Idiographic vs Nomothetic

• This debate is about...

  -whether psychology should focus on understanding individual and their unique experiences (idiographic) or develop general theories or laws of behaviour which can be generalised (nomothetic).
• Idiographic approach

  -is the belief that studying an individual people and obtaining rich, detailed information about the individual to understand their subjective experience.

  -Findings are not used to generate general laws which are generalised to others.

  -Findings may be used to help others going through similar experiences.
• Research methods

  -favours certain research methods that will gain deeper and more in-depth understanding.

  -unstructured interview allows follow up questions.

  -open questions allows individual to express feelings and emotions.

  -Case studies is an in-depth study investigation into one individual.

  -Thematic analysis retains qualitative richness of the data.
• Examples of idiographic approaches

  -Freud's case studies: like little Hans used to support his general theories. Allows Freud to understand the unique childhood experiences of an individual and how they contributed to their mental disorders.

  -Case study of H.M. and he had his hippocampus removed to treat seizures. This resulted in severe amnesia. Conducted interviews, MRI scans and mirror-tracing to understand unique experiences.
• Nomothetic approach

  -refers to research that focuses on general principles and generalisation across a population of individuals. It involves the study of groups of people or cases to discover universally valid laws or principles.

  -Emphasises objectivity, standardisation and statistical significance.

  -favour large sample size which is why replicability is important.
• Research methods for nomothetic approach

  -associated with scientific methods.

  -obtaining quantitative data to establish patterns and trends in behaviour.

  -Structured interviews

  -Controlled observations

  -Meta analysis
• Examples of nomothetic approach

  -Ainsworth's study of American infants. Attachment behaviours were observed using controlled observation.

  Developed laws indicating different types of attachment which can be generalisable to others.

  -Asch's study about conformity and obedience. Studied American students in lab conditions and data was quantatily recorded. This lead to development of laws governing conformity like group size. Findings generalised to rest of population.