Definitions Of Abnormaity Flashcards
What are the 4 definitions of abnormality
Statistical infrequency
Deviation from social norms
Failure to function adequately
Deviation from ideal mental health
Description of Statistical infrequency
Behaviour that is not normal after finding out what is normal by referring to typical data -mean,median and modes
Description of Deviation from social norms
When people behave differently from the norms created by a group of people and thus are social standards of acceptable behaviour
Description of Failure to function adequately
How people are judged on their ability to go about their daily life . If they can’t do this and cause distress to others and themselves by their behaviour
Description of Deviation from ideal mental health
Absence of good mental health categories e.g self attitudes,integration ,autonomy etc defines abnormality and potential mental health disorder
Evaluation of statistical infrequency weakness
P:one weakness of defining abnormality through statistical infrequency is that’s some things considered abnormal are actually desirable
E:evidence for this is that some people have an IQ of over 150 though it is abnormal it is something that is desired
E:this shows that it is hard to distinguish undesirable and desirable things by defining abnormality through statistical Infrequency therefore it questions the validity
Evaluation of statistical infrequency weakness
P:one weakness to SI is that the cut off point is subjective
E:evidence for this is that there is a need to separate abnormality/normality. As some think 6 hours of sleep is abnormal whilst other think 5
E:this shows that it’s difficult to define abnormality though SI therefore it questions the validity
Evaluation of statistical infrequency strength
P:one strength of SI is that it’s sometimes appropriate
E:evidence for this is that intellectual disability is defined as normal distribution on using standard deviation as the cut off point for abnormality so those with an IQ of more than 2 standard deviations below the mean may be a mental health disorder
E: thus shows that SI is only one of the many tools used to define abnormality
Evaluation of deviation from social norms weakness
P:one weakness is that what is socially acceptable today may not be socially acceptable 50 years ago
E:evidence for this is that nowadays homosexuality is accepted but 50 years ago it was a sexual disorder
E:this shows that there is a real danger of creating definitions bases on prevailing social norms therefore its lacks validity
