Defining Abnormality

DEFINING ABNORMALITY

Difficulty in distinguishing normal from abnormal behavior, psychologists have struggled to devise a precise, scientific definition of "abnormal behavior."

Advantages and Disadvantages:

Abnormality as deviation from the average - to employ this statistically based approach, we simply observe what behaviors are rare or occur infrequently in a particular society or culture and label those deviations from the norm "abnormal."

Abnormality as deviation from the ideal - an alternative approach considers abnormality in relation to the standard toward which most people are striving--the ideal. This sort of definition considers behavior abnormal if it deviates enough from some kind of ideal or cultural standard. Society has so few standards on which people agree, and because the standards that do arise tend to change over time and vary across cultures, the deviation-from-the-ideal approach is inadequate.

Abnormality as a sense of personal discomfort - A more useful definition concentrates on the psychological consequences of the behavior for the individual. In this approach, behavior is considered abnormal if it produces a sense of personal distress, anxiety, or guilt in an individual-or if it is harmful to others in some way.

Abnormality as the inability to function effectively - most people are able to feed themselves, hold a job, get along with others, and in general live as productive members of society. Yet there are those who are unable to adjust to the demands of society or function effectively.

Abnormality as a legal concept - according to the jury that heard her case, Andrea Yates was sane when she drowned her five children in the bathtub.

THE MEDICAL PERSPECTIVE

Symptoms of tuberculosis = tubercular bacteria in their body tissue

Medical Perspective - suggests that when an individual displays symptoms of abnormal behavior, the fundamental cause will be found through a physical exam of the person, which may reveal a hormonal imbalance, a chemical deficiency, or a brain injury.

Mental "illness," "symptoms" of abnormal behavior, and mental "hospitals," we are using terminology associated with the medical perspective.

Many abnormal behaviors have been linked to biological causes, the medical perspective is a reasonable approach, yet serious criticisms have been leveled against it. No biological cause has been identified for many forms of abnormal behavior. Some critics have argued that the use of the term illness implies that people who display abnormal behavior have no responsibility for their actions.

THE PSYCHOANALYTIC PERSPECTIVE

Psychoanalytic Perspective - holds that abnormal behavior stems from childhood conflicts over opposing wishes regarding sex and aggression. Frued believed that children pass through a series of stages in which sexual and aggressive impulses take different forms and produce conflicts that require resolution. To understand the roots of people's disordered behavior, the psychoanalytic perspective scrutinizes their early life history. Because there is no conclusive way to link people's childhood experiences with the abnormal behaviors they display as adults, we can never be sure that the causes suggested by a psychoanalytic theory are accurate. Psychoanalytic theory paints a picture of people as having relatively little control over their behavior, because much of it is guided by unconscious impulses.

THE BEHAVIORAL PERSPECTIVE

Behavioral perspective - looks at the behavior itself as the problem. The basic principles of learning, behavioral theorists see both normal and abnormal behaviors as responses to various stimuli, responses that have been learned through past experiences. The emphasis on observable behavior represents both the greatest strength and the greatest weakness of the behavioral approach to abnormal behavior.

THE COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVE

Cognitive Perspective - is the perspective that suggests that people's thoughts and beliefs are a central component of abnormal behaviors. A student forms the erroneous belief that "doing well on this exam is crucial to my entire future" whenever he or she takes an exam. With therapy, that person might learn to hold the more realistic, and less anxiety-producing, thought "My entire future is not dependent

on this one exam."

THE HUMANISTIC PERSPECTIVE

Emphasize the responsibility people have for their own behavior, even when such behavior is seen as abnormal. Carl Rodgers and Abraham Maslow, concentrates on what is uniquely human, viewing people as basically rational, oriented toward a social world, and motivated to seek self-actualization. Humanistic approaches focus on relationships of the individual to society, considering the ways in which people view themselves in relation to others and see their place in the world.

THE SOCIOCULTURAL PERSPECTIVE

Assumes that people's behavior--both normal and abnormal--is shaped by the kind of family group, society, and culture in which they live. This finds statistical support for the position that sociocultral factors shape abnormal behavior in the fact that some kinds of abnormal behavior are far more prevalent among certain social classes than they are in others.

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition

A system, devised by the American Psychiatric Association, used by most professionals to diagnose and classify abnormal behaviors.

DSM-IV-TR

200 disorders

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