Norms And Behavior Patterns

Psychological normality is the average or ideal or the state of a person. It reflects behavior that is considered typical or common among a group of people. Psychological normality can also by definition only and may not actual reflect the norms of behavior. However, the concept of normality is arbitrary and changeable. Take for example the case of homosexuality. For years, it was considered a disorder. Today, it has been taken off the list of psychological disorders. It has been even able to gain general acceptance. Normality is more significant as a standard or appoint of reference rather as a definition. It is important in making preliminary diagnoses. It is also an important factor in evaluating patient problems, expected outcomes of mental illnesses and the needed nursing instructions for rehabilitation and treatment. The definition of normality depends significantly on the perspective by which it is defined. Normality is a state of psychological state that is associated with the prevailing social norms. The problem of defining normalcy is because it is so closely associated with conformity that it becomes difficult to universalize considering differences in norms. An important utilization of normality is in theorizing the cause of mental disorders. Aside from creating serving as standard to measure deviation, it can also be used to establish statistical characteristics and tendencies for the population. These information are used not only in the field of medicine and social science but have also been used in business and government policies. The identification of a mean or a tendency is used to indicate a standard for psychological normality. Whereas before, normality was solely dependent on popular concurrence of experts in the filed, today normality is being supported by statistical analysis more. Though the establishment of essential patterns in behavior and variable factors such as culture still requires the valuation through expert opinion, statistical normalcy is gaining greater weight in establishing psychological normality