Lesson 7 - Idiographic vs Nomothetic Flashcards
What is the idiographic approach?
‘Idios’ is the Greek word for ‘own’ or ‘private’. The idiographic approach focuses on the individual, and assumes that every person is unique, and this is due to personal experiences and inherent human nature. The idiographic approach favours qualitative research methods such as unstructured interviews, and case studies. The idiographic approach does not aim to formulate laws or generalise results to others.
What is the nomothetic approach?
‘Nomos’ is the Greek word for ‘law’. Psychologists who take a nomothetic approach are often focusing on establishing general laws, which are based upon group studies. The nomothetic approach favours quantitative data such as experiments, correlations and psychometric testing.
How is the nomothetic approach the main approach that is taken throughout psychology?
Biological psychologists take a nomothetic approach when explaining psychological disorders, such as OCD and depression. They typically point out biological patterns that can be found among all humans and use these.
How is the nomothetic approach the main approach that is taken throughout psychology?
Biological psychologists take a nomothetic approach when explaining psychological disorders, such as OCD and depression. They typically point out biological patterns that can be found among all humans and use these.
Behavioural psychologists (Pavlov and Skinner) take a nomothetic approach as they conducted experiments with animals to establish general laws of learning, and then they generalise these to humans, and other animals.
Cognitive psychologists (Atkinson and Shiffrin) developed general laws such as the MSM, and generalised these to everyone.
Social psychologists (Milgram and Asch), used a nomothetic approach to create general conclusions about human behaviour, and these situational factors are responsible for both obedience and conformity.
The DSM-V and ICD-11 are classification manuals that apply to the general public, so they also take a nomothetic approach.
Evaluation of Idiographic Approach - Qualitative data
Qualitative data provides complete and detailed accounts of the individual. This helps challenge the ideas of the nomothetic approach, and challenges the idea of general laws.
Evaluation of Idiographic approach - Case studies
Case studies are extremely valuable as they provide unique circumstances that cannot usually be created and thus tested. Cases such as KF exposed a large flaw in the MSM by proving that the STM has at least 2 components (auditory and visual memory).
Evaluation of Idiographic Approach - Lack of generalisations
The idiographic approach is unable to produce general laws, and this means that it’s usefulness is severely limited as a source of knowledge and as a reference point.
Evaluation of Nomothetic Approach - Extremely Scientific
The nomothetic approach is quite scientific. By using controlled environments and quantitative data, and establishing general laws, it is seen as quite scientific.
Evaluation of Nomothetic Approach - Problems of generalisations
Generalisations come with some issues. For example, drug treatments are not effective for everyone, and it is argued that CBT (a idiographic method) is actually more practical. Generalisations make assumptions about people which can cause practical issues, which is an issue of the nomothetic approach.
Evaluation of Nomothetic Approach - Losing sight of the person
Some psychologists argue that the nomothetic approach can result in the ‘person’ being lost, as it focuses too heavily on groups and numbers. For example, Milgram found that 65% of people would administer a 450V shock because they were ordered to do so. He does not mention WHY they do this though.
