Nomethic Vs Idiographic approach debate

Question 1

What is the idiographic approach ?

Answer 1

Studying individuals in order to understand them as unique entities with a subjective experiences

• Focuses on individuality
• Qualitative methods preferred rather than the creation of general laws of behaviour

Question 2

Outline the debate briefly

Answer 2

The debate is the extent to which psychology should focus on dealing with individuals as opposed to generating theories and laws that apply to all people.

Question 3

What is the nomothetic approach ?

Answer 3

• Formulates a general basis of laws of behaviour based on the study of a group.
• Uses statistical quantitative research - experiments
• Making summaries when considering differences by generalising across all people

Question 4

what type of research does the idiographic approach favour?

Answer 4

Qualitative
* case studies
* thematic / content analysis
* research that gives unique insights

Question 5

What approaches favour an idiographic approach?

Answer 5

Humanistic

Question 6

What are examples of a idiographic approach to research

Answer 6

• Humanistic approach - client-centred therapy approach (individualised approach) → studying conscious experience Rogers and Maslow investigated human experience instead of laws
• Freud - used case studies- Little Han quotes and descriptions of his life → generalisations drawn from this for psychosexual pages of development

Question 7

What research does the nomothetic approach favour?

Answer 7

Quantitative
* larger sample sizes
* quanitative stats and averages to inform them of the data to create the general laws
* scientific method being able to make generalisations / reliability

Question 8

what approaches favour the nomothetic approach?

Answer 8

• behaviourism
• social learning theory
• biological and cognitive approach

Question 9

examples of the nomothetic approach

Answer 9

• Behaviourist ( conditioning)- animal studies generalised to humans
• Biological - explaining disorders pinpointing biological factors that they then use to treat all / fight or flight → how body respond - beta bias
• Cognitive - generalise the models of memory to all

Question 10

Identify the strengths of the idiographic approach

Answer 10

• RWA - NHS
• increasing amount of detail within case studies

Question 11

Explain the RWA NHS strength of the idiographic approach

Answer 11

Real world application
Individual - personalised medicine approach - NHS
Individual characterisation changing the way medicine will be delivered (no longer one size fits all)
* Looking at both genetic and environmental for the individual
E.g Cancer treatments - individual assessments are created as see a faster recovery and is more cost effective → then just drug therapy - ECONOMICAL IMPLICATION

Prediction,personalised intervention, precise diagnosis, patient involvement
As nomothetic treatments are moving towards idiographic treatments

Highlights the value of this approahc in improving lives and economical implications

Question 12

explain the increasing amount of detail within case studies strength of the idiographic approach

with counter point

Answer 12

Provide a complete account of individual - as level of * detail is has reflexivity allowing this depth of info

^ FOR EXAMPLE Clive wearing - ^ depth and quality of info gathered - lead to development of localisation of memory
*But lacks generalizability as is a narrow view so seen as less scientific due to less ecological validity
*

Question 13

Identify the limitations of the idiographic approach

Answer 13

• subjectivity
• time consuming

Question 14

explain the subjective limitation of the idiographic approach

Answer 14

• Subjectivity - The nature of the data collection may be flawed → relied on self report / observation → subjective so susceptible to bias

Question 15

Explain the time consuming limitation of the idiographic approach

Answer 15

Time consuming / limited in EV - Freud’s Little Han → detailed insight into daily experiences (unlikely to apply to other people) → criticised for basing oedipus complex in such work as not able to be generalised

Question 16

Identify the nomothetic strengths

Answer 16

• RWA - SSRIs
• Scientific methodology
• Application to many theories

Question 17

Explain the RWA of scientific method of the nomothetic approach

WITH COUNTERPOINT

Answer 17

Real World application to treatments → OCD caused by low levels of serotonin and this nomothetic method has lead to drug therapies SSRIs → can lead to positive economical / value to others lives
but drug not successful for all and some argue CBT that focus on individual may be more valuable

Criticised for being reductionist → ignores individuality as its a one fit for all

Question 18

explain the scientific methodology strength of the nomothetic approach

Answer 18

+ Scientific measurement - the experimental objective methods and controlled measurements allow laws to be established and replication ^ reliability → gives psych a greater credibility

On balance, is widely useable way of understanding but are often reductionist of meaning to be used solely

Question 19

Explain the application to theories strength of the nomothetic approach

Answer 19

Has had applications in many theories
+ Psychologists, such as Atkinson and Shiffrin, developed general laws, such as the Multi-Store Model of Memory, which they believed could be generalised to everyone.

+ Social Psychologists, such as Milgram and Asch, used a nomothetic approach to create general conclusions about human behaviour: that situational factors are responsible for both obedience and conformity.
Proved useful within the psychological field

Question 20

Explain the loss of individuality limitation of the nomothetic approach

Answer 20

Critiqued by** humanists **for the focus on averages and general laws has caused for a loss of individuality of all → overlooks uniqueness and subjectivity (as studies often lab based taking an average) meaning general norms may not accurately represent every individual
E.g research into frequency of depression gives no individual experience

Question 21

Explain the point of intergrating both the approaches

Answer 21

intergrated approach - both is used to combine strengths of eas to provide a more holistic approach and understanding of behaviour. General trends may be found by general trends and then ideographic study exploring the trend in individuals → ideographic findings can generate hypotheses tested on a larger scale using nomothetic methods

Nomothetic and idiographic approaches may be complementary to each other, rather than contradictory. = For example, Milton and Davis (1996) suggest that research should start with a nomothetic approach and once general laws have been produced the focus should switch to an idiographic approach to develop our understanding and theories.Therefore, either approach can be used depending on the aims and nature of the research.
.

Question 22

Whats an example of research that combines both the approaches

Answer 22

E.g in Memory the CW lead to more localisation of function and further memory models such as WMM