The cutoffs in the bell-shaped curves which psychology often relies on to define normality are determined by context
Is psychology a solution to the fact that the word “normal” has always been elusive? Sadly no. We can do psychological tests on people till they are bleary- eyed and blue in the face and still not be much further along in setting the boundary between who is normal and who is not. The limitation of almost all tests used by psychologists is that the distribution of their results follows our old friend—the bell-shaped normal curve. The test can tell us with remarkable precision just where a given person stands with respect to his comparison group, and knowing someone’s standard deviation position relative to the mean often has considerable predictive value. But the testing doesn’t tell us where to set the cutoffs for what is normal. That is determined by context, not by test score.
References
- Frances, Allen. (2013). Saving Normal CHAPTER 1. What’s Normal and What’s Not? (p. 28). New York, NY: HarperCollins.
Metadata
Type:🔴 Tags: Psychology / Philosophy / Semantics Status:☀️