MENTAL HEALTH: TOPIC 1- Defining abnormality Flashcards
(9 cards)
‘Abnormailty’
Term used by psychologists to describe range of thinking & behaviours.
Stratton and Hayes 1993 proposed 3 ways to define abnormality (each have flaws, often is a problem labelling person as ‘abnormal’- can majorly impact how they see self or how society see them)
Stratton & Hayes 1993- 3 ways to define abnormality:
1) Abnormality as behaviour which deviates from the STATISTICAL norm.
2) Abnormality as behaviour which deviates from the SOCIAL norm.
3) Abnormality as a failure to function adequately (MALADAPTIVENESS).
- Abnormality as behaviour which deviates from statistical norm
Some psychologists propose behaviour is ‘normally distributed’, if true then those whose behaviour is very different (more than 2 standard deviations above/below the mean) can be defined as abnormal.
Very rare that people behaviour falls more than 3 SD above/below average.
Problems with defining abnormality as deviating from statistical norm:
How uncommon is abnormal? Not all uncommon behaviours are undesirable. To become member of the ‘Mensa’ (high IQ society) must be in top 2% of population in terms of intelligence- positive trait, rather than abnormality.
Issues in trusting statistics: e.g depression less common, therefore more abnormal in males and non-western countries, this may be due to men traditionally being less likely to seek help or certain cultures having stigma around mental illness= diagnosis less likely to occur.
- Abnormality as behaviour which deviates from the social norm
Abnormality is when behaviour does not fit within what is socially acceptable.
Explains what is considered ‘normal’ is determined by our society’s view of how we ‘ought’ to act.
These norms are ‘social’ because they emerge from views and behaviour of groups of people.
In any society there are standards of ‘acceptable behaviour’ set by social group.
Anyone behaving differently or ‘deviates’ from these social norms created- classed as ‘socially deviant’ or ‘abnormal’.
Problems with defining abnormality as deviation from social norm:
What is classed as abnormal depends on culture, historical context, age, gender and situational context.
e.g homosexuality is still illegal in over 70 countries- social norms differ according to culture & time period ( was illegal in UK until 1967).
This definition can be used to discriminate against people who majority disapprove of and want to remove from society.
Those who are ‘eccentric’ or do not act according to expectations of others can be branded ‘abnormal’ just because of different lifestyle to majority of people in society.
Who should decide what is classed as a ‘social norm’ and at what point do behaviours become ‘deviant’?
- Abnormality as failure to function adequately (maladaptiveness)
Abnormality can be judged in terms of not being able to cope with everyday living (‘failure to function adequately’) funtioning being going about day to day life i.e eating regularly, washing clothes, getting up to go to work, communicating with others etc…
Not functioning adequately causes distress & suffering for individual, may also cause for others to feel this way. E.g schizophrenic people often lack awareness that anything is wrong, but their behaviour may be distressing to others.
Problems defining abnormality as maladaptiveness:
Explanation is related to cultural ideas of how one’s life should be lived, involved others in making value judgements of what it means to ‘function adequately’.
‘Failure to function’ criteria likely to result in different diagnoses when applied to people from diff cultures- standard of one culture is being used to measure another. May explain why lower class and non-white patients often diagnosed with mental illness more frequently- their lifestyles differ from dominant culture (middle class clinicians) may lead to judgement of ‘failing to function adequately’.
Some apparently dysfunctional behaviour can actually be adaptive and functional for that individual e.g dressing in the opposite genders clothes could be considered ‘failure to function adequately’ when some may cope with stress and self esteem this way, beneficial to them.
Statistical infrequency, Deviation from social norm and Failure to function play some role in mental illness diagnosis but none is sufficient on its own.
1989- Rosenhan & Seligman extended criteria for defining abnormality:
-Suffering
-Maladaptiveness
-Unconventional behaviour
-Irrationality in behaviours others wouldn’t be able to understand
-Unpredictability/ loss of control that may be unpredictable to observer/person exhibiting behaviour
-Observer discomfort due to unpredictability and irrationality of behaviour
-Violation of moral standards where behaviour fails to meet standards set by society.
