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42 PART I: General IssuesFIGURE 2.4Clinicians classify mental disorders according to the criteria found in the American PsychiatricAssociation’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.psychologists try to establish broad generalizations and general laws that applyto a diverse population. To accomplish this goal, psychological studies mostoften involve large numbers of participants. Researchers seek to describe the“average,” or typical, performance of a group. This average may or may notdescribe the performance of any one individual in the group.For example, Levine (1990) described the “pace of life” in various culturesand countries of the world by noting the accuracy of outdoor bank clocks and bytiming the walking speed of pedestrians over a distance of 100 feet. The resultsof this study are shown in Figure 2.5. The citizens of Japan exhibited, overall,the fastest pace of life with U.S. citizens second. The citizens of Indonesia werethe slowest. Not all citizens of Japan or the United States, however, are on thefast track. In fact, Levine (1990) and his colleagues found wide differences inthe pace of life among various cities within the United States depending on theregion of the country. Cities in the Northeast (e.g., Boston, New York) had afaster tempo than did cities on the West Coast (e.g., Sacramento, Los Angeles).Of course, there will be individual variations within cities as well. Not all citizensof Los Angeles are going to be slow-paced, nor are all New Yorkers goingto be fast-paced. Nevertheless, the Japanese move in general at a faster pacethan do Indonesians, and Americans on the West Coast exhibit, on the average, aslower pace of life than do residents of the Northeast.Researchers who use the nomothetic approach appreciate that there areimportant differences among individuals; they seek, however, to emphasize thesimilarities rather than the differences. For example, a person’s individuality