Normal and Abnormal Psychology Essay Example
Running Head: Normal and Abnormal Psychology
Differences between normal and abnormal psychology Normal psychology is the study of the state of being okay mentally and physically and to be in a position to perform the roles that the society expects one to perform. Psychologists say that a person’s normality is usually questioned as soon as there are conflicts involving functions. In societies, people are known to conform and to do the things that other people are comfortable with. When one fails to do something, his normality is questioned. Statistically, it means average and lack of deviation from it. It can be defined as the central group of scores when considering a larger grouping (Comer, 2001). Abnormal psychology involves the study of abnormal behavior and experience that deviates from what is considered normal or common in a society such as mental retardation, psychoses and neurosis. The study also covers conditions which can not be understood or explained completely like hypnosis and dreams. These studies are done with an aim of understanding and changing the patterns of abnormal functioning (Hansell & Damour, 2005). Though the definition of abnormal varies with time, individuals and culture, abnormality is always associated with mental disarray. It deals with people who have a problem with consistently adapting and functioning effectively given a variety of conditions. According to psychologists, abnormal behavior is caused by different things for example, multiple causality which talks of there being many causes of abnormal behavior (Barlow & Durand, 2004). It explains that abnormal behavior could be caused by both predisposing and precipitating factors. Psychological paradigm explains that abnormal behavior could be caused by biological factors like genetic vulnerabilities, constitutional liabilities, neural plasticity, brain dysfunction, physical disruption and deprivation among others. Social cultural causal factors include effects of
Differences between normal and abnormal psychology Normal psychology is the study of the state of being okay mentally and physically and to be in a position to perform the roles that the society expects one to perform. Psychologists say that a person’s normality is usually questioned as soon as there are conflicts involving functions. In societies, people are known to conform and to do the things that other people are comfortable with. When one fails to do something, his normality is questioned. Statistically, it means average and lack of deviation from it. It can be defined as the central group of scores when considering a larger grouping (Comer, 2001). Abnormal psychology involves the study of abnormal behavior and experience that deviates from what is considered normal or common in a society such as mental retardation, psychoses and neurosis. The study also covers conditions which can not be understood or explained completely like hypnosis and dreams. These studies are done with an aim of understanding and changing the patterns of abnormal functioning (Hansell & Damour, 2005). Though the definition of abnormal varies with time, individuals and culture, abnormality is always associated with mental disarray. It deals with people who have a problem with consistently adapting and functioning effectively given a variety of conditions. According to psychologists, abnormal behavior is caused by different things for example, multiple causality which talks of there being many causes of abnormal behavior (Barlow & Durand, 2004). It explains that abnormal behavior could be caused by both predisposing and precipitating factors. Psychological paradigm explains that abnormal behavior could be caused by biological factors like genetic vulnerabilities, constitutional liabilities, neural plasticity, brain dysfunction, physical disruption and deprivation among others. Social cultural causal factors include effects of