Idiographic And Nomothetic Approaches Flashcards
What is the idiographic approach
Involves the study of individuals and the unique insights each individual provides. It is qualitative as it focuses on studying unique individuals in depth rather than gaining numerical data Fromm individuals and determining averages. Quality rather than quantity. It uses unstructured interview, case study, thematic analysis…
What is the psychodynamic approach seen as
Idiographic. Sigmund Freud used case studies of his patients as a what to understand human behaviour such as little Hans. This case consisted of almost 150 pages of verbatim quotes recorded by little hans’ father and descriptions of events in little Hans’ life as well as frauds interpretation of these information.
What is the humanistic approach seen as
Idiographic - humanistic psychologist favour the idiographic approach because they are concerned with studying the whole person and seeing the world from the perspective of that person. What matters is the persons subjective experience and not what someone else might observe of their behaviour
What is the nomothetic approach
Involves the study of a large representative sample, ideally selected using random sampling in order to collect a large amount of data to support a testable hypothesis. This seeks to formulate general laws of behaviour that apply to everyone, this is also the goal of scientific approach in psychology
What does the nomothetic approach favour
Quantitative research methods that are based on numbers (measures of central tendency, graphs and statistical analysis). Such calculations require data from a large group of people rather than individuals. Research could involve as few as 20, but establishing normal behaviour involves thousands
What is the biological approach
Seeks to portray basic principles of how the body and brain work. In the past they have made the mistake of only studying men and assuming that their findings can be generalised to women. Biological approach is nomothetic
What is the behaviourist approach
They behavioural approach is nomothetic and Behaviourists, such as Pavlov and Skinner, conducted experiments with animals in order to establish laws of learning (classical and operant conditioning) that could be generalised to humans and non-human animals.
What is the cognitive approach
Nomothetic - aims to develop general laws of behaviour which apply to all people, such as understanding memory. Cog approach does use case studies like HM and KF, but these are required because in order to understand the working of a normal mind it is often necessary to look at abnormal cases
Strengths idiographic
Uses in depth qualitative methods of investigation, provides a complete and global account of the individual - shedding further light in the nomothetic approach in either challenging or supporting laws and principles. For example when studying HM in terms of brain damage and memory - it has helped us with our overall understanding of normal memory function
Weakness idiographic
Unable to produce general laws or predictions about behaviour. This limits its usefulness in the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders. Many also criticise this approach for being basically unscientific. The idea of collecting in depth data contradicts any ideas of nature science
Strength of nomothetic
Unlike idiographic - nomothetic is considered scientific. Use of experimental, quantitative, methods, controlled measurements and the ability to predict behaviour are all seen as strengths to the nomothetic approach. Furthermore, controlled methods allow for replication to establish reliability. Which has developed psychology as a scientific discipline.
Weakness nomothetic
There are problems of generalisation. E.g. drug treatments are not successful for all patients, some psychologists argue that alternate treatments like CBT, which is based on the idiographic approach, are more suitable for treating individuals with such conditions as it seeks to understand and explain the disorder from a patients point of view. This means that by assuming that all people with ocd can be treated with drugs is not always successful
