PSYCHOPATHOL
OGY
,DEFINITIONS OF ABNORMALITY- STATISTICAL
INFREQUENCY
• Any relatively usual behaviour or characteristic can be thought of as
and any behaviour that is different to this is 'abnormal'. So when an
individual has a less common characteristic they are abnormal, for ex
1% of the population has schizophrenia so it is an abnormality.
• Another example is IQ and intellectual disability disorder. The majorit
people are around the average range of IQ which is between 70-130.
average IQ is 100. Only 2% of the population have an IQ below 70, so
people are classified as abnormal.
• Strength- real-life application (can be applied in real-life situations
intellectual disability disorder, can help to diagnose mental health dis
• Weaknesses- unusual characteristics can be positive (just becau
characteristic is unusual does not mean it is undesirable, such as hav
IQ above 130, so this definition cannot be used alone), not everyone
unusual benefits from a label (if a person is happy and functional
there is no use labelling them as abnormal, the label may actually ha
negative effect on them).
, DEFINITIONS • A person is abnormal if their behaviour is different from the
accepted standards of behaviour in a community or society. S
OF
norms are the rules of behaviour that are considered accepta
ABNORMALIT in a society and they differ depending on culture or generatio
Y- DEVIATION There are therefore few behaviours that are universally
FROM SOCIAL abnormal.
NORMS • An example is antisocial personality disorder. A person with A
is impulsive, aggressive and irresponsible.
• No strengths
• Weaknesses- not a sole explanation (other factors to cons
in diagnosis so cannot be used alone), cultural relativism
(social norms differ from culture to culture and between
generations, which may be problematic for someone from on
culture living in another culture), can lead to human rights
abuses (for example, the historical diagnosis of nymphoman
women which is attraction to working class men, used to
control women, and so mental health diagnoses may be abu
people's rights to be different).
OGY
,DEFINITIONS OF ABNORMALITY- STATISTICAL
INFREQUENCY
• Any relatively usual behaviour or characteristic can be thought of as
and any behaviour that is different to this is 'abnormal'. So when an
individual has a less common characteristic they are abnormal, for ex
1% of the population has schizophrenia so it is an abnormality.
• Another example is IQ and intellectual disability disorder. The majorit
people are around the average range of IQ which is between 70-130.
average IQ is 100. Only 2% of the population have an IQ below 70, so
people are classified as abnormal.
• Strength- real-life application (can be applied in real-life situations
intellectual disability disorder, can help to diagnose mental health dis
• Weaknesses- unusual characteristics can be positive (just becau
characteristic is unusual does not mean it is undesirable, such as hav
IQ above 130, so this definition cannot be used alone), not everyone
unusual benefits from a label (if a person is happy and functional
there is no use labelling them as abnormal, the label may actually ha
negative effect on them).
, DEFINITIONS • A person is abnormal if their behaviour is different from the
accepted standards of behaviour in a community or society. S
OF
norms are the rules of behaviour that are considered accepta
ABNORMALIT in a society and they differ depending on culture or generatio
Y- DEVIATION There are therefore few behaviours that are universally
FROM SOCIAL abnormal.
NORMS • An example is antisocial personality disorder. A person with A
is impulsive, aggressive and irresponsible.
• No strengths
• Weaknesses- not a sole explanation (other factors to cons
in diagnosis so cannot be used alone), cultural relativism
(social norms differ from culture to culture and between
generations, which may be problematic for someone from on
culture living in another culture), can lead to human rights
abuses (for example, the historical diagnosis of nymphoman
women which is attraction to working class men, used to
control women, and so mental health diagnoses may be abu
people's rights to be different).
