The Psychology of Individual Differences
A great deal of psychological research takes what is called a nomothetic approach; it tries to find things that are similar for all people so that we can find laws of behaviour that can be generalised to everyone. But isn't it a little boring treating everyone as being the same when there is so much variety in the world? The individual differences approach takes an ideographic view of people, looking to investigate the things that make people different, or even unique.
Methods of the individual differences approachBecause they will often look more at individuals than at large groups, the individual differences approach will often employ methods that are less common in other approaches, such as:
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Know your studies - Individual differences dustbin game...
Evaluating an approach, using studies as evidence
A common question in Paper 1 is to evaluate the approach, using the studies you have covered as an example. E.g...
Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the individual differences approach to psychology using one of the studies listed below as an example. [10]
A very common mistake here is for students to simply evaluate the study itself (e.g. saying the strengths and weaknesses of the Veale and Riley study). This does not answer the question. You need to use the studies as examples, in order to evaluate THE APPROACH!
Using the PEE structure can be very helpful here. For example:
P - Make a point about a strength or weakness of the approach (e.g. see the ones given below)
E - Give and example from one of the four studies you have covered, which helps to illustrate your point.
E - Explain why this is a good/bad thing for the approach.
Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the individual differences approach to psychology using one of the studies listed below as an example. [10]
- Rosenhan
- Billington et al
- Veale and Riley
A very common mistake here is for students to simply evaluate the study itself (e.g. saying the strengths and weaknesses of the Veale and Riley study). This does not answer the question. You need to use the studies as examples, in order to evaluate THE APPROACH!
Using the PEE structure can be very helpful here. For example:
P - Make a point about a strength or weakness of the approach (e.g. see the ones given below)
E - Give and example from one of the four studies you have covered, which helps to illustrate your point.
E - Explain why this is a good/bad thing for the approach.
Strengths of the individual differences approach
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Weaknesses of the individual differences approach
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Revision - practice exam questionsPaper One:
Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the individual differences approach in psychology using one of the studies listed below as an example. (10) Billington Rosenhan Veale and Riley Thigpen and Cleckley Past Paper Two Examination Questions: (a) Outline what is meant by the ‘individual differences approach’ in psychology. (2) Using the studies from the list below (three will be named), answer the questions which follow. Billington Rosenhan Veale and Riley Thigpen and Cleckley (b) Describe the individual differences that were investigated in each of these studies. [9] (c) What problems may psychologists have when they investigate individual differences? (9) (d) Outline what is meant by the ‘individual differences approach’ in psychology. [2] (e) Describe how data was collected in each of these studies. (9) (f) What are the advantages of using the individual differences approach for psychologists? [9] |
ExtensionAlthough we have to be very careful when generalising results from case studies (see Freud for a good illustration of this!), there are some case studies that have changed the world!
For example, investigate the cases of:
Both of these are examples of case studies that have made a huge difference to the way we understand the way our minds work. There are many others. |