definitions of abnormality - psychopathology - a level psychology aqa - Revision Cards in A Level and IB Psychology

statistical infrequency

defines 'normal' as referring to typical values/statistics
so 'abnormal' is behaviour that's more rare and not typical or normal, either side of the most frequent behaviours

some abnormal behaviours are desirable - having a high iq e.g. one over 150 is rare but not undesirable - there are also some normal (statistically frequent) behaviours that are undesirable e.g. depression

cut off point is subjective - different people class different things as abnormal according to this definition - e.g. some people think abnormal sleep is <6 hours a night but others may think its <5 hours
sometimes appropriate - e.g. intellectual disability is definited using standard deviation to establish a cut off point for abnormality - mental disorder is diagnosed (only along with failure to function adequately) when iq is more than 2 s.d.'s below the mean

differs for different cultures - claiming to hear voices (symptom of schizophrenia) is common in some cultures - standard of labelling someone as abnormal aren't universal

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social norms - standards of acceptable behaviour created by a social group who adheres to these standards
anyone who behaves against these socially created norms is classed as abnormal
standards can be in place for legal reasons or social reasons such as politeness
susceptible to abuse - homosexuality is acceptible in most countries but 50 yrs ago it was classed as a sexual and gender identity disorder in the DSM - what is socially acceptable now is not always the same as 50 years ago - can be an excuse to discriminate on others' identities or beliefs as people may define social morals to be what they were like in history
dependent on context and degree - e.g. showing a lot of skin on the beach would be considered normal whereas the same outfit in a formal gathering or classroom would be considered abnormal - shouting loudly and persistently is only disturbing when excessive - not complete definition on its own
does distinguish between desirable and undesirable - since social rules are established based off desirable behaviours, abnormal behaviour that defies these rules is damaging
dependent on culture - social norms defined by culture - DSM based off social norms of the west and same criteria applies to different subcultures on the west too - cultural relativism acknowledged in the most recent DSM version

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abnormality is not being able to cope with everyday living
Rosenhan and Seligman's criteria: unpredictability, maladaptive behaviour, personal distress, irrationality, observer discomfort, violation of moral standards, unconventionality
subjective - no definite decision as to whether someone is failing to function adequately as the judgement depends on who's making the decision - the person themselves may be content but just because others see it as distressing doesn't necessarily mean its functioning inadequately
some 'dysfunctional' behaviour can be beneficial for the individual - mental disorders like e.d. and depression can lead to extra attention for the individual that's rewarding and more functional than disfunctional
allows us to recognise the experience of the patient - we can judge abnormality objectively as we can see whether or not an individual is distressed by their behaviours or not - sensitivity and practicality
culturally relative - different diagnoses to people of different cultures as different cultures have different ideas as to how their life should be lived - lower class and non white patients have different lifestyles to dominant culture and are more often diagnosed with mental disorders

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Jahoda (1958) - since we define physical illness by looking at the absense of signs of physical health, we should do the same for mental illness
the characteristics that enable an individual to be free of distress and behave competently: self attitudes, personal grown and self actualisation, integration (coping with stressful situations), autonomy (independence), accurate perception of reality and mastery of the environment
absense of these criteria indicates abnormality
unrealistic criteria - hard to measure/assess someone's capacity of personal growth - also unclear how much of the criteria needs to be lacking before someone's abnormal
tries to apply principles of physical health to general health - physical illnesses are easier to diagnose as they have physical causes - mental disorders are more complicated and can also be contributed to by life experiences - can't diagnose them the same way
focusses on the positives rather than negatives - doesn't give the impression that their behaviour is unideal or undesirable - in accordance with the positive psychology movement - influence on humanistic approach
culturally bound - the goal of self actualisation is only relevant to members of individualist cultures and not collectivist ones - people in collectivist and non-middle class groups are subsequently more likely to get wrongly categorised as abnormal

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