Idiographic and nomothetic approaches

• A nomothetic approach studies large groups and applies the findings to the behaviour of a whole population, creating general laws
• A nomothtic approach usually obtain quantitative data through lab experiments, drawing general conclusions.
• The research methods frequently used in the nomothetic approach means it's a highly controlled, scientific approach.
• Nomothetic approach- The theories it produced can be scientifically tested by other psychologists and checked the findings for reliability
• nomothetic approach- However, because many of these research methods are lab experiments they may lack ecological validity. This is because the studies may have taken place in artificial settings with tasks that have little correlation to everyday tasks, and so the findings from the studies may not generalise to real world behaviour
• E.g most of the studies on the MSM and WMM were carried out in a lab which is an artificial setting meaning results may not generalise to real life memory.
• the idiographic approach focuses on the individuals in detail, looking at what makes each person different and avoiding making general laws and theories. I
• Idiographic research uses research methods such as case studies and interviews that obtain more qualitative data on the person.
• The idiographic approach may be a more complete explanation of behaviour than the nomothetic explanation, because it focuses on individual people. So as a result


  As a result the explanation may be able to account for people outside of the norms behaviour.
• Idiographic approach- However, this often means that fewer people are studied, making it more difficult to generalise findings to larger populations
• Idiographic- when combined with other research methods e.g lab experiments nomothetic laws can be developed. I.e detailed studies of individual cases can be combined with more general studies giving a more complete explanation of behaviour.
• Different psychological approaches fall on different sides of the debate. At the idiographic end of the continuum is the humanistic approach
• Idiographic- humanistic approach, which focuses on individuals and their personal growth e.g Maslow's hierarchy of needs and peoples quest for self actualisation
• At the other end of the continuum (idiographic) is the biological approach, which focuses on how genetics, hormones and brain chemistry affect behaviour
• Idiographic- E.g the biological approach claims that OCD is caused by higher levels of dopamine and lower levels of serotonin.
• The behaviourist approach is also at the nomothetic end of the continuum e.g Pavlov and Skinner used their research findings on operant/classical conditioning to generalise laws to the wider population about how people develop phobias.
• The cognitive approach falls somewhere in the middle e.g the MSM and WMM both suggest that memory operates this way for everybody, however case studies like the one with KF who had brain damage showed that there is room for individual differences.
• psychodynamic approach is probably slightly more towards the idiographic end of the continuum because Freud used case studies on two women to generate his whole psychodynamic theory, but then generalised the laws of the theory to the whole population which is nomothetic