idiographic + nomothetic approaches

• idiographic approach - derived from the greek 'idios' meaning 'private or personal'. An approach to research that focuses more on the individual case as a means of understanding behaviour, rather than aiming to formulate general laws of behaviour (the nomothetic approach)
• Nomothetic approach - derived from the Greek 'nomos' meaning 'law'. The nomothetic approach attempts to study human behaviour through the development of general principles + universal laws
• Idiographic approach


  Attempts to describe the nature of the individual. People are studied as unique entities, each with their own subjective experiences, motivations + values. There may be no attempt made to compare these to a larger group, standard or norm
• Idiographic approach

  The idiographic approach is generally associated with those methods in psychology that produce qualitative data, such as case studies, unstructured interviews + other self-reports measures. This reflects one of the person's unique way of viewing the world
• The nomothetic approach


  Main aim of it is to produce general laws of human behaviour. These provide a 'benchmark' against which people can be compared, classified + measured and on the basis of which, likely future behaviour can be predicted and/or controlled.
• The nomothetic approach


  The nomothetic approach is most likely aligned with those methods that would be regarded as 'scientific' within psychology such as experiments. These involve the study of large numbers of people in order to establish ways in which people are similar (which will also inform us of the ways in which people are different from one another)
• Examples of the idiographic approach in psych


  Humanistic psychology is probably the best example of the idiographic perspective. Carl Rogers + Abraham Maslow took a phenomenological approach to the study of human beings + were interested only in documenting the conscious experience of the individual or 'self'. In describing themselves as 'anti-scientific', humanistic psychologist were more concerned with investigating unique experience 'on its own merits' than producing general laws of behaviour
• Examples of the idiographic approach in psych


  The psychodynamic approach is often labelled 'idiographic' because of Sigmund Freud's use of the case study method when detailing the lives of his patients. However, Freud also assumed he had identified universal laws of behaviour + personality development
• Examples of the nomothetic approach in psych


  The nomothetic approach tends to be a feature of those approaches that are reductionist, determinist + employ scientific methods of investigation. Hypotheses are formulated, tested under controlled conditions + findings generated from large numbers of people are analysed for their statistical significance.
• Examples of the idiographic approach in psych


  Much of the research conducted by behaviourist, cognitive + biological psychologists would meet the criteria of the nomothetic approach. For example, Skinner & the behaviourists studied the responses of hundreds of rats, cats & pigeons etc, in order to develop the laws of learning; cognitive psychologists have been able to infer the structure & processes of human memory by measuring the performance of large samples of people in laboratory tests
• Examples of the idiographic approach in psych


  Biological psychologists have conducted brain scans on countless human brains in order to make generalisations about localisation of function. In each of these cases, hypotheses are rigorously tested, statistically analysed + general laws + principles are proposed + developed - all of which are key features of the nomothetic approach
• A03: Strength for idiographic approach


  The idiographic approach, provides a complete and global account of the individual. This may complement the nomothetic approach by shredding further light on general laws or indeed by challenging such laws.

  For example, a single case may generate hypotheses for further study. It is also true that in the case of brain-damaged individuals, like HM, findings may reveal important insights about normal functioning which may contribute to our overall understanding
• A03: Limitation for idiographic approach


  One of the criticisms levelled at Freud is that many of his key concepts, like Oedipus complex, were largely developed from the detailed study of a single case (Little Hans). Meaningful generalisations can't be made without further examples, as there is no adequate baseline with which to compare behaviour
• A03: Limitation for idiographic approach


  Methods associated with the idiographic approach, such as case studies, tend to be the least scientific in that conclusions often rely on the subjective interpretation of the researcher + as such, are open to bias
• A03: Strength for nomothetic approach


  The processes involved in nomothetic research tend to be more scientific, mirroring those employed within the natural sciences - testing under standardised conditions, using data sets that provide group averages, statistical analysis, prediction + control, for example in the field of IQ testing. Such processes have enabled psychologists to establish norms of 'typical' behaviour (such as the average IQ of 100), arguably giving the discipline of psychology greater scientific credibility
• A03: limitations for nomothetic approach


  The preoccupation within the nomothetic approach on general laws, predictions + control has been accused of 'losing the whole person' within psychology. Knowing that there is a 1% lifetime risk of developing schizophrenia tells us little about what life is like for someone who is suffering from the disorder.
• A03: limitations for nomothetic approach


  In lab studies involving tests of, say, memory, participate are treated as a series of scores rather than individual people + their subjective experience of the situation is ignored. This means, in its search for generalities, the nomothetic approach may sometimes overlook the richness of human experience