idiographic and nomothetic

Question 1

idiographic approach

Answer 1

focuses on uniqueness of the individual, in-depth details using qualitative methods
- case studies, unstructured interviews

Question 2

subjectivity

Answer 2

aims to understand the unique subjective experience of the individual person rather than uncovering general laws

Question 3

examples of idiographic approach

Answer 3

humanistic approach - rogers’ concept of unconditional positive regard
psychodynamic approach - freud’s case of Little Hans’s phobia

Question 4

nomothetic approach

Answer 4

focuses on groups of people to establish general laws of behaviour using quantitative methods
- lab experiments, structured questionnaires

Question 5

objectivity

Answer 5

aims to understand behaviour through unbiased, standardised methods that can be replicated and results generalised

Question 6

nomothetic examples

Answer 6

behaviourist approach
biological approach - Sperry’s split-brain research

Question 7

complete account

Answer 7

P - strength of idiographic approach is it contributes to the nomothetic approach
E - uses in-depth qualitative methods of investigation and provides a global description of one individual
E - may complement nomothetic approach by shedding light on general laws - eg hypothesis from case study can generate hypotheses for further study eg HM
L - even though focus on fewer individuals, idiographic approach help form scientific laws of behaviour

P - idiographic approach should still acknowledge the narrow nature of work
E - generalisations cannot be made without further examples
E - no adequate baseline of comparisons and methods tend to be least scientific as subjective interpretations and open to bias
L - difficult to build effective general theories of human behaviour in complete absence of nomothetic research

Question 8

scientific credibility

Answer 8

P - one strength of both is fit with aims of science
E - nomothetic - similar to those used in the natural sciences eg objectivity through standardisation
E - idiographic - seek objectify methods eg triangulation used to increase validity
L - both the nomothetic and idiographic approaches raise psychology’s status as a science

Question 9

losing the person

Answer 9

P - limitation of nomothetic approach is loss of understanding of the individual
E - preoccupied with general laws so accused of losing the person
E -understanding the subjective experiences eg schizophrenia prove useful in devising appropriate treatment options
L - in its search for generalities, may sometimes fail to relate to experience