Social Norms of Defintiion of Abnormality

Evaluation

One advantage of the social norms definition is that the idea of abnormality as behaviour that goes against social norms matches what is expected in daily life when talking about abnormality. For example, it takes into account that someone who is highly intelligent is not considered abnormal in the sense of being mentally ill. One disadvantage is that if culture, age, situation, historical context and gender have to be considered then it's hard to have a reliable idea of what is abnormal. Therefore, diagnosis is difficult, as there are no set symptoms to rely on, which would make this definition unsuitable when diagnosing patients/people. Another advantage is that this definition explains why different cultures have alternative ideas of what is abnormal or normal behaviour and takes into account that there is no universal rule about what is abnormal. Another disadvantage is that any definition of abnormality would lack validity except in one particular culture, at one time, with one gender and age group and in a particular situation. Therefore, not only is it hard to diagnose abnormality reliably but the validity of ant diagnosis is also in doubt. It's difficult to measure abnormality objectively and scientifically according to this definition, as there are so many issues to take into account and a definition that doesn't allow objectively might be seen as unsuitable.