Idiographic + Nomothetic

Question 1

idiographic

Answer 1

= derived from Greek word “idios” meaning “own”

– focus on indiv + emphasise unique experience of human behaviour - study indivs w/ qualitative data

Question 2

nomothetic

Answer 2

= derived from Greek word “nomos” meaning “law”

– concerned w/ establishing general laws about behaviour from study of groups of people using quantitative statistical technique

Question 3

idiographic - research methods…

Answer 3

… case studies, unstructured interviews + thematic analysis

– give depth + insight into indiv behaviour - does not formulate laws or generalise

Question 4

idiographic - case studies…

Answer 4

…provide in-depth insight into indiv or small group

– used to evaluate a theory - can undermine whole theories + inspire future enquiry

Question 5

idiographic - memory case studies…

Answer 5

…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

Question 6

idiographic - psychodynamic case study…

Answer 6

…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

Question 7

nomothetic - research methods…

Answer 7

…experiments, correlations + meta-analysis

– use statistical analysis through quantitative data collection

Question 8

nomothetic - bio…

Answer 8

…psychologists adopt scientific methods to identify trends + generate causal laws

Question 9

nomothetic - psychopathology…

Answer 9

…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

Question 10

nomothetic - behaviourism…

Answer 10

…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)

Question 11

nomothetic - social influence…

Answer 11

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

Question 12

I - implications - in depth…

Answer 12

…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

Question 13

I - implications - encourages new research…

Answer 13

…while we can’t generalise from idiographic research, we are able to generate new ideas + hypotheses

Question 14

I - consequences - unscientific…

Answer 14

…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

Question 15

I - consequences - time consuming…

Answer 15

…methods are time consuming + quite subjective which is problematic in sense of practicality but also reliability + validity

Question 16

N - implications - scientific…

Answer 16

…adopts quantitative experimental methods + findings from such research have the ability to predict behaviour in an objective manner

Question 17

N - implications - useful for predictions…

Answer 17

…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

Question 18

N - consequences - talking therapies + CBT…

Answer 18

…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

Question 19

N - consequences - misinterpretation…

Answer 19

…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