L1 - Normality Flashcards
1
Q
How to define abnormal behaviour?
A
- Statistically infrequent
- Negative bias to society
- Socially deviant
- Leads to distress and dysfunction
- Unexpected and inappropriate
2
Q
Why categorise people?
A
- Further knowledge:
- Theories: assume there is some commonality in aetiology of disorders
- Treatment: what works for disorder x should work for everyone suffering from x
- Easy to diagnose
3
Q
What is statistical frequency?
A
- Abnormality is when people display traits that are statistically rare
- Extremes on the normal distributions are abnormal
4
Q
Whats bad about stat infrequency?
A
- Threshold point
- Cultural differnces
- Only one half is looked at negatively e.g people with low IQs are frowned upon but high IQs although abnormal are good
5
Q
What is Social Deviance?
A
- Those who behave in a socially deviant manner and make others uncomfortable
- They do not integrate with society well
- Normal varies on culture
6
Q
What is unexpected/inappropriate behaviour?
A
- Unexpected/inappropriate reaction to an event
- e.g Phobias, PTSD
7
Q
What is distress/dysfunction?
A
- When abnormality creates distress in a person, or affects life, or leads to failure to function normally
8
Q
Whats bad about categories?
A
- Range of scores on a test, they should be dimensional
- Where to place thresholds?
- Most disorders classified by manuals
- Disorders have overlapping symptoms
9
Q
What is a mental health disorder?
A
- Clinically significant disturbance in ones cognition, emotional regulation or behaviour reflecting dysfunction in processes underlying mental functioning
- Significant distress in activites
- Expectable response to a common stressor is NOT a mental disorder
- If deviance STEMS from dysfunction in the individual
10
Q
What did Rosenham do?
A
- 12 pseudo patients faked symptoms to get admitted to the hospital
- They acted normally on ward
- Were not detected by staff, but found out by patients that they were sane
- They were treated poorly and not listened to
11
Q
What is the marble task?
A
- Used for delusions
- jars consisting of mostly one colour are presented and then hidden
- Experimenter takes out one marble at a time, and ppts must decide what jar they are taken from
- Most people pick 8 before they decide, deluded people pick two
