Definitions of Abnormality

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Deviation from social norms

Strengths:

  • The behaviour is seen within a social context, so it can be holistically judged. e.g being naked on a naturist beach vs. in the middle of town.
  • Avoids being ethnocentric as it categorises normal for the society in which the behaviour is observed.
  • Abnormal behbaiour is visible, so help can be provided if needed. 
  • Establishes that definitions can adapt with age. e.g 2 year old wearing a nappy vs. 30 year old.

Limitations:

  • Subjective. Some characteristics may be eccentric and not necessarily abnormal.
  • Szasz (1960) sees the term 'mental illness' as a form of social control by discrimination.
  • Changes in social norms show abnormality is not university. For example, homosexuality was illegal in the UK until 1968 and classed as a mental disorder until 1990.
  • Cultural relativism- Kim and Motsei (2002) found many African medical workers thought that it was acceptable to beat a wife to correct her behaviour.
  • Cochrane (1977) found black people were found more black people were found to be diagnosed as schizophrenic compared to white and asian. However, in countries with high black population e.g. Jamaica, there is a low schizophrenia diagnosis rate, suggesting cultural bias in British Psychiatrists.
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Failure to function adequately

When a person suffers prolonged stress and is unable to cope with day-to-day life. Rosenhan & Seligman (1989) suggest personal dysfunction has the following features: Personal distress, maldaptive behaviours that prevent social and occupation goal attainment; unpredicatble behaviour; irrational behvaiour; observer distress; violation of moral standards; and unconventional behaviour. 

Strengths:

  • Feelings and emotions of the patient are considered.
  • Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scale can be used to assess severity as there is a practical checklist for diagnosis and treatment.
  • List of behaviours are observable.

Limitations:

  • Sometimes normal to be distressed, so it is difficult to define when this becomes abnormal behaviour.
  • Subjective and therefore open to misdiagnosis.
  • The person may not recognise their own behaviour as a problem.
  • Cultural relativism is an issue as judgement is influences by cultural norms and is therefore ethnocentric, limiting reliability and validity. 
  • In some cases there may not be observable dysfunctional traits. For example, Harold Shipman murdered 200 of his patients, but showed no visible signs of dysfunction.
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Statistical Infrequency

Behaviour that deviates from the mean of the normal distribution. Most people will be averages of certain characteristics. Abnormal behaviours are usually classed as 2 standard deviations either side of the norm. 

Strengths:

  • Objectively measured by a point of 2 standard deviations.
  • Used by osychologists to compare patients to the normal distribution for their demographic.
  • Used to measure development in children against normal percentile.
  • Uses scores on standardised tests so it is objective.

Limitations:

  • Fails to account for desirable abnormal behaviours. such as high IQ.
  • Person's scores are often subjective as they're based on self-reports.
  • Does not consider any cultural factors.
  • There's no logical reason for it being 2 standard deviations.
  • Some undesirable behabiour, such as depression, is no longer rare and therefore may lead to them not being diagnosed under this definition.
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Deviation from Ideal Mental Health

Looks for signs of absence of wellbeing and psychological normality. Maslow (1943) defines this state of normality as self-actualisation. Jahoda (1958) identified that in order to achieve self-actualisation, an indivudual displays the following characteristics: Positive view of the self (high self-esteem); autonomy and independence; Personal growth and development; Accurate perception of reality; Resisting Stress and Environmental mastery.

Strengths:

  • Holistic approach - considers the patient as a human being.
  • Treatment can be targeted to a specific area/ used to set goals in treatment.
  • Criteria focuses on positive characteristics of ideal mental health, rather than negative abnormal behaviours.

Limitations:

  • Most people do not meet all the criteria but are not classified as abnormal.
  • Doesn't measure the extent to which criteria is missed.
  • Culturally biased - collectivist cultures don't recognise concepts of autonomy and independence.
  • Subjective - Difficult to measure extent of mental health. 
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Practice 4 MARKER

David has been rather low lately and his work absences are threatening his chances of promotion. His sudden outbursts of rage can scare others and yesterday he turned up at work with his hair dyes purple.

Explain David's behaviour by reference to the failure to function adequately definition of abnormality.

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Practice 4 MARKER

Explain one strength and one limitation of the deviation from social norms definition of abnormality.

It can be holistically judged as the behaviour is seen within a specific social context. For example, being naked on a naturist beach would not be classed as abnormal, but being naked in a town centre would be. This allows the explanation to be applied to different situations, creating a clear distinction between normality and abnormality.

However, a weakness of the explanation is that it is cultually relative. Kim and Motsei (2002) found that many African medical workers though that beating a wife to correct her behaviour was acceptable, whereas in most Western cultures this would be frowned upon and therefore defined as abnormal. 

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Practice 4 MARKER

Link the following statement to the definition of abnormality. One will be left over.

1- Abnormal behaviours are ones that are very rare

2- Behaviours that are not acceptable to society are abnormal

3- People who can't cope with everyday activities are abnormal

4- Yielding to group pressures is abnormal

5- A lack of autonomy is abnormal.

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Practice 16 MARKER

Outline and evaluate definitions of abnormality.

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Practice 12 MARKER (16)

Outline and evaluate the statistical infrequency and deviation from ideal mental health definitions of abnomrality.

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Practice 4 MARKER

Psychologists often conduct interviews with participants to conduct research into definitions of abnormality. Explain one strength and one limitation of conducting such interviews.

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