idiographic and nomothetic approaches

Question 1

idiographic approach to psychological research focuses on the study of

Answer 1

indviduals
uses qualitative data
vast detail/insight
doesn’t aim to generate laws on behaviour

Question 2

idiographic approach example
humanistic psychologists describe themselves as anti scientific as they

Answer 2

are concerned with studying an individuals unique subjective experience rather than what someone else might observe

Question 3

idiographic approach example
psychodynamic approach uses the method of case study to investigate , which generated high detail about individuals however

Answer 3

freud tried to create general laws (nomethetic) however is still considered idiographic as it was drawn from unique indviduals

Question 4

idiographic approach example
was used to investigate personality , Allport developed the trait theory of personality using thematic analysis to analyse 301 letters from Jenny sent to him over 12 years , he believed that

Answer 4

the idiographic approach would provide a better understanding of personality rather than the use of nomothetic personality tests

Question 5

the nomeohetic approach to psychological research focuses not he study of

Answer 5

large groups of peeple
quantitive data
statistical analysis poss
determinist/reducitonist
aim to generate laws/theories

Question 6

nomothetic approach examples
biologicals approach when using drug trials to

Answer 6

draw conclusions like serotonin causing depression

Question 7

nomothetic approach examples
behaviourists experimented on hundreds of

Answer 7

animals to develop the laws of learning theory

Question 8

nomothetic approach examples
used to investigate personality using psychometric tests one large groups such as

Answer 8

eysenecks personality questionnaire

Question 9

a strength of the ideographic approach is that it is richer in date as the qualitative methods used give rich detailed info of an indvidual which may provide insights into behaviour overlooked by nomothetic approach for example

Answer 9

drug trials can can determine the efficacy of SSRIS in treating depression but tell us nothing about a persons experience with depression

Question 10

a strength of the ideographic approach is that it provides the basis for the nomothetic approach , for example the case study of HM provided rich date about his experience and memory contributing to our

Answer 10

overall understanding of memory , but also provided the basis for nomothetic investigation on different types of LTM

Question 11

a limitation of the idiographic approach is that the falsification of case studies is impossible as they can’t be replicated also making generalisations impossible as there are no controls , case studies must be

Answer 11

interpreted by the researcher and therefore are open to bias , such as Freuds little Hans case study

Question 12

a strength is that nomothetic research tends to be highly scientific often using experimation that allows for

Answer 12

highly controlled conditions replication and falsification
helping preserve the integrity of psychology as a credible science

Question 13

a strength is that critics argue that idiographic and nomothetic research shouldn’t be mutually exclusive for example

Answer 13

the English/romain adoptees study used a combination of methods to investigate social , emotional , intellectual and physical development