Dedinitions Of Abnirmality Flashcards
What are the 4 definitions of abnormality
Statistical infrequency
Deviation from social norms
Failure to function adequately
Deviation from ideal mental health
What is statistical infrequency
Where the definition of abnormality is based on statistics eg.the number of times it can be observed in everyday life
Usual behavior-normal
Rare behavior-abnormal due to statistical infrequency
Example of statistical infrequency
Average IQ is 100 and only 2% have a lower score than 70 and are therefore diagnosed with an intellectual disability disorder due to being statistically abnormal
What is deviation from social norms
When a person acts in a way that is different than expected from society in certain social situations
Example of deviations from social norms
Antisocial personality disorder deviates from social norms due to their lack of empathy
What is Failure to function adequately and examples in life
Where someone’s behavior can lead to a point where they cannot deal with the demands of everyday life
Eg.not being able to hold down a job
Who proposed signs of failure to cope/what are they
Rosenhan and Saligman
No longer conforming to interpersonal rules
Experiencing personal distress
Behaving in a way that is irrational or dangerous
An example of failure to cope helping diagnoses
Low IQ is a statistical but diagnoses can only be made with a failure to cope
What is deviation from mental health
Thinking about what makes someone normal or abnormal with the use of a criteria
What is the deviation from mental health criteria
Jahoda GRAPES
Growth (personal) being goal oriented
Resistance to stress
Autonomy (being independant)
Perception of reality being accurate
Environmental mastery (maintain job/socialise)
Self attitudes (high self esteem)
Statistical infrequency neg
unusual characteristics can be positive
-over 150 IQ is infrequent but not undersirable
-10% are chronically depressed at some point in there lives and would be common enough to be considered normal and desirable
-unable to distinguish between desirable and undesirable behaviors
-makes accurately identifying psychological conditions difficult
Statistical infrequency neg
Cut off point for abnormality is subjectively determined
Who decides what is statistically rare and how
Eg if IQ cut off point for abnormal is 70 how can you say 69 is abnormal and 70 isn’t
The accuracy of the diagnosis is questioned lowering the IV
deviation from Social norms neg
The definitions of abnormal social behaviors change over time (temporal validity)
Eg 50 years ago homosexuality was included under the sexuality and gender identity disorder which wasn’t removed until 1990 however drink driving was considered acceptable
Behavior cant be defined as normal or abnormal depending on the context
Deviation from social norms pos
Good practical application
leads to the diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder
Failure to function pos
The behavior is highly observable by other individuals eg.not being able to hold down a job
This means that problems can be picked up by others and if the individual is incapable of helping themselves then others can intervene
Failure to function adequately neg
Abnormality is not always accompanied with dysfunction
Psychopaths are abnormal and can cause great harm yet still appear normal
Harold Shipman murders 215 patients over 23 years seemed like a respectable doctor but was abnormal and didn’t display features of dysfunction
This definition can result in misdiagnosis
A strength of deviation from mental health
Is that it’s highly comprehensive
It covers a broad range of criteria such as emotional cognitive and behavioral factors
This stresses a positive approach to mental health by allowing acknowledgement of desirable traits
Deviation from ideal mental health neg
It has an unrealistic criteria as the majority of people do not meet all the ideals
Eg. Few people experience personal growth making that majority abnormal
This the criteria may be more about ideals than actualities
This can result is misdiagnosis
