Deviation from Social Norms Flashcards
What is deviation from social norms?
-Social norms are approved and expected ways of behaving
-Deviation is behaviour that violates those norms (explicit or implicit)
How are norms flexible?
-In the western world when with company eating pizza we will eat with a knife and fork but when just alone we will eat with our hands
How do we define behaviour as abnormal?
-We consider how it breaks norms or deviates from norms
-Sometimes it is clear when norms have been broken like when a schizophrenic person talks to themselves and hears auditory hallucinations
What are some examples of disorders breaking norms?
Schizophrenia
-Hearing voices and will converse with them
OCD
-Wash hands 50x a day
Anti-social Personality Disorder
-Psychopaths (aggressive, impulsive, irresponsible)
What are 4 weaknesses?
Issues with imposed etic (culture to culture)
-Social norms vary from culture to culture
-Behaviours are perceived differently across culture
-A study reported the chances of SZ in the West Indies (where it is acceptable to talk to dead relatives) and Britain is the same 1%
-But when people come to the UK from Afro-Carribbean origin their chances of being diagnosed with SZ is around 7% because of culture differences
-Social norms are different and effect diagnosing
Refutes the idea as no definition can be generalised and all cultures will need their own social norms
Lacks historical validity (norms change overtime)
-Beliefs about abnormality and social norms change all the time
-What is perceived as abnormal in one culture might be perfectly normal in another
-Gay marriage was classed as a mental illness until 1973
Refutes idea of using social norms as definition of mental illness
Value in breaking norms
-The idea of breaking social norms is considered bad but great outcomes have came from breaking norms
-Suffragette campaigners broke social norms in their women rights fight resulting in change and advancement
Again this points to the definition of social norms isn breaking them as a bad thing but ignores other outcomes that are available when breaking norms refuting this idea
Subjectivity
-Based off of opinions and what people within cultures regard as norms and what ones have been broken
-Weakens validity of any diagnosis because it then relies on the doctor testing rather than using a set definition of rules or symptoms
Thus, lacking validity and reliability as a definition
