definitions of abnormality 1

• statistical infrequency?

  when an individual has a less common characteristic like being more depressed or less intelligent than most of the population.
• deviation from social norms?

  concerns behaviour that's different from the accepted standards of behaviour in a community or society
• strength of statistical infrequency?

  P- usefulness

  E- used in clinical practice as part of formal diagnosis and a way to assess the severity of individuals symptoms.

  E- diagnosis of intellectual disability disorder requires an IQ below 70. and in the beck depression inventory a score of 30+ is widely interpreted as indicating severe depression.

  L- value of statistical infrequency criterion is useful in diagnostic and assessment processes.
• limitation of statistical infrequency?

  P- infrequent characteristics can be positive as well as negative

  E- for every person with an IQ below 70 there is another with an IQ above 130. having a high IQ isn't seen as abnormal. someone with a very low depression score on BDI also not seen as abnormal

  E- so being unusual or at one end of a psychological spectrum doesn't make someone abnormal

  L- its never sufficient as the sole basis for defining abnormality
• strength of deviation from social norms?

  P- usefulness

  E- used in clinical practice. e.g. the key defining characteristic of antisocial personality disorder is the failure to conform to culturally acceptable ethical behaviour like recklessness or aggression. these signs of the disorder are all deviations from social norms. such norms also play a part in diagnosis of schizotypal personality disorder where the term strange is sued to characterise the thinking behaviour and appearance of people with the disorder.

  L- its criterion has value in psychiatry.
• limitation of deviation from social norms ?

  P- variability between social norms in different cultures and situations.

  E- person from one cultural group may label someone from another group as abnormal using their standards rather than the persons standards.

  E- experience of hearing voices is the norm in some cultures as messages form ancestors but seen as abnormal in UK. 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.

  L- difficult to judge deviation from social norms across different situations and cultures.