Aleema Aziz
Discuss idiographic and nomothetic approaches in psychology. Refer to examples in your answer (16
marks)
The idiographic approach focuses on people as individuals, taking into account their own subjective
experiences and unique values and motivations. Although, these may not be compared to people in
general or a standard or norm. Such an approach involves the use of non-experimental methods,
such as case studies or interviews, which produce detailed, in-depth qualitative data that reflects the
rich experiences people have.
One example of the idiographic approach is Freud’s use of case studies, particularly Little Hans, to
understand his patients and help them overcome their psychological disorders. He conducted
detailed investigations into their lives and attempted to derive theories from their unique childhood
experiences. Another example is the case study of KF (Shallice and Warrington) whose short-term
forgetting of audio information was greater than that for visual information, suggesting that STM
consists of multiple components. This undermines the MSM’s concept that STM is one component,
highlighting the importance of idiographic methods in identifying flaws within a theory.
A beneficial aspect of the idiographic approach is its use of in-depth, qualitative measures of
investigation, which provide a detailed and complete account of the individual. This allows for the
treatment of specific psychological conditions based on insightful information gained from the
individual. This unique case may then generate hypotheses for further study and so may reveal
important insights, such as in the case of brain-damage patients like HM, about functioning.
Therefore, the idiographic approach is able to contribute to our overall understanding of behaviour.
On the other hand, this approach is often considered to be narrow and limited. A criticism of many of
Freud’s theories, such as the Oedipus complex, was that they were derived from a single case study.
Meaningful generalisation cannot be made as there are no further examples with which to compare
behaviour and establish a baseline. Also, the methods associated with the idiographic approach tend
to be less scientific and often rely on the subjective interpretation of the researcher. Hence, the
findings are open to bias and so this challenges the validity of this approach.
The primary aim of the nomothetic approach is to produce general laws of human behaviour.
According to Radford and Kirby, the nomothetic approach in psychology has produced three broad
types of general law: classifying people into groups, e.g. the DSM-5 classifies people with mental
disorders; establishing principles of behaviour that can be applied to people in general, e.g. findings
from Asch’s conformity study; establishing dimensions along which people can be placed and
compared, e.g. IQ scores. Research methods involved in this approach tend to be more scientific,
such as experiments which include large numbers of participants and produce quantitative data.
An example of a nomothetic approach being used is in the behaviourist approach. Behaviourists,
such as Pavlov and Skinner, conducted experiments on a large number of animals in order to
establish general laws of learning. They produced the theory of classical and operant conditioning,
which they generalised to humans. Another example is the study of conformity by cognitive
psychologists such as Asch, who conducted experiments that produced quantitative data about
conformity from a large sample of participants. Thus, they were able to make general conclusions
about the situational factors affecting conformity.
A strength of the nomothetic approach is that, unlike the idiographic approach, it tends to be more
scientific. This involves experimental methods, standardised conditions and using large quantitative
data sets to provide averages and predict behaviour. Furthermore, controlled methods allow for
replication to examine the reliability of findings, which has helped psychology establish itself as a
Discuss idiographic and nomothetic approaches in psychology. Refer to examples in your answer (16
marks)
The idiographic approach focuses on people as individuals, taking into account their own subjective
experiences and unique values and motivations. Although, these may not be compared to people in
general or a standard or norm. Such an approach involves the use of non-experimental methods,
such as case studies or interviews, which produce detailed, in-depth qualitative data that reflects the
rich experiences people have.
One example of the idiographic approach is Freud’s use of case studies, particularly Little Hans, to
understand his patients and help them overcome their psychological disorders. He conducted
detailed investigations into their lives and attempted to derive theories from their unique childhood
experiences. Another example is the case study of KF (Shallice and Warrington) whose short-term
forgetting of audio information was greater than that for visual information, suggesting that STM
consists of multiple components. This undermines the MSM’s concept that STM is one component,
highlighting the importance of idiographic methods in identifying flaws within a theory.
A beneficial aspect of the idiographic approach is its use of in-depth, qualitative measures of
investigation, which provide a detailed and complete account of the individual. This allows for the
treatment of specific psychological conditions based on insightful information gained from the
individual. This unique case may then generate hypotheses for further study and so may reveal
important insights, such as in the case of brain-damage patients like HM, about functioning.
Therefore, the idiographic approach is able to contribute to our overall understanding of behaviour.
On the other hand, this approach is often considered to be narrow and limited. A criticism of many of
Freud’s theories, such as the Oedipus complex, was that they were derived from a single case study.
Meaningful generalisation cannot be made as there are no further examples with which to compare
behaviour and establish a baseline. Also, the methods associated with the idiographic approach tend
to be less scientific and often rely on the subjective interpretation of the researcher. Hence, the
findings are open to bias and so this challenges the validity of this approach.
The primary aim of the nomothetic approach is to produce general laws of human behaviour.
According to Radford and Kirby, the nomothetic approach in psychology has produced three broad
types of general law: classifying people into groups, e.g. the DSM-5 classifies people with mental
disorders; establishing principles of behaviour that can be applied to people in general, e.g. findings
from Asch’s conformity study; establishing dimensions along which people can be placed and
compared, e.g. IQ scores. Research methods involved in this approach tend to be more scientific,
such as experiments which include large numbers of participants and produce quantitative data.
An example of a nomothetic approach being used is in the behaviourist approach. Behaviourists,
such as Pavlov and Skinner, conducted experiments on a large number of animals in order to
establish general laws of learning. They produced the theory of classical and operant conditioning,
which they generalised to humans. Another example is the study of conformity by cognitive
psychologists such as Asch, who conducted experiments that produced quantitative data about
conformity from a large sample of participants. Thus, they were able to make general conclusions
about the situational factors affecting conformity.
A strength of the nomothetic approach is that, unlike the idiographic approach, it tends to be more
scientific. This involves experimental methods, standardised conditions and using large quantitative
data sets to provide averages and predict behaviour. Furthermore, controlled methods allow for
replication to examine the reliability of findings, which has helped psychology establish itself as a
