Definitions Of Abnormality Flashcards
Define Deviation from social norms
- Acceptable/expected behaviour set by social group
- Laws (explicit) or unwritten rules (implicit) are both types of social
norms - Behaviour which deviates from these rules is abnormal, e.g. OCD bring own cutlery as they fear contamination
Define Failure to function adequately
- Abnormality is inability to cope with everyday life
- It looks at abnormal behaviour that interferes with everyday life
- Rosenhan and Seligman argued FFA is identified by the person showing unusual,
irrational, unpredictable behaviour and the person suffers personal distress,E.g. Depressed individuals find it hard to keep a job or relationships
Define deviation from ideal mental health
- Abnormality is due to absence of signs of mental healthiness- Jahoda
- Failure to meet one or more of these criteria would suggest an abnormality, the more criteria they fail to meet, the more abnormal the person would be deemed
- Six categories that define mental illness: self attitude (high self esteem) , self actualisation (work
to your full potential), resistance to stress, autonomy (being independent), accurate view of reality (seeing the world as it really is) & environment mastery (can adapt to new situations or being able to cope in current situations and have the ability to love and solve problems.)
Define statistical infrequency
- This definition suggests that we must look at behaviours that are typical (normal) of the general population
- Then any behaviour which is rare (not shown by many people) is abnormal
- Therefore, on a distribution curve any behaviour that is 2 or more standard deviations
from the mean is statistically rare.
Deviation from Social Norms- weakness
P- social norms created within a culture
E- therefore can be argued that DSN is limited by cultural relativism.
E- Different cultures have different social norms and expectations of behaviour, for example, in a western culture, someone receiving messages from spirits could be seen as a symptom of schizophrenia as the behaviour is unexpected within a western society, whereas in a non western culture, these signs could be classed as a spiritual gift.
L- therefore may not be appropriate to use DSN to define abnormality outside of a specific culture
Deviation from social norms - strength
P- real life application in the diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder
E- Mental health practitioners can look at what is deemed acceptable within society and use those cultural and social norms to diagnose abnormal behaviour
E- For example, an individual who engages in truant behaviour, lacks remorse or engages in repeated illegal acts is deviating from social norms and this behaviour would be unexpected within society.
These behaviours can be used by practitioners to judge whether an individual is displaying abnormal behaviour and therefore diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder
L- therefore dsn is useful definition with differentiating between normal and abnormal behaviour
FFA - strength
P- acknowledges personal experience of individual
E- For example, although some of the criterion may be difficult to measure, the definition does take into account the person’s subjective experience
E - and their perception of their ability to cope with everyday life and whether or not they are feeling severe personal distress
L- therefore ffa captures experience of many people who need help which suggests it is a useful definition for assessing abnormality
FFA- weakness
P- easy to label non-standard lifestyle choices as abnormal
E- It can be very hard to say when someone is really failing to function adequately and when they have simply chosen to deviate away from social norms.
E- An example of this may be those who favour high risk leisure activities or unusual spiritual practices could be classed
L- limitation of ffa as doa as people who make unusual choices are at the risk of being labelled as abnormal and their freedom of choice may be restricted
DIMH- strength
P- covers broad range of criteria for mental health
E- Some would argue that the definition covers most of the reasons someone would seek help from mental health services or be referred for help
E- This in contrast to other definitions such as deviation from social norms as that only focuses on one criterion for defining abnormality
L- Therefore, the vast range of factors discussed in relation to ideal mental health make it an appropriate definition of abnormality.
DIMH- weakness
P- too strict
E- People may not be able to realistically meet all six characteristics that define mental healthiness at any one time
E- For example, an individual who has lost their job may not be able to cope with the stressful situation and may develop negative self-attitudes as a result. This may mean the individual would be classed as abnormal by this definition, even though this would be a rational response for many
L- limiting use of DIMH as doa
Statistical infrequency- strength
P- practical applications
E- This is because statistical infrequency is used in the real world in clinical practice, both as part of diagnosis and as a way to assess the severity of an individual’s symptoms
E- For example, a diagnosis of intellectual disability disorders requires an IQ of below 70 (bottom 2%)
L- Therefore, SI as a definition of abnormality is an important part of applied psychology as it is a useful part of clinical assessment
SI- weakness
P- does not differentiate between desirable and undesirable behaviour when defining abnormality
E- For example, a high IQ is desirable, and we would not consider someone with a high IQ as abnormal
E- However, a high IQ is seen as statistically rare and therefore would be abnormal by this definition despite the individual not needing treatment to return to ‘normal’
L- limitation and means that it could never be used solely to make a diagnosis and treatment plan
