IDIOGRAPHIC VS NOMOTHETIC

Question 1

what is the idiographic approach?

Answer 1

an approach to research that focuses more on individual case to understand behaviour rather than formulate general laws of behaviour

Question 2

what is an example of research methods that use an idiographic approach?

Answer 2

case studies

unstructured interviews

Question 3

what do case studies and unstructured interviews show?

Answer 3

central aim to describe richness of human exp and gain insight into their unique way of seeing the world

Question 4

what approaches take an idiographic approach?

Answer 4

humanistic

psychodynamic

Question 5

how does humanistic approach take an idiographic perspective?

Answer 5

Rogers and Maslow take a phenomenological approach and document conscious experience of individual self

Question 6

how does psychodynamic approach take an idiographic perspective?

Answer 6

theory is based on Freud’s case study on patients but applies findings as universal behaviour

Question 7

define the nomothetic approach?

Answer 7

attempts to study human behaviour through development of general principles and universal laws

Question 8

nomothetic approach aims to…

Answer 8

produce general laws of human behaviour

Question 9

what do nomothetic psychologists use their findings as?

Answer 9

a benchmark to compare, classify and measure future behaviour

Question 10

what research method do nomothetic psychologists prefer?

Answer 10

scientific experiments because you can generalise

Question 11

what are characteristics of nomothetic approaches?

Answer 11

one’s that are reductionist, determinist and scientific

Question 12

what approaches are nomothetic?

Answer 12

behaviourist
biological
cognitive
SLT

Question 13

give one strength and one weakness of the idiographic approach

Answer 13

+ provides complete and global acct of individuals

- narrow and restricted

Question 14

one strength of the idiographic approach is that…

Answer 14

it provides a complete and global acct of the individual

Question 15

how does the idiographic approach leads to complete and global acct of individual?

Answer 15

through indepth qualitative methods

Question 16

indepth qualitative methods used by the idiographic approach…

Answer 16

complements the nomothetic approach as it sheds light on general laws or challenges them

Question 17

what is an example of a single case that generated hypotheses?

Answer 17

HM, case study research is true for brain damaged individuals

Question 18

case study research favoured by idiographic psychologists provides…

Answer 18

insights to normal function and contributes to overall understanding

Question 19

therefore, the _________ _________ of the idiographic approach in psychology is increased

Answer 19

internal validity

Question 20

a weakness of idiographic research is…

Answer 20

that it is narrow and restricted

Question 21

since idiographic research is narrow and restricted this means that what cannot be made?

Answer 21

meaningful generalisations cannot be made without further examples, as no adeq baseline to compare beh

Question 22

what is an example of a psychodynamic concept that is narrow and restricted?

Answer 22

Oedipus complex by Freud, developed from detailed study of a single case

Question 23

the methods associated with the idiographic approach are the…

Answer 23

least scientific as conc rely on the subjective interp of researcher leading to bias

Question 24

since idiographic research is narrow and restricted…

Answer 24

the credibility of the idiographic approach is decreased

Question 25

give one strength and one weakness of the nomothetic approach

Answer 25

+ more scientific

- loses the person in psychology

Question 26

one strength of the nomothetic approach is that…

Answer 26

the processes involved in nomothetic research tends to be more scientific, mirroring the natural sciences

Question 27

how is nomothetic approach scientific?

Answer 27

uses data sets, provides group average, statistical analysis, prediction and control e.g. in field of IQ testing

Question 28

such scientific processes in nomothetic research have enabled psychologists….

Answer 28

to establish norms of ‘typical’ behaviour such as the average IQ of 100, gives psychology greater scientific credibility

Question 29

therefore, since the nomothetic approach tends to be more scientific…

Answer 29

the credibility of it is increased

Question 30

one weakness of the nomothetic approach is that…

Answer 30

the fixation of general laws, prediction and control can be accused for losing the whole person is psychology

Question 31

an example of nomothetic approach losing the person in psych is..

Answer 31

that 1% lifetime risk of schizo tells us nothing about the life for someone who suffers from the disorder

Question 32

in lab studies involving memory…

Answer 32

ppts treated like scores rather than individual ppl and subjective experience is ignored

Question 33

the nomothetic approach overlooks..

Answer 33

richness of human experience, decreasing internal validity