idiographic and Nomothetic Flashcards
what does idiographic approach attempt to do
attempts to describe nature f the individual people
how are the people studies
they are studied as unique entities each with their own subjective experiences otivations and values with no attempt to compare these to a larger group or standardised norm
how is the data colected
as qualitative dta such as case studies uses unstructured interviews and self report studies
what is the central aim of the idiographic approach
to describe the richness of human experience and gain an insight into the personal unique way of viewing the world
what is an example of the idiographic approach
rogers and marslow infered unconscious explanations for behaviours self humanistic psychology investigate the unique experiences and refrains from producing genralised laws
we use methods like case studies to understand unique experiences whilst psychodynamic may be considered to be idiographic they use singular experience and tries to come up with theories to genralise it to all
what is the mains aims of the nomothetic approach
to produce genral laws of human behavioir these provide a benchmark against when people cna be compared, classified and measured on this basis future behaviiour can be objectively predicted or controled .
what methods does the nomothtic approach use
uses scientific methods such as experiments obsevrations, quantiitve variables operationalised variables statistical analysis
why do we do such quantiive measurements
so we can study a large number of people and see what is simmilair
what are the examples of nomothetic research
a vast majority of behaviourist approach will be considered nomothetic skinner studied responses of hundreds of animals to develop laws of learning these laws such as positiv ereinforcement are then applied to humans
what do biological psychologist suggest
they have conducted brain scans on numerous brains to make it more genralised hypotheis are vigorously tested and statistically analysed genral laws and prinicples are proposed
what is the point for the restriction of idiographic approach
idiographic approach and the data collected is narrow and restricted
what is the evidence for the narrow restriction
data collected on one offf individual case studies are indepth and informative however there are no baseline to measure comparison so it is difficult to identify whather behaviour is abnormal or not
what is the issue with qwualitative
IT IS QUALITATIVE SO IT IS SUBJECTIVE AND CAN LEAD TO INVESTIGATOR BIAS RESULTS SO WE CANNOT REPLICATE AND WE DONT KNOW IF THE RESULTS ARE RELIABLE SO DECREASE VALIDITY
Nomothetic and person approach
an issue with the nomothetic approach is that it loses the whole person approach and doesnt allow us to appreciate the richness of human experiences and behaviour
what is the evidence of the losisng the whole person
genral laws, predictability doesnt allow us to fully understand the emotional feeling asociated with behaviour , NA informs us of genral laws like schizophrenia and gives us little understanding of the individual experiences of schizophrenia
what is the explanation and link for loss of whole person
in searching genralisation is overlooks the richness of human behaviour and experience and adopting a pure NA hinders our understanding of human behaviour
A strength of idiographic details
the idiographic studies are indepth
what is the evidence of the indepth study
they typically use qualitative methods of investigation proviidng a complete account of the individual case studies such as clive wearing
what is the explanation of the indepth data
this is better than a na as insteasd of seeing case studies as a one off anomoly we gather indepth data leading to a better understanding of memory whilst nomothetic approach ignores and leaves out anomolies
what is the link for indepth data
idiographic treats every iindividual as uniqyue and leads to more valid conclusion
what does nomothetic allow by being scientific
nomothetic approach is more scientific allowing for practical application
what is the evidence of nomothetic and practical application
to develop our undertsanidng and practical application to genral population, nomothetic approach test variable under standard conditions and controls using quantiitve methods such as group experiments which allows us to come up with statistical analysis and standard deviations which help develop an idea of typical behaviour and hypothesis testing
what does it allow you to develop
a cut off point which are objective allowing better comparison between people leads to an accurate diagnosis . IQ is average 100 so below 70 seen to have IDD so it is seen abnormal objectively increases credibility of psychology as a science
