PSYC 3140 Lecture 1: 1. What is Abnormality
4 Feb 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Lecture 1
What is Abnormal Psychology?
- Not being able to lead a productive life
o Impairment in daily functioning
o Affects romantic relationships
o Loss of function
- Impaired reality testing
- Getting in the way of your goals
- Rare; not frequent
- Exaggeration of emotional response
o Culture is an influence of this
▪ Ex: Europeans display emotions at funeral while North Americans conceal their
emotions
- Context is everything
o Without koig a peso’s life, ou a fid soethig to e aoal util ou get
context about their lifestyle and understanding why they are the way they are
- Causes distress
o Personal judgement on what we find distressing
Psychopathology – the scientific study of abnormal behaviour to describe, predict, explain, and change
abnormal patterns of functioning
Defining Features of Abnormality
Statistical Rarity – behaviour is abnormal if it occurs infrequently in the population (not always)
- Not all infrequent behaviours should be judged as abnormal
o Einstein = innovative ideas
o Lebron = great athleticism
How rare does it have to be to be abnormal?
- Study: Ohayon, Shaprio, and Kennedy (2000)
o 13% of Torontonians met criteria for a mood (i.e., depression) or anxiety disorder
Distress – many (but not all) people with psychological disorders report distress
- Bipolar = manic episodes that may not offer distress
- Greif
Dysfunction – breakdown in cognitive, emotional, or behavioural functioning
- What is appropriate functioning?
o Context-specific
▪ Nazi concentration camps
o No clear-cut boundaries
- Dysfunction: continuous rather than categorical
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Not being able to lead a productive life. Impairment in daily functioning: affects romantic relationships, loss of function. Getting in the way of your goals. Exaggeration of emotional response: culture is an influence of this, ex: europeans display emotions at funeral while north americans conceal their. Context is everything emotions: without k(cid:374)o(cid:449)i(cid:374)g a pe(cid:396)so(cid:374)"s life, (cid:455)ou (cid:373)a(cid:455) fi(cid:374)d so(cid:373)ethi(cid:374)g to (cid:271)e a(cid:271)(cid:374)o(cid:396)(cid:373)al u(cid:374)til (cid:455)ou get context about their lifestyle and understanding why they are the way they are. Causes distress: personal judgement on what we find distressing. Psychopathology the scientific study of abnormal behaviour to describe, predict, explain, and change abnormal patterns of functioning. Statistical rarity behaviour is abnormal if it occurs infrequently in the population (not always) Not all infrequent behaviours should be judged as abnormal: einstein = innovative ideas, lebron = great athleticism. Study: ohayon, shaprio, and kennedy (2000: 13% of torontonians met criteria for a mood (i. e. , depression) or anxiety disorder.
