definitions of abnormality 1

Question 1

statistical infrequency

Answer 1

• way to define whether something is normal or abnormal is how often we come across it
• numerical measure of how common a diagnosis of a specific disorder is within a population
• according to the statistical definition, any relatively usual behaviour or characteristic can be thought of as normal, and any unusual behaviour is abnormal, this is statistical infrequency
• if in the minority (usually less than 5%), someone is infrequent and can be labelled as abnormal
• for example we can say that, at any one time, only a small proportion of people will have an irrational fear of buttons or believe for no good reason that their neighbours are zombies

example - IQ and intellectual disability disorder

• we know that in any characteristic, the majority of people’s scores will cluster around the average, and the further we go above or below this average, the less people will attain that score, this is called the normal distribution
• average IQ is 100, in a normal distribution 68% of people have a score between 85-115, only 2% have a score below 70
• those scoring below 70 are considered unusual or abnormal and are liable to be diagnosed with a psychological disorder - intellectual disability disorder (IDD)

Question 2

deviation from social norms

Answer 2

• most of us notice those who’s behaviour deviates from social norms
• groups of people choose to define behaviour as abnormal on the basis that it offends their sense of what is acceptable or the norm, or it violates social norms
• we make a collective judgement as a society about what is right
• norms learnt via socialisation and interaction with others

norms are specific to the culture we live in -
- social norms may be different for every generation and culture, so there are few behaviours that would be considered universally abnormal on the basis that they breach social norms
- for example, homosexuality was considered abnormal our culture in the past, but is still considered abnormal in some cultures

example - antisocial personality disorder
- a person with antisocial personality disorder (psychopathy) is impulsive, aggressive and irresponsible
- according to the DSM-5 (manual used by psychiatrists to diagnose mental disorders), one symptom is an ‘absence of prosocial internal standards associated with failure to conform to lawful and culturally normative ethical behaviour’
- we are making the social judgement that psychopaths are abnormal because they don’t conform to our moral standards
- psychopathic behaviour would be considered abnormal in a lot of cultures

Question 3

statistical infrequency evaluation - real world application

Answer 3

• used in clinical practice, as part of formal diagnosis as well as a way to assess severity of symptoms
• for example a diagnosis of IDD requires an IQ of below 70
• an example of it used in an assessment tool is the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), a score of 30+ (top 5% of participants) is widely interpreted as having severe depression
• increases value

Question 4

statistical infrequency evaluation - unusual characteristics can be positive

Answer 4

• limitation is that infrequent characteristics can be positive as well as negative
• for every person with an IQ below 70 there is a person with an IQ above 130, however we would not think of someone with a high IQ to be abnormal
• statistical frequency is never sufficient as the sole basis for defining abnormality
• just because someone is abnormal, doesn’t mean they need treatment
• cannot be used alone to make a diagnosis

Question 5

deviation from social norms evaluation - real world application

Answer 5

• used in clinical practice
• for example, key defining characteristic of psychopathy is failure to conform to acceptable ethical behaviour, signs are all deviations from social norms
• such norms also play a part in the diagnosis of schizoptypal personality disorder, where the term strange is used to characterise the thinking, behaviour and appearance of people with the disorder
• increases value in psychiatry

Question 6

deviation from social norms evaluation - cultural and situational relativism

Answer 6

• limitation is the variability between social norms in different cultures and even different situations
• a person from one cultural group may label someone from another group as abnormal using their own standards rather than the other person’s standards
• for example, the experience of hearing voices is the norm in some cultures but would be seen as abnormal in most parts of the UK
• even within one culture, norms may differ from one situation to another
• for example, aggressive and deceitful behaviour in the context of family life is more socially unacceptable than in the context of corporate deal-making
• difficult to judge deviation from social norms across different cultures and situations
• ethnocentric bias, in the west social norms often reflect the behaviour of the majority white population, so deviation from these norms means that ethnic minorities are more likely to be over represented in mental illness stats