Definitions Of Abnormality

• Deviation From Social Norms

  A person is abnormal if they behave in a way that is not accepted by society. If an individual deviates from the unwritten rules of society they are considered to have a psychological disorder as they do not conform to our moral standards.
• Deviation From Social Norms Evaluation

  Useful in working out severity of the disorder - more norms broken = more severe.

  Different doesn't always mean abnormal.

  Some people may be less obviously abnormal (psychopaths).

  It suffers from cultural relativism. Something that is abnormal in one culture may be acceptable in another culture.
• Failure To Function Adequately

  A person is abnormal if they fail to meet the demands of everyday activities.

  Rosenhan and Seligman

  Not conforming to standard interpersonal rules.

  Causing observer discomfort.

  Experiencing severe distress

  Unpredictability

  Irrationality
• Failure To Function Adequately Evaluation

  The Global Assessment of Functioning scale is used to measure the extent to which someone is failing to function - real world application.

  Professional judgement is subjective.

  The definition may discriminate against people that are failing to function due to their context (misdiagnosis).

  Some disorders do not prevent a person from functioning adequately (undiagnosed).
• Statistical Infrequency

  A person is abnormal if their behaviour deviates from the statistical average. Anything that falls either side of the 95% normal distribution can be seen as rare.
• Statistical Infrequency Evaluation

  It can measure psychological abnormalities objectively.

  It does not distinguish between desirable and undesirable behaviour (some rare behaviour is good).

  It is difficult to decide the cut-off point for defining abnormality.

  Not all benefit from being labelled as abnormal - more harm than good.
• Deviation From Ideal Mental Health

  An individual is abnormal if they do not follow the criteria outlined by Jahoda.

  Self Attitude

  Perception Of Reality

  Autonomy

  Integration (ability to cope with stress)

  Personal Growth

  Mastery Of Environment
• Deviation From Ideal Mental Health Evaluation

  Looks positively at mental health rather than focusing on the negatives.

  Covers lots of different positive characteristics in the criteria.

  Suffers from cultural relativism as it is based on western ideals.

  The criteria is extremely difficult to meet all at once and would diagnose most people.