Where does abnormality originate? Respond by making explicit reference to the six major perspectives on abnormality.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Today, six major perspectives are used to understand psychological disorders. These perspectives suggest not only different causes of abnormal behavior but different treatment approaches as well. Furthermore, some perspectives are more applicable to specific disorders than are others.

(a) Medical perspective: The medical perspective suggests that when an individual displays symptoms of abnormal behavior, the fundamental cause will be found through a physical examination of the individual, which may reveal a hormonal imbalance, a chemical deficiency, or a brain injury.

(b) Psychoanalytic perspective: The psychoanalytic perspective holds that abnormal behavior stems from childhood conflicts over opposing wishes regarding sex and aggression.

(c) Behavioral perspective: The behavioral perspective views the behavior itself as the problem. Using the basic principles of learning, behavioral theorists see both normal and abnormal behaviors as responses to various stimuli-responses that have been learned through past experience and are guided in the present by stimuli in the individual's environment. To explain why abnormal behavior occurs, we must analyze how an individual has learned it and observe the circumstances in which it is displayed.

(d) Cognitive perspective: Rather than considering only external behavior, as in traditional behavioral approaches, the cognitive approach assumes that cognitions (people's thoughts and beliefs) are central to a person's abnormal behavior. A primary goal of treatment using the cognitive perspective is to explicitly teach new, more adaptive ways of thinking.

(e) Humanistic perspective: Psychologists who subscribe to the humanistic perspective emphasize the responsibility people have for their own behavior even when their behavior is considered abnormal. The humanistic perspective-growing out of the work of Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow-concentrates on what is uniquely human-that is, it views people as basically rational, oriented toward a social world, and motivated to seek self-actualization.

(f) Sociocultural perspective: The sociocultural perspective assumes that society and culture shape abnormal behavior. According to this view, societal and cultural factors such as poverty and prejudice may be at the root of abnormal behavior. Specifically, the kinds of stresses and conflicts people experience in their daily lives can promote and maintain abnormal behavior.