Abnormal behaviors

Why is my bird hissing? Cockatiels hiss when they are very frightened and feel threatened. This is a warning sign to leave your bird alone until it has calmed down.

Abnormal Psychology By Saul McLeodupdated August 05, Abnormal psychology is a division of psychology that studies people who are "abnormal" or "atypical" compared to the members of a given society. The definition of the word abnormal is simple enough but applying this to psychology poses a complex problem: The concept of abnormality is imprecise and difficult to define.

Definitions of Abnormality

Examples of abnormality can take many different forms and involve different features, so that, what at first sight seem quite reasonable definitions, turns out to be quite problematical.

Abnormal behaviors this definition it is necessary to be clear about how rare a trait or behavior needs to be before we class it as abnormal. For instance one may say that an individual who has an IQ below or above the average level of IQ in society is abnormal.

The statistical approach helps to address what is meant by normal in a statistical context. It helps us make cut — off points in terms of diagnosis. However, this definition fails to distinguish between desirable and undesirable behavior. For example, obesity is a statistically normal but not associated with healthy or desirable.

Conversely high IQ is statistically abnormal, but may well be regarded as highly desirable. Many rare behaviors or characteristics e. Some characteristics are regarded as abnormal even though they are quite frequent. Who decides what is statistically rare and how do they decide?

For example, if an IQ of 70 is the cut-off point, how can we justify saying someone with 69 is abnormal, and someone with 70 normal? This definition also implies that the presence of abnormal behavior in people should be rare or statistically unusual, which is not the case.

Instead, any specific abnormal behavior may be unusual, but it is not unusual for people to exhibit some form of prolonged abnormal behavior at some point in their lives, and mental disorders such as depression are actually very statistically common.

Their behavior may be incomprehensible to others or make others feel threatened or uncomfortable. Every culture has certain standards for acceptable behavior, or socially acceptable norms.

Norms are expected ways of behaving in a society according to the majority and those members of a society who do not think and behave like everyone else break these norms so are often defined as abnormal.

There are a number of influences on social norms that need to be taken into account when considering the social norms definition: Culture Different cultures and subcultures are going to have different social norms. For example, it is common in Southern Europe to stand much closer to strangers than in the UK.

Voice pitch and volume, touching, direction of gaze and acceptable subjects for discussion have all been found to vary between cultures. Context and Situation At any one time, a type of behaviour might be considered normal whereas another time the same behaviour could be abnormal, depending on both context and situation.

For example, wearing a chicken suit in the street for a charity event would seem normal, but wearing a chicken suit for everyday activities such as shopping or going to church, it would be socially abnormal.

Historical Context Time must also be taken into account, as what is considered abnormal at one time in one culture may be normal another time, even in the same culture. For example, one hundred years ago, pregnancy outside of marriage was considered a sign of mental illness and some women were institutionalised, whereas now this is not the case Age and Gender Different people can behave in the same way and for some will be normal and others abnormal, depending on age and gender and sometimes other factors.

For example, a man wearing a dress and high heels may be considered socially abnormal as society would not expect it, whereas this is expected of women With this definition, it is necessary to consider:Normal teenage behaviour vs.

Explanations of Abnormality

early warning signs of mental illness By Jaimie Byrne. It is not uncommon for parents to wonder whether their child is acting like a normal teenager or behaving differently due to mental illness, drug use or behavioural difficulties.

Abnormal Psychology. What is Abnormal Behaviour? Abnormal behaviour can be made up of the following: * Norm Violation: Norms are the social rules that guide us and tell us what is right or wrong behaviour. Norms are culturally influenced - what one culture believes to be normal behaviour may be strange and unusual.

Abnormal behaviors are individual and social actions that are disturbing, destructive, or detrimental to the physiological, psychological, and social well-being of a . Concussions which commonly occur among athletes can cause damage to the brain that lasts for decades, according to research presented at a recent AAAS Annual Meeting.

Perspectives on Abnormal Behavior. (Recent research linking biochemical disorders with some abnormal behaviors has provided some support for this approach.) The psychodynamic perspective.

The psychodynamic perspective, proposed as an alternative to the medical model, evolved from Freudian psychoanalytic theory, which contends .

What was normal 20 years ago, now is not, and what was abnormal 20 years ago, now is normal. People learn they get away with a behavior, then the behavior catches on, then the behavior becomes normal.