Deviation From Social Norms

• DFSN- Defintion

  Behaviours or attitudes that break the implicit or explicit rules or standards that exist within a society. Societies have norms and people who don’t follow them are regarded as abnormal or deviant. Some rules are implicit (eg not laughing at a funeral) whilst others are governed by laws (eg not causing disorder in public). They both break the norms of the society and therefore are considered deviant.
• (+) Easy To Use

   It is relatively easy for a doctor/psychologist to identify when a behaviour breaks the unwritten/ written rule of a society. This is a strength because this definition enables people who have a mental abnormality to be identified and soon receive the appropriate treatment. 
• (-) Norms Change- Historically and Culturally specific (1)

  A limitation of the definition is that the norms are culturally and historically specific. For example, until the 1970s, homosexuality was considered a mental disorder in the US and in the uk, unmarried mothers were considered ‘morally insane’ and could be placed into mental asylums.
• (-)Norms Change (2)

  However, neither of these would be considered to be psychologically abnormal now. This is a limitation because if clinicians are using these historically or culturally biased norms to make diagnoses, they might be incorrectly labelling someone as psychologically abnormal. Therefore, it is difficult to establish whether a reliable diagnosis of abnormality is being made as clinicians from different generations or cultures may make different diagnoses.
• (-) Criminal Behaviour

  Criminal behaviour is classed as deviating from social norms but is not considered a form of abnormality. Violation of legal terms is usually regarded as criminal rather than psychologically abnormal/ a mental disorder, baring the extreme cases of crimes such as rape, cannibalism and mass murder as they are often regarded as mentally ill. This is a limitation as it can be difficult to be sure whether a criminal deviant is mentally ill simply because they chose to ignore the social norms or whether they are using it as an excuse for their deviant behaviour.
• (-)Too Simplistic (1)

   A limitation of deviation from social norms is that not all devinants can be judged to be psychologically abnormal using this definition as behaviour needs to be understood in its context and place. Some behaviour such as a man wearing a suit jacket with a skirt on would be considered to be abnormal or eccentric but a man walking down the street talking to an invisible man would be regarded as evidence for a mental disorder
• (-)Too Simplistic (2)

  Limitation as only particular deviant behaviours would be considered to be psychologically abnormal. It's therefore too simplistic to say all forms of abnormality can be described as deviating from social norms