NORMAL: to conform to standard or regular patterns of behaviour and emotion ABNORMAL: to not conform to standard or regular patterns of behaviour and emotion, and requires the attention of a health professional.
1. Statistical abnormality There is a such thing considered as average behaviour. Behaviour that is displayed by the majority of society is considered normal, anything that isn’t displayed by the majority is considered abnormal. A major weakness of using this concept is that it is difficult to quantify all human characteristics. Extreme scoring is considered abnormal, data follows a bell curve, however for example, if happiness was being tested, how can we quantify happiness? Another major weakness is that sometimes scoring highly on an intelligence test can be a very good thing, therefore should not be labelled as abnormal, a name which is considered quite negative.
2. Deviation from social norms Behaviour is abnormal in terms of social norms, what is considered as expected behaviour patterns. The expected behaviour is that there are rules of society and culture dictate, for example at an interview, one is expected to be formal and polite, something classed as normal behaviour. If someone were to be shouting and loud in an interview, their behaviour could be considered abnormal. One major weakness is that different cultures have very different norms, therefore their behaviour could be considered abnormal in a foreign country, whereas in their home country it would be completely normal. Also, social norms are constantly changing, therefore we can never truly have the same rules for all time. Another evaluation that there is concern to who creates the social norms, how do people know who is the role model to follow? A final point is that the world is a very patriarchal society, where men and women have very different norms, for instance, sexual relationships. Men are considered normal to sleep with multiple partners, whereas women could be considered abnormal to do the same thing.
3. Maladaptiveness and adequate functioning Assumes that all humans perform behaviours that are good for them which allow us to function. We expect people to develop an understanding of social expectations, regardless of whether they agree with them or not and be able to function within their social group. Behaviours that threaten one’s ability to function well within that social context can be considered maladaptive. Examples of maladaptive behaviour include a person who spends too much time on the internet, then loses contact with their peers as they become addicted. This example also applies to alcoholism and anorexia. One major weakness is that many people engage in behaviour that is maladaptive/harmful or threatening to self, but we don’t class them as abnormal, e.g. adrenaline sports, smoking, drinking alcohol, skipping classes. Another is that it requires you to determine if something is considered too extreme for society or not, which is difficult to measure/quantify.
4. Suffering and distress When someone is displaying physical signs of suffering and distress, their behaviour is considered abnormal. One weakness is suffering and distress may show no physical symptoms but the person still may be very unhappy. This makes diagnosis very hard as there are ethical issues associated with it. A second weakness is that a person might just be going through a hard time in their life, whereas someone may find that behaviour abnormal. For example, a person may not eat or sleep if a family member dies and this concept would describe their behaviour as abnormal. Finally, people may show distress in very different ways, examples of this could include alcoholics.
5. Jahoda’s Positive Mental Health Jahoda looked into what it is to be normal, rather than looking at what is abnormal, showing a positive concept. A person is only abnormal if their behaviour doesn’t meet the ‘normal’ criteria. Jahoda argues that positive mental health
Positive attitude towards yourself
Growth, development and self-actualisation, humanistic concept
Integration, active part of a community
Autonomy, self-determination and being able to make decisions for yourself
Accurate perception of reality
Environmental mastery
A strength of this concept is that it is a more positive way of looking at mental health as it looks firstly at the normal, then the abnormal behaviour. A weakness is that some concepts of this are difficult to measure; there is no scale for measuring self-actualisation or autonomy.
ESSAY PLAN Main body: Maladaptiveness
Define and evaluate
Suffering and distress
Define and evaluate
Supported by Thigpen and Cleckley
Eve was suffering from blackouts and distress caused the diagnosis of MPD
Jahoda
Study with Rosenhahn
Hearing voices is not an expected behaviour, you don’t have an accurate perception of reality
Deviation from social norms
Define and evaluate
Genie (Curtiss) use to demonstrate
Behaved like an animal, acted out of the social norms, she didn’t use the toilet when defecating
Conclusion
Sum up
Could they be integrated with theoretical triangulation