evaluations of idiographic and nomothetic
- Created by: Aimee W x
- Created on: 14-03-22 17:10
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- evaluations for idiographic and nomothetic
- idiographic:
-
Indeed,
it could be argued that the idiographic approach complements the
nomothetic approach by providing useful insights:
In
some cases, these insights may even challenge general laws of behaviour. For
example, case studies of brain-damaged individuals such as Clive Wearing may
help to provide insights about the mind and behaviour that cannot be acquired
any other way. .
- This is positive as it may help to reveal important insights about normal functioning which could contribute to our overall understanding
- a number of major
limitations of the idiographic approach:
The
time-consuming nature of the methods
used in idiographic research greatly restricts the scale and scope of the findings produced, making it
hard to establish whether those findings are reliable and representative
- . For example, Freud’s Oedipus Complex theory was largely developed from the detailed study of a single case and meaningful generalisations cannot be made without further examples as there is no adequate standard (or benchmark) with which to compare.
-
Indeed,
it could be argued that the idiographic approach complements the
nomothetic approach by providing useful insights:
In
some cases, these insights may even challenge general laws of behaviour. For
example, case studies of brain-damaged individuals such as Clive Wearing may
help to provide insights about the mind and behaviour that cannot be acquired
any other way. .
- the two approaches can be complementary
rather than contradictory:
It
is possible to consider the same topic from both perspectives. For example,
attempts to establish general laws of memory functioning from large-scale
memory tests sitting alongside case study
examples.
- This suggests the goal of modern psychology is to provide rich, detailed descriptions of human behaviour as well as explaining this behaviour within the framework of general laws.
- nomothetic
-
One strength of the
nomothetic approach is that it is highly scientific:
This
means the processes involved in nomothetic research such as large-scale testing
under standardised conditions, gathering statistical data to provide group
averages to establish general laws in order to make predictions and control events.
- This is positive because it gives psychology greater scientific credibility, placing it on equal terms with the natural sciences
- may be criticised for ‘losing the whole person’:
Some
argue that the preoccupation of this approach on large samples, statistical
data and generating general laws means participants are seen as a series of
scores rather than individual people and their subjective experience is
ignored.
- For example, knowing there is a 1% risk of developing schizophrenia tells us little about what life is like for a sufferer. This is a problem as the nomothetic approach may overlook the richness and uniqueness of human experience.
-
One strength of the
nomothetic approach is that it is highly scientific:
This
means the processes involved in nomothetic research such as large-scale testing
under standardised conditions, gathering statistical data to provide group
averages to establish general laws in order to make predictions and control events.
- idiographic:
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