Idiographic And Nomothetic Flashcards
How is the idiographic approach the study of unique experience?
The idiographic approach aims to describe the nature of the individual. People are studied as unique entities with their own subjective experiences, motivations and values. There is no attempt to compare these to a larger group standard or norm.
How is the idiographic approach associated with qualitative research methods?
The idiographic approach is associated with methods in psychology that produce qualitative data (e.g. Case studies, unstructured interviews and other self-report methods). This reflects one of the central aims of idiographic research - to describe the richness of human experience and gain insight into the person’s unique way of viewing the world.
How does the idiographic approach take into account the humanistic approach?
Humanistic psychology is the best example of the idiographic approach. Rogers and Maslow were interested only in documenting the conscious experience of the individual or ‘self’, rather than producing general laws of behaviour.
How does the idiographic approach take into account the psychodynamic approach?
The psychodynamic approach is often thought of as idiographic because Freud’s use of the case study method. But Freud also assumed he had identified universal laws of behaviour and personality development (the language of the nomothetic approach).
How does the nomothetic approach produce general laws?
The main aim of the nomothetic approach is to produce general laws of behaviour. These provide a benchmark against which people can be compared, classified and measured. Future behaviour can then be predicted and controlled.
How is the nomothetic approach associated with questionnaires and psychological tests?
The nomothetic approach is most closely associated with methods defined as reliable and scientific within psychology (e.g. Questionnaires and psychological tests). These involve the study of larger numbers of people to establish how people are similar (which also tells us how people differ from one another).
How does the nomothetic approach include behaviourist, cognitive and biological research?
The nomothetic approach looks at findings from large numbers of people which are analysed for statistical significance. Behaviourist, cognitive and biological research would meet the criteria of the nomothetic approach. Questionnaires that test characteristics such as personality or IQ are used to diagnosed abnormality and predict behaviours.
Strength of idiographic approach: provides rich data.
The idiographic approach provides a complete and global account of the individual, such as the study of HM. A single case may generate hypotheses for further study (e.g. The case of HM in memory research helped our understanding that some procedural memories are more resistant to amnesia). Such findings form unique cases may reveal important insights about normal functioning which may contribute to our overall understanding of behaviour.
Limitation of the idiographic approach: its lack of scientific rigour.
Supporters of the idiographic approach may have to acknowledge the subjective and restrictive nature of their work. One criticism of Freud is that many of his key concepts (e.g. The Oedipus complex) were largely developed from the detailed study of a single case (e.g. Little Hans). Meaningful generalisations cannot be made without further examples, which means conclusions tend to rely on the subjective interpretation of the researcher and are therefore open to bias.
Strength of the nomothetic approach: the scientific value of research.
The processes involved in nomothetic research tend to be more scientific, mirroring those employed within the natural sciences. These processes include standardised procedures, assessing reliability and validity, and using statistical analyses to demonstrate significance. This arguably gives the discipline of psychology greater scientific credibility.
Limitation of the nomothetic approach: the loss of the whole person.
The preoccupation within the nomothetic approach on general laws, prediction and control has been accused of ‘losing the whole person’ within psychology. Knowing there is a 1% lifetime risk of developing schizophrenia tells us little about what life is like with it. In lab tests of memory participants are treated as a set of scores rather than as individual people. This means, in its search for general laws, the nomothetic approach may sometimes overlook the importance of human experience.
Strength of both approaches: they may be complementary not contradictory.
Rather than seeing idiographic and nomothetic approaches as either/or alternatives, we can consider the same issue or topic from both perspectives, depending on the nature of the research question. Research on gender development attempts to establish general patterns of behaviour (e.g. Be,’s androgyny scale) alongside case studies of atypical development (e.g. The case of David Reimer). The goal of modern psychology is to provide rich, detailed descriptions of human behaviour as well as the explanation of such behaviour within the framework of general laws.
