nomothetic

• Nomothetic approach


  The idea that people can be regarded as groups & theories are therefore generalisable.
• Nomothetic methods


  Experiments with large numbers of people, questionnaires, experimental methods
• People act in which way?

  Everyone behaves in the same way because there are universal behaviours.
• Which psychological approaches take a nomothetic approach?

  Biological, Behaviourists, Cognitive
• How the frequency distribution charts support the nomothetic approach?

  The nomothetic approach has led to the development of frequency distribution charts which show the range of normal & abnormal characteristics/behaviours. In areas such as intelligence & psychopathology a normal distribution curve can be drawn to show what proportions of people share the characteristics of the behaviour in question. Any individuals who fall outside the normal distribution for the characteristics/ behaviours (usually 5% of the population) are seen as abnormal.
• Main advantage of nomothetic approach

  Uses lab experiments, which have a high control of extraneous variable this allows us to identify cause & effect, this gives psychology scientific status.
• Summary of the Milgram nomothetic lab experiment

  Obedience lab experiment. Ppt = teacher ordered by person in lab coat to give electric shock to learner for wrong answers. 65% were fully obedient. People are obedient to people in positions of authority & go into an agentic state.
• Milgram study - challenging the nomothetic approach


  A woman in one of Milgram's later replication of his study was defiant as soon as she heard the learner scream out in pain. Later interviews revealed an idiographic reason for her defiance. The woman was a holocaust survivor & had vowed to never harm another human being after her experiment in a concentration camp. This shows that talking a nomothetic approach can sometimes lead to missing the real cause of human behaviour as it lacks qualitative data.
• 2nd advantage of the nomothetic approach

  Helps psychology to become more scientific as the study can be replicated in order to see if the results are reliable so that we can generalised from the results & practical applications can be developed -> support: Skinner demonstrated through his lab experiments on rats that positive reinforcement aids the learning process - the use of rewards in schools such as house-points in order to reinforce good behaviour.
• Evaluations of taking a nomothetic approach - weakness

  Low ecological validity, Increased chances of demand characteristics, Limits being able to generalise results
• Evaluations of taking a nomothetic approach - strengths

  Peterson study -> Focused on a large sample of ppts & aimed to identify general patterns & principles that can be applied to a broader population, used standardised procedure, study aimed to establish general laws/principles that can be used to understand human behaviour -> highly scientific - a nomothetic approach is considered highly scientific, samples/hypothesis, standardised procedures & control over confounding variables, can establish cause & effect & general laws of behaviour.
• Criticising the nomothetic approach

  Humanistic theory argues we are unique & it is dehumanising to suggest we can be studied under scientific conditions