Issues And Debates: Idiographic And Nomothetic

Question 1

The idiographic approach

Answer 1

each indv is unique
studies indv subjective experiences, beh and personalities
no attempt to form general laws
unscientific and not reliable but more valid

Question 2

Idiographic methods

Answer 2

Qualitative data rich in detail
Case studies
Unstructured interviews
Any other self report method

Question 3

The nomothetic approach

Answer 3

• Aim is to produce general laws on human beh
• inferences made ab broader pop based on large and rep samples
• researchers make generalisations and then predictions

Question 4

Nomothetic methods

Answer 4

• Experiments which are tightly controlled
• data is highly scientific and reliable could be argued to be at the expense of validity

Question 5

2 nomothetic areas in psych

Answer 5

• biological psych and drug treatments
• learning theorists and animal studies

Question 6

Explain biological psychology and drug treatments as nomothetic

Answer 6

Biological psychologists use large-scale and well-controlled drug trials to test the efficacy of novel drug treatments. These drug trials assume it is a general law that neurotransmitter levels influence the symptoms of mental health conditions. The reliability of these findings has given doctors treating mental health conditions confidence in prescribing drugs such as SSRIs for OCD and Chlorpromazine for Schizophrenia.

Question 7

Explain learning theorists and anaimal studies as nomothetic

Answer 7

Thousands of studies testing the principles of operant and classical conditioning on animals, including rats, pigeons and dogs, back up Skinner and Pavlov’s learning theories. These behavioural principles accurately predict animal and human behaviour, leading to applications in therapy and advertisement. Using controlled and reliable nomothetic techniques has given modern psychology scientific legitimacy.

Question 8

2 idiographic areas in psych

Answer 8

Humanistic psych and client centred therapy
Case studies

Question 9

Explain humanistic psych and client centred therapy as idiographic

Answer 9

Humanistic psychologists argue that due to the subjective and highly complex psychological aspects of human experience, humans are not suitable for scientific study in the same way as physical objects. Carl Rodgers and Abraham Maslow preferred to investigate the uniqueness of human experience instead of developing generalisable behavioural laws. This approach informs client-centred therapy, a technique that takes a highly individualised approach to treatment that is missing from nomothetic treatments like drug therapy

Question 10

Explain case studies as idiographic

Answer 10

The idiographic technique of the case study is used in a range of psychological fields, including cognitive psychology (Clive Wearing), biological psychology (Tan), and Psychodynamics (Little Hanz). These in-depth investigations provide insights into the structure of mental processes like memory and brain function that wouldn’t be possible experimentally. These insights are used to inform theoretical models, support or contradict previous theories and construct testable hypotheses that can then be tested experimentally.