The norm is an established standard, a standard for evaluating existing and creating new objects. Norms exist only where there are human needs and, accordingly, goals. In nature, not included in human activity, there are no norms. Corresponds to the norm and, therefore, is normal only that object that serves to achieve not any, but only a good goal, that is, an object included in the process of realizing the meaning of human life.
Types of norms:
- Statistical — the level or range of levels of functioning of the body, which is characteristic of most people.
- Ideal — an ideal sample of the human condition; subjective, arbitrarily established standard, which is taken as a perfect sample.
- Functional — evaluate the state of a person in terms of their consequences (harmful or not harmful) or the possibility of achieving a specific goal.
- Social — controls a person’s behavior, forcing him to conform to some desired or established pattern by the authorities.
- Individual — involves comparing the state of a person not with other people, but with the state in which a person usually stayed before and which corresponds to his personal goals, life values, opportunities and circumstances of life.
The norm sets the boundaries of the quantitative changes of the object, in which it retains its quality as a means to achieve a good goal. Distinguish between the lower limit of the norm (minimum), the upper (maximum) and the “golden mean” between them (optimum). The optimal means to achieve the goal is also called the ideal. A norm is a special case of a measure — an interval in which an object, changing quantitatively, retains its quality. Sometimes the limits of the norm and the limits of the measure coincide. In a number of cases (for example, in the commandment “Thou shalt not kill”) the minimum, maximum and optimum of the norm merge, the ideal and the norm become indistinguishable.
The boundaries of the norm only in the simplest cases are set only by the goal. There are no speculative criteria for determining the boundaries of the norm. This requires knowledge not only of pure theory, but also of the real state of affairs.
The most well-known area of application of the norm is diagnosis as a cognitive technique that allows you to establish whether a real empirical object is within the boundaries of the norm. This problem is solved by medical, social, technical and other types of diagnosis. The norm is a pretty good criterion for diagnosing. It divides objects into two classes — fit and unfit for achieving the goal and ignores all differences within these classes.
Social, medical, technical, grammatical, epistemological and other norms are studied by special departments of sciences and even entire sciences. The most thoroughly developed theory of social norms. There are two main systems of normative regulation — morality and law. Social norms are also distinguished by the scope (general and specific), by the method of fixation (oral and written), by the method of expression (prescriptions and prohibitions), by the means that ensure their implementation (internal need and external coercion), etc.
Norm — in a number of sciences about living organisms, including about a person, is considered as a kind of reference point, standard, standard — for comparison with other options for the state of a living object (objects) (which can be considered as deviation, pathology). In these sciences, the concept of norm is closely connected with the study of pathology.
Pathology is a violation at the biological level of the functioning of the body. The normal state, functioning or development of the personality changes due to morphological and functional disorders (at the level of brain, psychophysiological, endocrine and other biomechanisms of behavior regulation).
The problem of mental norm and pathology
Clinical psychology deals with the problem of determining what is the mental norm and pathology. Within the framework of the nosological approach, it is customary to distinguish two states of a person — health and illness.
Typical signs health the structural and physical safety of the nervous system and human organs, individual adaptability to the physical and social environment, the preservation of a stable habitual state of health are considered.
Disease characterized by a general or partial decrease in adaptability, while the following possible outcomes of the disease are distinguished: complete recovery, recovery with the presence of residual effects, disability (obtaining a defect) and death.
Also produce pathological mental state, due to the etiology of the process and having no outcome.
The issue of determining the norm and pathology is extremely complex and affects various areas of human activity — from medicine and psychology to philosophy and sociology. A number of attempts were made to derive the criteria for a mental norm, which included maturity of feelings corresponding to a person’s age, an adequate perception of reality, the presence of harmony between the perception of phenomena and an emotional attitude towards them, the ability to get along with oneself and the social environment, flexibility of behavior, a critical approach to life circumstances , the presence of a sense of identity, the ability to plan and evaluate life prospects. In many cases, the mental norm determines how much an individual is adapted to life in a social environment, how productive and critical he is in life.
When making a diagnosis, psychiatrists and clinical psychologists use both personal experience and general recommendations, as well as the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) and the Diagnostic and Statistical Handbook of Mental Disorders.