Normality (behavior) - Relativity of Normality

Relativity of Normality

What is viewed as normal can change dependent on both timeframe and environment. Normality can be viewed as “an endless process of man’s self-creation and his reshaping of the world”. Within this idea, it is possible to surmise that normality is not an all-encompassing term, but simply a relative term based around a current trend in time. With statistics, this is likened to the thought that if the data gathered provides a mean and standard deviation, over time these data that predict “normalness” start to predict or dictate it less and less since the social idea of normality is dynamic. This is shown in studies done on behavior in psychology and sociology where behavior in mating rituals or religious rituals can change within a century in humans, showing that the “normal” way that these rituals are performed shift and a new procedure becomes the normal one.

As another example, understandings of what is normal sexual behaviour varies greatly across time and place. In many countries, perceptions on sexuality are largely becoming more liberal, especially views on the normality of masturbation and homosexuality. Social understanding on normal sexual behaviour also varies greatly country by country - countries can be divided into categories of how they approach sexual normality, as conservative, homosexual-permissive, or liberal. The United States, Ireland, and Poland have more conservative social understanding of sexuality among university students, while Scandinavian students consider a wider variety of sexual acts as normal. Although some attempts have been made to define sexual acts as normal, abnormal, or indeterminate, these definitions are time-sensitive. Gayle Rubin's 1980s model of sexual 'normality' was comprehensive at the time but has since become outdated as society has liberalized.

Since normality shifts in time and environment, the mean and standard deviation are only useful for describing normality from the environment from which they are collected.