A COMPARISON OF RESPONSE COVARIATION VIEW ED IDIOTHETICALLY AND NOMOTHETICALLY

Twenty males viewed erotic slides and photographs of females and males on four different occasions while two physiological and five subjecti ve measures of sexual arousal were taken. The relations among these me asures were evaluated idiothetically (winthin-subject across the four assessment sessions) and nomothetically (between-subject, both within and across the four sessions). Data from the two analysis were compare d along three dimensions -degree of statiscal relation, pattern simila rities, and sensitivity to a private- public experimental manipulation . Higher statical correlations and more patterns were judged similar f or data examined idiothetically as compared to nomothetic data. The tw o methods of analysis also lead to different about the effect of the p rivate- public manipulation. With nomothetic data no difference was ob served between the private and public subjects for either the male or female slides, while the differences between these two conditions was signiticant for male slides with idiothetic data. The present study re confirms the need for individualzed assessment, as well as the need fo r caution when applying nomothetic derived findings to individuals.