Ideographic vs Nomothetic

Ideographic

= an approach to research that focuses more on the individual case as a means of understanding behaviour, rather than aiming to formulate general laws of behaviour

Outline of the ideographic approach

Idios = "own" (Greek)

- Attempts to describe the nature of the individual and capture the richness of human experience

- Individuals are studied as unique entities with their own subjective experiences, motivations, and values

- Idiographic research does not try to compare or measure individuals against standards or norms of larger groups

Research methods + ideographic

qualitative data, case studies, unstructured interviews, self-report

Ideographic example - Rogers and Maslow's hierarchy of needs

Humanistic approach

... took a phenomenological approach meaning they were only interested in documenting the conscious experience of the individual

=> they describe themselves as "Anti-scientific", concerning themselves with unique experience on its own rather than making general laws

Ideographic example - Freud's psychodynamic approach

... most of the research is based on case studies conducted by Freud himself (Little Hans)

=> BUT Freud used this to claim he had discovered laws of behaviour and personality

A03 STRENGTH for ideographic approach

P

The in-depth qualitative methods of the ideographic approach provides a complete and global account of the individual

EX

This richness in detail by focusing on the individual can complement the nomothetic approach by shedding further light or by challenging general laws, and this can lead to better insight into disorders to inform therapies such as psychotherapy or Roger's client centred approach.

EV

For example, Roger's client centred therapy within the humanistic approach reinstates the individual as the focus of psychological research, and catering to the individuals needs can encourage a positive response from the patients

EXT

In addition to this, the case of HM has proved invaluable in identifying how different types of LTM are more resistant to forgetting, and where they might be stored in the brain. By focusing solely on the patient's behaviour provided in-depth insight who could then be used to evaluate a theory.

LB

Therefore, case studies reveal insights about normal functioning which can contribute to our overall understanding and be used to make generalised assumptions in research.

A03 WEAKNESS of the ideographic approach

P

On the other hand, it is important to recognise how narrow and restricted ideographic research can be

EX

It is not possible to gterm-7eneralise the findings from ideographic research die to restricted sample sizes, and the approach itself is very time consuming to study an individual in-depth.

EV

Whilst research from case studies like Freud's Little Hans study was largely used to develop the psychosexual stages, but this case study could not be applied to the general population as it was based off of one child's unique childhood experiences.

EXT

Furthermore, case studies such as that of little Hans are open to subjective interpretation of the researcher and therefore bas bias to suit the researchers needs. Self-report measures are also open to bias due to respondents giving socially desirable answers

LB

This is important because it limits the usability of ideographic research and restricts what we can gather from it because supporting evidence is needed for meaningful generalisations to be made.

Nomothetic

= an approach that attempts to study human behaviour through the development of general principles and universal laws

Outline of the Nomothetic approach

Nomos = "laws" (Greek)

- The aim is to produce general laws of human behaviour

- These general laws provide a benchmark against which we can compare, classify and measure individuals

- We can use this approach to predict (and potentially control) future behaviour based on trends and norms

Research methods + nomothetic approach

scientific, subjective data, experiments, large samples, similarities, differences

Nomothetic examples - the behaviourist approach

... Skinner studied hundreds of rats, pigeons, cats etc. and Pavlov studied multiple dogs to develop the laws of learning

Nomothetic examples - the biological approach

... use of scientific methods such as brains scans to make generalisations about localisation of function in the brain

... takes a nomothetic approach when explaining psychological disorders such as OCD and depression

=> typically pinpoint biological factors, such as neurotransmitters, that are responsible for such disorders and use biological therapies to treat all patients

e.g., drugs

Nomothetic examples - the cognitive approach

... measured large sample of participants to infer the structure and processes involved in human memory (Miller's Law)

... Atkinson and Shiffrin developed general laws such as the Multi Store Model of Memory, which they believed could be generalised to everyone

A03 STRENGTH for the nomothetic approach

P

Research tends to be far more scientific, aligning it closely with the natural sciences

EX

Testing under tightly controlled, standardised, and rigorous conditions means that the data produced has the ability to predict behaviour, provide group averages, and can be repeated to increase reliability.

EV

For example, in IQ testing, this rigorous process has provided us with a baseline IQ of 100 as an average for the general population. Using this average, we can predict the behaviours of those who are above or below average, and this can be used to identify norms and strengthen psychology's claim as a science.

C

However, nomothetic research only allows us to make generalise predictions and may not accurately predict the behaviour of one individual due to the individual differences. The data does not account for or explain anomalies, and Allport argued that it is only by understanding an individual that we can make accurate predictions on individual behaviour.

LB

Despite this, the development of these norms gives psychology greater scientific credibility, increasing its ecological validity, and can benefit the global population by being able to predict and control behaviour.

A03 WEAKNESS of the nomothetic approach

P

However, nomothetic research can be accused of "losing the whole person" in psychology and thus undermining the key principles of the discipline

EX

Nomothetic research fixates on quantitative data and statistical analysis, reducing participants down to a set of numbers or scores, and the subjective nature of human experience is lost

EV

For example, knowing there is a 1% chance of developing schizophrenia tells us very little about what it is like for an individual to live with the condition, and this reducing our ability to manage and treat it as we only have a superficial understanding of human behaviour from this research.

EXT

Another example of this can be seen in Milgram's research, which found that 65% of participants obeyed an authority figure and inflicted a 450V eclectic shock because they were ordered to. The Nomothetic method fails to provide an explanation of why each person obeyed, and what their circumstances were that led to the obedience found in each participants.

LB

This means, in its attempt to create generalities, the approach can overlook the detail and richness of the unique human experience

The Interactionist approach

- provides rich, detailed descriptions of human behaviour as well as the explanation of such behaviour within the framework of general laws

- Windelband introduces a contemporary understanding of the two terms by blending them together in an interactionist approach.

- Rather than taking either an ideographic or nomothetic approach to research, it is possible to consider one thing from both perspective and use both approaches

e.g., we can form an idea based on a case study and then use scientific methods to further study this on a large scale