WHAT IS “ABNORMAL

BEHAVIOR? “

 Abnormal means “ away from the normal” It

implies deviation from some clearly defined norm.
 In case of physical Illness the norm is the structural
and functional integrity of the body and the
boundary lines between functional and pathology
are usually clear.
 On psychology level, we have no “ ideal model “
and “normal model” of human functioning to use
as a basis for comparison, therefor we suffer some
confusion and disagreement as to what is or is not
normal.
 ABNORMAL AS DEVIATION
FROM SOCIAL NORM

• According to Ullman and Krasner

abnormality is simply a label given to
behavior that is deviant from social
expectation. They also include that
behavior cannot be considered abnormal
so long as society accepts it.
POPULAR MISCONCEPTION ABOUT ABNORMAL
BAHAVIOR

 The belief that abnormal behavior is always

bizarre
 The view that “ normal and abnormal” behavior
are different in kind.
 The view of former mental patients as unstable
and dangerous.
 The belief that mental disorder is something to be
ashamed of
 The belief that mental disorder is something
magical or awe inspiring.
 DEMONOOGY AMONG
THE ACIENT
• Trephining – is a kind of operation that is done
for certain forms of mental disorder like severe
headaches and convulsive attacks. The
operation was done with crude stone
instruments and consisted of chipping away one
area of the skull until the skull was cut through.
• In ancient times, holes were drilled into a
person who was behaving in what was
considered an abnormal way to let out what
they believed were evil spirits.
 DEMONOLOGY IN THE
MIDDLE AGES
• Hysteria ( Dance Manias )- a social phenomenon
that occurred primarily in mainland Europe
between the 14th and 17th centuries. It involved
groups of people dancing erratically, sometimes
thousands at a time.
• Tarantism-a similar phenomenon in which the
victims were said to have been poisoned by
a tarantula or scorpion. As with dancing mania,
people would suddenly begin to dance,
sometimes affected by a perceived bite or sting
and were joined by others,
• Lycanthropy- A mental disorders in
which individuals imagined
themselves as evolving into wolves,
imitating the animal’s behavior
 DEVELOPMENT OF THE
PSYCHOSOCIAL VIEWPOINTS
Psychoanalytic Perspective
Id – is the uncoordinated 
instinctual trends.
Ego- is the organized realistic
part
Super-ego- plays the critical
and moralizing role.
 DEVELOPMENT OF THE
BIOLOGICAL VIEWPOINT
Anxiety- is a warning of impending danger of
painful experience, so it forces the individual to
undertake corrective action.
3 types of anxiety:
 Reality- Arising from dangers or threats in the
external world.
Neurotic-caused by id impulses thretening to
break through ego control into behavior.
Moral- Contemplated action in conflict with the
individuals superego and arousing feeling of guilt
anxiety.
Psychosexual Development

Oral Stage
Annual Stage
Phallic Stage
Latency Stage
Genital Stage
 HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
Taking historical perspective
 means understanding the social,
cultural, intellectual, and
emotional settings that shaped
people's lives and actions in the
past.
 BEHAVIORAL PERSPECTIVE
• The behavioral perspective is all
about acting throughout life as a
result of some form of motivation or
incentive. It relates to the reasons
that an individual will participate in
any given act rather than the way
that they react
 HUMANISTIC PERSPECTIVE
• The humanistic perspective focuses
on the positive image of what it
means to be human. Human nature
is viewed as basically good, and
humanistic theorists focus on
methods that allow fulfillment of
potential.
Defence Mechanism or Coping Styles
• The Ego battles with Id and Superego to resolve confli
cts, at times the resulting anxiety is so overwhelming
that the Ego has to adopt unconscious protective proc
esses called Ego Defence Mechanisms or Coping
Styles. They have following characteristics in common
• 1. Operate at unconscious level.
• 2. Distort reality.
• 3. Protect the Ego.
• 4. All normal and abnormal individuals both use it
in their daily life.
• Deviant behavior means different extreme unusual and bizarre
• Distress refers to unpleasant or upsetting behavior of an individual
• Dysfunctional or disruptive in a way that possibly can became dangerous as well
• Danger of hurting one self and others

 Deviance
• a. Deviance from the Cultural Norms
• b. Deviance from the Statistical Norms
• a. Deviance from Cultural Norms
• Every culture has certain standards, norms and yardsticks for acceptable behaviors and behavior tha
t
• deviates or differs markedly from those norms is considered abnormal. The followers of Cultural Crit
eria
• perspective argue that we
should respect each culture's definition of abnormality for the members of that
• culture. By doing so we do not impose one culture's standards for behavior
on another. The concept of
• abnormality changes over time, within the same society. Forty years ago, most Americans would hav
e
• considered men wearing earrings as abnormal but today it's considered as differences in lifestyle
rather than
• as signs of abnormality differ from one society to another and over time within the same society
• b. Deviance from Statistical Norms
• The word abnormal means away from the normal
or away from the norm. Many characteristics such as
• height,
weight and intelligence cover a range of values, when measu
red over an entire population. Most
• people for example fall within the middle range of height an
d few are abnormally tall or short. Abnormal
• behavior is statistically infrequent or deviant from the norm.
A person who is extremely intelligent or happy
• would be classified as
abnormal while defining Abnormal Behavior
we must consider more than the
• statistical frequency
• Dysfunction
• Abnormal behavior tends to interfere with daily functioning. It
so upsets, distracts or confuses its victims
• that they cannot care for themselves properly.
• Example
• An individual quits his job, leaves his family and prepares to withdraw
from the productive and meaningful
• life in order to live in an
empty isolated distant apartment where he feels comfortable and sati
sfied. So this
• dysfunctional behavior indicates psychological abnormality.
• A behavior is abnormal if its maladaptive that is if
it has adverse effects on the individual or on Society. A
• man who is fearful of crowds that he cannot board in the bus to work
Distress
• The individuals' subjective feelings of pain,
anxiety, depression, agitation, disturbance in sleep, l
oss of
• appetite, numerous aches and pains. Most people
who are diagnosed with a mental disorder
feel entirely
• miserable while they may appear normal to
the observer
• 4. Danger
• Psychological dysfunctioning is behavior that becomes da
ngerous to oneself or others. A pattern of
• functioning that is marked by carelessness, poor judgmen
t, hostility or misinterpretations can jeopardize
• one's own wellbeing and that of many other people as
well. A person may seem to be endangering himself
• by
being least bothered about his diet and health and for ot
hers by his collection of arms and guns.
• None of these four criteria provide a satisfactory descripti
on of abnormal behavior, in most cases; all four
• criteria are used in diagnosing abnormality.