A major concern for scientists investigating individual differences is this: is there such a thing as psychological normality or abnormality? If so, how can we judge whether someone is psychologically healthy or not? Intelligence, for example, is routinely measured as a number – compared with a statistical mean (IQ), it carries unavoidable connotations of inferiority or superiority. In other areas, the measurement is less precise, but still, there are often very clear implications of deviation from an ‘average’ or an ideal – terms such as ‘normal’ or ‘abnormal’ (and especially the loaded terms ‘subnormal”) cannot be truly objective and reflect society’s prejudices about what is acceptable or desirable. In addition, there are also certain cultural norms that influence what an individual considers to be mentally healthy and what constitutes a mental illness. Individuals who do not conform to societal expectations may be classified as having a mental disorder. However, an individual labeled as an eccentric in one culture might be seen as an individual who does not display any symptoms associated with a mental disorder in another and may also be classified as not having a psychological problem. The lines between the two are excessively blurred, considering they exist at all.
Mind and brain
In many cultures around this world, there is the view that humans have a soul that exists independently of the physical body. For Greek philosophers, the soul was also viewed as the seat of our reasoning abilities - what we would call our minds today. While Aristotle...
