idiographic and nomothetic

Created by

rhianna

Cards (8)

idiographic
comes from the Greek word 'idios' meaning own
focuses on an individual and yields information that is rich and in depth
focuses on the individual to understand behaviour
nomothetic
comes from the Greek word 'nomos' meaning law
studies a large number of people from which general laws can be formulated
studies human behaviour to formulate general principles and universal laws
nomothetic
general laws of human behaviour
normal distrubution
experiments
findings generalised
determinist and reductionist
classify, measure and predict behaviour
e.g Milgrams study of obedience and localisation of function
idiographic
self-report
qualitative data
no attempt to compare with the norm
unstructured interview
case study
unique self
subjective experiences
anti-scientific
e.g Clive Wearing
approaches
A) psychodynamic
B) humanistic
C) cognitive
D) behaviourist
E) biological
AO3 - idiographic -strength
P: it contributes to the nomothetic approach
E: in-depth qualitative methods of investigation and this provides a global description of one individual - sheds light on general laws for nomothetic
E: a single case may generate hypotheses for further study
HM - reveals insight about normal functioning which may contribute to our overall understanding
L: Idiographic approach may still help form scientific laws of behaviour
AO3 idiographic and nomothetic- strength
P: they fit with the aims of science
E: nomothetic research process similar to natural sciences - objectivity standardisation
idiographic - triangulations - increases validity
L: this suggests that both approaches raise psychology status as a science
AO3 nomothetic - limitation
P: loss of understanding of the individual
E: preoccupied with general laws prediction and control - lose the person
E: 1% lifetime risk of developing schizophrenia - don't know what life is like for the person - subjective experience may be useful
L: nomothetic approach may fail to relate to experience