Idiographic v Nomothetic Flashcards
What is the Idiographic Approach?
Attempts to describe the nature of the individual.
How are people studied by using the idiographic approach?
Studied as unique with their own subjective experiences and values.
What does an idiographic approach NOT attempt to do?
Compare individuals to a larger group or standard
What is the Nomothetic Approach?
It produces general laws of human behaviour.
Creates a ‘benchmark’ against which people can be compared and measured to predict future likely behaviour
What methods does the nomothetic approach use?
‘Scientific’ methods such as experiments which involve the study of large numbers to establish ways in which people are similar
What approaches are an example of the idiographic approach?
Humanistic
Psychodynamic
What is the significance of humanistic psychology?
Rogers and Maslow took a phenomenological approach to study human beings and were only interested in documenting the conscious experience
‘Anti scientific’ more concerned with investigating the unique experience
What is the significance of the psychodynamic approach?
Use of the case study method when detailing the lives of his patients
Freud also assumed he had identified universal laws of behaviour and personality development which is more of a nomothetic approach
What approaches are nomothetic?
Reductionist and determinist
How are general laws made through the nomothetic approach?
Hypotheses are formulated
Tested under controlled conditions and findings generated from large number of people
Analysed for their statistical significance
Explain how behaviourist, cognitive and biological psychologists took a nomothetic approach
Skinner & others studied the responses of animals to develop the laws of learning
Cognitive have inferred the structure and processes of human memory by measuring large samples of people in a lab
Biological have conducted brain scans to make generalisations about localisation of function
Key features of the nomothetic approach
Hypotheses rigorously tested
Statistically analysed
General laws and principles are developed
For the Idiographic Approach…
In depth qualitative data provides a complete account of the individual
Could complement nomothetic approach by shedding further light on laws or may challenge them
A single case (HM) generate hypotheses for further study
In brain damaged individuals may reveal important insights about normal functioning which may contribute to our overall understanding
Against idiographic…
Supporters must recognise the narrow and restricted nature
Freud-Oedipus complex was developed from a single case
Meaningful generalisations cannot be made without further examples as there is no adequate baseline to compare behaviour to
What’s the problem with the methods associated with the idiographic approach?
Case studies for example tend to be the least scientific and conclusions usually rely on subjective interpretations and are open to bias
