Idiographic vs Nomothetic approach
ISSUES AND DEBATES
Nomothetic Approach
the nomothetic approach seeks to generate general laws and principles of human behaviour that can be applied universally.
it seeks to identify and understand universal patterns, traits and characteristics that can be generalised across people, using quantitative methods and statistical analysis to conclude human behaviour
methods of investigation include:
experiments
correlational research
psychometric testing (personality)
Examples of nomothetic research methods include experiments, surveys and statistical analysis of large datasets.
Laws can be categorised into three kinds:
classifying people into groups (such as the DSM-V for classifying people with mood disorders)
establishing principles (e.g. behaviourist laws of learning)
establishing dimensions (Eysenck’s personality inventory allows comparisons between people)
Examples from the course so far (studies/approaches)
Cognitive approach- it assumes that the processes are largely the same across the popluation. For example, schema’s which are understood to be how most people organise and interpret information. However cognitive approach also uses case studies for research which are idiographic, such as
the biological approach is an example of the nomothetic approach. this is due to the scientific aspects making it more reliable and also more controlled. the biological approach establishes laws about the effects of physiological and biochemical processes that apply to all people, which is another pointer towards it being more nomothetic.
Behaviourist approach is also universal due to it creating laws around stimulus and response and associations. this is a common theme with the nomothetic approach as one of its main areas is the creation of universal laws based on the study of large groups of people.
Strengths:
considered as generally scientific - the use of experimental (quantitative) methods, controlled measurement.
being able to generalise laws of behaviour and compare groups of people is useful in predicting behaviour e.g. a questionnaire on post-natal depression can help to identify women who may be in need of medication and/or counselling
nomothetic research while applies to statistical methods to test findings have enabled psychologists to identify what the norm for specific behaviours are e.g. IQ, which in turn strengthens psychology’s claim to be considered a science
Limitations:
may argue that some research only allows us to make predictions on groups and not on individuals
lacks external validity, subjective experiences ignored, overlooks the richness of human experience
nomothetic approach loses sight of the ‘whole person’ due to its fixation on quantitative data and statistical analysis
Idiographic Approach
Investigates individuals as unique and strives to understand humans on a case-by-case basis, avoiding generalisation
aims to uncover specific individualised factors and experiences that contribute to a person’s behaviour/ psychological functioning
the psychologists are interested in what makes each of us unique
favour qualitative research
this allows in-depth insight into individual behaviour
use subjective experiences
Method
qualitative data
case studies (Freud)
clinical observations
individual experience
unstructured interviews
thematic analysis (drawing themes from a unstructured data/interview)
individual case studies using idiographic approach are used to undermine theories
examples from the course so far:
psychodynamic approach
case studies focus on a individual or small group
humanistic approach
Koluchova’s twins case study - maternal deprivation
case 1 - Freud’s (1909) case study of Little Hans is an example of an idiographic approach. Freud conducted research on his patient’s cases to understand their psychological problems better. Freud concluded that Little Hans behaved this way out of jealousy of his father because he believed he was going through the Oedipus complex.
cultural variations
case 2 -Carl Roger’s Q-Sort (1940) test is an example of the idiographic approach to personality. The Q technique involves presenting subjects with 100 q-cards containing self-referential statements.
For example, “I am a good person.” “I am not a trustworthy person.” Subjects then sorted the cards into several piles on a scale of “most like me” to “least like me.”
Subjects had control over how many ascending piles they created. As a result, there is an infinite number of possible personality profiles.
Strengths:
focuses on the individual
Gordon Allport argues that it is only by knowing the person that we can predict what they will do in a certain situation. this shows that it is a strength of Idiographic as it focusses on the individual.
it contributes to the nomothetic approach- the idiographic approach uses in-depth qualitative methods of investigation and this provides a global description of one individual which may complement the nomothetic approach as it may shed light on general laws or by challenging laws
it fits with the aims of science. Researchers using the idiographic approach also seek to objectify methods for example triangulation is used whereby findings from a range of studies using different qualitative methods are compared as a way of increasing their validity
Limitations:
difficulty in generalisability - general population
makes it harder to identify general principles of human behaviour
which in turn severely limits usefulness (treatments and diagnosis) of information gathered from idiographic studies
slightly more unscientific nature
time-consuming - because so in depth that it takes a lot of time/money to study individuals in depth
case studies are one of the least scientific methods as they tend to rely on subjective interpretations and so are open to bias
Freud very well known for idiographic methodology, however, these were based on limited and unrepresentative case studies that many psychologists would discredit.