Normality Essay

339 Words2 Pages
Normality In this essay I will be writing about the functional, situational and statistical approach to normality by comparing the 3, outlining strengths and limitations and stating which approach I believe is most useful. The functional approach suggests that people are considered normal if their thoughts feelings and/or behavior enable them to function effectively in their everyday life. But, if the person’s thoughts, feelings and or behaviors are dysfunctional, for example, they interfere with daily functioning so the person cannot care for themselves properly, join in ordinary social activities or work productively due to being upset, distracted or confused, the person would be said to be abnormal. One problem with the functional approach is that the mental health professionals can have different views on what they believe is effective and ineffective in society. As said by the situational approach, within a society or culture to be normal or abnormal it depends on the time, situation or context in which it occurs. Behavior that may be considered normal in one situation may be considered abnormal in another. For example, if someone was a sleep on a bench in a park this may not be acceptable, but if someone was a sleep on a couch in a house this could be considered normal. The main problem with this approach is that it describes normality and abnormality only in conditions of each situation. For that reason, it can be difficult to specify what is normal or abnormal from one situation to another. The statistical approach says that normality is how most people think, feel and behave and abnormality is what few people think, feel and behave. “Therefore the relatively few people who believe aliens control their thoughts would be abnormal and the many people who worry about not having enough money to live the lifestyle they would like would be quite
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