Idiographic V Nomothetic Flashcards
What is this debate about?
Whether psych should focus its attention on the individual or on people in general
What is the idiographic approach
Attempts to explain the nature of individuals. Argues people should be studied as unique entities each with their own subjective experiences, motivations and values that contribute to individual development.
Attempts to challenge general laws
What methods does the idiographic approach favour
- associated with methods that produce qualitative data that aim to describe richness and detail of human experiences
- case studies
- unstructured interviews
- thematic analysis
Idiographic areas of psychology
- Case study of HM or Clive wearing
- Danelli’s case study of EB
- Romanian orphan studies ?
What is the nomothetic approach
Main aim is to produce general laws of human behaviour. These provide a benchmark against which people can be compared, classified or measured. From this, future behaviour can be predicted and even controlled
Radford and Kirby
Nomothetic approach has produced three general laws
1- classifying people into groups
2- establishing principles of behaviour that can be applied to people in general
3- establishing dimensions along which people can be placed, compared and measured
What methods does the nomothetic approach favour
- associated with scientific methods that produce quantitative
- large samples from random sampling
- experiments, correlational research, statistical testing, psychometric testing
Nomothetic areas of psychology
- Biological approach - OCD and Depression
- Explanations of attachment
- localisation of function and hemispheric lateralisation
Eval of Idiographic vs Nomothetic
- idiographic allows depth of individuals traits and behaviours
- However, it lacks scientific rigour
- Nomothetic is highly scientific
- nomothetic has wider practical applications - establishing general laws of behaviour allows psychological to make assumptions
