Name:

Sidra Ehsan
Roll Number:
1427-320130
Program:
BS Psychology
Semester:
TH
5
Submitted To:
Dr.Fayyaz A. Anjum
BRAIN STORMING FOR
DEVELOPING
CRITERION
NORMALITY AND
ABNORMALITY
Criteria of Normality and
Abnormality
Normality is usually
considered to be the common
occurrence, whilst abnormality
is
usually defined as undesirable
behavior and psychological
disorders. Abnormality is
sometimes
defined as the subjective
experience of feeling “not
normal” – Example: feeling
intense anxiety,
unhappiness, or distress.
Criteria of Normality and Abnormality
Normality is usually considered to be the common occurrence, whilst abnormality is usually
defined as undesirable behaviour and psychological disorders.
Abnormality is sometimes defined as the subjective experience of feeling “not normal” –
Example: feeling intense anxiety, unhappiness, or distress.

Normality:
Normality is what the majority people approve or follow; society perceives or labels
"normal" as "good” and people who conform to social norms are normal.
The world health organization (WHO) considers normality to be a state of complete physical,
mental, and social well-being.
Normality has been defined as patterns of behaviour or personality traits that are typical or
that conform to some standard of proper and acceptable ways of behaving and being. The
use of terms such as typical or acceptable, however, has been criticized because they are
ambiguous, involve value judgments, and vary from one culture to another.

Mental Health:
The absence of mental disorder is defined in the DSM-V (2013) as; “A mental disorder is a
behavioural or psychological syndrome or pattern associated with distress (e.g., a painful
symptom), or with a significantly increased risk of suffering, death, pain, disability, or an
important loss of freedom. In addition, the syndrome or pattern must not be merely an
expected and culturally sanctioned response to a particular event”.
Jahoda (1958) attempted to establish what is abnormal by identifying the characteristics of
people who are normal. She identified six characteristics of mental health:

Efficient self-perception. Awareness of characteristics that constitute one's knowledge.

Realistic self-esteem and acceptance. When expectations are realistic, it is easy for us to
experience success and feel personally valuable.
Voluntary control of behaviour. The management of acts or behaviours by intentional
action.
True perception of the world. Positive and negative thoughts can become self-fulfilling
prophecies. If you’re positive the world can’t bring you down than you are living a normal
life and if you can’t think positive then you can’t live a normal life.
Sustaining relationships and giving affection. A great deal of evidence suggests that the
ability to form a stable relationship begins in infancy, in a child's earliest experiences with a
caregiver who reliably meets the infant's needs for food, care, protection, stimulation, and
social contact. Those relationships are not destiny, but they appear to establish patterns of
relating to others.
Self-direction and productivity. Self-direction can be positive and negative. A person
responsible for his/her business is self-directed.

Characteristics of Normal Person:

The following are the chief characteristics of the normal individual:
1. Sociability. A social environment is what man lives in, and every society has its own
traditions, modes of accepted behaviour, forms and functions, that prevail in it. An
individual who conforms to them in his conduct is called normal.
2. Balance and fulfilment of Needs. Besides sociability, another quality of the normal being
is his complete fulfilment of his needs, which makes for balance and strength that retains a
balanced outlook. An individual of this kind is not inclined to become distributed at the
smallest problem, illness, trouble, exhaustion, etc but makes concerted efforts to solve
them. His routine of life is regular source such as employment in offices or business. They
are more inclined to combat their difficulties, to come to some reasonable compromise with
them, as also to avoid extremes in most matters.
3.Health, Security and Balance. The normal individuals make conscious or unconscious
effort to maintain their social, economic, physical and psychological health, as well as
security. In a general sort of way, their behaviour does not violate the cannons of morality.
They are usually aware of the objectives of their life and they exert themselves to achieve
this. Success makes them more enthusiastic, but failure does not deter them. Their past
experience are lessons for them, and their future an opportunity to benefit by them. Peace,
comfort and security are what they want in life. Such qualities as hope, balance,
thoughtfulness, work, effort, practically and self-guidance are part of their mental makeup.
Ambition is natural to them as it is to all others, but it is never allowed to blur all other
things to their vision.
Criteria of Normality and Abnormality
i. Norm violation. A person's thinking or behaviour is classified as abnormal fit violates the
(unwritten) rules about what is expected or acceptable behaviour in a particular social
group.
ii. Statistical Rarity. Statistical rarity is something that deviates from what is considered
average. Something that lies outside of the range of the majority can be considered
abnormal. For example, someone who has a significantly lower I.Q. than the average adult
may be seen as abnormal.
iii. Personal Discomfort. In psychology, personal distress is an aversive, self-focused
emotional reaction to the apprehension or comprehension of another's emotional state or
condition.
iv. Maladaptive Behaviour. Maladaptive behaviour is a type of behaviour that is often used
to reduce one's anxiety, but the result is dysfunctional and non-productive.
v. Deviation from Ideal Mental Health. This is a definition of abnormality. The idea is that
there are various theoretical descriptions of ‘normality’ and if someone does not fit within
this theoretical idea of normality their behaviour is abnormal. Jahoda (1958) identified six
criteria relating to psychological health and well-being:
1. Positive attitudes towards the self. It includes self-respect, self-confidence, self-reliance
and self-acceptance.
2. Self-actualization. Mental health problems occur when we are prevented from fulfilling
our true potential.
3. Resistance to stress. Resistance to stress is an ability to withstand stress without causing
maladjustments or disorders. This criterion is that an individual should not feel under stress
and they should be able to handle stressful situations competently
4. Personal autonomy. These people are not dependent upon other people.
5. Accurate perception of reality. This criterion is focused on how the individual sees the
world around them and to achieve ideal mental health they should have a perspective that
is similar to how others see the world. This is focused very much on the distortions of
thinking that some people, e.g. people with schizophrenia, may experience. Jahoda stated
that for ideal mental health to be achieved the individual should experience all of these
criteria for optimum ideal mental health and that if some are not fulfilled the person will
experience difficulties.
6. Environmental mastery. Having environmental mastery means that the person can adapt
to new situations and be at ease at all situations in their life.

Criteria of Abnormality
It refers to those behaviour and psychological functioning that are considered different
from normal within a given society. It had a varied number of conflicting definitions, till
Comer (1998) came up with the theory of ‘Four Ds’, also known as the 4 main criteria of
abnormal behaviour.
i. Deviance. Deviance from behaviour, thoughts, and emotions considered normal in a
specific place and time and by specific people (norms). (Different, extreme behaviour such
as severe depression, sexual deviance, etc).
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 behaviours. Behaviours deviating from these cultural norms or
standards are considered abnormal. The followers of cultural criteria perspective argue that
each culture’s definitions of responsibility for the members of that culture should be
respected.
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 measured over or away from norm. A person who is extremely
intelligent or happy would be classified as abnormal in accordance to the statistical results,
hence, the concept should be considered as more than just a statistical frequency.
ii. Distress Behaviour must be personally distressing before it can be labelled abnormal.
(Behaviours that upset the individual concerned, e.g. Paranoid).
iii. Dysfunctional Abnormal behaviour tends to interfere with daily functioning. It so
upsets, distract or confuses its victims that they cannot care for themselves properly.
(Behaviour that interfere with everyday functioning, e.g., substance abuse, agoraphobia)
iv. Danger Psychological dysfunction is behaviour that becomes dangerous to one or others.
A pattern of functioning that is marked by carelessness, poor judgment, hostility or
misinterpretations can threaten one’s own wellbeing and that of other people as well
(Potentially damaging behaviours, e.g., aggression, eating disorders). Although cited as a
feature of psychological abnormality, dangerousness is an exception rather than a rule.

References
Comer, R.J. (2014). Fundamentals of Abnormal Psychology (7th ed.). New York: Woth
Publishers.
Davison, G. C., & Neale, J. M. (1998). Abnormal Psychology. New York: Wiley.
Lewis, A. (1953). “Health as a social concept”. The British Journal of Sociology 4(2), 109-124.
Peterson, C. (1996). The psychology of abnormality. Harcourt College Pub.
Jahoda, M. (1958). Current concepts of mental health. Marie Jahoda’s Current Concept of
Mental Health. Retrieved from https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/10/
Criteria of Normality and
Abnormality
Normality is usually
considered to be the common
occurrence, whilst abnormality
is
usually defined as undesirable
behavior and psychological
disorders. Abnormality is
sometimes
defined as the subjective
experience of feeling “not
normal” – Example: feeling
intense anxiety,
unhappiness, or distress.
Criteria of Normality and
Abnormality
Normality is usually
considered to be the common
occurrence, whilst abnormality
is
usually defined as undesirable
behavior and psychological
disorders. Abnormality is
sometimes
defined as the subjective
experience of feeling “not
normal” – Example: feeling
intense anxiety,
unhappiness, or distress.