Notities Decentrale Selectie Psychologie
EUR 23/24
Welkom bij de notities voor de decentrale selectietoets voor psychologie aan de Erasmus
Universiteit Rotterdam. De notities bestaan uit de vier hoorcolleges van de volgende vakken:
- Klinische Psychologie
- Statistiek
- Persoonlijkheidspsychologie
- Arbeids- en Organisatiepsychologie
De selectietoets bestaat voornamelijk uit de hoorcolleges en de literatuur. Focus hier dus
goed op en doe je best. Veel succes!
Let op! De meeste notities zijn in het Engels, omdat de hoorcolleges ook in het Engels zijn.
1
, Klinische Psychologie: Normal or Abnormal
Three students
- Henry: self-confident and happy, performs to his capacity in school and has
good friends. → ‘Normal’
- Tim: hopeless about the future, insecure, chronically abuses drugs, fails
courses, and has alienated all his friends and family. → ‘Abnormal’
- Gregory: often unsure and self-critical, occasionally abuses drugs, fails
several courses, and avoids friends who disapprove of his drug use.
→ Normal or Abnormal?
Continuum model of behavior
- There is no universal agreement by what is meant with ‘abnormal or ‘disorder’
- There are some definitions, but they are not 100% correct.
- Why is it difficult? → Major problem: there is not one behavior that makes
someone ‘abnormal’
4 D’s
- Some indicators for abnormality
- Deviance
- Distress
- Dysfunction
- Dangerousness
Deviance from norm
- Statistical norm → Normal curve, does it deviate from the average? Then we
speak of something abnormal.
- We make value judgments, someone with an IQ of 140 seems to us ‘normal’.
- Statistical norm & Social norms
- Limitations:
→ Deviance is not sufficient
→ Cut points arbitrary
2
, Distress
- Distress and suffering: behaviors/feelings cause emotional or physical pain.
- Limitations:
→ Neither sufficient, nor necessary
→ Very subjective
- Distress is not a necessary condition for us to consider something as
abnormal
Dysfunction
- Dysfunction: behaviors and feelings that interfere with a person’s ability to
function in daily life. → Cannot function in society as a whole
- Limitations:
→ Cut-points arbitrary
→ Subjective
Dangerousness
- Dangerousness: behaviors and feelings potentially harmful for one self or
others.
- Limitations:
→ Cut-points arbitrary
- For example: Soldiers and bad drivers are dangerous, but that doesn’t mean
they are mentally ill. Vice versa the same.
And more criteria
- Irrational or unpredictable → screaming in bus → ‘abnormal’
- Misperceptions of reality → hallucinations or seeing random things
- Social discomfort → empty cinema and someone random comes to sit next to
you → ‘abnormal’
So, how is abnormal behavior defined?
Certain criteria:
- Differ per disorder
- Represent continuum with arbitrary cut-points → Each mentioned criterion is
neither sufficient nor necessary
- Not sufficient: not everyone experiencing it has the disorder
- Not necessary: not everyone with the disorder experiences it
3
EUR 23/24
Welkom bij de notities voor de decentrale selectietoets voor psychologie aan de Erasmus
Universiteit Rotterdam. De notities bestaan uit de vier hoorcolleges van de volgende vakken:
- Klinische Psychologie
- Statistiek
- Persoonlijkheidspsychologie
- Arbeids- en Organisatiepsychologie
De selectietoets bestaat voornamelijk uit de hoorcolleges en de literatuur. Focus hier dus
goed op en doe je best. Veel succes!
Let op! De meeste notities zijn in het Engels, omdat de hoorcolleges ook in het Engels zijn.
1
, Klinische Psychologie: Normal or Abnormal
Three students
- Henry: self-confident and happy, performs to his capacity in school and has
good friends. → ‘Normal’
- Tim: hopeless about the future, insecure, chronically abuses drugs, fails
courses, and has alienated all his friends and family. → ‘Abnormal’
- Gregory: often unsure and self-critical, occasionally abuses drugs, fails
several courses, and avoids friends who disapprove of his drug use.
→ Normal or Abnormal?
Continuum model of behavior
- There is no universal agreement by what is meant with ‘abnormal or ‘disorder’
- There are some definitions, but they are not 100% correct.
- Why is it difficult? → Major problem: there is not one behavior that makes
someone ‘abnormal’
4 D’s
- Some indicators for abnormality
- Deviance
- Distress
- Dysfunction
- Dangerousness
Deviance from norm
- Statistical norm → Normal curve, does it deviate from the average? Then we
speak of something abnormal.
- We make value judgments, someone with an IQ of 140 seems to us ‘normal’.
- Statistical norm & Social norms
- Limitations:
→ Deviance is not sufficient
→ Cut points arbitrary
2
, Distress
- Distress and suffering: behaviors/feelings cause emotional or physical pain.
- Limitations:
→ Neither sufficient, nor necessary
→ Very subjective
- Distress is not a necessary condition for us to consider something as
abnormal
Dysfunction
- Dysfunction: behaviors and feelings that interfere with a person’s ability to
function in daily life. → Cannot function in society as a whole
- Limitations:
→ Cut-points arbitrary
→ Subjective
Dangerousness
- Dangerousness: behaviors and feelings potentially harmful for one self or
others.
- Limitations:
→ Cut-points arbitrary
- For example: Soldiers and bad drivers are dangerous, but that doesn’t mean
they are mentally ill. Vice versa the same.
And more criteria
- Irrational or unpredictable → screaming in bus → ‘abnormal’
- Misperceptions of reality → hallucinations or seeing random things
- Social discomfort → empty cinema and someone random comes to sit next to
you → ‘abnormal’
So, how is abnormal behavior defined?
Certain criteria:
- Differ per disorder
- Represent continuum with arbitrary cut-points → Each mentioned criterion is
neither sufficient nor necessary
- Not sufficient: not everyone experiencing it has the disorder
- Not necessary: not everyone with the disorder experiences it
3
