Ib Psych Abnormal
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What is abnormality?
Behaviour or psychological functioning judged to deviate from accepted standards of normality. There is no universally agreed definition; judgments can depend on culture, historical period, social norms and context.
Why is defining abnormality difficult?
Normality is influenced by cultural expectations, social norms, gender, socioeconomic status and historical context. A behaviour considered abnormal in one setting may be accepted in another.
What is statistical infrequency?
Defining abnormality by how rarely a behaviour or characteristic occurs in a population. Limitation: rare traits are not necessarily harmful or disordered, and common problems can still be clinically significant.
What is deviation from social norms?
Defining abnormality as behaviour that violates a society’s expectations. Limitation: norms vary across cultures and time, so this criterion can pathologize minority behaviour or reinforce social prejudice.
What is failure to function adequately?
Defining abnormality by difficulty managing everyday demands, such as work, relationships or self-care. Limitation: functioning depends on context and available support; a person may experience distress without obvious functional impairment.
What is deviation from ideal mental health?
Defining abnormality as failure to meet criteria for positive psychological functioning. A limitation is that ideal standards may be unrealistic and culturally specific, making many healthy people appear abnormal.
What is a classification system in abnormal psychology?
A standardized framework for organizing psychological disorders by specified criteria. The DSM and ICD support communication and diagnosis, but their categories and criteria can reflect cultural assumptions and change over time.
What is the DSM?
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, published by the American Psychiatric Association. It provides diagnostic categories and criteria; it is influential internationally but is not the same as the WHO’s ICD.
What is the ICD?
The International Classification of Diseases, published by the World Health Organization. It includes classifications for mental and behavioural disorders and is used internationally, including in health systems and clinical reporting.
What is diagnostic reliability?
The consistency of a diagnosis. Inter-rater reliability concerns whether different clinicians assign the same diagnosis; test–retest reliability concerns whether the diagnosis remains consistent over time when the condition has not meaningfully changed.
What is diagnostic validity?
The extent to which a diagnosis accurately identifies the disorder or condition it claims to identify. A diagnosis may be reliable but invalid if clinicians consistently apply criteria that do not represent a distinct or meaningful disorder.
How can classification systems improve reliability?
Standardized criteria give clinicians a shared framework and reduce reliance on purely subjective judgment. However, reliability still depends on training, interpretation, symptom reporting and the clarity of diagnostic boundaries.
What is clinical bias?
A systematic influence on a clinician’s judgment that may distort assessment or diagnosis. Examples include confirmation bias, stereotypes, expectations and the influence of a label or prior information.
What is confirmation bias in diagnosis?
The tendency to seek, interpret or remember information that supports an initial diagnostic belief while overlooking contradictory evidence. It can cause clinicians to retain an inaccurate diagnosis despite information that challenges it.
How can labelling affect diagnosis?
A diagnostic label can shape how clinicians interpret later behaviour. Once a person is labelled, ambiguous actions may be viewed as symptoms, potentially reinforcing the original judgment and affecting how the person is treated.
How can culture influence diagnosis?
Cultural norms affect how distress is expressed, which symptoms are reported and what is considered unusual. Clinicians unfamiliar with a patient’s cultural context may misinterpret culturally accepted behaviour or miss culturally specific expressions of distress.
What is cultural validity in diagnosis?
The extent to which diagnostic criteria accurately recognize a disorder across cultural contexts. Criteria developed in one population may not adequately capture different symptom expressions or local understandings of distress.
What is a culturally bound expression of distress?
A way of experiencing, describing or expressing distress that has particular meaning within a cultural context. Clinicians need contextual knowledge to avoid automatically interpreting it through another culture’s assumptions.
Study card: Rosenhan (1973) — aim
To investigate whether psychiatrists could distinguish people experiencing psychological disorder from people who were not experiencing disorder in a psychiatric-hospital setting.
Study card: Rosenhan (1973) — method and procedure
Field experiment involving pseudopatients who presented at psychiatric hospitals with a reported symptom and then behaved normally after admission. They recorded their experiences while seeking discharge. Exact sample and hospital details: [verify].
Study card: Rosenhan (1973) — findings and conclusion
Pseudopatients were admitted and their subsequent ordinary behaviour was often interpreted through the psychiatric label. The study challenged diagnostic judgments and highlighted the influence of institutional expectations. Exact numerical findings: [verify].
Study card: Rosenhan (1973) — evaluation
Strength: examined diagnosis in real clinical settings. Limitations: deception raised ethical issues, and the unusual procedure and historical context limit generalization to modern diagnostic practice. The study’s methods and interpretation have also been debated.
Study card: Temerlin (1968) — focus
Temerlin’s study is listed in your course study list in relation to clinical bias and diagnosis. It examined how clinicians’ judgments could be influenced by prior information or another professional’s opinion. Exact procedure, sample and statistics: [verify].
Study card: Kleinman (1982) — focus
Kleinman’s work is listed in your course study list in relation to culture and the validity of diagnosis. It is relevant to the risk of applying diagnostic categories without sufficient understanding of the patient’s cultural context. Specific study design and results: [verify].
Study card: Bagby et al. (2015) — relevance
Your study list identifies Bagby et al. (2015) as relevant to normality, classification systems, clinical bias and diagnostic reliability or validity. Confirm the exact paper, procedure and findings against your class notes before memorizing specific statistics.
Study card: Hafstad et al. (2017) — relevance
Your study list identifies Hafstad et al. (2017) in connection with classification systems. The precise research question, sample, procedure and findings are not specified in the list excerpt; verify these details before using the study as evidence.
Study card: Mendel et al. (2011) — relevance
Your study list identifies Mendel et al. (2011) in relation to clinical bias and diagnosis. The exact study details are not supplied in the list excerpt, so do not memorize a sample size, procedure or result without checking the original source or class notes.
How do reliability and validity differ?
Reliability concerns consistency; validity concerns accuracy. A diagnostic system can produce consistent judgments without accurately identifying a distinct disorder. Strong diagnostic practice requires both reliable application and valid criteria.
How can classification systems reduce subjective judgment?
They provide standardized symptom criteria and shared terminology, making clinical decisions more consistent. However, interpretation remains necessary, and the criteria may reflect cultural assumptions or draw imperfect boundaries between disorders.
Evaluate the use of the DSM and ICD in diagnosis.
PEEL: Standardized criteria can improve consistency and communication. Evidence should demonstrate reliability or clinical utility. However, cultural differences and overlapping symptoms may reduce validity. Conclude that classification systems are useful tools, not infallible or culturally neutral measures.
Discuss whether abnormality is culturally relative.
PEEL: Social norms and symptom expression vary by culture, so a behaviour cannot always be judged outside its context. Use cultural evidence such as Kleinman (1982), after verifying the study details. Counterpoint: some distress and impairment may occur across cultures. Conclude that diagnosis needs both evidence-based criteria and cultural understanding.
Evaluate Rosenhan’s contribution to understanding diagnosis.
PEEL: Rosenhan (1973) challenged clinicians’ ability to distinguish disorder from non-disorder and highlighted labelling. Its real clinical setting supports ecological relevance. However, deception, historical context and methodological criticism limit the conclusions. Overall, it raises important questions but does not prove that all psychiatric diagnoses are invalid.
Describe two factors that can influence diagnosis.
Identify two distinct factors, such as confirmation bias and cultural context. Define each, then explain how it could alter the interpretation of symptoms or the application of diagnostic criteria. Use a relevant study for each factor if the question requires research evidence.
Explain the difference between normality and abnormality.
Define the terms and explain that judgments can depend on statistical frequency, social norms, functioning and psychological wellbeing. Show why no single criterion is sufficient, using a brief example of how context changes interpretation.
To what extent do classification systems improve diagnosis?
PEEL: Standardized criteria can increase consistency and communication. Evidence should address reliability. However, reliability does not guarantee validity, and culture or clinical bias can influence judgments. Conclude that classification systems improve structure, but accuracy depends on appropriate criteria, clinician judgment and cultural sensitivity.