Idiographic & nomothetic approaches

• Idiographic - focuses on individuals & emphasises uniqueness
• Nomothetic - finds general laws of behaviour that apply to all humans
• Idiographic AO3:

  • ✅ Focuses on the individual - provides a more complete understanding
  • ❌ Scientific basis - lack of objective evidence. ✅ Case studies & qualitative data use an evidence based approach
  • ❌ Time consuming - less efficient
  • ❌ Can't separate - idiographic ends up being nomothetic (Freud). Suggested that research should start with nomothetic & then focus on a more understanding approach
• Idiographic AO3:

  • ✅ Focuses on the individual
  • ❌ Scientific basis
  • ❌ Time consuming
  • ❌ Can't separate
• Idiographic:

  • Focuses on individuals & emphasises uniqueness
  • Studies small groups of people & collects qualitative data
  • Believes people's experiences are unique & can't be generalised
  • E.g. the psychodynamic approach. Freud used case studies to understand behaviour
• Nomothetic:

  • Finds general laws of behaviour that apply to all humans.
  • Studies large groups of people & collects quantitative data
  • Believes people's experiences are based on the same laws that can be generalised
  • E.g. the behaviourist approach. Skinner studied hundreds of animals to come up with the laws of learning