The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.
Rutgers University, Newark, NJ, USA.
Infancy. 2020 Jul;25(4):438-457. doi: 10.1111/infa.12338. Epub 2020 May 4.
Within the developmental literature, there is an often unspoken tension between studies that aim to capture broad scale, fairly universal nomothetic traits, and studies that focus on mechanisms and trajectories that are idiographic and bounded to some extent by systematic individual differences. The suitability of these approaches varies as a function of the specific research interests at hand. Although the approaches are interdependent, they have often proceeded as parallel research traditions. The current review notes some of the historical and empirical bases for this divide and suggests that each tradition would benefit from incorporating both methodological approaches to iteratively examine universal (nomothetic) phenomena and the individual differences (idiographic) factors that lead to variation in development. This work may help isolate underlying causal mechanisms, better understand current functioning, and predict long-term developmental consequences. In doing so, we also highlight empirical and structural issues that need to be addressed to support this integration.
在发展文献中，旨在捕捉广泛、相当普遍的规律特征的研究与关注在某种程度上受系统个体差异限制的机制和轨迹的研究之间，存在着一种常常未被言明的紧张关系。这些方法的适用性取决于手头特定的研究兴趣。尽管这些方法是相互依存的，但它们往往作为平行的研究传统而发展。本综述指出了这种划分的一些历史和经验基础，并表明每种传统都将受益于同时采用这两种方法，以迭代地研究普遍（规律）现象和导致发展变化的个体差异（特质）因素。这项工作可能有助于分离潜在的因果机制，更好地理解当前的功能，并预测长期的发展后果。在这样做的过程中，我们还强调了需要解决的实证和结构问题，以支持这种整合。
