Individual Differences

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• Individual Differences
• Abnormality

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• Who is the most normal? rank these celebrities
  from 1-5. 1 Most normal.

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• Would someone be considered abnormal if..
• They were gay?
• They had depression?
• They were a single parent?
• If they were a bigamist?
• If they had a learning difficulty?
• If they wore a bikini?

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• What is abnormality?
• How would we decide what is normal or abnormal?
• How would we measure/decide upon the extent of an
  abnormality?

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• HOW DO WE DEFINE WHAT IS NORMAL?
• In social terms
• We might use the standard of adequate functioning
• Or the concept of ideal mental health

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• DEVIATION FROM SOCIAL NORMS
• This approach to abnormality considers that an
  individuals behaviour can impact on others and
  states that
• Behaviour which doesnt conform to socially
  acceptable patterns may be considered abnormal.

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• Are these behaviours socially deviant?
• Walking around in the nude?
• Refusing to go outside?
• Have several wives?
• Eating another human being?
• Holding up (making) the OK sign with your hand?
• Having a child out of wedlock?
• Being gay?

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• There are a number of problems with this approach
  can you think of any?
• Social deviancy is related to moral standards
  which can change with time. Therefore this
  approach also had to change or would be
  historically biased.
• Social deviancy is also defined by the context in
  which a behaviour occurs. (It is ok to be in a
  bikini on a beach)

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• Social deviancy is not necessarily a bad thing
  some people are socially deviant because they
  have a non-conformist lifestyle others because
  their behaviour is motivated by high principles
  (Nazi Germany)
• SOCIAL DEVIANCY CANT BE THE SOLE CRITERION OF
  ABNORMALITY BUT IT IS IMPORTANT THAT PEOPLE TRY
  TO BEHAVE IN WAYS THAT ARE SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE SO
  THAT THEY DONT UPSET OTHERS.

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• The failure to function adequately approach to
  define abnormality
• If an individuals behaviour, mood or thoughts
  adversely affects their
• (1) Well-being, i.e. their ability to retain
  relationships and employment.
• (2) Becomes a danger to their own safety
• (3) Become a danger to the safety of others
• Then they are considered abnormal.

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• Many mental disorders result in an inability to
  function adequately in terms of every day life
  and interactions.
• SO
• many people who seek psychiatric help are
  recognising that they are not functioning
  adequately so this could serve as a standard
  for abnormality

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• Rosenhan and Seligman (1989) have extended the
  failure to function approach to cover seven
  features associated with abnormality.
• Each of the features individually may not be
  enough to cause a problem - BUT when several are
  present then they are symptomatic of abnormality.
  

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• THE SEVEN FEATURES ARE -
• Suffering (personal distress)
• Maladaptiveness (destructive behaviour)
• Vividness and unconventionality of behaviour
  (strange behaviour)
• Unpredictability and loss of control
• Irrationality and incomprehensibility
• Observer discomfort (making others feel
  uncomfortable)
• Violation of moral and ideal standards

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• Group Activity the seven features of
  abnormality.
• Imagine a continuum from normal behaviour at one
  end and extremely abnormal at the other. Bearing
  in mind Rosenhan and Seligman's definitions,
  consider the experiences on the next page and for
  each of them describe what would be acceptable
  behaviour and what would be regarded as abnormal.

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• Suffering Grief Personal Distress
• Maladaptiveness Disregard for ones own safety
  taking part in extreme sports
• Vividness and unconventionality Tattooing/
  Piercing
• Unpredictability and loss of control losing
  ones temper
• Irrationality and incomprehensibility Remaining
  friendly towards someone who is hostile
• Observer discomfort Laughing inappropriately
• Violation of moral and ideal standards Removing
  ones clothes to sunbathe

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• LIMITATIONS of the failure to function approach
• The approach requires subjective decisions
  (Involves opinions)
• Some of the features also apply to people who are
  simply non-conformists or who are grieving etc.
• Not all people who have mental abnormalities are
  aware of their failure to function and so can
  deny that they have a problem.

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• Activity
• Write a description of yourself call this (A)
  then write a brief description of how you would
  like to be (B)
• How different are the two descriptions? If your
  ideal self is very different from your perceived
  self -
• Would NEVER achieving your ideal self result in
  you becoming mentally unbalanced depressed etc??

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• Deviation from Ideal Mental Health.
• Humanistic Psychologists (Carl Rogers, Maslow)
  have been instrumental founders of this final
  approach of defining abnormality -

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• Rogers (1959) believed that abnormal behaviour
  occurs when a child receives conditional love
  from their parents (therefore the child will have
  to become somebody else in order to receive the
  love that they want) .
• Healthy psychological development or normal
  behaviour will therefore be a result of
• Unconditional love which leads to high
  self-esteem and freedom to seek self-actualisation

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• Jahoda (1958) expanded on the ideal mental
  health theory and suggested that it was
  preferable to identify the criteria for positive
  mental health. She proposed 6 categories

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• Selfattitudes (positive)
• Personal growth (being able to achieve)
• Integration (being able to cope with stress)
• Autonomy. (being independent)
• Perception of reality (being relaistic knowing
  what is real and what is not.)
• Environmental mastery (the extent to which you
  can love and be loved)

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• Assessment of the deviation from ideal mental
  health model
• Pros
• The approach focuses on positive characteristics
  Identifies characteristics that people need to
  be mentally healthy rather than looking for
  problems
• Limitations -
• Criteria used are hard to define, vague and
  difficult to measure (how do you rate someones
  attitudes/integration?) Criteria is bound to time
  and culture. less likely to apply to
  collectivist societies.

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• Cultural Relativism
• A major problem with ALL psychological
  definitions of Abnormality is that they often
  fail to consider differences between cultures.
• Cultural Relativism means that value judgments
  are up to individual cultural context SO we
  cannot make absolute statements about what is
  normal or abnormal.

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• Different cultures will have different criteria
  as to what constitutes as normal and abnormal
  behaviour. What maybe considered deviant or
  abnormal in one culture may be normal in another
• Dhat Syndrome in India is an example of this.

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• Dhat syndrome is found in Males of the Indian
  sub-continent. Sufferers have physical and mental
  exhaustion and blame it on the presence of blood
  in their semen. A PHYSICAL ILLNESS
• WE would state that they have depression!

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• Also what is considered abnormal changes over
  time.
• For example Homosexuality ceased to be
  categorised as a mental disorder in the 1980
  edition of DSM (Diagnostic and statistical manual
  of mental disorders) But was considered abnormal
  in America until the 1970s

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• BUT There are some features (identified by
  Rosenhan and Seligman) that are universal
  indicators of undesirable behaviour Failure to
  eat, chronic depression etc
• Conclusion The 7 features proposed by Rosenhan
  and Seligman may offer the most realistic
  approach the more of these features possessed
  by an individual the more likely it is that they
  can be categorised as abnormal