nomothetic and ideographic Flashcards
idiographic approach
means private/personal
in order to study the richness of human experiences, the focus should be on the individual and should treat them as unique entities.
no attempt to compare or generlaise
focus is on subjective experiences and quality (qualitative)
nomothetic approach
aims to produce general laws/principles
this can be achieved by studying large groups and using these findings as a benchmark for people to be compared and measured against
enables predictions to be made
involves developing and testing a hypothesis in a scientifc and objective way
3 general laws of human behaviour- nomothetic approach
classifying people into groups
establishing principles of behaviour
establishing dimensions on which people can be placed and compared on
idiographic synoptic - point
The humanistic approach is idiographic as it focuses on the individual and subjective experiences. Also, it sees the individual as an active agent determining their own life choices.
idiographic synoptic - evidence
In Key Approaches, Roger’s client-centred therapy focuses on the individual and their subjective experiences and empowers them to make their own decisions. An effective therapist should provide the client with genuineness, empathy and unconditional positive regard. The aim is to increase feelings of self-worth and establish a relationship.
nomothetic synoptic - explain
This supports the nomothetic approach as it uses a large sample of 49 boys and establishes the general principle that boys with no father living with them will suffer from being ‘gender disturbed’.
idiographic synoptic - explain
This supports the idiographic approach as it highlights how the individual should be studied as a unique entity and the importance of gaining qualitative data of their motivations and values to fully understand behaviour.
nomothetic synoptic - evidence
In gender, Rekers and Morey rated the gender identity of 49 boys ages 3-11. 75% of those judged ‘gender disturbed’ had no biological or substitute father living with them.
A strength of the idiographic approach is that it provides a complete and global account of the individual, such as HM or Little Hans…
This is because the focus of the psychological investigations is on the individual and their subjective experiences, motivations and values, but it also allows us to study behaviour that could not be purposefully created on a large scale due to ethics.
This is good because the findings from a single case study can generate hypotheses for further study. As well as giving us more insight into ‘normal functioning’, leading to a greater understanding of human behaviour.
A weakness of the nomothetic approach is that there is a loss of the whole person and insight into the richness of the human experience.
This is because the focus is on finding general laws/principles of human behaviour that can be applied to all, for example in a lab experiment on the duration of STM participants are treated as a score rather than an individual.
This is bad because in the search for general laws/principles the approach adopts a one-size-fits-all all approach resulting in these laws being inappropriate for some individuals.
a weakness of idiographic approach is it lacks scientific rigor
this is because conducting and then analysing data from case studies and unstructured interviews is subjective and open to bias. there is often not a standardised procedure, and replicability is often difficult.
this is bad because the investigations can be very narrow and restrictive and lack validity
