PSYC 350 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Phlegm, Parasympathetic Nervous System, William Tuke
Document Summary
Two primary approaches: cultural relativism (abnormal as cultural deviance) There is no absolute abnormality/cultural standard of mental illness/health: abnormal defined relative to one"s culture. "abnormal" = the lack of knowledge in technology; "not as good" ex. Western culture that isn"t as technologically advanced (relative to their culture): premise: there is no absolute standard of mental health/illness, premise: "normal" & "abnormal" are social constructions. Dsm (40 years ago) had homosexuality listed as a mental illness. (cid:862)next day(cid:863) it was voted out: pro: culture has clear role in shaping perceptions of "normality" With a given culture, standards change over time: pro: some disorders seem specific to specific cultures (bulimia) Bulimia is only really relevant in the us. On the island of fiji until wwii. With contact with the west, fiji started to adopt some. Western cultured food and everyone started to gain weight.
