Essay
Definitions of abnormality and evaluations.
This is essentially all the definitions of abnormality and evaluations for each, so everything you need for the exam. You can use it answer 16,12,8,6,4,2 mark questions
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Content preview
PsychopathologyDefinitions of abnormality
Statistical infrequency- Your abnormal if your behaviour is statistically uncommon, for
example being more depressed or less intelligent than most of the population. A frequency
distribution can help identify these behaviours as the abnormal rating are those on the
either end/ extreme ends of a normal distribution.
Evaluation of Statistical infrequency
A strength of Statistical infrequency is that it is objective. Once a cut of point is decided and
a way of collecting data on behaviour is agreed, it provides an objective way of deciding
what is abnormal and what is not. Moreover, there is no opinion involved meaning there is
no bias. Thus, Statistical infrequency provides an objective measure for abnormality as the
mathematical nature of this means that it is clear what is defined as abnormal. However,
the cut off point for statistical infrequency is subjectively determined. The psychologist
decides the point of abnormality on the standard deviation graph. Therefore, the definition
is bias and low in validity.
A limitation of Statistical infrequency is that unusual characteristics can be positive. For
example, IQ scores over 130 are just as unusual as those below 70, but being super
intelligent is not seen as a bad thing that requires treatment. Thus, Statistical infrequency
cannot therefore be used as a single factor to make a diagnosis.
A limitation of statistical infrequency is not everyone benefits from diagnosis. For example,
some living a happy and fulfilled life will have no benefit from being labelled as abnormal.
Thus, by labelling people as abnormal can have a negative effect on them and put people
down.
Deviation from social norms- A social norm is an unwritten rule about what is
acceptable in within in a particular society. Thus, according to this definition, a person is
seen as abnormal if their thinking or behaviour violates this social norm of what is
acceptable. For example, if someone walking naked in London, you might think they are
abnormal. But the same behaviour in an African tribe would be considered perfectly normal
as it part of their culture.
Evaluation
A limitation of this definition is that it changes overtime as it is based on social norms. For
example, homosexuality in the 1970s was classed as a mental disorder and socially deviant,
but now it is socially acceptable. Thus, this definition is not reliable as behaviour that is
acceptable now may suddenly become socially unacceptable. (vice versa)
Another limitation of this definition is that it is culturally relative. A person from one culture
may label someone as abnormal using their standards rather than the persons standards.
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