PSYB32H3 Lecture 2: chapter 1 textbook notes
18 Oct 2015
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Psychopathology- the nature and development of abnormal behaviour, thoughts, and feelings. It"s difficult to acquire insight into what we consider normal, expected behaviour. Abnormality is usually determined by the presence of several characteristics at one time. Abnormal behaviour- includes characters like statistical infrequency, violation of norms, personal distress, disability or dysfunction, and unexpectedness. Abnormal behaviour is infrequent in the general population. However, infrequency is not a sufficient definition of abnormal behaviour. Normal curve (bell curve) places the majority of people in the middle for any particular characteristic; very few people fall at either extreme end. Normal" implies that the person does not deviate much from the average in a particular trait or behaviour pattern. When an individual"s iq score is below 70, their intellectual functioning is considered below average enough to be designated as mental retardation. Unfortunately, the statistical component doesn"t give us much guidance in determining which infrequent behaviours psychopathologists should study.
