Idiographic & Nomothetic Approaches

Define what is meant by ‘idiographic approach’

• Each individual is considered as a unique case, each with their own subjective experiences, values and motivations - no attempt is made to compare these to a larger group, standard or norm

Describe the methods usually associated with the idiographic approach

• Methods that produce qualitative data:

  • Case studies

  • Unstructured interviews

  • Thematic/content analysis

What do the methods used in the idiographic approach cause?

• This means that only relatively small numbers of people can be tested

Describe how the qualitative methods reflects the aims of the idiographic approach

• It describes the richness of human experience and gain insight into the person’s unique way of viewing the world

Which approach(es) take an idiographic approach?

• Humanistic - it describe itself as ‘anti-scientific’ whereby Rogers and Maslow were more concerned with the unique experience of the individual and ‘self’ rather than producing general laws of behaviour

• Psychodynamic - only partially due to Freud’s use of case studies such as Little Hans (he also produces general laws of behaviour such as psychosexual stages of development)

Describe the nomothetic approach

• Studies large numbers of people in order to formulate general (universal) laws of human behaviour

  • Data gathered provides a standard (benchmark) against which people’s behaviour can be measured and compared - this allows psychologists to predict and possibly control behaviour

Describe the methods used by the nomothetic approach

• Use the experiment method to produce quantitative data

  • Measures of central tendency

  • Correlation coefficients

  • Percentages

Which approach(es) take a nomothetic approach?

• Approaches that reductionist and determinist

  • Behaviourist - Skinner studied the responses of hundreds of rats and pigeons to establish the laws of conditioning

  • Biological - conducted brain scans on countless humans to make generalisations about localisation of function

AO3 - The case for the idiographic approach….

• The idiographic approach has been praised for bringing the focus of psychology back to the individual rather than placing too much emphasis on the objective measurement of behaviour

• This focus has provided useful insights which challenge general laws of behaviour

  • E.g., case studies of brain damaged individuals (such as Clive Wearing) provide useful insights about the mind and behaviour that cannot be acquired through any other means

• This is a strength as the idiographic approach is helping to increase the validity of psychological research by focusing on real-life people within real-life contexts

AO3 - The case against the idiographic approach

• The time consuming nature of the methods (e.g., case studies) of the idiographic approach greatly restricts the scale and scope of the findings produced

  • This makes it hard to establish whether the findings are reliable and representative

  • E.g., Freud’s Oedipus complex theory was largely developed from the detailed study of a single case (Little Hans)

• This is a weakness since this means the use qualitative methods relies on the subjective interpretation of the researcher and are therefore open to bias

AO3 - The case for the nomothetic approach

• One strength for the nomothetic approach is that it is highly scientific

  • The processes involved (e.g., large scale testing under standardised conditions) and the gathering of quantitative data enables general laws to be established

• This is a strength since the scientific approach allows researchers to make predictions about behaviour which are useful, .e.g, in the development of drugs [use any any example u can think of]

AO3 - The case against the nomothetic approach

• The nomothetic approach ignores subjective experience

  • Some argue the preoccupation of thus approach on large samples and statistical data means Ps are seen as a series of scores rather than individual people

    • E.g., knowing there is a 1% risk of developing schizophrenia tells us little about what life is like for a sufferer of the condition

• This is a weakness as the nomothetic approach may overlook the richness and uniqueness of human experience