(1)🔮 doa: deviations from social norms

Question 1

what is a social norm?

Answer 1

an explicit expectation of behaviour that is created by society to guide behaviour - seen as abnormal if ones behaviour violates these societal expectations.

Question 2

name some real life examples of deviating social norms in today’s society

Answer 2

never washing, refusing to get out of bed in the morning, talking to yourself

Question 3

✅ real life applications in clinical practices

Answer 3

evidence: antisocial personality disorder signs are due to inability to conform to culturally acceptable, ethical behaviours (aggressive, reckless, manipulative, deceitful)

explain: by recognising deviation from social norms, useful for professionals to identify and diagnose disorders.

Question 4

❌ - can result in unfair labelling and human rights abuse

Answer 4

evidence: historically, natural desires have been pathologized
• drapetomania (supposed mental illness to describe enslaved people running away) used to control ethnic groups (blacks)
• nymphomania, used to pathologize and control sexual desires of women

explain: definition can be manipulated to justify oppressive practices.

Question 5

❌ - social norms are culturally relative

Answer 5

evidence: members of one culture may label members of another culture as abnormal when using their own cultural norms
• some african and native american cultures see hearing voices as a sign of messages from ancestors but in UK, would be seen as abnormal and could potentially lead to a diagnosis of schizophrenia

explain: difficult to judge abnormality with this definition due to absence of universal standardisation.