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Deviation from Statistical Norms (Real-life application (E.g. intellectual…
Deviation from Statistical Norms
Real-life application
All assessments of patients with mental disorders include comparison to statistical norms
E.g. intellectual disability disorder demonstrates how statistical infrequency can be used.
Abnormally low IQ (below 70%) can lead to diagnosis
Useful part of clinical assessment
Unusual characteristics can be positive
If very few people display a certain behaviour, it makes it statistically abnormal
Doesn't mean person requires treatment
IQ scores over 130 are just as unusual as IQs below 70
Not regarded as undesirable and requiring treatment
Seen as a good thing to be smart
Only until the person or others are put in danger because of it
Shows it should never be used alone to make a diagnosis.
Not everyone unusual benefits from a label
When someone is living a happy and fulfilled life, it isn't necessary to label them as abnormal
Gives them no benefit
Someone with a very low IQ who wasn't distressed or out of work wouldn't need a diagnosis of intellectual disability disorder.
Being negatively labelled abnormal may have a negative effect on the way they view themselves and how others view them.
Deviation from Social Norms
Not a sole explanation of abnormality
Antisocial personality disorder (APD) shows there is a place for deviation from social norms in thinking about what is abnormal
Other factors to consider
e.g. distress to other people due to APD.
In practice, deviation is never sole reason for defining abnormality.
Social norms are culturally relative
Person from one cultural group may label someone from another culture as normal
Based on standards of own culture rather than other person's
E.g. hearing voices
Acceptable in some cultures but would be a sign of abnormality in the UK - schizophrenia
Creates problems for people from one culture living within another culture group
Lack of generalisation to all cultures.
Could lead to human rights abuses
Too much reliance on deviation from social norms to understand abnormality can lead to a systematic abuse of human rights
E.g. black slaves trying to escape showed how diagnosis was used for social control
Such classifications appear ridiculous
Some psychologists argue that some modern abnormal classifications are abuses of people's right to be different.