idiographic and nomothetic Flashcards
idiographic approach
attempts to describe the nature of an individual ,it focuses more on the individuals’ case as a means of understanding human behaviour rather than formulating general laws of human behaviour.
what type of data does the idiographic approach generally use
qual data, case studies, US interviews, self-report measures
This reflects one of the central aims of the idiographic approach: to describe the richness of human experience and gain insight into the person’s unique way of viewing the world.
the nomothetic approach
attempts to study human behaviour through the development of general principles and universal laws. Most closely aligned with methods that would be regarded as ‘scientific’ in psychology such as experiments. These involve the study of large numbers of people in order to establish ways in which people are similar.
example of the idiographic approach
Humanistic approach -Rogers and Maslow took a phenomenological approach to the study of human beings and were interested only in documenting the conscious experience of the individual or ‘self’. In describing themselves as ‘anti-scientific’ humanistic psychologists were more concerned with investigating unique experience ‘ on its own merits’ than producing general laws of human behaviour.
example of the nomothetic approach
Much of the research conducted by behaviourist, cognitive and biological psychologists would meet the criteria of the nomothetic approach. For example, Skinner and the behaviourists studied the responses of hundreds of rats, cats,pigeons etc In order to develop the laws of learning; cognitive psychologists have been able to infer the structure and processes of human memory by measuring the performance of large samples of people in laboratory tests; biological psychologists have conducted brain scans on countless human brains in order to make generalisations about localisation of function. IN each of these cases, hypothesis are rigorously tested, statistically analysed and general laws and principles are proposed and developed - all of which are key features of the N approach.
AO3; the case for the idiographic approach
the idiographic approach with its in-depth qualitative methods of investigation, provides a compl. and global account of an individual. This may complement the nomothetic approach by shedding further light on general laws or indeed challenging laws. For example, a single case may generate hypothesis for further study
AO3: the case against for idiographic
On the other hand, supports of the idiogrpahic approach must still recognise the narrow and restricted nature of their work. One of the criticisms levelled at Freud is that many of his key concept, like the Oedipus Complex, were largely developed from the detailed study of a single case (Little Hands). Meaningful generalisations cannot be made without further examples,as there’s no adequate baseline with which to compare behaviour. Also, methods associated with the idiographic approach tend to be the least scientific in that conclusions often rely on the subjective interpretation of the researcher and, as such, are open to bias.
AO3:The case for the nomothetic approach
the processes involved tend to be more scientific, mirroring those employed within the natural sciences- testing under standardised conditions, using data sets that provide group averages, statistical analysis, prediction and control for example in the field of IG testing. Such processes have enabled psychologists to establish ‘norms’ of behaviour, arguably giving the discipline of psychology greater scientific credibility.
AO3: the case against for nomothetic approach
The preoccupation within the nomothetic approach on general laws, prediction and control has been accused of ‘losing the whole person ‘ within psychology . Knowing that there is a 1% lifetime risk of developing schizophrenia tells us little about what life is like for someone who is experiencing the disorder. SImilarly, in lab studies involving tests of memory, participants are treated as a series of scores rather than the individual people and their subjective experience of the situation is ignored. This means, in its search for generalities , the nomothetic approach may sometimes overlook the richness of human experience.
