Defintions Of Abnormality

Question 1

Deviation from social norms

Answer 1

Groups of people choose to define behaviour as abnormal on the basis that it offends their sense of what is acceptable or the norm. We are making a collective judgement as a society about what is right.
There is little behaviour that is considered universally abnormal, it varies with different cultures. E.g. Homosexuality is viewed as abnormal in some cultures but in the past in others.

Question 2

Example of deviation from social norms

Answer 2

Antisocial personality disorder: (psychopathy)
A person with this is impulsive, aggressive and irresponsible.
According to the DSM-5 (the manual used by psychiatrists to diagnose mental disorders) one important symptom of APD is an absence of pro social internal standards associated with failure to conform to lawful or culturally normative ethical behaviour. We are making the social judgement that a psychopath is abnormal because they don’t conform to our moral standards.

Question 3

Evaluation of deviation from social norms

Answer 3

+ve = A strength of this is that it has a real-life application in the diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder.

-ve = A limitation of this is that it can lead to human right abuses. This is due to the over reliance on deviation from social norms to understand abnormality. Historical examples of this include black slaves being diagnosed with drapetomania when they showed symptoms of running away. These diagnoses were really there to maintain control over those minority ethnic groups.