ABSTRACT
It was pointed out in Chapter XXIV that the “normal” individual must be considered not so much in terms of the fundamental psychological mechanisms as in terms of what the society or some particular group with its attendant culture defines as normal. Deviations from the norms of a group tend to be dealt with by various devices of formal or informal social control, the law, the mores, and conventions. As he matures, the individual is provided with a host of patterns or “copies” of thought and action which are defined for him as normal, proper, and good by parents, playmates, teachers, employers, and others. Even mood, temperament, or disposition—whatever term one uses to describe fundamental and persistent patterns of feeling-emotional responses—must be considered, like other behavior, in terms of societal or cultural conditioning. Temperamental qualities fully accepted in one society may be considered pathological in another.
