Psyche normality and abnormality

2025 psychology semester 2 test 1

what is the difference between abnormal and dysfunctional behaviour

abnormal: behaviour that violates a norm in society, is maladaptive, is rare given the context of the culture or environment and is causing the person distress in their daily life.

dysfunctional: behaviour that reflects any impairment, disturbance or deficiency in behaviour or operation.

what is the continuum of normal to abnormal?

mental fitness-healthy-rejecting-injured-illness.

what are the 4 D's od diagnosis.

danger - is one likely to harm themselves or others?

deviance - behaviour that differs significantly from what is considered appropriate.

distress - emotions that impact ones level of functioning.

dysfunction - when behaviours interfere with ones ability to carry out daily activities.

difference between etic and emic approaches

emic - looking at behaviours of a group form the perspective of one member of the group.

etic - behaviour is compared across specific cultures.

what is clinical bias?

when the expectations of the clinicition interfere with the diagnosis.

what is wrong with gender bias? why may it be right?

e.g. women are 2-3 times more likely to become diagnosed as depressed.

is there an actual gender difference, or is the higher rate the result of gender stereotypes.

what is stereotype bias?

biases based on socioeconomic status, gender and culture.

what is CARDUD

consent

anonymity

right to withdraw

deception

undue stress or harm

debriefing

what is labelling theory?

if a person is diagnosed based on symptoms of deviant behaviour societies reactions to this label will produce additional pathology or behavioural disturbance that causes mental illness or makes it worse.

what do classification systems do?

identify patterns of behavioural or mental symptoms that consistently occur together to form a disorder.

what is sick role bias?

if a person is seeking assistance, they must have a disorder

what is reactivity?

when individuals change behaviour due to the awareness that they are being observed. can be + or -

what are the ABCS of describing symptoms of a disorder?

Affective symptoms - emotional elements

behavioural symptoms - observable behaviours.

cognitive symptoms - ways of thinking

somatic symptoms - physical symptoms.

anchoring bias

tendency to rely too heavily on the first piece of information

teh prestige effect

when people feel more willing to express their opinion about something because of their level of prestige

illusionary correlation

they see a perceived relationship between two unrelated variables when there’s no link.

what’s the difference between validity and reliability?

validity - whether the diagnosis is correct and leads to successful treatment

reliability - whether two or more psychiatrists use the same classification system and make the same diagnosis.

what sources of data should be used to verify validity

clinical description

laboratory studies

elimination from other disorders

follow up/ family studies