PSYCH-230 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Abnormal Psychology, Anti-Social Behaviour, Intellectual Disability
Document Summary
Misperceptions: many common misconceptions or myths of mental illness can be dispelled, ex: it"s a common belief that people w/ psychological disorders are unstable and dangerous. Abnormal psychology the branch of psychology that deals with the description, causes, and treatment of abnormal behaviour patterns. Psychological disorder abnormal behaviour pattern that involves a disturbance of psychological functioning or behaviour. Ex: 14 year old wetting his bed. But, statistical infrequency may not be a good enough marker to determine if a behaviour is abnormal due to variables, for example if someone has elite athletic ability or if they have an intellectual disability or weakness. A surprising or out-of-proportion response to environmental stressors can be considered abnormal. Ex: we would expect someone to be sad if they lost someone to cancer but we would not expect someone to laugh after being sexually assaulted. Judgements of abnormality take into account the social and cultural standards of society.
