Nomothetic Idiographic Debate - Simply Psychology

The term “nomothetic” comes from the Greek word “nomos” meaning “law”. Psychologists who adopt this approach are mainly concerned with studying what we ... Togglenavigation TheoriesResearchMethodsCriminologyA-levelStatistics DebatesNomotheticvsIdiographicNomotheticIdiographicDebateByDr.SaulMcLeod,updated2019TheNomotheticApproachTheterm“nomothetic”comesfromtheGreekword“nomos”meaning“law”.Psychologistswhoadoptthisapproacharemainlyconcernedwithstudyingwhatwesharewithothers(i.e.similaritiesbetweenpeople).Therefore,thenomotheticapproachinvolvesestablishinglawsorgeneralizationsthatapplytoallpeople.Lawscanbecategorisedintothreekinds:(1)Classifyingpeopleintogroups(suchastheDSMIVforclassifyingpeoplewithmooddisorders);(2)Establishingprinciples(Suchasthebehavioristlawsoflearning),and(3)Establishingdimensions(suchasEysenck’spersonalityinventorywhichallowsforcomparisonsbetweenpeople).Thisapproachtypicallyusesscientificmethodssuchasexperimentsandobservationstoobtainquantitativedata.Groupaveragesarestatisticallyanalysedtocreatepredictionsaboutpeopleingeneral.Personality:-ANomotheticApproachThepsychometricapproachtothestudyofpersonalitycomparesindividualsintermsoftraitsordimensionscommontoeveryone.ThisisanomotheticapproachandtwoexamplesareHansEysenck’stypeandRaymondCattell’s16PFtraittheories.Thedetailsoftheirworkneednotconcernushere.Sufficetosaytheybothassumethatthereareasmallnumberoftraitsthataccountforthebasicstructureofallpersonalitiesandthatindividualdifferencescanbemeasuredalongthesedimensions.Inthepast20yearsagrowingconsensushasbeguntoemergeaboutwhatthosetraitsare. The“big5”areconsideredtobeextroversion,agreeableness,conscientiousness,emotionalstabilityandopennesstoexperience.Fromanomotheticpointofviewtheseareconsideredtoadequatelydescribethepsychologicallysignificantaspectsofanypersonality.StrengthsRegardedasscientificasitis:precisemeasurement;predictionandcontrolofbehavior;investigationsoflargegroups;objectiveandcontrolledmethodsallowingreplicationandgeneralisation.Hashelpedpsychologyasawholebecomescientificbydevelopinglawsandtheorieswhichcanbeempiricallytested.LimitationsPredictionscanbemadeaboutgroupsbutthesemaynotapplytoindividuals.Approachhasbeenaccusedoflosingsightofthe‘wholeperson’.TheIdiographicApproachTheterm“idiographic”comesfromtheGreekword“idios”meaning“own”or“private”.Psychologistsinterestedinthisaspectofexperiencewanttodiscoverwhatmakeseachofusunique.Nogenerallawsarepossiblebecauseofchance,freewillandtheuniquenessofindividuals.Theapproachtendstoincludequalatitativedata,investigatingindividualsinapersonalanddetailedway. Methodsofresearchinclude:casestudy,unstructuredinterviews,self-reports,autobiographiesandpersonaldocuments.Personality:-AnIdiographicApproachAttheotherextremeGordonAllportfoundover18,000separatetermsdescribingpersonalcharacteristics.Whilstsomeofthesearecommontraits(thatcouldbeinvestigatednomothetically)themajority,inAllport’sview,referredtomoreorlessuniquedispositionsbasedonlifeexperiencespeculiartoourselves.Hearguesthattheycannotbeeffectivelystudiedusingstandardisedtests.Whatisneededisawayofinvestigatingthemidiographically.CarlRogers,aHumanistpsychologist,hasdevelopedamethodofdoingthis,aprocedurecalledthe“Q-sort”.Firstthesubjectisgivenalargesetofcardswithaself-evaluativestatementwrittenoneachone.Forexample“Iamfriendly”or“Iamambitious”etc.Thesubjectisthenaskedtosortthecardsintopiles.Onepiletocontainstatementsthatare“mostlikeme”,onestatementsthatare“leastlikeme”andoneormorepilesforstatementsthatarein-between.InaQ-sortthenumberofcardscanbevariedascanthenumberofpilesandthetypeofquestion(e.g.HowIamnow?HowIusedtobe?Howmypartnerseesme?HowIwouldliketobe?)Sothereareapotentiallyinfinitenumberofvariations.That,ofcourse,isexactlyasitshouldbeforanidiographicpsychologistbecauseinhis/herviewthereareultimatelyasmanydifferentpersonalitiesastherearepeople.StrengthsAmajorstrengthoftheidiographicapproachisitsfocusontheindividual.GordonAllportarguesthatitisonlybyknowingthepersonasapersonthatwecanpredictwhatthepersonwilldoinanygivensituation.Findingscanserveasasourceofideasorhypothesesforlaterstudy.LimitationsTheidiographicapproachisverytimeconsuming.Ittakesalotoftimeandmoneytostudyindividualsindepth.Ifaresearcherisusingthenomotheticapproachonceaquestionnaire,psychometrictestorexperimenthasbeendesigneddatacanbecollectedrelativelyquickly.ConclusionIdiographicandnomotheticapproachesshouldnotbeseenasconflicting.Itismorehelpfultoseethemascomplementary. Theinsightsfromanidiographicapproachcanshedmorelightonthegeneralprinciplesdevelopedusingthenomotheticapproach.Forexample,Bowlby’stheoryofmaternaldeprivationsuggeststhatextremematernaldeprivationisirreversible.Thistheorywasdevelopedusinganomotheticapproach.However,thecaseofKoluchova’stwinsdemonstratesthatinthissingle,idiographic,casematernaldeprivationwasovercome.Bowlby’stheorycanthereforebechallenged.Asalways,itisbesttotakeacombinedapproach.Millon&Davis(1996)suggestresearchshouldstartwithanomotheticapproachandoncegeneral‘laws’havebeenestablished,researchcanthenmovetoamoreidiographicapproach.Thus,gettingthebestofbothworlds! DownloadthisarticleasaPDFNomotheticExamplesBowlby’sMaternalDeprivationTheory OperantConditioning ConformityIdiographicExamplesFreud'sCaseStudies HumanisticApproachOtherDebatesNaturevsNurture FreewillvsDeterminism ReductionismHolism DownloadthisarticleasaPDFHowtoreferencethisarticle:Howtoreferencethisarticle:McLeod,S.A.(2019,Febuary05).Nomotheticidiographicdebate.SimplyPsychology.www.simplypsychology.org/nomothetic-idiographic.html Home|AboutUs|PrivacyPolicy|Advertise|ContactUsBacktotopThisworkislicensedunderaCreativeCommonsAttribution-Noncommercial-NoDerivativeWorks3.0UnportedLicense.CompanyRegistrationno:10521846reportthisadNomotheticExamplesMaternalDeprivationTheory OperantConditioning ConformityIdiographicExamplesFreud'sCaseStudies HumanisticApproachreportthisadxx