PSYB32H3 Study Guide - Comprehensive Midterm Guide: Moral Treatment, Chemical Substance, Molecular Genetics
5 Oct 2016
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Psychopathology: the field concerned with the nature and development of abnormal behavior, thoughts, and feelings. Abnormal behavior: the presence of several characteristics, such as statistical infrequency, violation of norms, personal distress, disability or dysfunction, and unexpectedness, simultaneously: statistical infrequency: states that abnormal behavior is infrequent in the general population. An assertion that a person is normal implies that he or he does not deviate much from the average in a particular trait or behavior pattern. Ex: it is used explicitly in diagnosing mental retardation; >70 in iq score = mental retardation since it"s below the normal curve: violation of norms: violates social norms or threatens or makes anxious those observing it. Violation of norms makes abnormality a relative concept. Cultural diversity can affect how people view social norms. What is the norm in one culture may be abnormal in another. For example, an anxiety disorder is diagnosed when the anxiety is unexpected and out of proportion to the situation.
