psychology notes for introduction to abnormal

1. INTRODUCTION
KAREN FLOOD-CAPAPAS
SOCIAL SCIENCES DEPT., CAS
HOLY NAME UNIVERSITY

2. LECTURE 1
• What is abnormal psychology?
• What is clinical psychology?
• How do we define abnormal behavior?
• CRITERIA
• Deviation: Statistical and deviation from an ideal
• Social norm violation
• Maladaptive behavior
• Significant Personal distress
• Dangerousness
• Faulty perceptions of reality
• Medical disorder
• Issues with the Criteria
OUTLINE

3. Caveat!

4. What is abnormal psychology? clinical
psychology?
• Abnormal psychology is the branch of psychology that
studies abnormal behavior and ways of helping people
who are affected by psychological disorders.
• Clinical psychology is the psychological specialty that
provides continuing and comprehensive mental and
behavioral health care for individuals and families;
consultation to agencies and communities; training,
education and supervision; and research-based
practice.

5. What is an abnormal behavior?
• No single definition
• the definition of abnormality has gone through many dramatic
changes through history: Demons, gods, and magic; bodily
fluids and wandering uteruses; astral influences; physical
illness; etc.
• How we conceptualize the nature and cause of abnormal
behavior has important implications for 1) how we
conceptualize treatment, the clinician's role, and the client's
role; and 2) what we see in research and treatment, and
perhaps more importantly what we don't see.
• e.g: "possession" definition logically leads to trephining.
• "Bodily fluids" definition logically leads to bleeding.
• If you see witches, you won't see social causes such as oppression.

6. CRITERIA
• DEVIATION
• Statistical deviation; deviation from an ideal
• SOCIAL NORM VIOLATION
• SIGNIFICANT PERSONAL DISTRESS
• MALADAPTIVENESS OR DYSFUNCTION
• DANGEROUSNESS
• FAULTY PERCEPTIONS OR INTERPRETATIONS OF REALITY
• MEDICAL DISORDER/CONDITION

7. STATISTICAL DEVIATION
• The defining characteristic is uncommon behavior - a
significant deviation from the average/majority; ATYPICAL,
UNUSUAL
• Many human characteristics are normally distributed – a
nice symmetrical bell-shaped curve along where we rank
people
• more people fall around the average; the farther away you get from
the average, the fewer the people.
• Characteristics falling beyond a particular distance from the
average values are sometimes seen as abnormal.
• This distance is defined in terms of "standard deviation units" -
values that tell the scientist how many people fall beyond the
average.
• E.g.: Intelligence - there is a normal distribution of IQ scores.
Those whose scores are 2 sd's below the mean of 100 are by
this definition mentally retarded (.ie.: abnormal).

8. Deviation from an ideal
• This perspective requires specification of what the
"ideal" personality is.
•This ideal may be personal or social
•Falling short of this specified ideal is an indication
of mental illness.
•Thus a person may be seen as "abnormal" even if
they seem to be functioning alright.

9. SOCIAL NORM VIOLATION
• Breaking social "rules".
• Most of our behavior is shaped by norms - cultural expectations about
the right and wrong way to do things.
• Examples of norms: proper dress, how/what to eat, behavior on the first
date, eye contact with strangers, student/instructor behavior, in fact, all
aspects of our lives.
• Someone who frequently violates these unwritten rules is seen as
abnormal.
• This is a very powerful and persuasive definition.
• It is seemingly common-sense.
• Norms are so deeply ingrained they seem absolute.

10. SIGNIFICANT PERSONAL DISTRESS
• States of personal distress caused by troublesome
emotions, such as anxiety, fear, or depression, may be
abnormal.
• BUT anxiety and depression are sometimes appropriate
responses to a situation.
• . Appropriate feelings of distress are not considered
abnormal unless the feelings persist long after the source
of anguish has been removed (after most people would
have adjusted) or if they are so intense that they impair an
individual’s ability to function.

11. MALADAPTIVENESS/DYSFUNCTION
• Two aspects to this:
• 1) Maladaptive to one's self - inability to reach goals, to adapt to the
demands of life, and
• 2) maladaptive to society - interferes, disrupts social group functioning.
• HENCE, behavior that limits one’s ability to function in expected
roles or to adapt to one’s environments may also be considered
abnormal.
• E.g. heavy alcohol consumption that impairs health or social and
occupational functioning.
• Agoraphobic behavior, characterized by intense fear of venturing
into public places, may be considered abnormal
• it is both uncommon and maladaptive because it impairs an individual’s
ability to fulfill work and family responsibilities.

12. Dangerousness
• Performing behavior that is dangerous to oneself or to others
• the social context is crucial.
• In wartime, people who sacrifice their lives or charge the enemy
with little apparent concern for their own safety may be
characterized as courageous, heroic, and patriotic, but people who
threaten or attempt suicide because of the pressures of civilian life
are usually considered abnormal.

13. Faulty perceptions or interpretations of
reality.
• Normally, our sensory systems
and cognitive processes permit
us to form accurate mental
representations of the
environment.
• Hallucination
• delusion

14. Medical disorder/condition
• Abnormality exists when there is a physical disease.
• Abnormal behavior is a symptom of a physical disorder.
• This is a biogenic definition.
• The person is qualitatively different from the unafflicted.
• For example:
• Alzheimer's Disease - The major cause is atrophy of certain regions
of the brain, typically occurring during the forties or fifties.
• The individual suffers from difficulties in concentration, leading to absent-
mindedness, irritability and even delusions.
• Memory continues to deteriorate; and death usually occurs 10-12 years
after onset of symptoms.

15. ISSUES WITH THESE CRITERIA
• DEVIATION:
• Statistical deviation – what about a genius? Innovator? Agents of change?
• Deviation from the ideal - Whose ideal? The ideal for the individual? the
species? the culture? God? (Weckowicz, 1984).
• What if the ideal is unrealistic or unobtainable?
• Ideals, like social norms, are relative across groups and across time
• Social Norm Violation. – what about social reformers, protestors,
etc. ? This definition would require that we label all social reformers
as abnormal
• Cultural relativism - What's abnormal in one society may be perfectly
normal ("norm consistent") in another.
• What may be abnormal in one generation (in a culture) may be perfectly
normal in another generation (same culture).

16. Let us also look at this example
• Sex and Temperament in New Guinea tribes -
research by Margaret Mead (1963): Three
tribes, each with very different norms.
• Arapesh: Both males and females are mild, parental,
and nurturing.
• Mundugumar: Males and females are fierce,
oppressive and cannibalistic.
• Tchumbuli: Males are catty, wear curls and pretty
clothes, love to go shopping. Females are energetic,
managerial, unadorned.
MUNDUGUMAR
Tchambuli

17. Continuation…Issues
• Significant personal distress: To say that abnormal behavior is behavior
that causes a person distress/discomfort is to say that it is normal if
there is no discomfort. What about serial killers?
• Maladaptiveness -this position ignores the possibility that there may be
abnormal situations.
• Dangerousness – social context is important
• Faulty perceptions of reality – not all who have psychological disorders
experience hallucination and delusion
• Medical disorders - not all psychological disorders have biological
causes

18. Where do we draw line between normal
and abnormal behavior?
•Appropriateness/context
•Magnitude
•Combination of several criterion