Idiographic and nomothetic approaches

Question 1

what is a idiographic approach?

Answer 1

Focus on the individual and recognition of uniqueness.

Private, subjective and conscious experiences.

Investigations gain written information unique to individuals being studied.

Question 2

what is a nomothetic approach?

Answer 2

Attempts to establish laws and generalisations about people.

Objective knowledge through scientific methods.

Investigations gain numerical data or data that can be categorised.

Question 3

what type of methods and types of data does an idiographic approach use?

Answer 3

• method =
  Unstructured Interviews
  Case studies
• types of data =
  Non-numerical (qualitative).
  Verbal expressions - thoughts, feelings and emotions.
  Analysis of data= eg. Thematic analysis.

Question 4

what is an example for the idiographic approach?

Answer 4

Shallice and Warrington(1970):

examined the case of Patient KF, who experienced a motorbike accident. KF’s short-term forgetting of auditory information was greater than his forgetting of visual information, suggesting that short-term memory (STM) consists of multiple components.

Question 5

what types of methods and types of data and data presentations does a nomothetic approach use?

Answer 5

• methods =
  Experiments
  Questionnaires
  Observation
  Correlational research
• data =
  Numerical or categorised data - quantitative data
  Data analysis= eg. Content analysis
• data presentations =
  Tables
  Graphs
  Charts
  Statistics

Question 6

what are some examples of the nomothetic approach?

Answer 6

• The Biological Approach:

Biological Psychologists take a nomothetic approach when explaining psychological disorders, such as OCD and depression. They typically pinpoint biological factors, such as neurotransmitters, that are responsible for such disorders and use biological therapies (e.g. drugs) to treat all patients.

• The Behavioural Approach:

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.

Question 7

what is the combination approach?

Answer 7

• MILLON and DAVIS (1996) suggest that research should start with a nomothetic approach and, once general laws have been produced, the focus should switch to an idiographic approach to develop our understanding and theories.
• Therefore, as well as trying to establish GENERAL PATTERNS and THEORIES of behaviour, we must also consider INDIVIDUAL CASE STUDIES (which provide rich, detailed data) as these can enhance/develop theories.