Typical + Atypical development

• Typical behaviour: Patterns of behaviour that expected from an individual or that conform to what is expected in a given situation
• Atypical behaviour: Patterns of behaviour that are not expected from an individual or is significantly different from what is accepted in a given situation
• Cultural perspectives: Behaviours that are considered to contradict cultural norms in different cultures
• Social norms: behaviours that are different to implied social standards
• Limitation of Cultural Perspectives: countries are becoming more multicultural, so there is no a standard way to categorise behaviour
• Limitation of social norms: social norms vary between societies and over time
• Statistical rarity: behaviours that are significantly different to the statistical mean
• Limitation of statistical rarity: must be careful to not equate rarity with undesirability
• Personal distress: behaviours that cause ongoing distress (unpleasant or upsetting emotions)
• Limitation of personal distress: Personal distress alone is insufficient to determine if the behaviour is atypical
• Maladaptive behaviours: behaviours that interfere with a person's ability to function in their environment
• Limitation of maladaptive behaviours: deciding if a behaviour is maladaptive is quite subjective, can sometimes clash with the statistical perspective