DEBATE - Idiographic VS Nomothetic Flashcards
What is Idiographic?
The use of small scale studies eg case studies to understand human behaviour.
Believes everyone is unique.
Cannot and should not develop universal laws to explain human behaviour
Examples of idiographic studies
Little Hans
Clive Wearing
Tan Tan
Little Albert
Genie
What is Nomothetic?
The use of large scale studies eg experiments to understand human behaviour.
Believes human behaviour can be predicted and is similar across people.
Generalises from large studies and develops universal laws
DEBATE PEEL 1 - Deeper understanding from Idiographic than nomothetic
P - Idiographic is studying people uniquely in small groups which develops a deeper understanding of human behaviour
E - Carl Rogers (humanism) developed counselling methods which valued the persons subjective experiences of their life
E - Helps to increase self esteem and assuming everyone is the same (nomothetic) loses what it means to be human and develops a superficial explanation - for example Peterson and Peterson used nomothetic to study STM and were able to show maintenance rehearsal disrupted memory but could not explain why
L - However idographic studies are useful as without HM, KF we would not be able to identidy particular areas responsible for memory so therefore better
DEBATE PEEL 2 - lack of scientificness in idiographic approach
P - lack of scientificness in idiographic approach
E - not possible to create predictions of behaviour for behaviour as there is no control groups, standardised procedures, clear hypothesis, or statistical analysis and there is more researcher bias as there is high level of involvement with ppts and how results are interpreted
E - WHEREAS nomothetic approaches like Loftus and Palmer has more rigour and can be retested for reliability hence relied on in court EWT which would not be possible with idiographic as the court is less likely to trust the findings of acase study
L - However it is an artifical environment so Loftus couldnt say whether results would be the same for a real crime so idiographic may be better as it is a real life situation
DEBATE PEEL 3 - idiographic lacks usefulness
P - idiographic lacks usefulness to the purpose of psychology
E - believing we are unique and should be studies separately implies it is not possible to create generalised laws that explain and understand human behaviour so what is point if it doesnt further our knowledge of human behaviour
E - Example Freud Little Hans phobia (idiographic) but tried to create nomothetically generalised laws that all boys go through Oedipus complex which can not be done
L - However he did this as otherwise Little Hans would not have progressed our understanding and hence psychology as a subject may not have been founded at all
