Idiographic and Nomothetic approaches
The idiographic approach
The Idiographic approach in psychology attempts to describe the nature of the individual
People are studied as unique entities, each with their own subjective experiences, motivation,
and values. There may be no attempt made to compare these to a larger group, standard or norm.
The idiographic approach is generally associated with those methods in psychology that
produce qualitative data, such as case studies, unstructured interviews and other self-
report measures. This reflects one of the central aims of idiographic research: to describe the
richness of human experience and gain insight into the person's unique way of viewing the
world.
The nomothetic approach
The main aim of the nomothetic approach is to produce general laws of human behaviour.
These provide a 'benchmark' against which people can be compared, classified and measured,
and on the basis of which, likely future behaviour can be predicted and/or controlled.
The nomothetic approach is most closely aligned with those methods that would be regarded
as 'scientific' within psychology such as experiments. These involve the study of large numbers
of people in order to establish ways in which people are similar (which will, conversely, also
inform us of the ways in which people are different from one another).
Examples of the idiographic approach in psychology
Of the approaches you have studied, humanistic psychology is probably the best example
of the idiographic perspective. Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow took a phenomenological
approach to the study of human beings and were interested only in documenting the conscious
experience of the individual or 'self'. In describing themselves as 'anti-scientific', humanistic
psychologists were more concerned with investigating unique experience 'on its own merits'
than producing general laws of behaviour.
The psychodynamic approach is often labelled 'idiographic' because of Sigmund Freud's
use of the case study method when detailing the lives of his patients. However, Freud also
assumed he had identified universal laws of behaviour and personality development (which is
more akin to a nomothetic approach).
Examples of the nomothetic approach in psychology
The nomothetic approach tends to be a feature of those approaches that are reductionist,
determinist and employ scientific methods of investigation. Hypotheses are formulated,
tested under controlled conditions and findings generated from large numbers of people (or
animals) are analysed for their statistical significance (see page 72).
Much of the research conducted by behaviourist, cognitive and biological psychologists
would meet the criteria of the nomothetic approach. For example, Skinner and the behaviourists
studied the responses of hundreds of rats, cats, pigeons, etc., in order to develop the laws of
learning; cognitive psychologists have been able to infer the structure and processes of human
memory (see Miller's Law - facing page) by measuring the performance of large samples of
people in laboratory tests; biological psychologists have conducted brain scans on countless
human brains (as well as the people who own them!) in order to make generalisations about
localisation of function (see page 38). In each of these cases, hypotheses are rigorously tested,
statistically analysed, and general laws and principles are proposed and developed - all of which
are key features of the nomothetic approach.
The idiographic approach
The Idiographic approach in psychology attempts to describe the nature of the individual
People are studied as unique entities, each with their own subjective experiences, motivation,
and values. There may be no attempt made to compare these to a larger group, standard or norm.
The idiographic approach is generally associated with those methods in psychology that
produce qualitative data, such as case studies, unstructured interviews and other self-
report measures. This reflects one of the central aims of idiographic research: to describe the
richness of human experience and gain insight into the person's unique way of viewing the
world.
The nomothetic approach
The main aim of the nomothetic approach is to produce general laws of human behaviour.
These provide a 'benchmark' against which people can be compared, classified and measured,
and on the basis of which, likely future behaviour can be predicted and/or controlled.
The nomothetic approach is most closely aligned with those methods that would be regarded
as 'scientific' within psychology such as experiments. These involve the study of large numbers
of people in order to establish ways in which people are similar (which will, conversely, also
inform us of the ways in which people are different from one another).
Examples of the idiographic approach in psychology
Of the approaches you have studied, humanistic psychology is probably the best example
of the idiographic perspective. Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow took a phenomenological
approach to the study of human beings and were interested only in documenting the conscious
experience of the individual or 'self'. In describing themselves as 'anti-scientific', humanistic
psychologists were more concerned with investigating unique experience 'on its own merits'
than producing general laws of behaviour.
The psychodynamic approach is often labelled 'idiographic' because of Sigmund Freud's
use of the case study method when detailing the lives of his patients. However, Freud also
assumed he had identified universal laws of behaviour and personality development (which is
more akin to a nomothetic approach).
Examples of the nomothetic approach in psychology
The nomothetic approach tends to be a feature of those approaches that are reductionist,
determinist and employ scientific methods of investigation. Hypotheses are formulated,
tested under controlled conditions and findings generated from large numbers of people (or
animals) are analysed for their statistical significance (see page 72).
Much of the research conducted by behaviourist, cognitive and biological psychologists
would meet the criteria of the nomothetic approach. For example, Skinner and the behaviourists
studied the responses of hundreds of rats, cats, pigeons, etc., in order to develop the laws of
learning; cognitive psychologists have been able to infer the structure and processes of human
memory (see Miller's Law - facing page) by measuring the performance of large samples of
people in laboratory tests; biological psychologists have conducted brain scans on countless
human brains (as well as the people who own them!) in order to make generalisations about
localisation of function (see page 38). In each of these cases, hypotheses are rigorously tested,
statistically analysed, and general laws and principles are proposed and developed - all of which
are key features of the nomothetic approach.
