Idiographic and nomothetic approach Flashcards
What is nomothetic
Comes from the Greek word “nomos” meaning “law”
What is idiographic
Comes from Greek word “idios” meaning “own”/”private”
What does the nomothetic approach look at
How our behaviours are similar to each other as human beings
Tends to use quantitative methods
What does the idiographic approach look at
How our behaviours are different to each other
Tend to use qualitative methods
What are the advantages of personality tests
Enable us to predict behaviour
-Some tests like IQ can be used to predict some behaviours like mental agility
-Some tests do enable us to show which personalities may be best suited to jobs like the police force (Hathaway 1970)
What assumption is made of personality tests by psychologists
Ur personality will be consistent and predictable
What is the fundamental attribution error
We tend to attribute more significance to situational factors when considering the causes of our own behaviour but attribute more significance to personality characteristics when considering causes of the behaviour of others
What are the problems with personality tests
Personality is difficult to operationalise
We cannot be sure any measurement is valid
Fundamental attribution errors
Tests are all different as they are based on different theories e.g. projective tests are based on psychodynamic theory, the Myers Briggs test is based on a theory of Carl Jung
Test are often not generalisable to all people in all situations
There is disagreement over whether research shows that behaviours based on personality tests can be often predicted
Which approaches are nomothetic
Biological
Cognitive
Psychodynamic (both)
Behaviourism
What are +ve evaluations for nomothetic
Scientific
Testing under standardised conditions
Using data sets to provide group averages
Statistical analysis, predictions and control
Gives psychology greater scientific credibility
What are -ve evaluations of the nomothetic approach
‘Losing the whole person’
In lab studies involving tests of memory, e.g. participants are treated as scores, rather than people
Subjectivity experience is ignored
Overlooks the richness of human experience
e.g. knowing there is a 1% lifetime risk of developing schizophrenia tell us little about what life is like for someone w schizophrenia
What are +ve evaluations of idiographic approach
In-depth methods of investigation
Provides a complete and global account of the individual
Case studies such as HM, Phineas Gage
What are -ve evaluations of idiographic approach
Narrow and restrictive
Meaningful generalisations cannot be made - e.g. no comparison of behaviour with Little Hans and the Oedipus complex
Less scientific due to subjectivity
