Deviation from social norms definition of abnormality

• Social norm


  A socially defined, acceptable way of behaving
• Abnormal behaviour


  Deviating from what is deemed socially acceptable
• We make a judgement in society as to what behaviour is 'right', and what we would expect from people
• If someone doesn't abide by this, we would call their behaviour abnormal
• Wearing a chicken costume


  • Abnormal if worn to work, but not if worn to a fundraising marathon
• Anti-social personality disorder (ASPD)


  A person with ASPD is impulsive, aggressive and irresponsible
• One important symptom of ASPD is an "absence of pro-social standards that are associated with a failure to confirm to culturally ethical behaviour"
• Culturally specific definition of abnormal behaviour


  • It varies greatly from culture to culture
  • In some African cultures, being able to hear voices is deemed desirable as it is believed to be a communication with the spirits, but the same behaviour is seen as incredibly undesirable within more Western cultures
  • There are even generational changes in acceptable behaviour
• This definition is not only culturally biased, but as a result can be very impractical
• Real-world application of the definition of abnormal behaviour

  • It has proven useful in defining anti-social personality disorder and schizotypical personality disorder
  • The term 'strange' is required to characterise an individual's thinking, behaviour and rationalisation, and without this definition it would be incredibly difficult to help diagnose such behaviour
• This approach has been incredibly beneficial to psychiatry in diagnosing psychological disorders