idio vs nom

Question 1

idiographic approach

Answer 1

• comes from the Greek “idios” meaning “private or personal”. Focuses on the subjective experience of the individual.
• Rejects Scientific Method
• Should study the individual and not groups.
• Should not generalise to others as we are all unique.
• Behaviour must be understood in terms of subjective experience – what it means to the individual (Phenomenology)
• Only the individual can explain what a behaviour means – a detached observer’s explanation is worthless.
• Data is qualitative: non numerical, descriptive e.g. thoughts and feelings.
• Case studies used

Question 2

A03- Strengths and Limitations - idio

Answer 2

• Gain detailed and informative descriptions of behaviour.
• Can uncover causes for behaviour not identified using nomothetic methods
• Develop a holistic understanding of individual.
• Can provide hypotheses for future scientific study.
• Cannot generalise to wider population.
• Methods are subjective, flexible and unstandardised so replication, prediction and control of behaviour is difficult.

Question 3

humanistic approach - idio +VE

Answer 3

• it’s intentionally subjective
• Rogers and Maslow reject the scientific approach to explaining human behaviour
• Every individual is unique and so understanding their behaviour is not achieved by these methods
• It is a person-centred approach
• person centered therapy = v succesful

Question 4

-ve idio little hans - oedipus case study - freud

Question 5

+ve idio - KF

Answer 5

Kf - memory - motorcycle accident
- supported the idea that auditory info + visual info are processed in different places which contradicts MSM
- This generated further research + contributed to a more developed understanding

• K.F. had a motorcycle accident which left him with widespread brain damage (that includes large bilateral hippocampal lesions.)
• These caused memory impairment, most of his general knowledge of the world, including knowledge about himself is intact but he is incapable of recollecting any personal events, this “episodic amnesia” covers his entire lifetime.
• This shows that semantic memory and episodic memory are two distinct processes.
• Supports the idea of multiple types of LTM located in diff places

Question 6

-ve idio virtual relationships

Answer 6

• Generalising from these theories is UNSCIENTIFIC (Absence of Gating)
• A HUGE issue with this idea of “virtual relationships” is that we are nomothetically (generate laws for lots of people) attempting to apply these theories to any relationship formed online.
• This is ridiculous.
• The nature of “virtual relationships” varies so vastly from one relationship to another that this is vastly unscientific and any application has limited validity.

Question 7

+ve idio - phineas gage - localisation

Answer 7

• Case study evidence
• This case study clearly demonstrates that certain brain functions are localised - the damage he sustained to his frontal lobe entirely changed his personality and mood. (impatient + rude) → frontal lobe disorder
• He survived an accident in which a large iron was driven completely through his head
• He died after a series of seizures
• Reconstructed his brain, to help learning

Question 8

nomothetic approach

Answer 8

• This is basically the Scientific method in Psychology!
• apply general laws to everyone
• You identify an issue you want to study and generate hypotheses.
• You choose an appropriate scientific method of testing your hypothesis
• You find an appropriate sample of people and you choose an appropriate method (e.g. random) of sampling them. You make sure your sample is big and diverse enough.
• You collect a large amount of quantitative data and then use descriptive statistics and inferential statistics to make sense of it.
• You accept and reject your hypotheses
• You discuss your research and perhaps propose a theory based on your results.

Question 9

A03- Strengths and Limitations - nom

Answer 9

• Can generalise to wider population. Has population validity.
• Methods are SCIENTIFIC- objective, measurable and can be verified so replication, prediction and control of behaviour is easy.
• Generalised laws and principles may not apply to an individual.
• Understanding is often superficial and meaning can be lost.

Question 10

genetic explanations - offending

Answer 10

• A specific gene has been identified as being associated with violent crime.
• This so called ‘warrior gene’ effects the production of MAOA.
• MAOA is a chemical which breaks down neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine in the brain.
• The presence of this gene disturbs the production of MAOA, resulting in an abundance of these neurotransmitters in the brain- thought to cause the aggression.

stuart:
- Studied 97 men who were going through a treatment programme because they had physically assaulted their wives.
- Men with the warrior gene were the most violent.

Question 11

neural expl serotonin ocd - nom

Answer 11

• The neurotransmitter is believed to help regulate mood
• A neurotransmitter is a chemical messenger.
• If serotonin levels are disrupted, that means that messages involving mood are not reaching the right parts of the brain. (re-uptake)
• This could cause a disturbance in cognition, emotions and behaviour (OCD)
• The fact that anti-depressants can be used to drastically reduce OCD symptoms (i.e. they work!) gives validity to the neural explanation.
• I.e. if drugs which INCREASE the transportation of serotonin cure the symptoms of OCD, then the theory must be valid!
• Hundreds of supporting studies have been published, all lending validity to this theory.
• led to SSRIs
• SSRI’s have a huge body of research backing their efficacy
• Research uses randomised controlled trials with ppts randomly allocated either SSRI or a placebo
• Soomro (2009) reviewed 17 studies and found SSRIs were more effective than placebo at curing OCD

Question 12

bio expl schiz - neural correlates

Answer 12

• Neural correlates are investigations of which brain structures or brain functions correlate with which behaviour
• Both positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia are associated with specific neural correlates (specific areas of the brain)
• The following areas were all found to be functioning differently in schizophrenic patients:
• Wernicke’s Area (speech) which would explain the auditory hallucinations
• Occipital lobe (vision) would explain the visual hallucinations
• Basal ganglia (movement) would explain psychomotor disturbances
• Ventral Striatum (motivation) would explain avolition