Definitions of abnormality
Statistical infrequency
- Is their behaviour rare/uncommon outside the range of normal behaviour?
- Using a distribution graph
Evaluation
Strength
- Useful as its used in clinical practice as a part of diagnosis to assess symptoms in a
clinical assessment (for example intellectual disability disorder)
Limitation
- Infrequent characteristics can be positive and negative.
- Being unusual at one end of the spectrum doesn’t necessarily make someone abnormal.
- Not sufficient as sole basis for diagnosis of abnormality
- Someone must decide where the cut-off point is for a behaviour being abnormal and this
is a subjective opinion.
- Depression isn’t statistically infrequent or rare but still needs treatment.
Deviation from social norms
- Is their behaviour different from the accepted behaviour in our society?
- Break unspoken laws which are deemed social unacceptable.
- norms are specific to the culture we live in.
Evaluation
Strength
- Real world application as its used in clinical practice for diagnosis
- Valuable in psychology
- Tries to define abnormality based on what society considers to be desirable so better
than statistical infrequency.
Limitation
- Difficult to judge across different cultures and situations.
- Shouldn’t be only reason for defining abnormality, someone may display behaviour
that’s outside of accepted norms but doesn’t mean they are in distress.
- Culturally relative, norms in society differ and change over time.
- Can lead to treating people unfairly because they don’t conform to what's currently
considered to be normal by mental health professionals and can lead to great
injustice.
Statistical infrequency
- Is their behaviour rare/uncommon outside the range of normal behaviour?
- Using a distribution graph
Evaluation
Strength
- Useful as its used in clinical practice as a part of diagnosis to assess symptoms in a
clinical assessment (for example intellectual disability disorder)
Limitation
- Infrequent characteristics can be positive and negative.
- Being unusual at one end of the spectrum doesn’t necessarily make someone abnormal.
- Not sufficient as sole basis for diagnosis of abnormality
- Someone must decide where the cut-off point is for a behaviour being abnormal and this
is a subjective opinion.
- Depression isn’t statistically infrequent or rare but still needs treatment.
Deviation from social norms
- Is their behaviour different from the accepted behaviour in our society?
- Break unspoken laws which are deemed social unacceptable.
- norms are specific to the culture we live in.
Evaluation
Strength
- Real world application as its used in clinical practice for diagnosis
- Valuable in psychology
- Tries to define abnormality based on what society considers to be desirable so better
than statistical infrequency.
Limitation
- Difficult to judge across different cultures and situations.
- Shouldn’t be only reason for defining abnormality, someone may display behaviour
that’s outside of accepted norms but doesn’t mean they are in distress.
- Culturally relative, norms in society differ and change over time.
- Can lead to treating people unfairly because they don’t conform to what's currently
considered to be normal by mental health professionals and can lead to great
injustice.
