Psychopathology

Question 1

What are the 4 definitions of abnormality?

Answer 1

1. Failure to function adequately
2. statistical infrequency
3. deviation from ideal mental health
4. deviation from social norms

Question 2

What are the limitations of deviation from social norms?

Answer 2

1. Behaviour may appear to deviate from social norms because it has been taken out of context, rather than being due to abnormality.
2. Social norms differ across cultures, therefore what is seen as abnormal in one culture would be normal in another culture due to their definition of the ‘norm’. This is a problem because it means that the definition cannot be generalised to all cultures as it would lead to people being inaccurately labelled as abnormal.