Deviation from Social Norms

• What are social norms?


  explicit & implicit rules that society has ab acceptable behaviour, e.g stealing is an explicit rule
• People who violate social norms may be considered what?

  abnormal
• Why do social norms differ?

  they differ depending on the generation & culture, very few behaviours are universally abnormal.
• What is one strength of deviation from social norms?


  - it is very useful

  - used in clinical practice, e.g defining characteristics of antisocial personality disorder

  - these signs are all deviations from social norms

  - shows that deviation from social norms criterion has value in psychology
• What is one limitation of deviation from social norms?


  - variability between social norms in different cultures & situations

  - person from one cultural group may label another person from a different cultural group as abnormal

  - e.g hearing voices is the norm in some cultures but abnormal in the UK

  - this means that it is difficult to judge deviation from social norms across different cultures
• What is another limitation?

  - can lead to human rights abuses

  - a way of controlling certain groups of people

  - e.g nymphomania

  - definition may do more harm than good as potential for abuse