Idiographic

Question 1

Idiographic

Answer 1

• Considers individual and does not seek to generalise to others
• People are studied as unique individuals each with their own subjective experiences, motivations and values
• No attempt to compare these individuals to a larger group, standard or norm

Question 2

Why is it a Qualitative Approach

Answer 2

• Gains insight into human behaviour by studying unique individuals in depth rather than gaining numerical data from large numbers of people
• Employs self reported unstructured interviews, case studies and thematic analysis for methods
• Reflects central idea of idiographic research - to describe the richness of human experience and gain insight into an individuals way of viewing the world

Question 3

Humanistic Psychology and Idiographic

Answer 3

• Concerned with studying the whole person and seeing the world from their perspective
• Important is the individuals subjective experience and not what someone else may observe of their behaviour
• Methodologies are self report methods such as Q sort to investigate congruence within person centred therapy

Question 4

Freud and Idiographic

Answer 4

• Case Study of Little Hans
• Consists of 150 pages of quotes recorded by Hans father and descriptions of events in Hans life and Freuds own interpretations of events.

Question 5

Evaluation of Idiographic - generates ideas for future research

Answer 5

• Seed that prompts future research as it provides an in depth perspective that leads to research ideas. Research can be used to make generalisations and formulate theories
• Many famous case studies such as HM and Clive Wearing both had types of amnesia that questioned established models of memory and prompted further research that has led to a more thorough and complex understanding of memory
• Strength - make major contributions to psychology
• Case studies can also be carried out in situations where it would not be possible to do nomothetic research such as case of extreme and rare child abuse such as Genie

Question 6

Evaluation of Idiographic - Making predictions

Answer 6

• Allport noted it is only through understanding of single individuals that psychologists can hope to predict how such individuals will behave in a given situation
• Strength - understand and help individuals

Question 7

However - making predictions

Answer 7

• Not scientific
• Researchers cannot make general predictions about behaviour - findings are meaningless
• Freud Oedipus complex was developed from a single case study, Little Hans
• Would have been difficult to make any predictions about his future phobic behaviour as he was such a unique case.

Question 8

Evaluation of Idiographic - Data may be unreliable

Answer 8

• Often data is an attempt to capture subjective experience which may be unreliable
• Possible that this is due to it being retrospective or is subject to demand characteristics. P may misremember things or want to create a certain impression with the researcher
• Weakness - open to bias and scientific conclusions cannot be made
• Data will need a degree of interpretation by the researcher and there is room for subjectivity especially if the data is highly emotive - interviews concerning child abusive