Idiographic and Nomothetic

Question 1

idiographic

Answer 1

from Greek work ‘idos’ meaning own. Psychologists who take this approach focus on the individual and emphasise the unique experience of human behaviour. Usually produces qualitative data.

Question 2

nomothetic

Answer 2

from Greek word ‘nomos’ meaning law, psychologists are concerned with establishing general laws about behaviour from the study of groups of people. Usually involves quantitative data.

Question 3

examples of idiographic study

Answer 3

Freud- Little Hans- psychodynamic case study.

memory- KF, Clive Wearing

Question 4

examples of nomothetic study

Answer 4

psychopathology- OCD- treatment and classification systems DSM+IDC-10

behaviourism- Pavlov+ Skinner, do research on animals

social influence- Milgram and Zimbardo

attachment- strange situations

Question 5

positive implications of the approach
idiographic

Answer 5

supporters of the idiographic approach still argue that it is only through the understanding of a single individual that psychologists can truly predict behaviour and its in-depth analysis increases the validity of its findings over the reliance of statistics. it also allows us to generate new ideas and hypotheses.

Question 6

negative consequence of the approach
idiographic

Answer 6

the qualitative methods used are criticized for their essentially unscientific nature and inability to draw general laws or predictions. This limits the usefulness of the idiographic approach particularly in its application and treatment of psychological disorders.

Question 7

positive implications of the approach
nomothetic

Answer 7

considered scientific as it adopts quantitative experimental methods and findings from such research have the ability to predict behaviour in an objective manner. As the approach is scientific it is also useful in identifying trends; predicting and controlling behaviour which has useful applications. Generalisations and replications are easier and the use of statistics allows greater confidence.

Question 8

negative consequences of the approach
nomothetic

Answer 8

trends may not represent all individuals in a group so taking a purely nomothetic approach could lead to misrepresentation and, equally, use of a fixed criteria for assessment and treatment is a superficial way to understand behaviour- may lack validity.