Idiographic

Question 1

what is the idiographic approach?

Answer 1

psychologists want to discover wat makes each of us unique rather than what makes us similar. focus on subjective experiences.

Question 2

what methods do idiographic psychologists favour? such as…

Answer 2

qualitative methods such as case studies, open questionnaires, unstructured interviews

Question 3

what approaches take an idiographic view?

Answer 3

humanistic approach (conscious experience of the individual) and psychodynamic approach (used case study method)

Question 4

what do they focus on?

Answer 4

gaining insight into behaviour by studying subjective experiences of unique individuals rather than gaining numerical data

Question 5

weakness

Answer 5

P - unscientific nature
E - for example, due to the qualitative nature of research methods they typically (case studies, open questionnaires, unstructured interviews), it is very difficult to draw justifiable conclusions about behaviour.
E - this means they’re unable to produce general laws or predictions about human behaviour as research gathered is too subjective.
L - this limits the usefulness and scientific application of the research

Question 6

strength

Answer 6

P - however a idiographic methods, such as case studies are a powerful tool for evaluating psychological theories.
E - for ex, the case of KF exposed a limitation of the MSM of memory by providing evidence that STM comprises of at least 2 components (auditory and visual) not just one as proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin
E - this shows that a single case study can generate further research into a particular phenomenon.
L - this can lead to the development of new theories that further our understanding of human behaviour