P1 Debates in Developmental Psychology Debate 3: Nomothetic V Idiographic

Nomothetic Nomothetic – refers to general laws. The nomothetic side of the debate believes that you can perform experiments (or do observations etc) and apply the results to groups of people. A nomothetic approach tries to find similarities in the way we develop. They try and apply general laws to groups of people. Which theories can you think of that do this? Freud’s psychosexual theory Piaget’s theory of cognitive development Maslow’s hierarchy of needs Erikson’s theory of conflicts Cognitive dissonance (festinger)

Nomothetic Nomothetic methods aim to identify patterns of behaviour across a population of individuals rather than for any given individual. The nomothetic side of the debate looks to apply results to groups of individuals.

Idiographic Idiographic – refers to the uniqueness of each person. An idiographic approach looks at how each individual person develops. Idiographic methods aim to identify patterns of behaviour within the person across a population of experiences or situations. Idiographic approaches produce ‘within-person’ patterns, each unique to one individual. Can you think of theorists who are idiographic in nature? Vygotsky’s theory of the proximal zone of development. Kelly’s theory of personal constructs Carl Rogers.

Idiographic Debate An idiographic approach believes psychologists should study how each individual person develops

Nomothetic Debate Applied to the Development of Personality The nomothetic approach to personality aims to identify specific personality traits and assumes that all people will fall into categories. Hans Eysenk identified two ‘supertraits’ of personality called extroversion and introversion; he gave people questionnaires to find out which personality type they were. See next slide and use AP33.

Unstable Introverted Extroverted Stable Moody Anxious Rigid Sober Unsociable Pessimistic Quiet Reserved Touchy Restless Aggressive Excitable Changeable Impulsive Optimistic Active Introverted Extroverted Passive Careful Thoughtful Controlled Reliable Even-tempered Calm Peaceful Sociable Outgoing Talkative Responsive Easygoing Lively Carefree Leader-like Stable

Idiographic Debate Applied to the Development of Personality Gordon Allport used idiographic methods to identify patterns of behaviour, thought, and emotion within an individual over time, rather than to strictly identify patterns of differences between individuals. He pointed out that nomothetic personality structures might describe a non-existent ‘average individual’, but might simultaneously not describe the structure of any actual person’s personality. From Allport’s perspective, nomothetic approaches forced everyone into the same mold, thereby breaking down the integrity of each individual’s structure and process. In Allport’s words, ‘An entire population (the larger the better) is put into the grinder and the mixing is so expert that what comes through is a link of factors in which every individual has lost his identity’ (1937, 244)

Nomothetic v Idiographic debate applied to the development of Personality Look at the results of your personality questionnaire. Is it an idiographic or nomothetic approach to examining personality? Evaluate the results of your personality questionnaire. How far do you agree with the results? Has it analysed you completely? Do you feel it has missed anything out? If yes, what? Read a section of someone else’s results - do you feel this could equally describe your personality? If yes, why is this? Fully evaluate the results and submit both the results with your analysis as part of your assessment for P1c.

The ideographic v nomothetic debate looks at the way results are generated. Both sides of the debate aim to explain human development, but, the way they go about it differs. What are the advantages and disadvantages of both sides of the debate?