Psychology essay 19
“Abnormality is very difficult to define. It can be hard to decide when normal behaviour ends and abnormal behaviour begins.” Discuss two or more definitions of abnormality
Definitions of Abnormality
Statistical Infrequency
Occurs when an individual has a less common characteristic, for example being more depressed or less intelligent than most of the population.
Deviation from Social Norms
Concerns behaviour that is different from the accepted standards of behaviour in a community or society.
Failure to Function Adequately
Occurs when somebody is unable to cope with ordinary demands of day-to-day living.
Deviation from Ideal Mental Health
Occurs when somebody does not meet a set of criteria for good mental health.
Psychopathology is the scientific study of psychological disorders. When someone has a physical disorder, a doctor will examine the patient’s symptoms and/or run various tests in order to make a correct diagnose. The diagnosis of psychological disorders is much more complex. In these cases we have to consider in what ways their behaviour differs from the norm, i.e. is it abnormal?
The four definitions of abnormality are: 1. Statistical Infrequency, 2. Deviation from Social Norms, 3. Failure to Function Adequately and 4. Deviation from Ideal Mental Health.
Deviation from Social Norms (A01)
Each society has unwritten rules for acceptable behaviour. These are norms. This definition classes any behaviour as abnormal if it goes against the accepted, expected and approved ways of behaving in a society. This definition, therefore, suggests that abnormality can be seen as simply breaking the ‘rules of society’. Schizophrenia would be class as abnormal according to this definition because hearing voices is not something that is expected, accepted or approved in society.
Evaluation - Deviation from Social Norms (A03)
P: The main difficulty with this definition is that social norms change vary as times change.
E: What is socially acceptable now may not have been socially acceptable 50 years ago.
E: For example, today homosexuality is acceptable but in the past (in America up to 1973) it was included under ‘sexual and gender identity disorders’ in the DSM (a manual used by psychiatrists to diagnose mental disorders) so was not accepted or approved.
L: This lack of consistency reduces the reliability of this definition of abnormality. It is argued that a reliable definition should be stable over time.
P: This definition of abnormality has been criticised because social norms differ between cultures. It is criticized for being ‘ethnocentric’
E: In other words, norms are culturally relative.
E: For example, hearing voices is viewed as a deviation from social norms in our culture but in others, it is more accepted and therefore, not necessarily viewed as deviant behaviour.
L: This is a problem as it is argued a reliable definition should be consistent between cultures.
P: Another criticism of using social norms to define abnormality is that it can be seen as punishing people who are trying to express their individuality and/or repressing people who do not conform to the repressive norms of their culture.
E: For example, drapetomania (black slaves running away)
E: This labelling was a way to try and control people in slavery.
L: This is a limitation as using this definition of abnormality can be damaging to certain people in society, and just because most people agree that a behaviour violates social norms does not mean it is a mental illness that needs treatment.
P: One strength of this definition is that it is a more appropriate definition of abnormality, especially when compared to the ‘statistical infrequency’ definition.
E: This is because it distinguishes between desirable and undesirable behaviour and the effect the behaviour has on others.
E: For example, a genius is statistically abnormal but most people would not argue this behaviour violates the accepted or approved norms. Most people would not view being a genius as ‘abnormal’
L: This is a strength as it may be a more appropriate definition of abnormal behaviour than other definitions.
Failure to Function Adequately (A01)
Failure to function adequately means that a person is unable to cope with everyday life or engage in everyday behaviours. Not functioning adequately causes distress and suffering for the individual, and/or may cause distress for others. It is important to include ‘distress to others’, because, in the case of some mental disorders, the individual may not be distressed at all. People with schizophrenia generally lack awareness that anything is wrong but their behaviour (hallucinations, believing that they are being persecuted) may well be distressing to others.
Rosenhan and Seligman proposed characteristics or features of abnormality. Some of these include:
1) Suffering - they suggest that an abnormal person should be suffering in someway
2) Maladaptive behaviour – this refers a behaviour where a person is stopping themselves from progressing
3) Unconventionality (odd) – so in order to be abnormal their behaviour needs to be odd in someway
4) Unpredictability and loss of control – most people tend to behave in a fairly predictable way on the other hand an abnormal person is expected to act in an inappropriate manner.
5) Irrational and incomprehensibility – this refers to instances where someone may act a certain way which people can’t understand.
Generally, the more of these features a person shows the more abnormal they are seen to be.
Schizophrenia would be class as abnormal by this definition because a person experiencing hallucinations and delusions will be demonstrating incomprehensible and maladaptive behaviour. The behaviour may also cause discomfort to other people.
Evaluation - Failure to Function Adequately (A03)
P: One strength of the definition is that it includes the patient’s perspective.
E: This allows us to view the mental disorder from the point of view of the person experience it.
E: For example, the level of distress experienced by the patient is considered when defining their behaviour as abnormal.
L: This suggests that failure to function adequately is a useful criterion for assessing abnormality as it provides a checklist which patients can use to help them perceive their level of functioning.
P: Abnormality is not always accompanied by dysfunction - psychopaths, people with dangerous personality disorders, can cause great harm yet still appear normal.
E: Harold Shipman, the GP who murdered at least 215 of his patients over a 23-year period, seemed to be a respectable doctor.
E: He was abnormal but did not display features of dysfunction.
L: Therefore, using this definition to define abnormality may not be appropriate.
P: The definition is limited by cultural relativism.
E: For example, long periods of grief after bereavement is more acceptable in some cultures than others.
E: This means that the same behaviour could be defined as abnormal because it is viewed as a failure to function in one culture yet functioning adequately in another.
L: This is a problem because for the definition to be classed as reliable, the same behaviour should be viewed consistently between cultures.
P: Another limitation is that ‘abnormality’ could be due to a range of other factors.
E: For example, somebody who is unable to hold down a job may be in this situation due to the economic situation of their country, not their mental health.
E: This means that by using this definition, people would incorrectly be labelled as abnormal when other definitions may not label them as abnormal.
L: This is a limitation of this definition of abnormality as it suggests that it is not appropriate in all cases and another definition may be more valid on occasions.
Two definitions of abnormality are statistical infrequency and deviation from social norms. Statistical infrequency occurs when an individual has a less common characteristic than the rest of the population. Determining what is statistically rare requires us to look at a normal distribution curve. People who fall out of two standard deviations from the mean are classed as abnormal. For example, schizophrenia will be classed as abnormal according to this definition because it occurs in around 1% of the population.
Deviation from social norms concerns behaviour that is different from the accepted standards of behaviour in a community or society. This definition therefore suggests that abnormality can be seen as simply “breaking the rules of society”. Schizophrenia would therefore be classed as abnormal because hearing voices is not something that would be expected or approved in society.
One strength of the