Idiographic/Nomothetic Flashcards
What is an idiographic approach?
An approach to research which focuses on subjective experiences, the individual case and emphasises on uniqueness in order to understand human behaviour.
Which type of data does each approach focus on?
Idiographic - Qualitative and subjective data.
Nomothetic - Quantitative, objective data
Which methods are used by the idiographic approach?
Case studies, journals, unstructured interviews to capture subjective experiences.
Why are humanism and psychodynamic idiographic?
Humanism - Rogers and Maslow took a phenomenological approach to the study of humans. Interested in documenting the conscious experience of the self. Described themselves as anti-scientific and more concerned with investigating unique experiences than producing general laws.
Psychodynamic - Freud’s use of case studies when detailing the lives of his patients, using these to evidence his theories
What is a nomothetic approach?
An approach to research which seeks to formulate general laws of human behaviour based on the study of a large number of people.
Which methods are used by the nomothetic approach?
Experiments and statistical testing.
Explain why behaviourism, cognitive and biological are nomothetic
Behaviourism - Skinner studied the responses if hundreds of rats, cats and pigeons in order to develop laws of learning.
Cognitive - Using large numbers of people in lab tests to infer the structure and processes of memory.
Biological - Psychologists conduct brain scans on large numbers of human brains in order to make generalisations, eg. localisation of function.
Interactionist approach
Holt (1967) argues that the ideographic/nomothetic approach is a false distinction and that many approaches take advantage of both to explain behaviour. Eg. Cognitive approach takes a nomothetic approach in its creation of general laws but also use an idiographic approach such as case studies to provide evidence for specific theories.
Further, Milon and Davies (1990) argued that research should start with a nomothetic approach and once general laws have been established, focus can shift to an idiographic approach.
1 Strength 1 Limitation of nomothetic approach
- Scientific credibility gives practical applications
- Superficial understanding of behaviour
1 Strength 1 Limitation of idiographic approach
- Helps evaluate and develop new theories
- Unscientific
Helps evaluate and develop new theories
A single case study can generate further research into a phenomenon which contributes to the development of new theories that further our understanding of human behaviour. Case study of KF who suffered brain damage in a motorcycle accident had damage to his STM. According to the MSM, KF should have an impaired ability to make new LTM but they found his LTM was normal. This challenges the MSMs claim that information flows from the ST store to the LT store
Unscientific
The emphasis on in-depth data collection and the difficulties in arriving at justifiable generalisations contradicts the central purpose of any mature science. This inability to produce general laws limits its usefulness as a source of practical knowledge about the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders. In the Little Hans study, it is unlikely other researchers would have drawn the same conclusions but Freud’s finding were applied universally.
Scientific credibility giving practical applications (COUNTER)
The nomothetic approach makes use of experimental methods and controlled measurements. It is useful for predicting and controlling behaviour. Drug therapies are developed on the basis of nomothetic research. They act as dopamine antagonists in that they bind to dopamine receptors at the postsynaptic neuron and block the action of dopamine.
COUNTER - Drug treatments are not successful for all patients. Some psychologists argue that alternate treatments (e.g. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy), which are based on an idiographic approach, are more suitable for treating individuals as they seek to understand and explain the disorder from a patient’s point of view. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) review of treatments for schizophrenia found consistent evidence that, when compared with treatment by antipsychotic medication, CBT was more effective in reducing symptom severity and improving levels of social functioning
Superficial understanding of behaviour
The nomothetic approach fixates on quantitative data and statistical analysis- can lead to losing sight of ‘whole person’ and providing a superficial understanding of human behaviour.
E.g. Milgram’s research found that 65% of participants obeyed an authority figure and inflicted a 450-volt electric shock because they were ordered to do so. However, the results fail to explain why each person obeyed.
