In behavior Behavior or behaviour refers to the actions or reactions of an object or organism, usually in relation to the environment. Behavior can be conscious or subconscious, overt or covert, and voluntary or involuntary, normal refers to a lack of significant deviation from the average In mathematics, an average, central tendency of a data set is a measure of the "middle" or "expected" value of the data set. The phrase "not normal" is often applied in a negative sense (asserting that someone or some situation is improper, sick, etc.) Abnormality Abnormality, in the sense of something deviating from the normal or differing from the typical , is a subjectively defined behavioral characteristic, assigned to those with rare or dysfunctional conditions. Defining who is normal or abnormal is a contentious issue in abnormal psychology varies greatly in how pleasant or unpleasant this is for other people.
The Oxford English Dictionary The Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press, is a comprehensive dictionary of the English language. Two fully-bound print editions of the OED have been published under its current name, in 1928 and 1989. As of December 2008[update], the editors had completed one quarter of a third edition defines "normal" as 'conforming to a standard'. Another possible definition is that "a normal" is someone who conforms Conformism is a term used to describe the suspension of an individual's self-determined actions or opinions in favour of obedience to the mandates or conventions of one's peer-group, or deference to the imposed norms of a supervening authority to the predominant behavior in a society Society or human society is the manner or condition in which the members of a community live together for their mutual benefit. By extension, society denotes the people of a region or country, sometimes even the world, taken as a whole. Used in the sense of an association, a society is a body of individuals outlined by the bounds of functional. This can be for any number of reasons such as simple imitative behavior, deliberate or inconsistent acceptance of society's standards Mores is the Latin term for societal norms, customs, virtues or values. Mores derive from the established practices of a society rather than its written laws. They consist of shared understandings about the kinds of behavior likely to evoke approval, disapproval, toleration or sanction, within particular contexts, fear Operant conditioning is the use of consequences to modify the occurrence and form of behavior. Operant conditioning is distinguished from classical conditioning in that operant conditioning deals with the modification of "voluntary behavior" or operant behavior. Operant behavior "operates" on the environment and is maintained of humiliation or rejection etc.
The French sociologist Emile Durkheim David Émile Durkheim (April 15, 1858 – November 15, 1917) was a French positivist sociologist. He formally established the academic discipline and, with Karl Marx and Max Weber, is commonly cited as the principal architect of modern social science indicated in his Rules of the Sociological Method that the most common behavior in a society is considered normal. People who do not go along are violating social norms Social norms are the behavioral expectations and cues within a society or group. This sociological term has been defined as "the rules that a group uses for appropriate and inappropriate values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors." These rules may be explicit or implicit. Failure to follow the rules can result in severe punishments, and will invite a sanction Punishment is the practice of imposing something unpleasant or aversive on a person or animal or property, usually in response to disobedience, defiance, or behavior deemed morally wrong by individual, governmental, or religious principles, which may be positive or negative, from others in the society.
As normality is often hard to define, a case study was done in 2008 in which students at Woodvale Senior High School, specifically students in the music program, were exposed to a certain kind of abnormality or as it was described at the time by Dr. Summerville, "weirdness". The aim was to see what adolescents perceived as normal, or "average", and what they thought would be abstract, or as many of the participants described it, "weird". Sarah Nader and Murray Bishop, two of the test subjects were asked to have a "normal conversation" with their peers. However it soon became apparent that the discussions had between close, or even "best", friends was defined as weird by others of whom they were engaging in conversation. The conclusions of the study were that normalness is not an entirely flawed concept, rather it is simply defined as what the majority perceives as the mean, or average.
References
- Jung, C.G. (1966). The Problem of the Attitude-Type, in Two Essays on Analytical Psychology, Collected Works, Volume 7 Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-01782-4.
- Durkheim, Emile. (1895, trans. 1982, first American edition). Rules of Sociological Method. New York: The Free Press. ISBN 978-0029079409.
External links
- Is It Normal? An online experiment to determine what is normal via unscientific surveys
- Lochrie, Karma Desiring Foucault Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies - Volume 27, Number 1, Winter 1997, pp. 3–16
Categories: Human behavior Categories: Behavior | Humans | Social psychology
The People's Voice (blog)
I can't help but feel disdain and pity for the normal ones. You have to coddle your desperation. Your solitude. Some people who start out in normality , ...
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