Idiographic and Nomothetic

Question 1

What is the idiographic- nomothetic debate about?

Answer 1

• whether psychologist should focus on the group or individuals
• should the aim of psychological enquiry be to produce generalisations or concern itself with what makes individuals unique

Question 2

What is the idiographic approach?

Answer 2

• an approach that focuses on the individual case to understand behaviour
• they suggest that detailed information will allow us to understand human behaviour better

Question 3

What qualitative methods does the idiographic approach use?

Answer 3

• small number of p’s (case studies)
• some research may include information from family & friends
• focus is on detail & understanding the individual

Question 4

Explain how research on depression can be based on the idiographic appraoch

Answer 4

• based on first- hand accounts from small number of people
• p’s would be interviewed (unstructured) in depth > focus on how they coped with experience
  -Data is then analysed & emergent themes identified
• conclusions may help other people going through similar experiences

Question 5

What examples are there in psychology of idiographic approaches?

Answer 5

• Rogers sought to explain the process of self-development including the role of unconditional positive regard> derived from in depth conversations with clients in therapy
• Freuds observations of individuals were the bases of his explanations of human nature e.g. Little Hans

Question 6

What is the nomothetic approach?

Answer 6

• suggests psychology should be the study of large & varied groups to make generalisations about what is typical
  in order to predict & manipulate behaviour

Question 7

What quantitative methods does the nomothetic approach use?

Answer 7

• similar to ‘scientific method’
• hypotheses are formulated
• large samples of people are assessed via structured questionnaires or using psychological tests
• numerical data is produced & analysed for its statistical significance

Question 8

What examples are there in psychology of nomothetic approaches?

Answer 8

• behaviourist & biological approach
• Skinner- studied animals to develop general laws of learning, looked at one aspect of behaviour in a few animals
• Sperry’s spilt brain research - involved repeated testing of those with epilepsy in order to understand hemispheric lateralisation

Question 9

What is a strength of the idiographic approach?

Answer 9

• contributes to the nomothetic approach
• IA uses in-depth qualitative methods > provides a global description of one individual
• complement NA by shedding further light on general laws or challenging such laws
• IA may help form ‘scientific’ laws despite small samples

Question 10

What is a counterpoint of research supporting idiographic appraoch?

Answer 10

• meaningful generalisations cannot be made without further examples > means there is no adequate baseline with which to compare behaviour
• Methods such as case studies tend to be the least scientific > conclusions rely on subjective interpretation of researcher = open to bias
• difficult to build effective theories of behaviour with absence of NA

Question 11

What is a strength of both approaches?

Answer 11

• they fit with the aims of science
  -processes involved in NA similar to those used in natural sciences (establishing objectivity through standardisation control & statistical testing)
• researchers using IA seek to objectify their methods> triangulation used whereby findings from a range of studies (qualitative methods) are compared > way to increase validity
  -Qualitative researchers take on reflexivity

Question 12

What is a limitation of the nomothetic approach?

Answer 12

• loss of understanding of the individual
• NA preoccupied with general laws, prediction & control > accused of ‘losing the whole person’ within psych
  -e.g. knowing there is a 1% risk of developing schizophrenia tells us little about what life is like for someone diagnosed with the disorder
  -understanding subjective experience would be useful when it comes to devising appropriate treatment options
• NA fails to relate to experience

Question 13

EVAL you could use at end of essay to summarise debate

Answer 13

• memory research
• miller law that STM has a standard & limited span of 7+-2 = universal law (NA)
• HM who developed amnesia widely studied which demonstrated how he was able to form LT procedural memories > unique case, interviewed & tested (IA)
• shows importance of using both approaches