
- The term 'nomothetic' comes from the Greek word nomos, meaning law. ...
- The term 'idiographic' comes from the Greek word idios, meaning 'personal' or 'private'. ...
- Examples of the nomothetic approach include classical and operant conditioning, conformity, and obedience.
What is idiographic and nomothetic research?
Key Takeaways: Idiographic and Nomothetic Research The nomothetic approach involves trying to make generalizations about the world and understand large-scale social patterns. The idiographic approach involves trying to uncover a great deal of detailed information about a narrower subject of study.
What is idiographic approach in sociology?
The idiographic approach involves trying to uncover a great deal of detailed information about a narrower subject of study. Sociologists can combine both idiographic and nomothetic approaches to develop a more comprehensive understanding of society.
What is the nomothetic approach in psychology?
The nomothetic approach describes the study of people as a total population. Psychologists using this approach study large groups of people and make general laws about behaviour that apply to all. The nomothetic approach generally uses quantitative research methods and statistical analysis.
What is the difference between ethnography and nomothetic anthropology?
Ethnographers, for example, observe the minute details of everyday life to construct an overall portrait of a specific group of people or community. A nomothetic method, on the other hand, seeks to produce general statements that account for larger social patterns, which form the context of single events, individual behaviors, and experience.

What are the differences between the idiographic and nomothetic approaches to the study of personality?
What is idiographic vs nomothetic? Idiographic study seeks to spend more time with an individual in order to learn about their unique personality. In contrast, nomothetic study seeks to perform experiments and tests in order to gain data on personality traits that can be generalized to a larger population.
What does nomothetic mean in psychology?
The term “nomothetic” comes from the Greek word “nomos” meaning “law”. Psychologists who adopt this approach are mainly concerned with studying what we share with others (i.e. similarities between people). Therefore, the nomothetic approach involves establishing laws or generalizations that apply to all people.
What is idiographic approach in psychology?
Psychologists who take an idiographic approach focus on the individual and emphasise the unique personal experience of human nature. This means they favour qualitative research methods, such as the case study, unstructured interviews and thematic analysis which allow an in-depth insight into individual behaviour.
What means nomothetic?
Definition of nomothetic : relating to, involving, or dealing with abstract, general, or universal statements or laws.
Who uses Nomothetic approach?
For example: Biological Psychologists take a nomothetic approach when explaining psychological disorders, such as OCD and depression. They typically pinpoint biological factors, such as neurotransmitters, that are responsible for such disorders and use biological therapies (e.g. drugs) to treat all patients.
What is idiographic personality?
Idiographic Personality Psychology The idiographic approach to personality suggests that we each possess a unique psychological structure. Certain traits, or combinations of traits, might be held by just one person, and therefore it is impossible to compare people like for like.
What is an example of idiographic method?
An idiographic method focuses on individual cases or events. Ethnographers, for example, observe the minute details of everyday life to construct an overall portrait of a specific group of people or community.
Is idiographic approach scientific?
Positive psychologists criticise the humanistic approach for lacking evidence-based findings, thus making them meaningless. Despite this limitation, other idiographic approaches are scientific. An example of this is case studies. Case studies use the scientific method and also collects qualitative data.
What is another word for nomothetic?
What is another word for nomothetic?legislativecongressionaljurisdictivelaw-makingjuridicallaw-givinggovernmentallegislatorialordainingsenatorial9 more rows
What is idiographic research?
Idiographic research typically provides information and data of value to an understanding of the specific case in question. This is only valid for the investigated case and cannot be used to describe the set from which it is drawn. It offers little or no insight into social patterns and regularities.
What does a nomothetic explanation seek to explain?
Nomothetic seeks to explain a class of situations or events with one cause. An approach to explanation in which we seek to identify a few causal factors that generally impact a class of conditions or events.
What is nomothetic research?
A nomothetic approach involves the study of groups of people or cases for the purpose of discovering those general and universally valid laws or principles that characterize the average person or case.
What is nomothetic philosophy?
In history, nomothetic refers to the philosophical shift in emphasis away from traditional presentation of historical text restricted to wars, laws, dates, and such, to a broader appreciation and deeper understanding.
Is the positive approach nomothetic?
The positive approach is recognising the role of individual differences in behaviour. In addition, by also developing nomothetic theories of human behaviour, the approach benefits from being potentially more useful in applying to more people.
Is the humanistic approach nomothetic?
Humanistic Approach Summary Psychology should study the individual case (idiographic) rather than the average performance of groups (nomothetic). Shifted the focus of behavior to the individual / whole person rather than the unconscious mind, genes, observable behavior etc.
What are the methods supporting a nomothetic approach?
The methods supporting research with a nomothetic approach include experiments, correlations, and meta-analysis.
How does a nomothetic approach deal with behaviour?
The nomothetic approach establishes general laws concerning behaviour.
What is the aim of a nomothetic approach?
The nomothetic approach aims to establish experimental methods by studying large groups of people.
Can the general law applied to a nomothetic approach be classified into different groups?
Yes. The laws can be classified into different groups. We establish different principles or dimensions by categorising people into different groups...
What is the aim of idiographic methodology?
The aim is to understand behaviour by researching what makes individuals unique through comprehensive and qualitative methods by applying unstructu...
Does the idiographic approach formulate laws?
No. The idiographic approach does not formulate laws or generalise results.
What is the focus of the idiographic approach?
The idiographic approach focuses on individual perceptions and feelings, collecting qualitative data to get in-depth and unique details on individu...
Where can we see an example of an idiographic approach?
We can often see the idiographic approach in study cases humanistic and psychodynamic psychologists produce.
Can you give an example of an approach in psychology that uses both nomothetic and idiographic methodologies?
Cognitive psychology approaches blend both methods, and they use a nomothetic approach to establish general laws of the cognitive process and apply...
Where does the term "idiographic" come from?
The term ‘idiographic’ originates from the Greek word ‘idios’, which means ‘own’ or ‘private’. A psychologist who adopts an idiographic approach centers around the individual and stresses the exceptional individual experience of human nature and his past experiences. The idiographic doesn’t try to define laws or generalize results to other people.
What is the idiographic approach?
The idiographic approach gives a progressively complete or worldwide understanding of the individual and fulfills the key point of science, depiction, and understanding of behavior and also takes into account their past experiences and emotions.
What is the Idiographic approach to personality?
The idiographic way to deal with personality proposes that we each have a unique psychological structure.
Which approach has a distinctive focus?
The nomothetic and idiographic approaches have a distinct ive focus.
Which approach considers the entire personality of an individual and isn’t contrasted and another individual?
This approach is differentiated by the idiographic approach which considers the entire personality of an individual and isn’t contrasted and another individual.
Can idiographic approach be used to describe human behavior?
The idiographic approach can’t deliver general laws or expectations about human behavior, and that seriously limits its handiness as a wellspring of down to practical knowledge about the conclusion and treatment of psychological disorders.
Is idiographic methodology logical?
Notwithstanding this impediment, other idiographic methodologies are logical.
