Idiographic vs Nomothetic

• Idiographic Approach:

  A research approach that focuses more on the individual case as a means of understanding behaviour, rather than aiming to formulate general laws of behaviour.
• Idiographic research methods:

  • Qualitative data.
  • Case studies.
  • Unstructured interviews.
  • Self-report.
• Example of Idiographic research:

  • Rogers and Maslow only documented the conscious experience of the individual.
  • They described themselves as anti-scientific, concerning themselves with unique experiences.
  • Psychodynamic approach – Freud.
• Idiographic Approach: Evaluation: Strength:

  • Qualitative methods provide a complete and global account of the individual.
  • The richness of detail can complement the nomothetic approach by shedding further light or challenging general laws.
  • The case of HM has proven to be valuable in identifying how different types of LTM are more resistant to forgetting, and where they might be stored in the brain.
  • However, cases such as HM are often anomalous and unique. This means our data may not be replicable, suggesting that perhaps we should not use the idiographic approach as the only means for research.
  • Despite this drawback, idiographic methods such as case studies reveal insights about normal functioning – contributing to our overall understanding.
• Idiographic Approach: Evaluation: Weakness:

  • On the other hand, one weakness of the idiographic approach is that it is very narrow and restrictive.
  • For example, Freud developed the psychosexual stages of development largely using a detailed case study.
  • This can be seen through the Little Hans case study which was then generalised to the wider population.
  • This is a weakness of the idiographic approach because to make meaningful generalisations for the wider populations, research must be supported by wider evidence.
  • Furthermore, Anna O.
• Nomothetic Approach:

  The Nomothetic approach attempts to study human behaviour through the development of general principles and universal laws.
• Nomothetic Research Methods:

  • Scientific Experiments
  • Large samples
  • Similarities
  • Differences
• Examples of Nomothetic Research:

  • Skinner studied hundreds of rats and pigeons to develop the laws of learning.
  • The Biological Approach uses scientific methods such as brain scans to make generalisations about localisation of functions in the brain.
  • The Cognitive approach measures large samples of participants to infer the structure and processes involved in human history.
  • Cognitive Psychologists developed generalisable MSM.
• • Nomothetic Approach: Evaluation: Strength:

  • Research tends to be far more scientific, aligning with natural sciences.
  • Testing under tightly controlled and standardised conditions. o IQ testing provides us with a baseline.
  • The average standard IQ is 100.
  • This allows us to predict behaviour.
  • However, due to individual differences, data presented in this way does not account for or explain anomalies.
  • This may underexplain behaviour.
  • These norms give Psychology greater credibility
• Nomothetic Approach: Evaluation: Weakness:

  • Nomothetic research can be accused of ‘losing the whole person’ in Psychology and thus undermining the key principles of the discipline.
  • Participants of nomothetic research are reduced to a set of numbers or scores, and the subjective nature of human experience is lost.
  • For example, knowing there is a 1% chance of developing schizophrenia tells us very little about what it is like for an individual to live with – reducing our ability to manage it.
  • In Lab studies, participants are treated as a series of scores rather than individual people.
  • This means the approach can overlook the detail and richness of the human experience.
• Nomothetic Approach: Evaluation: The Case for Compromise:

  • The goal of modern Psychology is to provide rich, detailed descriptions of human behaviour as well as the explanation of such behaviour within the framework of general laws.
  • Interactionist approach.
  • Attachment.
  • Windelhand introduced the contemporary understanding of the two terms by blending them.
  • This approach can be seen as beneficial as Psychologists can form an idea based on a case and then use scientific methods to further study this on a large scale.