Idiographic and Nomothetic Approaches to Psychological Investigation

what is an idiographic approach?

• rs that takes an idio appr studies indv as unique

• aims to capture richness + complexity of human individuality

• rs methods used incl case studies, diaries, journal records and unstruc interv

• data prod = qualitative

• focus is ab gaining rich detailed info only relevant to that individual, rather than being able to generalise findings

what is an example of research using an idiographic approach?

• humanistic and psychodynamic psychologists take an idiog appr → e.g. Carl R & Abraham M use unstruc interv to gather their data + focus their rs on subjective experiences + individuality

• mem rs can also take idio appr as uses case studies, such as K.F. and Clive Wearing, to investig the subject

• finally, forensic psychologists often take idio appro as theey study small samples + analyse findings qualitatively e.g. offenders’ journals

what is the nomothetic approach?

• involves studying a large sample of ppts + using findings to make generalisations, generate general laws/models of beh & make inferences + predictions ab the beh of wider pop

• rs meth used incl: experiments, correlations, meta-analyses and struct obsv

• data prod is quantitative

• objectivity and the scientific meth in rs are important

what is an example of research using a nomothetic approach?

• behaviourist and biolog psychologists take a nomoth appr → e.g. Skinner carried out his expts into OC using rats and found general law relating to reinforcement, thenn applied findings to all hum beh

• Ainsworth’s rs into att also takes nomo appro as she studied groups of babies and created a general law ab classifications of secure + insecure att styles based on how a child behaves during SS