Idiographic and nomothetic approaches to psychological investigation Flashcards
What does nomothetic research try to find
universal laws that can be applied to whole populations of people
What does most of the nomothetic research entail
quantitative research in the form of laboratory studies and correlational research
Why is statistical data powerful
generally valid and reliable
What can be made from nomothetic research
general laws and theories of human behaviour can be made
as the Nomothetic studies are highly scientific What’s the strengths of this
studies are highly controlled, avoid extraneous variables and bias
What type of data is contained from nomothetic research
objective data rather than subjective
What do laboratory studies lack
ecological validity
As nomothetic studies have low ecological validity what does this mean
rare results can be applied to real world
What happens when you examine the whole study
some details are going to be missed or ignored
What does Idiographic research focus on
individuals in detail
What does idiographic research rely on
qualitative methods such as questionnaires case studies, interviews and observations of individual
What is a strength of idiographic research
a more complete explanation is likely compared to the nomothetic approach
What’s a weakness of idiographic research
difficult to generalise to the whole population
What does it mean as idiographic research qualitative
it can be more subjective
Are there any exceptions of idiographic research
certain studies have been foundational in developing nomothetic laws and theories
What’s an example of idiographic research
milner et al 1957
What did milner et al study
man who suffered from severe epilepsy
How did the doctors treat the patient in milner et als study
removed the area of the brain responsible for the seizures (hippocampus)
What happened after the patients surgery in milner et als study
had difficulty forming new long term memories
What did milner et al conclude about the hippocampus
t he formation of long term memories
What was milner et als conclusions about idiographic approaches
concept could be applied to everyone, an idiographic conclusions had nomothetic applications
What approach is the psychodynamic
idiographic and nomothetic tendencies
Why is the psychodynamic approach idiographic
because Freud studied behaviour in individuals in case studies
What is the biological approach
Nomothetic
What’s the aim of the biological approach
develop theories regarding biological function structures and processes in everyone
What does the biological approach assume
human physiology is basically the same across the whole world making it nomothetic
What’re 2 biological examples
- discovering the localisation of brain structure most people have the same brain structure
- same neurone structure
What’s the cognitive approach
nomothetic
What does cognitive research look at
mental process of humans
What does cognitive research assume
processes are the same across the population
What can piaget’s theory of cognitive development can broadly be applied across
all humans
What is the behaviourist approach
nomothetic
What do behaviourists look for
cause and effect laws applied across a population
What’s an example of a behaviourist approach
Skinners operant conditioning principles
What happens in skinners operant conditioning
principles of learning through positive and negative reinforcement generalised to the whole population
What’s the humanistic approach
idiographic side
What does Humanism focus on
the individual as they strive towards self-actualisation
What research do most humanistic studies involve
qualitative research
