Idiographic And Nomothetic

Question 1

Define idiographic.

Answer 1

Focuses on understanding the individual.
Qualitative methods.

Question 2

Define nomothetic.

Answer 2

Focuses on similarities between people and attempts to establish a general law.
Often resulting in quantitative data.
More scientific.

Question 3

Give one example of a topic area which demonstrates the nomothetic approach.

Answer 3

Using SSRIs to treat OCD.
Establishes a general treatment and assumes each sufferers cause is general.

Question 4

Give one example of an idiographic approach.

Answer 4

Maslows hierarchy of needs.
Everyone moves up hierarchy differently.

Question 5

Explain one weakness of the nomothetic approach.

Answer 5

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 having the disorder.
Lacks depth.

Question 6

Explain one strength of the idiographic approach.

Answer 6

Can compliment nomothetic approaches.
May be used as a starting point for research - HM demonstrated damage to hippocampus affects types of memories.
Encouraged more research into localisation and types of LTM, therefore idiographic research can provide a baseline for deeper psychological research.

Question 7

Explain one weakness of an idiographic approach.

Answer 7

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.

Question 8

Describe one strength of the nomothetic approach.

Answer 8

Highly scientific.
Tend to use highly controlled, standardised, lab experiments to produce quantitative data.
This helps to maintain objectivity in research.