他的病人，并详细地记录他的解释。Freuds techniques were deliberately unstructured (as in free association) and he wrote up his notes at the end of the day to allow a more free and natural expression of the patients thoughts.弗洛伊德的治疗技术是非结构化的（就像在自由联想中那样），并且他会在一天结束的时候详细地做笔记，目的是使自己对病人的思想有一个更加自由和自然的表述。Piaget(1953) carried out longitudinal studies of the cognitive development of his children, keeping frequent notes and using the flexible clinical interview method and informal experiments to gain detailed and ecologically valid understanding.皮亚杰对自己的孩子实施了关于认知发展的纵向研究，他经常性地做笔记，并且使用灵活的临床访谈法和非正式实验来获得详细的和具有生态效度的理解。 Gardner and Gardner (1969) spent long periods of time interacting with and observing the chimpanzee Washoe as they attempted to teach it sign language.加德纳夫妇（1969）花费了大量的时间与黑猩猩瓦苏（第一只会用手语的黑猩猩）进行交流并对其进观察，因为他们试图教给它符号语言。 Gregory and Wallace (1963) studied the perceptual progress of a man who recovered his sight after 50 years of blindness.格雷戈里与华莱士（1963）研究了一个人的知觉过程，这个人在失明50年之后恢复了视力。Nomothetic approach-AdvantagesThe nomothetic approach is in tune with the deterministic, law-abiding nature of science, and has been applied very successfully in other sciences as well as psychology.一般规律研究法与具有确定性的、遵循规律的自然科学一致，并且已经被成功地运用于其它的科学领域，包括心理学在内。 The ability to generalise laws from limited instances is very useful in predicting & controlling behaviour.从有限的例子中概括出一般规律的能力在预测和控制行为方面是非常有用的。 Personality questionnaires and mental disorder classification manuals have proven useful in the selection of personnel and the diagnosis and treatment of disorders.人格问卷和精神障碍分类手册在员工的筛选和精神障碍患者的诊断和治疗方面已被证实是有用的。 Nomothetic findings from psychological studies may prove useful in reducing global problems such as prejudice and aggression.来自心理学研究的一般发现或许会在减少全球性问题（如歧视和攻击）上起到一定的作用。Idiographic approach-AdvantagesThe idiographic approach provides a more complete and global understanding of the individual.特殊规律研究法提供了关于个体的更完整的、全面的理解。 This approach may be the most efficient in the area concerned (as Freud and Piaget claimed) or it may be the only viable one available (as in the case of Washoe-long and detailed study was necessary to teach language and measure the progress).这种研究方法可能是相关领域内最有效的（就像弗洛伊德和皮亚杰所宣称的那样）或者是一个人能获得的唯一可行的和可利用的方法（就像在瓦苏的个案中为了教授语言并测量这个过程，长期的和详细的研究是必须的） 。 Idiographic studies are often financially necessary and may spark off interest and lead to experimental research in an area (eg Piaget).特殊规律的研究通常比较经济，而且可能会引发研究者对某个领域进行实验研究的兴趣（如皮亚杰） 。Nomothetic approach-DisadvantagesThe drawback, however, is that this approach leaves us with a more superficial understanding of any one person - you and I may have the same IQ, but I may have answered different questions from you.然而，这种研究方法的缺点是它使我们对于任何人都留下一个非常肤浅的理解-你和我可能有同样的智商，但是我可能回答了你提出的不同问题。Also a piece of nomothetic research may tell me I have a 1% chance of becoming schizophrenic, but it will not tell me if am in that 1%.而且，一项一般性的调查研究可能会告诉我，我有1%的机率患精神分裂症，但是它不能告诉我我是否在那1%里。Nomothetic generalisations may be too inaccurate for the individual. This is a criticism of the medical model classification systems whose diagnosis may not accurately describe or help the subject.一般性的归纳（普遍原理）对于个体来讲或许会太不精确。这是对于医学模型分类系统的批判，它的诊断可能对患者不能进行精确的描述或提供有效的帮助。Idiographic approach-DisadvantagesHowever, the disadvantage of using this approach is that we cannot legitimately generalise (or apply) any findings carried out on just one person to other people.然而，使用这种方法的缺点在于我们不能把在一个人身上实施得出的任何结论合理推广（或应用）到其他人身上。Freud and Piaget have been accused of creating global theories from limited and unrepresentative samples and methods.弗洛伊德和皮亚杰因为通过有限的和不具代表性的样本和方法得出一般性理论而受到指责。Idiographic techniques also tend to be more unreliable and unscientific due to their more subjective, long term, flexible and unstandardised nature.由于特殊规律研究法所具有的主观性、长期性、灵活性和理解性，使得该方法表现出更加不可靠和不科学。compromiseClearly both approaches seem necessary for a complete study of Psychology-if the aims of science are to describe, understand, predict and control, then idiographic methods may be more suitable for the first two aims and nomothetic methods for the latter two.显然，对于一个完整的心理学研究来说，两种研究方法似乎都是必须的-假如科学的目标是描述、理解、预测和控制，那么特殊规律研究法更适合于前两个目标，而一般规律研究法则适合于后两个。 As Kluckholm and Murray (1953) have pointed out, every person is in some respects 1 like no other person, 2 like