Statistical Infrequency

• Abnormality is defined in terms of how common something is or how often a behaviour is observed.
• Anything that is uncommon or not seen often in society can be deemed abnormal.
• This is a mathematical method and uses statistics such as the mean, median and mode to define what is typical, and this can be applied to behaviour.
• The definition of abnormality uses the idea that human attributes/behaviour fall into a normal distribution.
• A normal distribution has a central average, or mean, and the rest of the population fall symmetrically above and below that mean.
• Standard deviation as a measure informs us how far scores fall on either side away from the mean.
• Examples are typical age to have a child, shoe size, IQ scores. Most people have an IQ score of around of 100, 68% of people have an IQ of between 85 and 115. The further away from the mean, the fewer people have the score.
• A strength is the model has real world application like the diagnosis of intellectual disability and Becks’ Depression Inventory (indicates severe depression)
• A strength is it is an objective model- based on statistics to determine what is abnormal.

  -HOWEVER the cut of point between normal and abnormal may still be subjectively determined.
• A weakness is the model does not distinguish between desirable and undesirable behaviours.-Eg. high IQ would be seen as ‘abnormal’ but isn’t undesirable. Depression is very common, however is undesirable.
• Cultural Relativism: ‘The idea that cultural norms and values are culture specific and no-one culture is superior to another culture’
• How does this relate to cultural relativism?

  What is statistically common in one culture may not be common in another culture.

  for example in some cultures it is common to hear voices. This is see as a positive experience in which you are communicating with ancestors.

  In the UK this would be seen as uncommon and likely diagnosed as a symptom of schizophrenia.