Abnormal: A Culturally Relative Term - Research Paper Example

? Abnormal: A Culturally Relative Term General Psychology Mark Johnson Psychology 201 Sec # Life As A House of the Introduction The field of psychology is dedicated to find the cure to disorders and diseases created due to mental and emotional problems. When the mental and emotional condition of a person becomes abnormal, then he develops psychological disorders. However, it has been found that the term ‘abnormal,’ is extremely difficult to define. It is, most of the times, a relative term and hence, it has become difficult for psychologists to explain what it really means. This paper, with the help of the movie “Life as a House” as an example, aims to understand why it is difficult to define the word ‘abnormal.’ The diversity and differences in social, cultural and psychological structure of different societies throughout the world shows that defining the word ‘abnormal’ will be possible only when different aspects of different cultures from all over the world are taken into consideration and understood universally. Examples From The Movie The movie “Life as a House” is an excellent example in understanding why people in the field of psychology find it difficult to define the term ‘abnormal.’ In the movie, most of the characters are shown behaving in manner which can be called as ‘abnormal’. However, this behavior is not consistent in their personality. Characters in movie are shown displaying ‘abnormal’ behavior either as a reaction to some crisis or due to maladjustment. In the movie, the characters that are seen displaying abnormal behavior in major way are Sam, George Monroe and Colleen. Sam’s abnormal behavior is evident from the fact that he is addicted to pills, has his chin and ears pierced, and wears make up. He is aggressive and impatient with others. He always shuts himself in his room and avoids contact with his mother, step-father and his brothers. His mother finds it difficult to cope with his ‘abnormal’ behavior. However, in school, he is accepted by his friends, and belongs to a group whose behavior is similar to his. This shows that Sam’s behavior is not considered ‘abnormal’ by his friends. The character of George is shown coming out in his yard almost naked every morning while his neighbors are watching. This behavior hints at the disorder of ‘exhibitionism,’ in which a person indulges in indecent exposure. Hence, this is considered abnormal behavior. Also, when George is fired from his job, and is refused to take his creations of miniature architectural models with him, he destroys all the models that he had created during his tenure with the company. His abnormal behavior of violence is not reported to the police. This shows that even though his behavior was abnormal and dangerous, his colleagues somehow felt that it was right. The other character that displays a behavior that is not considered normal is the character of Colleen. Colleen, who is mother of a teenager called Alyssa, is shown getting attracted to Alyssa’s boyfriend and getting involved with him sexually. Having a sexual relationship with a boy who is of daughter’s age is not considered a normal thing to do. In this way, the three characters of Sam, George and Colleen are shown displaying abnormal behavior. Difficulty In Defining ‘Abnormal’ Any behavior that people think is not ‘normal’ is considered as an abnormal behavior. However, the thinking of people depends a lot on the social and cultural values they are raised under. A behavior pattern that is considered normal by people from one culture can be considered as abnormal by people from other culture. Moreover, even people from same culture have different outlooks towards life and hence, for them the idea of normal and abnormal is different. This is where the problem of defining the term ‘abnormal’ arises. There are many criteria which were referred to while creating a definition of ‘abnormal’. However, they were not of much help. For example, if psychological ‘suffering’ is considered as criteria, then it is difficult to call those people as abnormal who suffer from mania but like the feeling of ‘elation’ they get from mania (Buthcher, Mineka & Hooley, 2001, p. 3). Also, there are many people who ‘suffer’ from anxiety when they are to appear for test the next day (Buthcher, Mineka & Hooley, 2001, p. 3). However, this kind of ‘suffering’ is experienced almost by everyone. Hence, condition of ‘suffering’ is not sufficient to define ‘abnormal’. Similarly, behavior patterns that show maladaptiveness, deviance, violation of the standard behavior set by the society, social discomfort, unpredictable behavior patterns, irrationality etc., have also failed to fulfill the conditions of abnormality as they depend on the judgment of the society (Buthcher, Mineka & Hooley, 2001, p. 4). Moreover, culture plays a major role in understanding of what is normal and abnormal. Studies have found that people belonging to Native American tribe use physical terms to describe the symptoms of depression and not emotional terms (Buthcher, Mineka & Hooley, 2001, p. 3). Parker et al (2001) has found that people in China, rather than verbalize their depression and melancholy in emotional terms, prefer to express it through physical problems like headache, dizziness etc. (Buthcher, Mineka & Hooley, 2001, p. 8). The beliefs and values shared by people from same society influence the judgment of what is normal and abnormal in that particular society. Hence, Gornstein (1992) has stated that when a person “deviates from the norms of the society in which he lives”, then he is known as behaving abnormally (Buthcher, Mineka & Hooley, 2001, p. 8). This shows that defining abnormal is difficult as a definition that applies to one culture can be inapplicable to other culture. Hence, people from the field of psychology have found it difficult to define ‘abnormal’. According to Maddux et al, there is some flaw or other in every definition that is provided for the term ‘abnormal’ or ‘disorder’ (Buthcher, Mineka & Hooley, 2001, p. 3). DSM states that, “a mental disorder is conceptualized as a clinically significant behavioral or psychological syndrome that is associated with distress or disability” (Buthcher, Mineka & Hooley, 2001, p. 4). However, this definition created problems in measuring and specifying the elements in definition like ‘clinically significant,’ ‘distress’ etc. (Buthcher, Mineka & Hooley, 2001, p. 5). To solve the problem of relativity of definition to the cultural values, Wakefield (1997) added the idea of “harmful dysfunction” to the definition (Buthcher, Mineka & Hooley, 2001, p. 5). The idea of ‘harmful dysfunction’ made the definition of ‘abnormal’ applicable to all the cultures throughout the world as it indicated that any person whose behavior ‘harms’ the values of the culture he is living in, and who is not functioning according to the ‘design’ of the society, is known as ‘abnormal’ (Buthcher, Mineka & Hooley, 2001, p. 6). By acknowledging the role of cultural and social values in judgment of normal and abnormal behavior, Wakefield was successful in giving an appropriate and working definition of ‘abnormal’ to the world. Personal Experience In my personal life, I remember an encountered with my friend’s father, whose behavior seemed very abnormal to me. When I was twelve years old, I went to my friend’s place. I was surprised to find his father sitting in front of a statue of Buddha and meditating. He was wearing orange colored robe and was chanting something. I asked my friend about it and he said that his father was deep into spirituality and had turned vegetarian. At that time, I was not mature enough to understand his father’s behavior and found it quite abnormal. I literally ran away from the house. However, now when I think about it, I feel that there was nothing ‘abnormal’ about it. People who are on the path of spirituality do change their lifestyle dramatically. However, as behavior related to spirituality like chanting, fasting, meditating etc., was new to me, I judged him wrongly. This shows that when people find others behaving in manner which is foreign to them, they label that behavior as abnormal. References Cowan, R. & Winkler, I. (Producer), & Winkler, I. (Director). (2001). Life As A House [Motion picture]. United States : New Line Cinema. Buthcher, J.N., Mineka, S. & Hooley, J.M. (2001). Abnormal Psychology. Core Concepts (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon. Read More