Idiographic & Nomothetic AO1 & AO3 Flashcards
Define the Idiographic Approach to science
the focus on the individual case as means of understanding the behaviour rather than aiming to formulate general laws
What does the idiographic Approach attempt to describe?
The nature of the individual - people are studied as unique entities w/ their own subjective experiences and motivations
What type of methods is the idiographic approach associated with?
methods that produce qualitative data - like case studies
Give 2 examples of the idiographic approach
Humanistic Approach - only interested in documenting the conscious existence of a person, investigate their unique experiences then create general laws of behaviour
Psychodynamic Approach - Freud used case studies and then assumed that those experiences were universal laws of behaviour and development
What is a strength of the idiographic approach?
Qualitative methods give complete and global accounts of the individual - may complement the Nomo Approach by shedding more light on general laws or by challenging strict laws.
EG. one case can generate hypotheses for further study like HM.
Thus increasing internal validity
What is a limitation of the Idiographic Approach?
Researchers need to recognise the narrow and restricted nature of their work.
EG. Key concepts from Freud were developed from one single case, so can’t make meaningful generalisations as there is no adequate baseline to compare.
Methods used are also less scientific as they often rely on subjective interpretations
So reduces credibility
Define the Nomothetic Approach
Attempts to study behaviour through the development of general principles and universal laws
What does the Nomothetic Approach aim to produce?
general laws that act like benchmarks for comparing, classifying and measuring people
Give 3 examples of the Nomothetic Approach
Biological Approach
Cognitive Approach
Social Learning Theory
What methods is the Nomothetic Approach aligned with?
Scientific Methods - like experiments
What is a strength of the Nomothetic Approach?
Uses scientific methods that mirror natural sciences
Test using scientific procedures and use data sets that provide group averages & statistical analysis. Processes help psychologists to establish norms of typical behaviour.
So increases scientific credibility.
What is a weakness of the Nomothetic Approach?
The fixation on general laws, prediction and control has caused the approach to be accused of losing the whole person in psych.
Knowing that there is a 1% risk of developing schizophrenia tells us little about how life is like for a sufferer.
Similarly, in lab studies ppts can be treated like scores rather than people, causing their subjective experiences to be ignored.
Thus decreasing the external validity.
