Issues and debates: idiographic V nomothetic Flashcards
Describe what is meant by idiographic
- Psychologists who take an idiographic approach focus on the individual and emphasise the unique personal experience of human nature.
Involves studying a particular individual
Data generated is detailed and extensive
The sampe will not be representative due to the uniqueness of the traits the individual possesses.
These methods provide an in-depth insight into individual behaviour. The idiographic approach does not seek to formulate general laws or generalise results to others but it is useful to to generate new areas of research
Idiographic: methods of investigation and qualitative analysis
Methods of investigation include:
-Case studies
-Unstructured interviews
Analysis of data uses QUALITATIVE methods such as
-Thematic analysis
Idiographic: Why are case studies a powerful research method?
A single case study can highlight flaws within a theory and significantly undermine other research.
e.g. KF
Describe an example of idiographic research
Shallice and Warrington (1970) examined the case of Patient KF, who experienced a motorbike accident. KF’s short-term forgetting of auditory information was greater than his forgetting of visual information, suggesting that short-term memory (STM) consists of multiple components.
Descibe what is meant by nomothetic
Psychologists who take a nomothetic approach are concerned with establishing general laws, based on the study of large groups of people.
It involves testing a large sample
This would generate a large amount of data.
The sample should be representative of the larger population, such as through random sampling.
The nomothetic approach is the main approach within scientifically oriented psychology as this approach produces general laws that can be generated that are applicable to all
Nomothetic: methods of investigation and quantitative analysis
Methods of investigation include:
- Experiments
Analysis of data uses QUANTITATIVE methods
- Correlational research
- Psychometric testing (personality)
- Statistical tests
Which approach in psychology takes a nomothetic approach?
he Biological Approach
Biological Psychologists take a nomothetic approach when explaining psychological disorders, such as OCD and depression. They typically pinpoint biological factors, such as neurotransmitters, that are responsible for such disorders and use biological therapies (e.g. drugs) to treat all patients.
Which approach in psychology takes a nomothetic approach?
The Behavioural Approach
Behaviourists, such as Pavlov and Skinner, conducted experiments with animals in order to establish laws of learning (classical and operant conditioning) that could be generalised to humans and non-human animals.
What methods does the psychodynamic approach use?
While the Psychodynamic approach uses idiographic methods (conducting case studies about unique experiences such as Freud’s study of Little Hans) Psychodynamic psychologists also consider general laws such innate drives and psychosexual stages of development which apply to all.
What methods does the cognitive approach use?
While the cognitive approach attempts to establish general laws (e.g. the Multi-Store Model of Memory) in relation to cognitive process, cognitive psychologists also utilise the case study method (an idiographic technique):
- Shallice and Warrington (1970) Patient KF
- Patient HM
Evaluation point for idio V nomo: In favour of idiographic
Point - One argument in favour of an idiographic approach to psychological investigations is that it allows for an in depth account of an individual’s traits and behaviour.
Evidence - For example Freud’s (1909) case study of Little Hans is an example of an idiographic approach. Freud conducted meticulous research on his patients’ cases to understand their psychological problems better. The case study of Little Hans is about a five-year-old boy who was afraid of horses and he concluded that Little Hans behaved this way out of jealousy of his father because Freud believed that Little Hans was going through the Oedipus complex.
Elaboration - This demonstrates that idiographic research can determine why a behaviour occurs, due to the level of depth and insight that is gained from a smaller sample. Though it would only be applicable to a small sample, idiographic research would still fulfil a key aim of psychology - the ability to explain why behaviour occurs.
Link back - Therefore, whilst difficult to generalise out to larger populations, idiographic research is extremely useful in helping us understand the origins of behaviour.
Evaluation point for idio V nomo: nomothetic has broader PA
Point - A further strength of nomothetic approaches to psychological investigation is that they have broader practical applications than idiographic approaches.
Evidence - For example, identifying the general law that
anti-depressants target the neurotransmitter serotonin to increase the levels in the brain to alleviate symptoms of depression in all people, has been groundbreaking and can be used to treat anyone suffering from the debilitating symptoms of depression.
Elaboration - This is because establishing norms and general laws of behaviour allows psychologists to make predictions about future behaviours and potentially to create interventions to address these behaviours. As a result, nomothetic approaches can be useful in helping address certain behaviours.
Link - Therefore, nomothetic approaches are more useful in the identification and intervention of certain behaviours than the idiographic approach because no general laws can be used to apply to all.
Evaluation point for idio V nomo: idio lacks scientific rigour
However, one issue with taking an idiographic approach is that the methods used (e.g. case studies) often LACK SCIENTIFIC RIGOUR
This is because they rely heavily on subjective INTERPRETATION, and often revolve around one unique case.
Meaningful generalisations from unique cases cannot be made without further examples, as this means there is no adequate baseline with which to compare behaviour.
This is a problem as this means conclusions are OPEN TO RESEARCHER BIAS and so is difficult to build effective general theories of human behaviour in the complete absence of nomothetic research.
Evaluation point for idio V nomo: idio allows for in depth account of traits and behaviour
One argument in favour of an idiographic approach to psychological investigations is that it allows for an in depth account of an individual’s traits and behaviour.
For example, the use of qualitative methods such as interviews allows researchers to build up a more complete picture of an individual’s behaviour, that could help refine theories. For example
This means that an idiographic approach …..
may still help form new ‘scientific’ laws of behaviour in some cases or at least help move research on from the unique findings , even though the focus is on fewer individuals.
Evaluation point for idio V nomo: may be practical reasons to take a nomothetic approach to studying behaviour, it could be argued that such approaches may undervalue the impact of INDIVIDUAL EXPERIENCES AND SUBJECTIVE experiences
However, although there may be practical reasons to take a nomothetic approach to studying behaviour, it could be argued that such approaches may undervalue the impact of INDIVIDUAL EXPERIENCES AND SUBJECTIVE experiences
This means that any GENERAL LAWS developed using NOMOTHETIC approaches may actually lack application when trying to explain or predict the behaviour of individuals.
In the search for generalities, the nomothetic approach may OVERLOOK the RICHNESS OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE, which many argue is crucial when trying to understand human behaviour. eg.
It could be that human behaviour is TOO COMPLEX to establish general laws and that people have to be viewed as individuals if behaviour is to make any sense.
