Who’s crazy here, anyway? The question of how to discriminate between normal and
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abnormal behavior is fundamental in psychology. Most people have the impression that psychology is primarily concerned with psychology and mental illness (the psychology subfield that studies mental illness is called abnormal psychology). Nearly all the
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research and information in this book is mainly focused on normal behavior. The fact that most of human behavior is normal makes psychologist more interested in normal behavior then abnormal behavior. Mental illness to a lot of people is one of the most fascinating areas of study in psychology. There are a couple studies of crucial historical
importance added here as well. First, people were sent into hospitals acting as if they were the ones with the mental illness to see if the staff could tell them apart from the people who were what they like to call; normal. Second, history of psychology wouldn’t be complete without Sigmund Freuds theory of “Ego defense mechanisms “. Since it relates to his work with psychology disorders, his theory was added to this book through his daughter, Anna Freud’s writing’s. Third, was a study called “Learned helplessness”. This study was demonstrated by animals relating to personality that leads to a theory explaining depression in humans. Finally, a very well known experiment is done to see what rats in an overcrowded area will result in; which may or may not have important means for humans. Rosenhan, D.L. (1973) On being sane in insane places. Science 179, 250258