Idiographic And Nomothetic Flashcards
Define idiographic.
People are studied as unique entities which have their own subjective experiences and motivations.
Define nomothetic.
Focuses on similarities between people and attempts to establish a general law.
Give one example of a topic area which demonstrates the nomothetic approach.
Using SSRIs to treat OCD.
Establishes a general treatment and assumes each sufferers cause is all similar.
Give one example of an idiographic approach.
Maslows hierarchy of needs.
Everyone moves up hierarchy differently.
Explain one weakness of the nomothetic approach.
Focuses only on general laws.
Only tends to use quantitative data, so lacks details of qualitative data e.g. knowing that there is a 1% risk of getting schizophrenia says little about what may cause it to develop.
Theories are too simple as they fail to take into account individual differences.
Explain one weakness of an idiographic approach.
Cannot generalise findings to all people.
Usually uses case studies - longitudinal research into an individual or small group.
Do not provide enough evidence to be able to apply to others especially people of other genders, age and culture.
Describe one strength of the nomothetic approach.
Highly scientific.
Tend to use highly controlled, standardised, lab experiments to produce quantitative data.
This helps to maintain objectivity in research.
How are idiographic theories usually created?
Case studies.
Producing qualitative data.
How are nomothetic laws usually studied?
Questionnaires to study large groups of people
Produce quantitative data.
