Issues and Debates: Idiographic and Nomothetic approaches Flashcards
What is the idiographic approach?
Focuses more on the individual case as a way of understanding behaviour
Sees individuals as unique, each with their own subjective experience
Generally associated with methods that produce qualitiative data such as case studies
What is an example of the idiographic approach?
The humanist approachis an approach that takes on an ‘idiographic perspective’
More concenrned with unique experience of individuals rather than creating ‘general laws of behaviour’
Self - actualisation
What is the nomothetic approach?
Studies groups of people to produce general laws of human behaviour
Produce general laws of behaviour
Mainly associated with with methods that produce large amounts of quantitative data
Involves the study of large samples of people representative of the population
Often use random sampling
What is an exmple of the nomothetic approach?
Positive and negative reinforcement
Skinner studied rats and pigeons to develop laws in learning
What are some AO3 for the idiographic approach?
Lacks internal validity due to absence of scientific methods
Uses methods such as case studies and self-reports which tend to be subjective and open to bias
Unlike nomothetic approach which uses objective and empirical methods such as lab experiments and controlled observations to collect data on human behaviour
Lowers credibility of the idiographic approach in comparison to nomothetic
What is some AO3 for the nomothetic approach?
Uses large samples, create general laws of human behaviour, can combine both approaches
E.g., in memory, studies into capactiy, duration and coding of SR, STM, LTM were carried out to establish general patterns of memory
But case studies like CW produce in detailed info about its memory functions
Goal of modern psychology should be to use both approaches to provide detailed, rich info and within general laws
