Idiographic and nomothetic approaches to psychological investigation

what is the idiographic approach?

focuses more on the individual case as a means of understanding behaviour

what is the nomothetic approach?

attempts to study human behaviour through the development of general principles and universal laws

which approach tends to make comparisons?

nomothetic

which approach is generally thought of as more scientific?

nomothetic

which areas of the psychology course use the idiographic approach?

psychodynamic, humanist

which areas of the psychology course use the nomothetic approach?

behavioural, biological, social influence, biopsych

what are some idiographic methods of research?

• case studies

• unstructured interviews

• self-report measures (e.g. diaries)

what are some nomothetic methods of research?

• experiments

• surveys

• observations

• content analysis

• correlations

what is an advantage of the nomothetic approach?

large numbers of people analysed to discover statistically significant results where conclusions can be generalised to the rest of the population

what 3 general laws are produced by applying the nomothetic approach?

• classifying people into groups e.g. DSM

• establishing principles of behaviour that can be applied to people in general e.g. classical conditioning

• establishing dimensions along which people can be placed and compared e.g. IQ scores, attachment types

what are the 4 aims of science and which do the idiographic and nomothetic approaches deal with?

• describe → idiographic

• understand → idiographic

• predict → nomothetic

• control → nomothetic