Concept and examples of deviant behavior

Deviant behavior is widespread in modern society, despite the fact that it is trying to fight its various forms at the state level.

Key examples of deviant behavior - addiction to alcohol, drugs, gambling, work in the field of prostitution, the desire for vagrancy, criminal activity.

Also, deviance can manifest itself in the form of depression, anxiety, the desire to commit suicide, the desire to keep aloof from society.

What it is?

Deviant behaviorwhich is also called social deviation or deviant behavior - this is a behavior that significantly deviates from the norms and rules established in human society.

People whose behavior can be attributed to the deviant, called, respectively, deviants.

Not all forms of deviant behavior threaten society or the people who surround the deviant, but in most cases, these behaviors somehow damage the person himself, create difficulties for him in everyday life and in the process of adaptation in society.

In psychology and sociology, the phenomenon of deviation and how people react to the actions of deviants are carefully studied. There is a separate direction in psychology dedicated to this - deviantology.

If the deviant is a threat to society, it is subject to the sanctions provided for by law.

Depending on his behavior and the legislation of a particular country, such measures as compulsory treatment, isolation, various types of punishment can be applied to him.

In adolescence the prevalence of deviant behavior is 40-65%, which is explained by the features of this age period.

Among adults, the percentage of those who exhibit deviant behavior is usually lower. The level of deviations increases during periods of social unrest, during crises and large-scale changes in society.

To children under the age of five do not apply the definition of "deviant behavior", because at this age they lack a clear understanding of the social norm.

Theory of occurrence

The most common theories are:

Biological. When humanity was only beginning to explore the problem of deviance, it was suggested that this was directly related to the biological characteristics of each individual deviant, other possible influences were not taken into account.
Psychological. In this case, it is assumed that deviant behavior is closely related to psychological personality traits, in particular with the presence of an internal conflict.
The theory of anomie. The emergence of deviations is associated with the collapse of established norms and rules in society, which appeared due to the fact that they do not correspond to the line adopted by the state. Because of this, contradictions arise in people's minds.
Conflict theory. Marxism believes that the ruling part of society uses the workers for its own benefit and takes away their funds, and the actions of the working class trying to resist are determined by the ruling elite as criminal.
And other types of deviant behavior associated with moral degradation, the basis for which is the desire to cash in.
The theory of stigma. This theory is associated with the belief that the actions themselves are not inherently deviant or non-deviant, they are assessed by society. It's not about the act, but about the public reaction to the act. What acts will be considered deviant is influenced by the opinion of statesmen.

Classification

The typology of deviant behavior, created by V. D. Mendelevich, is actively used within the framework of Russian psychology and psychiatry and includes the following types:

Delinquent. This type includes behavior that is determined by society as criminal: robbery, various types of violence, murder, and so on.
Addictive A person with addictive behavior seeks to distance himself from the reality around him, for which he usually resorts to the use of various psychostimulants - drugs, alcoholic beverages - immerses himself in a state of trance, actively masturbating.
Also addiction manifests itself in the form of various dependencies (gambling, shopogolia, and others).
Psychopathological. Behavior is associated with the presence of symptoms of mental disorders in humans.
Pathocharacterological. Deviation is directly related to the personal characteristics of individual people, such as character accentuation and personality disorders.
Hyperpower. Geniuses and simply gifted people manifest deviant behavior in everyday life, because they are often not adapted to it and are too immersed in what is important to them. It is also difficult for them to adapt to society.

Deviant behavior is usually divided into:

Negative. These types of deviance adversely affect society, they are a threat. This is alcohol and drug addiction, prostitution, criminal activity and so on.
Positive. Accordingly, these types of deviance are beneficial to society and help it develop. This is superintelligence, creativity, the desire to make discoveries, explore something and so on.

Robert Merton, a well-known American sociologist of the 20th century, put forward his own typology of deviant behavior, based on the idea that deviation is the rift between goals and methods approved by society to achieve them.

Its typology includes such types as:

Innovation. Deviant pursues goals that society approves, but achieves them by methods that society condemns.
Ritualism. Deviant denies socially approved goals and excessively exaggerates the importance of methods to achieve them. For example, a person with all the care draws up the documentation and requires it from his subordinates, re-checks it several times and makes a lot of copies, but the purpose of this for him eludes.
Retretism. It overlaps with addictiveness in Mendelevich’s typology: the deviant seeks to escape from reality and is removed from both goals and methods.
Revolt. Deviant is removed from the methods and goals and sets new, radically different from those that society approves.

In short, Robert Merton believes that the only type of behavior that has no relation to deviance is conformal type, that is, the behavior of adapters, those who seek to fully follow the rules of society and to support anything, if it is approved by the masses.

A form of deviation that requires tough prohibition and repressive measures is crime.

Vagrancy as a form of manifestation

The desire for vagrancy is more common among adolescents, and not among adults.

Usually people feel vagrancy when radical, painful changes occur in their lives, they feel an acute psycho-emotional shock.

Also, marginal individuals who do not have a permanent financial income often wander.

Dromomania - an irresistible desire to wander - can be a symptom of a mental disorder, such as schizophrenia, depression.

Negative deviant phenomena such as begging, prostitution, criminal activity, drug addiction, and alcoholism can be associated with vagrancy.

Vagrancy refers to overpriced psychopathological aspirations.

Signs and criteria

The main criterion for deviant behavior - statistical. It allows you to accurately understand which behavior is deviant, and which remains within the norm. Since the boundaries of the norm and deviance are blurred, it is important to rely on comprehensive research.

The criteria for the norm and, accordingly, non-norm, can be determined by counting the frequency of occurrence in a society of a particular phenomenon. The norm is everything that is widespread in society (the phenomenon must occur in 50% of cases).

Also important is the criterion associated with the assessment of individual behavior. The more dangerous behavior is for society, the more deviant it is.

In many sciences there are individual criteria for deviance, such as:

individual psychological (indicates the degree of individuality of a person);
psychopathological (used in medical research);
social and regulatory (criteria standards in the opinion of society).

One of key indicators of the normadopted in society - the degree of adaptation of a single person in society.

Signs of deviant behavior:

individual behavior does not correlate with the norms of the norm adopted in a given society;
an individual who performs deviant actions is perceived negatively by other people;
the individual causes all sorts of harm to people who surround him or to himself;
deviant tends to repeat their actions repeatedly and continuously;
the behavior is fully correlated with the personal orientation of the individual;
behavior is within the scope of medical standards;
the deviant is partially or almost completely devoid of the ability to adapt to society.

Examples life deviance:

Cannibalism is the most condemned form of deviance in most countries of the world, and cannibals are prosecuted.
At the same time, in some remote African settlements cannibalism is the norm, and, naturally, representatives of these tribes do not consider this to be deviant.
The most famous cannibals are Robert Maudsley, Nikolay Dzhurmongaliyev, Sergey Gavrilov.
A striking example of deviance - punk band pussy riot activities: dances in the church, accusations of the ruling persons of the country, candid performances in public places.

The reasons

Factors of deviant behavior are divided into socio-psychological and biological.

The socio-psychological factors include:

Stress, psycho-emotional injuries, internal conflicts. People who are in a stressful state, desperate, exhausted, feeling confusion and insecurity are more likely to manifest deviant behavior.
The presence of certain accentuations of character and personality disorders. It is more difficult for people with similar characteristics to keep themselves within the norm, and in part the concept of “norm” is eroded for them.
The impact of changes in society (the theory of Anomie). If at the state level, attitudes toward the previously established rules and norms change radically, people feel confusion and tend to commit deviant actions.

Biological factors include:

Genetic disorders. Some destructive features of character can be inherited, such as oligophrenia, craving for pathological dependencies.
Deviations in the functioning of the central nervous system. Head injuries and transferred (especially in early childhood) neuroinfections can adversely affect the behavior of the individual.

The factors of deviations in the behavior of children of preschool age and minor adolescents are about the same as in the case of adults, but several more points can be singled out:

Toxic parents. To toxic parents include those who beat children, humiliate them, sexually exploit, over-control and so on.
Parenting mistakes. Some teachers and educators fail to properly influence a child for various reasons.

In the case of adolescents, biological and social factors associated with the peculiarities of transitional age are additionally superimposed.

Teens seek to find their place in the world, face various internal conflicts, wish to have the same freedom of action as adults have, and want to look spectacular, fashionable, try to stand out and at the same time find their “pack” to feel the community.

This is complemented by mood swings due to natural changes in the hormonal background.

Diagnostic techniques

In the diagnosis of deviance apply the following methods:

dialogue with deviantom and observation of his behavior in the process of conversation;
conversation with those around the deviant, listening to their complaints;
testing using various questionnaires (Eysenck test, Spielberger – Khanin scale and others);
testing to determine which emotional experiences have been supplanted by a person (Rosenzwijk test, Sondi test, and others).

Also, when making a diagnosis, a psychiatrist examines the data on deviance, its characteristics from workplaces and training places, and asks other people associated with it.

Correction

When correcting deviant behavior in a single person, the following methods are used:

Psychotherapy. A person is taught to control his own behavior and help to understand his defects. Together with the psychotherapist, various aspects of the social life of the deviant are analyzed and the best ways to solve various problems are discussed, role-playing games are held (in the case of adolescents and children).
Drug therapy. Preparations are selected depending on the individual situation, and in some cases there is no need for them. Taking drugs without connecting methods of psychotherapy and psycho-correction does not give results.
Psychocorrection. In the process of training a person helps to normalize the emotional state and improve cognitive abilities.

Prevention

The main methods of prevention:

elimination or mitigation of factors capable of provoking deviant behavior;
conducting conversations, open classes, telling about the dangers of various forms of deviant behavior within educational institutions (alcoholism, drug addiction, etc.);
identifying and working with young people at risk of deviant behavior;
availability of psychotherapeutic and pharmacological care for people suffering from mental illness;
comprehensive work with people who have already committed actions that are defined as deviant;
the need to carefully select teachers and educators in schools who can build trust with the students and form the concept of the norm;
helping children and adolescents suffering from the toxic effects of parents, and creating networks to make this help effective and timely.

The concept of "deviant behavior" is rather ambiguous, and it is important to remember that deviations are it is not always something especially negative.

It is important to prevent the emergence of negative forms of deviant behavior and to maintain positive ones, since they are one of the conditions for the comprehensive development of society.

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