Idiographic and nomothetic approaches

• Idiographic approach


  The study of unique experience. Aims to describe the nature of the individual.

  People are studied as unique entities each with their own subjective experiences, motivations and values.

  There is no attempt to compare these to a larger group standard or norm.
• The idiographic approach is associated with qualitative research methods.


  This approach is linked with methods in psychology that produce qualitative data, like case studies.

  This reflects one of the central aims of idiographic research - to describe the richness of human experience and gain insight into the person's unique was of viewing the world.
• The idiographic approach includes humanistic psychology and the psychodynamic approach. 


  Humanistic psychology is the best example of the idiographic approach. Rogers and Maslow were interested only in documenting the conscious experience of the individual or 'self', rather than producing general laws of behaviour.

  The psychodynamic approach is often thought of as idiographic because of Freud's use of the case study method. But Freud also assumed he had identified laws of behaviour and personality development (the language of the nomothetic approach).
• The nomothetic approach.


  The production of general laws. These laws provide a benchmark against which people can be classified, compared and measured.

  Future behaviour can be predicted and controlled.
• The nomothetic approach is associated with questionnaires and psychological tests. 


  The approach is most closely linked with methods defined as reliable and scientific within psychology.

  These involve the study of larger numbers of people to establish how people are similar (which also tells us how they differ from one another).
• The nomothetic approach includes behaviourist, cognitive, and biological research. 


  The approach looks at findings from large numbers of people which are analysed for statistical significance.

  Behaviourist, cognitive and biological research meet the criteria of the nomothetic approach.

  Questionnaires that test characteristics such as personality or IQ are used to diagnose abnormality and predict behaviour.
• One strength is the idiographic approach provides rich data.


  The idiographic approach provides a complete and global account of the individual, such as the study of HM. A single case may generate further study, like the case of HM in memory research helped our understanding that some procedural memories are more resistant to amnesia. Such findings from unique cases may reveal important insights about normal functioning which may contribute to our overall understanding of behaviour.
• One limitation of the idiographic approach may be its lack of scientific rigour. 


  Supporters of the idiographic approach may have to acknowledge the subjective and restrictive nature of their work. One criticism of Freud is that many of his key concepts (e.g. the Oedipus complex) were largely developed from the detailed study of a single case (e.g. Little Hans). Meaningful generalisations cannot be made without further examples, which means conclusions tend to rely on the subjective interpretation of the researcher and are therefore open to bias.
• One strength of the nomothetic approach is the scientific value of the research. 


  The processes involved in nomothetic research tend to be more scientific, mirroring those employed within the natural sciences. These processes include standardised procedures, assessing validity and reliability and using statistical analyses to demonstrate significance. This arguably gives the discipline of psychology greater scientific credibility.
• One limitation of the nomothetic approach is the loss of the whole person. 


  The preoccupation within the nomothetic approach on general laws, prediction and control has been accused of 'losing the whole person' within psychology. Knowing there is a 1% lifetime risk of developing schizophrenia tells us little about what life is like with it. In lab tests of memory, participants are treated as a set of scores rather than as individual people. This means, in its search for general laws, the nomothetic approach may sometimes overlook the importance of the human experience.