Psychopathology

Question 1

What does psychopathology refer to?

Answer 1

The study of mental illness. It is concerned with abnormal behaviour.

Question 2

Name the 4 definitions of abnormal behaviour

Answer 2

1) statistical infrequency
2)deviation from social norm
3)failure to function adequately
4)deviation from ideal mental health

Question 3

What is the basic idea of deviation from social norms

Answer 3

Abnormality is when any behaviour does not fit with what is socially acceptable.
This definition is dependent on the culture in which the behaviour occurs. Norms can also vary within generations.

Question 4

When is behaviour abnormal?

Answer 4

.If it goes against unwritten rules in a society/culture
.if it is very different to the acceptable behaviour
.if it is unexpected by other group members
.if it in some way offends others in the same society/culture

Question 5

Deviation from social norm evaluation

Answer 5

• Social norms vary over time.
• For example, homosexuality was considered a mental disorder in DSM. However, homosexuality is now considered to be socially acceptable.
• This means the deviation from social norms definition is
based on prevailing social morals and attitudes about what is deemed to be “normal” and “abnormal”.
• Too much reliance on such definitions could lead to
systematic abuse of human rights because of the attitudes

• Deviance is related to a behaviour’s context.
• For example, wearing few clothes on a beach is normal, but
is abnormal at a formal gathering. Sometimes there is not a
clear line between abnormal deviation and harmless
eccentricity.
• This means that social deviance on its own cannot offer a
complete definition of abnormality.

Social norms vary from one community to another.
• For example, hearing voices is not seen as abnormal in all
cultures. This means that a person from one cultural group may
label someone from another cultural group as behaving
abnormally according to their standards of the person behaving
in that way.
• This shows that it can be problematic to use social norms to
define abnormal behaviour when diagnosing those from other
cultures.
• This means that abnormality is therefore culturally relative.