Idiographic + Nomothetic Flashcards
idiographic
= derived from Greek word “idios” meaning “own”
– focus on indiv + emphasise unique experience of human behaviour - study indivs w/ qualitative data
nomothetic
= derived from Greek word “nomos” meaning “law”
– concerned w/ establishing general laws about behaviour from study of groups of people using quantitative statistical technique
idiographic - research methods…
… case studies, unstructured interviews + thematic analysis
– give depth + insight into indiv behaviour - does not formulate laws or generalise
idiographic - case studies…
…provide in-depth insight into indiv or small group
– used to evaluate a theory - can undermine whole theories + inspire future enquiry
idiographic - memory case studies…
…KF’s STM of auditory info was greater than his forgetting of visual info suggesting STM not one unitary component - challenging validity of MSM
– Clive Wearing - evidence of different stores in LTM
idiographic - psychodynamic case study…
…Freud conducted detailed investigations of patients to understand their psych disorders
– Little Hans - Freud’s case study work contributed to psych emphasising importance of early childhood events + their impact on later behaviour including attachment + offending behaviour
nomothetic - research methods…
…experiments, correlations + meta-analysis
– use statistical analysis through quantitative data collection
nomothetic - bio…
…psychologists adopt scientific methods to identify trends + generate causal laws
nomothetic - psychopathology…
…when explaining psych disorders like OCD they pinpoint bio factors that tend to be responsible for disorders + use this law to invent treatments e.g. drug therapies to treat all patients w/
– also DSM + ICD are nomothetic classification tools used to diagnose psych illness
nomothetic - behaviourism…
…Watson, Pavlov + Skinner conducted research using animals to draw general laws of learning e.g. classical + operant conditioning
– behaviourists generalise such laws to humans to be used in treatments e.g. behavioural treatments for phobias (systematic desensitisation + flooding)
nomothetic - social influence…
social psychologists like Asch + Milgram adopt nomothetic approach to understand conformity + obedience
– researched role of situational factors in social behaviours + concluded that they influence levels of conformity + obedience in all indivs
I - implications - in depth…
…supporters of I approach still argue that it’s only through the understanding of a single individual that psychologists can truly predict behaviour + its in-depth analysis increases the validity of its findings over the reliance of statistics
I - implications - encourages new research…
…while we can’t generalise from idiographic research, we are able to generate new ideas + hypotheses
I - consequences - unscientific…
…qualitative methods used - I approach criticised for its unscientific nature + inability to draw general laws or predictions - limits usefulness of I approach particularly in its application + treatment of psychological disorders
I - consequences - time consuming…
…methods are time consuming + quite subjective which is problematic in sense of practicality but also reliability + validity
N - implications - scientific…
…adopts quantitative experimental methods + findings from such research have the ability to predict behaviour in an objective manner
N - implications - useful for predictions…
…as the N approach adopts laws of science its useful in identifying trends, predicting + controlling behaviour which has useful applications
– generalisations + replications are easier + the use of statistics allows greater confidence
N - consequences - talking therapies + CBT…
…some psychologists argue however that alternate treatments such as talking therapies + CBT are more suitable as they adopt a more person centred approach which is based on the principles of an idiographic approach
N - consequences - misinterpretation…
…trends may not represent all indivs in a group so taking a purely nomothetic approach could lead to misinterpretation + equally, use of a fixed criteria for assessment + treatment is a superficial way to understand behaviour - may lack validity
