Idiographic And Nomothetic Approaches Flashcards
What is meant by idiographic approach?
Understanding behaviour through studying individual cases.
What is meant by nomothetic approach?
Understanding behaviour through developing general laws that apply to all people.
What does idiographic approach reject?
Scientific method
What type of data is collected from idiographic approaches?
Qualitative
What is qualitative data?
Non numerical, descriptive e.g. thoughts and feelings.
Was the case of little Hans idiographic or nomothetic?
Idiographic
What are the strengths of the idiographic approach?
- Detailed
- Informative
- Uncover causes for behaviours
- Holistic hypotheses developed
- Provides hypotheses for future scientific studies
What are the limitations of the idiographic approach?
- Cannot generalise to wider population
- Subjective, flexible and unstandardised procedures
What does the nomothetic approach produce?
General laws of human behaviours
What can general laws of human behaviour be used for?
Used for future behaviour by predicting and controlling them
Does the nomothetic behaviour has a large or small small?
Large
What different types of general laws can be proposed by nomothetic approaches?
- Classification of people in to groups: DSM IV
- Establishing principles of behaviour: Conformity & obedience
- Establishing dimensions to compare people: IQ
What kind of data is produced by nomothetic approaches?
Quantitative data
What are the strengths of the nomothetic approach?
- Generalise to wider population
- Objective, measurable and replicable
What are the limitations of a nomothetic approach?
- General laws and principle may not always be applied to an individual
- Understanding is sometimes superficial
