A person has either normal or abnormal behavior. Normal behavior of a person is when an individual conforms to common behavior in the society. This varies depending on the situation, place, time and the person. For instance, an individual singing in an office during the meeting time is not normal, whereas the same person singing in the church is normal. On the other hand, abnormal behavior is the behavior that is socially unacceptable, maladaptive, and distressing that evolve as a result of cognitions. Scientists define the abnormal behavior as the that which deviates against the culture of the society that people view it as unjustifiable, inappropriate or maladaptive(Wiley, 2009). Abnormal persons are those who cannot differentiate between apposite facts in the society and wrong deeds. Statically, the abnormal behavior involves any form of behavior that is meaningfully different from the norm. For example, a person whose intelligent is below average is abnormal (Wiley, 2009). Psychologists also define the abnormal behavior as that out of touch with reality, socially unskilled, self-distressed, and self-defining. On the other hand, psychologists define the normal behavior as the ability of an individual to set out goals, form and sustain relationships with other persons and capable of independent living (Overstreet, 2003). Additionally, the normal behavior is healthy for individuals. Therefore, this paper digs deep in discussing of normal and abnormal behavior.
There are different criteria of abnormal behavior: statistical infrequency, violation of socially accepted standards, personal distress, and disability (Wiley, 2009). In statistical, the behavior of an individual does not correspond to that of a certain group in the society. For instance, smoking might be abnormal in a given group of people such as religion and environment. It is, therefore, significant for an individual to identify the group he is associating with so that he can adjust his behavior accordingly. This makes the person to be accepted in the community, and as a result, will live in harmony.
Violation of socially accepted standards is the other criteria. The individual is abnormal if he goes against values and expectations of the society. For instance, marrying a person of the same gender may seem to be abnormal in most Asian and African communities. The violation of standards bases mostly on the cultures of the people. For example, whereas the United States of America is advocating for homosexuality, the African and Jews are for heterogeneous relationship (Wiley, 2009). This, therefore, implies that what is normal in certain community might be abnormal in other society; thus, there is an absolute need of one being observant.
Additionally, a psychologist can use personal distress as criteria. This is based on detecting disorders in the nervous system or disease. Disorder in the nervous system causes brain diseases that in turn affect the reasoning capacity of an individual. The case of mad men is an exemplary example in the society whereby they are emotional and, therefore the community needs to derive a way of dealing with them. Other criterion is the subjective abnormality or disability that commonly affects the mental state of an individual. The person can cause harm to either himself or others. The person looks normal, but the mind might be distorted. Therefore, before over reacting to such individuals, they should be given medication instead.
In the society, people eat different meals according to time. For instance, there is supper, lunch and breakfast (Overstreet, 2003). Culturally, light meals are taken during breakfast and supper while heavy meals are taken during lunch time. Consequently, removing one of meals or changing the food that one eats during a particular time will be seen as abnormal. In conclusion, the society needs to understand every person. One’s behavior might be normal today, but with time, may seem abnormal; thus, there is the need for one to change according to dynamic changes of the society.
References
Overstreet, J. (2003). Influencing Human Behavior. London: London press. Print.
Wiley, J .(2009). Abnormal Psychology. London: London Press. Print.
