Nomothetic vs Idiographic

Question 1

Idiographic Approaches

Answer 1

Focus on individual differences

Question 2

Nomothetic Approaches

Answer 2

Tries to establish general laws for everyone

Question 3

Research Methods

Answer 3

can be idiographic or nomothetic, depending on if they focus on individuals (idiographic i.e a case study) large groups of people (nomothetic i. e lab experiments)

Question 4

Nomothetic research methods

Answer 4

Experiments- focus on establishing general laws about human behavior, generally using quantitative data
Correlational- tries to establish general conclusions about whether two variables are associated

Question 5

Idiographic research methods

Answer 5

Case Studies + Qualitative data

Question 6

Methods of collecting data for idiographic

Answer 6

-Unstructured Interviews
-Open Questions
each of which produce qualitative data

Question 7

Nomothetic Approaches

Answer 7

-Behaviourist approach -Social learning theory
-Cognitive approach
-Biological approach
(all also use idiographic methods)

Question 8

Why is the humanistic approach purely idiographic

Answer 8

Everyone is so complex and different from one another so psychologists should not try to establish general laws

Question 9

Psychodynamic approach

Answer 9

Uses Idiographic methods and applies them to create nomothetic theories

Question 10

AO3 - Nomothetic (positive eval) vs Idiographic
Scientific nature

Answer 10

Nomothetic methods are seen as more scientific because they allow us to establish general laws about behaviour which allow us to make predictions. On the other hand, Idiographic methods are unscientific because they do not aim to establish general laws about behaviour and are impossible to falsify

Question 11

A03 Idiographic (positive eval) vs Nomothetic
Allport-predictions

Answer 11

Allport (Researcher) argued against the criticism that ideographic methods do not allow us to make predictions. He pointed out that there are limitations to how predictive nomothetic methods can be. Allport suggested that idiographic methods may be a better predictor for behaviour as it gives us a greater understanding of an individual.

Question 12

A03 Idiographic (positive)
Feasability

Answer 12

It may sometimes more FEASIBLE to undertake idiographic research than nomothetic research, either because resources such as time or money are too limited to study lots of participants, or because there aren’t enough participants to study nomothetically

Question 13

A03 idiographic (LIMITATION)
Time constraints

Answer 13

Idiographic methods like conducting interviews and interpreting qualitative data take a longer time per participant, suggesting that ideographic methods are only suitable for small numbers of ppts

Question 14

Idiographic methods- Summary

Answer 14

-Better predictions about individuals
-Don’t need as many participants
-Take longer per participant