Psychopathology - Defining Abnormality Flashcards
DSN
Deviation from social norms
DSN def
Behaviour that it deemed as unacceptable in society
What are behaviours of DSN based on?
Particular group norms (society’s unwritten rules meaning they are legal)
What can change over time (DSN)?
Social norms
What norms can be different DSN?
Cultural norms
Example of DSN
Talking to yourself out loud in public is seen as abnormal as the mental health of person is questioned by witnesses
Examples of how social norms change over time
-Until early 20th century unmarried pregnant women locked up in mental institutions
-Until 1960s, in UK homosexual acts were criminal offences
-Until 1973, homosexuality was mental disorder in USA
Cultural issues of DSN
Lack of cultural relativism can lead to ethnocentrism, where only perspective of own culture is taken
SI
Statistical infrequency
SI def
Behaviour is abnormal if it’s statistically unusual. The characteristics of the behaviour are less common
What does the def of SI focus on?
Quantity of behaviour rather than quality
Negative evaluation of SI in terms of IQ
If your IQ is above average it’s considered to be abnormal although it’s desirable
DIMH
Deviation from ideal mental health
What did Johada come up with for DIMH?
Criteria of 6 categories that people had to experience at the same time to have positive mental health
6 categories by Johada (PRIASE)
Personal growth, reality perception, autonomy, integration, self-attitudes and environmental mastery
Personal growth
Self actualisation
Reality perception
Knowing what is real
Autonomy
Independence
Integration
Fitting in with society
Self-attitude
Should be positive
Environmental mastery
Coping in your own environment
Adapting to change
Why is Johada’s criteria too demanding?
Because it stated you must experience all the categories at the same time
What may lacking one part of Johada’s criteria not mean?
It may not mean you have poor mental health - for example, it’s hard to have high self-esteem all the time
What society is Johada writing from and how does this affect validity of her criteria?
Western society. In collectivism cultures, personal growth doesn’t have importance as value is placed on thriving as part of group
FFA
Failure to function adequately
FFA def
Inability to deal with demands of everyday life
Behaviour of people with FFA
Maladaptive (not adjusting to environment), irrational or dangerous
When will someone have abnormality in terms of FFA?
When they’re unable to perform necessary behaviours for everyfsy life
Negative evaluation of FFA
Who decides what is meant by ‘failure to function adequately’? (E.g. person with schizophrenia won’t think they have a failure)
Ideas relating to functioning adequately are culturally relative, as the standards of one culture can’t be used to judge the behaviour of one of another culture
When may some dysfunctional behaviours be seen as adaptive and functional by the individual?
Example: Someone with eating disorder may continue their behaviours as they like the attention they receive when talking about it
Qualities of normal distribution graph
Mean, median and mode align in extract mid-point (peak of curve)
Graph is symmetrical
What is negatively skewed distribution graph compared to?
Left foot as big toe (peak of curve) is on the right side
What is positively skewed distribution graph compared to?
Right food with big toe (peak of curve) on left side
Results of majority of people in negatively skewed distribution graph
Lots of people have high results
Results of majority of people in positively skewed distribution graph
Few people have high results
Key evaluation for all the definitions of abnormality
Cultural relativism - E.g. are they relevant to collectivist cultures?
