I+D - idiographic/nomothetic approach - topic 6

idiographic

- focus on the individual and emphasise the unique experience
of human nature
- qualitative techniques

idiographic approach in memory

- shallice and warrington examined patient KF who had a motorbike accident
- short-term forgetting of auditory information was greater than his forgetting of visual information, suggesting that short-term memory (STM) consists of multiple components.

nomothetic

- concerned with establishing general laws, based on the study of large groups of people
- quantitative techniques to analyse data

nomothetic approach in behaviourism

- Behaviourists, such as Pavlov and Skinner, conducted experiments with animals to establish laws of learning that could be generalised to humans and non-human animals.

overlap in social influence

- social psychologists, such as Milgram and Asch, used a nomothetic approach to create general conclusions about human behaviour
- that situational factors are responsible for both obedience and conformity

EVAL - idiographic can't produce laws of human behaviour

- severely limits its usefulness as a source of practical knowledge about the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders.
- unscientific nature because emphasis on in-depth data collection and the difficulties in arriving at justifiable generalisations contradicts the purpose of any science: to explain the most variation in the fewest possible terms so that phenomena can be predicted and controlled
- idiographic researchers respond to these criticisms by emphasising the evidence-based nature of their conclusions, and the awareness embedded in their research techniques, and often claim that the validity of their findings are more secure
- " it is only through the understanding of single individuals that psychologists can hope to predict how such individuals will behave in a given situation."

EVAL - case studies are good

- a case study method is a powerful tool for evaluating psychological theories.
- Patient KF (Shallice and Warrington, 1970) exposed a limitation of the Multi-Store Model of Memory, by providing evidence that our STM comprises of at least two components (auditory and visual memory) and not one, as stipulated by Atkinson and Shiffrin.
- Consequently, a single case study can generate further research into a particular phenomenon (e.g. memory), which contributes to the development of new theories that further our understanding of human behaviour.

EVAL - nomothetic approach is generally scientific

- . The use of experimental (quantitative) methods, controlled measurement and the ability to predict behaviour, are all seen as strengths of the nomothetic approach.
- controlled methods allow for replication to examine the reliability of findings which has helped psychology establish itself as a scientific discipline.
- because the nomothetic approach is viewed as scientific, it is useful for predicting and controlling behaviour. For example, biological psychologists take a nomothetic approach when explaining OCD and claim that OCD is caused by higher dopamine and lower serotonin.
• Drug therapies are developed through nomothetic research and work by redressing a biological imbalance. SSRIs are used to treat OCD and increase the availability and uptake of serotonin, thus reducing the anxiety associated with OCD, which helps to improve the lives of people suffering from this condition.

EVAL - idiographic methods can be better for treatment

- drug treatments aren't successful for all so alternate treatments such as cbt would be more suitable
- nomoethic approach only provided a superficial explanation of human behaviour
- Milgram's research found that 65% of participants obeyed an authority figure and inflicted a 450-volt electric shock because they were ordered to do so. However, the results fail to provide an explanation of why each person obeyed, and there may have been very different circumstances that led to the obedience found in each participant.