Psychology Factsheets
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Debate: Idiographic and Nomothetic Approaches
This Factsheet summarises how to write about the idiographic and
nomothetic approaches in psychology without losing marks. It
reviews the information needed to answer exam questions on the
idiographic and nomothetic approaches and explains how to ensure
maximum marks are awarded for your answer. Terms in bold are
explained in the glossary.
1. Be sure that you know what the terms mean!
The nomothetic approach
(from the Ancient Greek “nomos” meaning
laws). Research taking the nomothetic
approach aims to identify general principles
that govern the behaviour of most people.
Nomothetic studies investigate a specific
aspect of the behaviour of representative samples of individuals.
The idiographic approach
(from the Ancient Greek “idios” meaning personal). Research taking
this approach seeks to understand the behaviour or mental processes
of one particular individual using information obtained from an in-
depth case study of that person.
Exam Hint:- Make sure that you do not confuse the names of
the different approaches. A useful mnemonic is to remember
that “I” stands for both Idiographic and Individual.
2. Be able to provide an example of each approach if
required.
Exam hint: You do not need to be able to provide a lot of detail; just
know the main features of your example and WHY it is an example.
Examples of the nomothetic approach
(Most research in psychology takes this approach; see especially
the areas of cognitive, social, personality, intelligence and biological
psychology).
Social psychology: Bystander apathy research by Latane and Darley
(1968).
Cognitive psychology: Almost any example of memory research.
Biological psychology: Gender differences in language use.
Personality and intelligence: Any research by H.J. Eysenck.
Examples of the idiographic approach
Cognitive psychology: The cases of ‘S.B.’, a man blind from birth
whose sight returned in middle age and Clive Wearing, a musician
suffering from almost total anterograde amnesia.
Psychopathology: Freud’s studies of cases, such as ‘Anna O’
(hysterical amnesia) or ‘Little Hans’ (development of phobia).
Child development: Piaget’s (1952) studies on the early cognitive
development of his children Jacqueline,
Lucienne and Laurent.
Biological psychology: Gardner and Gardner’s
(1969) studies of sign language acquisition by
‘Washoe’ the chimpanzee.
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3. Know the main strengths and weaknesses of each
approach.
Examiners’ guidance
Examiners’ reports note that weaker candidates rarely go much
further than the definitions. To be confident of obtaining full marks
you need to additionally:
(a) provide an example of each approach;
(b) be able to write about at least one strength and one weaknesses
of each approach; and
(c) explain why in your answer.
Strengths: Nomothetic approach
1. The general attempt to discover behavioural ‘laws of nature’
and the use of quantitative research methods closely follows
the approach of other sciences.
Expansion point: Psychology has mostly followed the methods
and approaches of the ‘hard’ (exact) sciences such as physics
or chemistry because the record of success enjoyed by these
disciplines suggests that their methods are likely to work in
psychology also.
2. It produces data that is capable of being replicated by other
investigators.
Expansion point: Replicability is important because
construction of an explanatory theory cannot begin until the
same results can be shown by several investigators working
independently. Replicability indicates that the phenomenon
in question is ‘real’.
3. It can allow some types of behaviour to be reliably predicted
and this in turn could help in preventing the emergence of some
kinds of behaviour disorders.
Expansion point: An example of this is the recently identified
link between antenatal stress in a mother and the development
of ADHD in the child.
Strengths: Idiographic approach
1. It focuses on the whole human person. Rather than seeing human
complexity and individuality as obstacles to research the
idiographic approach regards them as interesting characteristics
to be investigated.
Expansion point: This is an example of the shifting of research
goals that has come about since ‘new paradigm’ psychology
emerged in the mid-1990s.
2. It allows detailed qualitative information to be collected through
longitudinal studies of interesting and unusual individuals.
Expansion point: The precise differences between individuals
and the richness of individual experience can only really be
captured by verbal descriptions. This means using different
methods for both data collection and analysis.
3. It can provide insights into behaviour/experience that may
greatly stimulate further research.
Expansion point: An example of this is the surge of interest in
language acquisition among non-humans that followed the
publication in 1969 of the Gardner and Gardner research with
the chimpanzee Washoe.
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Weaknesses/limitations of the nomothetic approach

1. The information captured in this approach is highly focused on one very small aspect of behaviour or experience.
Expansion point: This makes a research problem easier to define and allows precise data to be collected. For example, a study of
human memory, such as the Conrad and Hull (1964) work on acoustic errors in short-term memory, will typically focus on the performance
of one memory process in relation to one type of material under only one or two different conditions.

2. It is concerned with the acquisition of a large set of quantitative data rather than with forming an in-depth understanding.
Expansion point: This means that generalisations based on such information offer only limited, and possibly misleading, information
about any individual person. This is especially important if individual differences are likely to be important, such as in psychiatric
diagnosis.

3. The approach tends to view people as objects acted on by their environment rather than as active participants who are engaged in the
construction of meaning and whose actions shape events in their surroundings.
Expansion point: People are active participants and this can be seen as a source of error in experiments, leading to such phenomena
as “faking good”, or “the screw-you effect”. Conversely, “new paradigm” psychology sees active co-operation between researcher
and participants as essential because participants can offer unique access to their own subjective experience.

Weaknesses/limitations of the idiographic approach

1. The data produced is the product of a specific situation and set of interactions between the researcher and the participant. It may
therefore not be replicable or allow predictions to be made about behaviour in general.
Expansion point: See below.

2. It is often seen as lacking in scientific rigour because it deals with single cases rather than randomly obtained samples.
Expansion point: However, this is only a weakness from the point of view of doing ‘old paradigm’ psychology where the goal is to
obtain generalisations about behaviour that will allow reliable predictions to be made.

3. The data may be affected by the researcher’s conscious or unconscious biases.

Expansion point: However, the problem can be minimised if the researcher is aware of the problem and takes steps to identify and
minimise the effects of bias, e.g. through discussion with colleagues.

A last piece of guidance from the examiners:

Do not leave the impression in your answer that the nomothetic
approach is somehow ‘more scientific’ than the idiographic
approach. They are equally ‘scientific’ but they have different
goals and use different methods to collect data.

Glossary
ADHD: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. A behavioural developmental disorder in which the symptoms of attentional problems
and difficulty in controlling activity usually occur together.

Longitudinal studies: Research in which data are collected from the same source at a number of points over a period of time that can
range from weeks to years.

New paradigm psychology: The late 20th century approach to psychology that advocates a more person-centred approach to
research and which stresses the importance of using a wide range of methods to study human behaviour and experience.

Old paradigm psychology: The approach, established during the 19th Century, which advocated and practiced research in psychology
along the lines laid down by the existing sciences, such as physics and chemistry.

Qualitative methods: Methods of research, such as interviewing, in which data are collected in the form of verbal descriptions.

Quantitative methods: Methods of research, such as experiments, in which data are collected in the form of numbers.

Acknowledgements: This Psychology Factsheet was researched and written by Colin Dyer.
The Curriculum Press, Bank House, 105 King Street, Wellington, Shropshire, TF1 1NU.
Psychology Factsheets may be copied free of charge by teaching staff or students, provided that their school is a registered subscriber. No part of these Factsheets may be reproduced, stored
in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any other form or by any other means, without the prior permission of the publisher. ISSN 1351-5136

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117 - Debate: Idiographic and Nomothetic Approaches Psychology Factsheet

Worksheet: Idiographic and Nomothetic Approaches

Name

1. Practice writing brief definitions of each of the two approaches. Find an example of one of them that is not mentioned in the factsheet,
describe it briefly, and explain why it is an example.

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2. Name one strength and one weakness of each approach. Explain in your own words what makes them strengths or weaknesses.

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3. “Milgram’s study of obedience is an example of the idiographic approach in psychology”. Decide whether you agree, or not, and
explain your reasoning.

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4. For what reasons might the nomothetic approach be seen as ‘more scientific’ than the idiographic? Do you agree?

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