Zusammenfassung der Ressource
definitions of abnormality
- statistical deviation
- normal - something that occurs a lot
- behaviour that is different - abnormal
- e.g. IQ
- can be reliably measured
- average
- normal distribution 85-115
- abnormal
- below 70
- intellectual disability disorder
- deviation from social norms
- what is acceptable
- what is right in society
- specific to the culture we live in
- homosexuality for
some cultures
- few behaviours are
universally abnormal
- e.g.
- antisocial personality disorder
- impulsive, aggressive & irresponsible
- an absence of prosocial internal standards
- failure to conform to the law
- failure to conform to
cultural behaviour
- psychopath
- don't conform to moral standards
- abnormal behaviour
- evaluation - statistical deviation
- real life application
- strengths
- applied in the diagnosis of
intellectual disability disorder
- can be measured
- compared to the norm to see how
severe their illness is
- unusual characteristics
- IQ of 130 is as
unusual as one of 70
- upper intelligence is a good thing
- doesn't need treatment
- just because something isn't normal
doesn't mean it's abnormal
- label
- no benefit of being labelled abnormal if..
- someone with a low IQ is
living a good life
- no distress
- can work
- being labelled may have a negative effect
- evaluation - deviation from social norms
- explanation
- strength - real life application
- diagnose - antisocial personality disorder
- however there are other factors
- distress to other people from APD
- never the sole reason to
define abnormality
- cultural relativism
- what may be normal in one
society may not be in another
- hearing voices for some cultures is normal
- but not in the UK - may be mentally ill
- problem for people
living in another country
- human rights abused
- too much reliance on deviation
from social norms
- can lead to systematic
abuse of human rights
- historical records
- show deviation from
social norms
- were to have control over minority groups
- nowadays these norms seem silly
- but only because of our norms
- are our modern day mental illnesses
- abusing peoples rights to be different
- evaluation +
- strength of deviation form social
norms - weakness of statistical
deviation
- includes the issue of the
desirability of a behaviour
- e.g. geniuses are statistically abnormal
- but we wouldn't define them as abnormal
- social norms can be more
useful than statistical norms