Idiographic and nomothetic approaches

what is the idiographic approach?

derived from the the Greek word idios, meaning personal

focuses on individual cases as a means of understanding behaviour as opposed to formulating general laws

people are studied as unique entities, with subjective experiences and there may be no attempt of comparison

aims to describe the richness of the human experience

what is the nomothetic approach?

derived from Greek nomos meaning law

aims to define human behaviour through general principles and universal laws

act as a benchmark against which people can be classified, compared and measured

aligned with more scientific methods in psychology such as experiments

involves a large number of people in order to establish ways in which people are similar

what is qualitative research

focusing on first-hand accounts, unstructured interviews from a small number of people, such as case studies

this then goes through a content analysis which allows for emergent themes to be identified to help people going through similar experinces

give idiographic examples from psychology

most associated with the humanistic and psychodynamic approaches

Freud’s theory was based on the case studies of little hans, Dora and Anna O whereas Rogers derived unconditional positive regard from in-depth conversations with clients in therapy

what is quantitative research?

large samples of people or animals are assessed against a hypothesis using techniques such as a structured questionnaire which provides numerical data that can be analysed statistically. Seeks to quantify human behaviour

give examples from psychology of the nomothetic approach?

Skinner or Pavlov’s use of animals to derive general laws or principles of human behaviour

Roger Sperry’s split brain research which provided the basis of our understanding of hemispheric lateralisation

difference between subjectivity and objectivity

the nomothetic approach relies on objectivity

relies on standardised methods which can be replicated and falsified

idiographic relies on subjectivity

believe psychological objectivity is impossible and that the individual experience needs to be understood within its unique context

complete account

p - the idiographic approach contributes to the nomothetic approach

e - in depth qualitative research provides a global understanding of the individual which can complement the nomothetic approach

e - a single case study may generate a hypothesis which later creates general laws such as patient Clive Wearing and the long term memory stores

l - even when focusing on a smaller sample, the idiographic approach can generate general laws

cp - with the absence of nomothetic research, it is difficult to build effective general theories of human behaviour as case studies can be affected by biases and immense subjectivity

scientific approach

both idiographic and nomothetic ideas reflect the aims of science

in the nomothetic approach, a more natural science stance is adopted, establishing objectivity through standardisation, control and statistical testing

in the idiographic approach, objectification is also observed through content analysis and triangulation where findings from a variety of qualitative methods is compared to increase their validity. Furthermore, through reflexivity, an awareness of ones biases, the research can become even more objective

losing the person

p - nomothetic approach can be too focused on establishing general laws

e - for example, knowing that there is a 1% lifetime risk of developing schizophrenia is a general law but tells us nothing about the individual experience of a person with schizophrenia

e - this makes it more difficult to devise methods of how to treat them,

l - in the search for generalities, the nomothetic approach can fail to relate to experience

distinct or complimentary

whilst these approaches are very distinct, they can cooperate

for example, Millom claimed that when diagnosing personality disorders, clinicians begin with the nomothetic criteria but then focus on the individual’s idiographic needs

this shows how the approaches support each other in the real world