Chapter 12
Culture and Psychological Disorders
1. _____ refers to psychological disorders that encompass behavioral, cognitive, and emotional
aspects of functioning.
a)Psychopathology
b)Chronic fatigue syndrome
c)Osteogenesis imperfecta
d)Paraplegia
ANS: a
A-head: Defining Abnormality: Some Core Issues
REF: 281
Feedback: Psychopathology refers to psychological disorders that encompass behavioral,
cognitive, and emotional aspects of functioning. One important goal of psychology is to use the
knowledge gained through research to help people suffering from psychopathology to rid
themselves of symptoms and lead more effective, productive, and happy lives.
2. Which of the following refers to a viewpoint that suggests that psychological disorders can
only be understood in the cultural framework within which they occur?
a)Cultural fit hypothesis
b)Cultural relativism
c)Cultural syndromes
d)Cultural display rules
ANS: b
A-head: Defining Abnormality: Some Core Issues
REF: 281
Feedback: Cultural relativism suggests that culture and psychopathology are intertwined, and
that disorders can be understood only in the cultural framework within which they occur.The
contrasting view suggests that although culture plays a role in determining the exact behavioral
and contextual manifestations of a psychological disorder,there are cross-cultural similarities,
even universalities, in the underlying psychological mechanisms and subjective experiences of
many psychological disorders.
3. An approach to defining abnormality focuses on whether an individual’s behavior is associated
with impairment, inefficiency, deviance, or subjective distress when carrying out customary
roles.
a)True
b)False
ANS: a
A-head: Defining Abnormality: Some Core Issues
REF: 282
Feedback: One starting point to understanding what is culturally specific versus universal is to
examine how we define what is abnormal. One of the definitions of abnormality focuses on
whether an individual’s behavior is associated with impairment, inefficiency, deviance, or
subjective distress when carrying out customary roles.