Deviation From Social Norms Flashcards
Define what it means to deviate from social norms. Give an example.
A way of defining abnormality that suggests the person behaves in a way that doesn’t fit in with what is socially acceptable.
Eg: Not queueing in a shop
What are implicit rules in society?
Rules that are not officially laws, but it would be considered strange to not follow them.
How do laws govern acceptable behaviours in society?
Not following laws are socially unacceptable and can be punished by imprisonment.
Give one factor that deviation from social norms is dependent on.
Deviating from social norms can be dependent on cultures. What’s acceptable in one culture may be seen as unacceptable in another.
Give symptoms of antisocial personality disorder.
Impulsiveness, aggression, irresponsibility, failure to comply with social norms.
Why do we consider psychopaths abnormal?
We make the social judgement that psychopaths are abnormal because they don’t conform to moral standards
Explain the limitation of the DSN explanation that there are variables between social norms in different situations, using the example of culture and hallucinations.
For example, a person from one cultural group may label someone as abnormal using their standards, rather then the other persons cultural standards. Hearing voices in one culture, for example, is normal, but in other cultures, it might be a sign of mental illness. This means that it can be hard to judge abnormality from deviation from social norms across different situations and cultures.
Explain the strength of DSN having real world application, using the examples of ASP and Schizotypal personality disorder in clinical practice.
For example, the key defining characteristics of anti social personality disorder is the failure to conform to social norms and ethical behaviour. Such norms also play a part in the diagnosis of schizotypal personality disorder where the term stranger is used to characterise thinking and behaviours. This shows that DSN has value in psychiatry.
Explain the strength of DSN being flexible to certain situations, using the example of clothing.
For example, it would be socially acceptable to wear a swimming costume on the beach, but would be strange to wear one in a shop. This flexibility prevents perfectly normal situations from being labelled as abnormal, allowing us to continue to clearly tell when someone is deviating from social norms.
