PSYCH 3GG3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Louis Pasteur, Trepanning, Chloral Hydrate
19 Apr 2013
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The field concerned with the development of abnormal behaviours, thoughts, feelings. Include such characteristics as statistical infrequency, violation of norms, personal distress, disability or dysfunction, and unexpectedness. Most psychological disorders are infrequent in that they happen to affect a very small percentage of the population. The normal curve is one that places most people in the middle section for a particular trait, and very few people on either extreme. In this case normalcy is regarded as not deviating from the middle area. This method is good for diagnosing disorders (namely low/high i. q) but not for explaining why they occur. Behaviour can be labelled abnormal if it violates/threatens social norms or causes anxiety in those watching the behaviour. The problem with violating social norms is that it is too broad/narrow to be an explanation of abnormal behaviour. According to this characteristic, a behaviour is considered abnormal if it causes great distress and suffrage to the person performing it.
