Issues in the Measurement of Temperament and Character

The story of the measurement of temperament and character can be told in many different ways. I could talk here, for instance, about issues like nomothetic and idiographic measurement, or of dimensional and categorical models of personality and personality disorders. I do not do that. Rather, I talk about issues in the measurement of personality that are a consequence of the predominant use of judgmental data to measure nonability attributes of personality. In this context, I am going to use the terms “personality,” and “temperament,” and “character” interchangeably.