Abnormality:deviation from social norms and deviation from ideal mental health. Flashcards
(11 cards)
Define deviation from social norms
- Concerns behaviour that is different from the accepted standars of behaviour in a community or society
- Additionally what is acceptable in one context may not be acceptable in another
- People who deviate from these societal expectations may be seen as anbnormal or social deviants
Give examples of norms that vary between cultures (4)
- Acceptance of homosexuality
- Face and hair covering
- Level of modesty
- PDA/Emotion
What is one criticism of deviation from social norms (Lacking temporal validity) (5)
- One limitation of using social norms as a definition of abnormality is that it can lack temporal validity.
- This is because, Social norms vary from one generation to another.
- For example, The recent generation is becoming more accepting of LGBTQ+ ideas and more and more people are coming out
- Whereas the older generation would probably frown upon the idea of LBTQ+ and see it as an abnormal behaviour
- Therefore, using deviation from social norms can be slightly outdated/updated depending on what generation you’re born in as nowadays societies are becoming more accepting.
Limitation of social norms - Can lead to abuse (5)
- One major limitation of using deviation from social norms definition is that it can lead to human rights abuses.
- Too much reliance on deviation from social norms to understand abnormality can also lead to systematic abuse of human rights.
- Looking at the historical examples of deviation from social norms such as drapetomania-Black slaves running away- and nymphomania-Hunger for sex- it is pretty clear that these diagnoses were really there to maintain control over minority ethnic groups and women.
- The classifications appear ridiculous nowadays – but only because our social norms have changed.
- More radical psychologists suggest that some of our modern categories of mental disorder are really abuses of people’s rights to be different.
Criticism of devation from social norms Culural relativism (4)
- One limitation with using deviation from social norms to define behaviour as abnormal is that social norms vary tremendously from one community to another.
- For example, a person from one cultural group may label someone from another culture as behaving abnormally according to their standards rather than the standards of the person behaving that way.
- Such as, hearing voices which is socially acceptable in some cultures but would be seen as a sign of mental abnormality in the UK.
- This creates problems for people from one culture living within another culture group.
- Meaning that deviation from social norms cannot be used as a sole definition for abnormality
Define Deviation from ideal mental health (DIMH)
Refers to when someone does not meet a set criteria for good mental health
* The more criteria someone fails to meet, the more abnormal they are.
Give examples of what ideal mental health looks like according to marie jahoda (1958)
8 of them
She said that we are in good mental health if:
- We have a realistic view of the world
- We are rational and can perceive ourselves accurately
- We self actualise-reach our potential-
- We can cope with stress
- We have no symptoms of distress
- We have good self esteem
- We are independent of others
- We can successfully work and love
Comprehensive definition (3)
Strength
- A strength of deviation from ideal mental health is that it is very comprehensive as it covers a broad range of criteria for mental health
- In fact it probably covers most of the reasons why someone would seek help from mental health services or be referred for help.
- The sheer range of factors discussed in relation to Jahoda’s ideal mental health make it a good tool for thinking about mental health.
Cultural relativism (DIMH)
Culture bound Limitation (3)
- One limitation DIMH is that some of the ideas in Jahoda’s classification of ideal mental health are specific to Western European and North American cultures (they are culture-bound).
- For example, the emphasis on personal achievement in the concept of self actualisation would be considered self indulgent in much of the world because the emphasis is so much on the individual rather than the family or community.
- Similarly, much of the world would see independence from other people as a bad thing. Such traits are typical of individualist cultures.
It sets an unrealistically high standard for mental health! (DIMH) (5)
- One limitation of the DIMH definition is that It sets an unrealistically high standard for mental health as very few of us attain all Jahoda’s criteria for mental health, and probably none of us achieve all of them at the same time or keep them up for very long.
- Therefore this approach would see pretty much alot of the population as abnormal.
- This can be seen as a positive or a negative.
- On the positive side it makes it clear to people the ways in which they could benefit from seeking treatment to improve their mental health.
- At the other extreme, deviation from ideal mental health is probably of no value in thinking about who might benefit from treatment against their will.
What are the evaluation points for Both definitons
DFSN:
Temporal validity
Human rights abuse
Cultural relativism
DIMH:
Comprhensive definiton
Unrealisticlly hihg standard for ideal mental health
Culture bound-Self actualisation and Independence from others
