Idiographic vs Nomothetic

• The idiographic approach

  • Attempts to describe the nature of the individual
  • People studied as unique entities
  • Sees each person as having their own subjective experiences, motivations and values
  • May be no attempt to compare these to a larger group/standard/norm
  • Aims to describe richness of human experience and gain insight into unique ways of viewing the world
• Methods psychologists use with the idiographic approach

  Methods that produce qualitative data e.g. case studies or unstructured interviews
• The nomothetic approach

  • Aims to produce general laws -> these laws provide a benchmark against which people are compared, classified and measured
  • likely future behaviour can be predicted and controlled
  • Hypotheses are generated, rigorously tested, statistically analysed and general laws/principles proposed and developed
  • studies involve large numbers to establish ways in which people are similar
• Methods psychologists use with the nomothetic approach 


  Methods used are usually scientific e.g. experiments
• Topics linking to approach

  • Interviews and psychodynamic approach —> idiographic
  • Case studies: Oksana, the Czech twins and little Hans—> idiographic
  • Experiments and biological approach —> nomothetic