6/8/25, 8:57 AM AQA A-Level Psychology: Psychopathology
GCSE AQA A LEVEL PSYCHOLOGY: PSYCHOPATHOLOGY
2024 -2025 LATEST VERSION WITH COMPLETE
QUESTIONS AND ACCURATE DETAILED ANSWERS
\VERIFIED ANSWERS GRADED A+
Occurs when an individual has a less common
Statistical infrequency
characteristic, for example being more depressed or
less intelligent than most of the population.
Concerns behaviour that is different from the accepted
Deviation from social norms
standards of behaviour in a community or society
Perhaps the most obvious way to define anything as 'normal' or
'abnormal' is
according to how often we come across it. Statistics are
about numbers. According to the statistical definition
Statistical infrequency
any relatively usual behaviour or characteristic can be
thought of as 'normal', and any behaviour that is unusual
is 'abnormal'. This is what is meant by statistical
infrequency. We can, for example, say that at any one
time only a small number of people will have an
irrational fear of buttons or believe for no good reason
that their neighbours are zombies.
This statistical approach comes into its own when we
are dealing with characteristics that can be reliably
measured, for example intelligence. We know that, in
any human characteristic, the majority of people's
Statistical infrequency - scores will cluster around the average, and
Example: IQ and intellectual that the further we go above or below that average, the
disability disorder fewer people will attain that score. This is called the
normal distribution. You can see the normal distribution
of IQ below left. The average IQ is set at 100. In a
1/57
,6/8/25, 8:57 AM AQA A-Level Psychology: Psychopathology
normal distribution, most people (68%)
have a score (in this case IQ) in the range from 85 to
115. Only 2% of people have a score below 70. Those
individuals scoring below 70 are very unusual or
'abnormal, and are liable to receive a diagnosis of a
psychological disorder - intellectual
disability disorder (IDD).
Most of us notice people whose behaviour represents a deviation
from social norms,
Deviation from social norms i.e. when a person behaves in a way that is different
from how we expect people to behave. Groups of
people (hence 'social') choose to define behaviour as
abnormal on the basis that it offends their sense of
what is 'acceptable' or the norm. We are making a
collective judgement as a society about what is
right.
Of course those social norms may be different for each
generation and different in every culture, so there are
relatively few behaviours that would be considered
Deviation from social norms -
universally abnormal on the basis that they breach
Norms are specific to the
social norms. For example, homosexuality was
culture we live in
considered abnormal in our culture in the past and
continues to be viewed as abnormal (and illegal) in
some cultures (e.g. in April 2019, Brunei
introduced new laws that make sex between men an
offence punishable by stoning to death).
A person with antisocial personality disorder
(psychopathy) is impulsive, aggressive and
irresponsible. According to the DSM-5 (the manual
Deviation from social used by psychiatrists to
norms - Example: diagnose mental disorder) one important symptom of
antisocial personality antisocial personality disorder is an 'absence of
disorder prosocial internal standards associated with failure to
conform to lawful and culturally normative ethical
behaviour. In other words we are making the social
judgement that psychopaths are abnormal because
they don't conform to our moral standards.
2/57
,6/8/25, 8:57 AM AQA A-Level Psychology: Psychopathology
Psychopathic behaviour would be considered
abnormal in a very wide range of cultures.
One strength of statistical infrequency is its usefulness.
Statistical infrequency is used in clinical practice, both
as part of formal diagnosis and as a way to assess
Evaluation of statistical the severity of an individual's symptoms. For example a
infrequency - Real- world diagnosis of intellectual disability disorder requires an
application IQ of below 70 (bottom 2%). An example of
statistical
infrequency used in an assessment tool is the Beck
depression inventory (BDI). A score of 30+ (top 5% of
respondents) is widely interpreted as indicating severe
depression. This shows that the value of the statistical
infrequency criterion is useful in diagnostic and
assessment processes.
One limitation of statistical infrequency is that
infrequent characteristics can be positive as well as
negative. For every person with an IQ below 70 there is
Evaluation of statistical another with an IQ above 130. Yet we would not think
infrequency - Unusual of someone as abnormal for having a high IQ. Similarly,
characteristics can be we would not think of someone with a very low
positive depression score on the BDI as abnormal. These
examples show that being unusual or at one end of a
psychological spectrum does not necessarily make
someone abnormal. This means that, although
statistical infrequency can form part of assessment and
diagnostic
procedures, it is never sufficient as the sole basis for defining
abnormality.
Some unusual people benefit from being classed as
abnormal. For example someone who has a very low
Evaluation of statistical IQ and is diagnosed with intellectual disability can then
infrequency - Benefit access support services or someone with a very high
versus problems BDI score is likely to benefit
3/57
, 6/8/25, 8:57 AM AQA A-Level Psychology: Psychopathology
from therapy. a COn the other hand, not all statistically
unusual people benefit from labels. Someone with a
low IQ who can cope with their chosen lifestyle
would not benefit from a label. There is a social
stigma attached to such labels.
One strength of deviation from social norms is its
usefulness. Deviation from social norms is used in
clinical practice. For example, the key defining
characteristic of
Evaluation of derivation from
social norms antisocial personality disorder is the failure to conform
- Real-world application to culturally acceptable ethical behaviour i.e.
recklessness, aggression, violating the rights of others
and
deceitfulness. These signs of the disorder are all
deviations from social norms. Such norms also play a
part in the diagnosis of schizoptypal personality
disorder, where the term 'strange' is used to
characterise the thinking, behaviour and appearance of
people with the disorder. This shows that the deviation
from social norms criterion has value in psychiatry.
One limitation of deviation from social norms is the
variability between social norms in different cultures
and even different situations. A person from one
cultural group may label someone from another group
Evaluation of derivation from as abnormal using their standards rather than the
social norms
person's standards. For example, the experience of
- Cultural and situational
hearing voices is the norm in some cultures (as
relativism
messages from ancestors) but would be seen as a sign
of abnormality in most parts of the UK. Also, even
within one cultural context social norms differ from
one situation to another. Aggressive and deceitful
behaviour in the context of family life is more socially
unacceptable than in the context of corporate deal-
making. This means that it is difficult to judge deviation
from social norms across different situations and
cultures.
4/57
GCSE AQA A LEVEL PSYCHOLOGY: PSYCHOPATHOLOGY
2024 -2025 LATEST VERSION WITH COMPLETE
QUESTIONS AND ACCURATE DETAILED ANSWERS
\VERIFIED ANSWERS GRADED A+
Occurs when an individual has a less common
Statistical infrequency
characteristic, for example being more depressed or
less intelligent than most of the population.
Concerns behaviour that is different from the accepted
Deviation from social norms
standards of behaviour in a community or society
Perhaps the most obvious way to define anything as 'normal' or
'abnormal' is
according to how often we come across it. Statistics are
about numbers. According to the statistical definition
Statistical infrequency
any relatively usual behaviour or characteristic can be
thought of as 'normal', and any behaviour that is unusual
is 'abnormal'. This is what is meant by statistical
infrequency. We can, for example, say that at any one
time only a small number of people will have an
irrational fear of buttons or believe for no good reason
that their neighbours are zombies.
This statistical approach comes into its own when we
are dealing with characteristics that can be reliably
measured, for example intelligence. We know that, in
any human characteristic, the majority of people's
Statistical infrequency - scores will cluster around the average, and
Example: IQ and intellectual that the further we go above or below that average, the
disability disorder fewer people will attain that score. This is called the
normal distribution. You can see the normal distribution
of IQ below left. The average IQ is set at 100. In a
1/57
,6/8/25, 8:57 AM AQA A-Level Psychology: Psychopathology
normal distribution, most people (68%)
have a score (in this case IQ) in the range from 85 to
115. Only 2% of people have a score below 70. Those
individuals scoring below 70 are very unusual or
'abnormal, and are liable to receive a diagnosis of a
psychological disorder - intellectual
disability disorder (IDD).
Most of us notice people whose behaviour represents a deviation
from social norms,
Deviation from social norms i.e. when a person behaves in a way that is different
from how we expect people to behave. Groups of
people (hence 'social') choose to define behaviour as
abnormal on the basis that it offends their sense of
what is 'acceptable' or the norm. We are making a
collective judgement as a society about what is
right.
Of course those social norms may be different for each
generation and different in every culture, so there are
relatively few behaviours that would be considered
Deviation from social norms -
universally abnormal on the basis that they breach
Norms are specific to the
social norms. For example, homosexuality was
culture we live in
considered abnormal in our culture in the past and
continues to be viewed as abnormal (and illegal) in
some cultures (e.g. in April 2019, Brunei
introduced new laws that make sex between men an
offence punishable by stoning to death).
A person with antisocial personality disorder
(psychopathy) is impulsive, aggressive and
irresponsible. According to the DSM-5 (the manual
Deviation from social used by psychiatrists to
norms - Example: diagnose mental disorder) one important symptom of
antisocial personality antisocial personality disorder is an 'absence of
disorder prosocial internal standards associated with failure to
conform to lawful and culturally normative ethical
behaviour. In other words we are making the social
judgement that psychopaths are abnormal because
they don't conform to our moral standards.
2/57
,6/8/25, 8:57 AM AQA A-Level Psychology: Psychopathology
Psychopathic behaviour would be considered
abnormal in a very wide range of cultures.
One strength of statistical infrequency is its usefulness.
Statistical infrequency is used in clinical practice, both
as part of formal diagnosis and as a way to assess
Evaluation of statistical the severity of an individual's symptoms. For example a
infrequency - Real- world diagnosis of intellectual disability disorder requires an
application IQ of below 70 (bottom 2%). An example of
statistical
infrequency used in an assessment tool is the Beck
depression inventory (BDI). A score of 30+ (top 5% of
respondents) is widely interpreted as indicating severe
depression. This shows that the value of the statistical
infrequency criterion is useful in diagnostic and
assessment processes.
One limitation of statistical infrequency is that
infrequent characteristics can be positive as well as
negative. For every person with an IQ below 70 there is
Evaluation of statistical another with an IQ above 130. Yet we would not think
infrequency - Unusual of someone as abnormal for having a high IQ. Similarly,
characteristics can be we would not think of someone with a very low
positive depression score on the BDI as abnormal. These
examples show that being unusual or at one end of a
psychological spectrum does not necessarily make
someone abnormal. This means that, although
statistical infrequency can form part of assessment and
diagnostic
procedures, it is never sufficient as the sole basis for defining
abnormality.
Some unusual people benefit from being classed as
abnormal. For example someone who has a very low
Evaluation of statistical IQ and is diagnosed with intellectual disability can then
infrequency - Benefit access support services or someone with a very high
versus problems BDI score is likely to benefit
3/57
, 6/8/25, 8:57 AM AQA A-Level Psychology: Psychopathology
from therapy. a COn the other hand, not all statistically
unusual people benefit from labels. Someone with a
low IQ who can cope with their chosen lifestyle
would not benefit from a label. There is a social
stigma attached to such labels.
One strength of deviation from social norms is its
usefulness. Deviation from social norms is used in
clinical practice. For example, the key defining
characteristic of
Evaluation of derivation from
social norms antisocial personality disorder is the failure to conform
- Real-world application to culturally acceptable ethical behaviour i.e.
recklessness, aggression, violating the rights of others
and
deceitfulness. These signs of the disorder are all
deviations from social norms. Such norms also play a
part in the diagnosis of schizoptypal personality
disorder, where the term 'strange' is used to
characterise the thinking, behaviour and appearance of
people with the disorder. This shows that the deviation
from social norms criterion has value in psychiatry.
One limitation of deviation from social norms is the
variability between social norms in different cultures
and even different situations. A person from one
cultural group may label someone from another group
Evaluation of derivation from as abnormal using their standards rather than the
social norms
person's standards. For example, the experience of
- Cultural and situational
hearing voices is the norm in some cultures (as
relativism
messages from ancestors) but would be seen as a sign
of abnormality in most parts of the UK. Also, even
within one cultural context social norms differ from
one situation to another. Aggressive and deceitful
behaviour in the context of family life is more socially
unacceptable than in the context of corporate deal-
making. This means that it is difficult to judge deviation
from social norms across different situations and
cultures.
4/57
