University:
Eastern Kentucky University
Course:
PSY 308 | Abnormal Psychology
Academic year:

2023
Views:

168

Pages:

2
Author:

Mia Hobbs

    How has abnormal behavior been defined throughout history?     In earlier years, the Chinese, Egyptians, Hebrews, and Greeks used the theory that a person’s body was possessed by demons, gods and/or magic to explain abnormal behavior. If the abnormal behavior appeared to have a religious or supernatural significance, it was usually thought that the person was possessed by a good spirit or god. However, most of the time abnormal behavior was the work of an angry god or an evil spirit. Especially, when a person became excited or overactive and engaged in behavior conflicting to religious teachings. Around 400 B.C., Hippocrates changed the narrative on how people understand abnormal behavior. He claimed that abnormal behavior was the result of problems with the human body, opposed to supernatural beings. In your own words, how would you define abnormal behavior?     I define abnormal human behavior as, “human behavior that deviates from behavior that society as deemed and views to be considered normal”. What are some of the ways in which abnormal behavior might be defined across different cultures?     Although, cultures can be different from each other in many ways, each culture has its own predetermined set of behaviors that they classify as “normal” and “abnormal”. For some Muslim women it is considered normal behavior to cover all visible skin with clothing (Burka), even in extremely hot weather. However, in the summer months in Florida, this behavior could be considered “abnormal”. In other words, what a culture identifies as “normal” or “abnormal” behavior is determined by what each culture has been historically accustomed too. What are some of the factors that contribute to abnormal behavior?     Some contributing factors to abnormal behavior are physical illness or disability, brain damage, and /or hereditary factors. Through my experience, I have also seen factors like physical/ mental abuse and drug / alcohol abuse contribute to abnormal behavior. o How do these contributing factors apply to any of the following programmatic themes? You may want to review the Programmatic Themes document. Ethics These contributing factors contribute to the theme of Ethics. My time spent working in Corrections; I have witnessed people exhibit extremely abnormal behavior because the suffered from mental illness as a result of one of the factors that I mentioned above. However, because of funding these individuals were placed in jail, instead of treatment programs to help with the actual problem. We as a society have an ethical obligation as community members to ensure that our fellow citizens have access to appropriate healthcare to address their illnesses, not place them in an institution designed for competent criminals.