Abnormal Psychology
Normality
- It is the expected behavior or way of living based on
what is commonly observed in the majority of the
population.
Abnormality
- There is no single determinant or a generally
accepted definition of abnormality. However, there are
several elements that may help in determining the
presence of an abnormality in an individual.
ABNORMAL
- Abnormal describes behavioral, emotional, or
cognitive dysfunctions that are unexpected in their
cultural context and associated with personal distress
or substantial impairment in functioning
DSM-IV-TR
LOOKING AT ABNORMALITY
• Continuum Model of Abnormality
- No clear line between normal and abnormal
- Requires subjective decisions about when
a person has a disorder or not
• Past Criteria for Normal and Abnormal
- Cultural relativism
- Unusualness of behavior
- Distress (discomfort of the person exhibiting the
behavior)
- Mental Illness
1. Cultural Relativism
- No universal standards or rules for labeling a
behavior as abnormal
- Instead, behaviors can only be abnormal relative to
cultural norms.
Example: In many cultures, family members sleep
together in one room, often in the same bed. in the US,
it is considered normal for babies to sleep in their own
room.
• Gender Role Expectations
- How are men expected to act? What types of
behaviors are discouraged?
- How are women encouraged to act? What types of
behaviors are discouraged?
2. Unusualness
- Is the behavior rare? (Depends on the norms for that
behavior in a culture)
3. Distress
- Proponents of this view argue that a behavior is only
abnormal if the individual suffers as a result of the
behaviors) and wishes to be rid of them.
- Some therapists object to the subjective discomfort
criterion because people are not always aware of
problems that their behavior may create for
themselves or others.
4. Mental Illness
- Implies there is a disease process, like hypertension
- Psychological diagnosis is a label for a set of defined
symptoms
UNDERSTANDING
Why is abnormal behavior hard to define?
- No single descriptive feature is shared by all forms of
abnormal behavior, and no one criterion for
"abnormality" is sufficient.
- No discrete boundary exists between normal and
abnormal behavior.
Many individuals still equate abnormal behavior with:
- bizarre behavior
- dangerous behavior
- shameful behavior
Three proposed definitions of abnormal behavior:
- Conformity to norms
- The experience of subjective distress
- Disability or dysfunction
1. CONFORMITY TO NORMS
- A person's behavior becomes patiently deviant,
outrage nonconforming.
- Statistical infrequency or violation of social norms
Advantages:
*Cutoff points
*Intuitive/instinctive appeal
Disadvantages:
*Choice of cutoff points
*The number of deviations
*Cultural and developmental relativity
2. SUBJECTIVE DISTRESS
- subjective feelings and sense of well-being
crucial consideration: whether the person feels
tranquil/ troubled, happy/sad, fulfilled/barren.
Advantages:
*reasonable to expect that individuals have the
*capacity to assess their emotions or behaviors and
can share information when asked
Disadvantages:
*Not everyone that we consider to be "disordered"
reports subjective distress.
*Amount of subjective distress necessary to be
considered abnormal
3. DISABILITY, DYSFUNCTION or IMPAIRMENT
- for behavior to be considered abnormal, it must
create some degree of social (interpersonal) or
occupational problems for the individual
Advantages:
Little inference is required, problems in the social and
occupational spheres often prompt individuals to seek
out help
Disadvantages:
Who should judge the standard for dysfunction?
How to agree on what specifically constitutes an
adequate level of functioning?
