Name: Abdul Rahman Assignment 2 Reg#: FA16-BBA-017

Submitted to: Mr. Faisal Mumtaz Chahal Course: Intro to Psychology

What is deviance behavior?

Deviance Behavior: (behaviors that violate social norms)
Meaning
Deviance, in a sociological context, describes actions or behaviors that violate informal social
norms or formally-enacted rules. Among those who study social norms and their relation to
deviance are sociologists, psychologists, psychiatrists, and criminologists, all of whom investigate
how norms change and are enforced over time.

Types
Deviance may be either positive or negative.
1. Negative deviance involves behavior that fails to meet accepted norms. People expressing
negative deviance either reject the norms, misinterpret the norms, or are unaware of the
norms.
 Ruins trust between groups and individuals.
 The deviant behaviour if it’s not addressed, then it can be influential on others.
 Expensive.
2. Positive deviance involves over conformity to norms. Positive deviants idealize group norms.
Positive deviance can be as disruptive and hard to manage as negative deviance.
Durkheim actually found that deviance in society will clarify social norms and will exercise
social control.
 Deviance can be a safety mechanism (a small act od defiance [primary deviance] can
relieve stress)
 Promotes unity in groups.
 Start social change.

Positive Deviance
Positive deviance (PD) is an approach to behavioral and social change based on the observation
that in any community there are people whose uncommon but successful behaviors or strategies
enable them to find better solutions to a problem than their peers, despite facing similar
challenges and having no extra resources or knowledge than their peers. These individuals are
referred to as positive deviants.
The concept first appeared in nutrition research in the 1970s. Researchers observed that despite
the poverty in a community, some poor families had well-nourished children. Some suggested
using information gathered from these outliers to plan nutrition programs.
Name: Abdul Rahman Assignment 2 Reg#: FA16-BBA-017
Submitted to: Mr. Faisal Mumtaz Chahal Course: Intro to Psychology

Principles
Positive deviance is a strength-based approach which is applied to problems requiring behavior
and social change. It is based on the following principles:
1. Communities already have the solutions. They are the best experts to solve their problems.
2. Communities self-organize and have the human resources and social assets to solve an
agreed-upon problem.
3. Collective intelligence. Intelligence and know-how is not concentrated in the leadership of a
community alone or in external experts but is distributed throughout the community. Thus
the PD process's aim is to draw out the collective intelligence to apply it to a specific problem
requiring behavior or social change.
4. Sustainability as the cornerstone of the approach. The PD approach enables the community
or organization to seek and discover sustainable solutions to a given problem because the
demonstrably successful uncommon behaviors are already practiced in that community
within the constraints and challenges of the current situation.
5. It is easier to change behavior by practicing it rather than knowing about it. "It is easier to act
your way into a new way of thinking than think your way into a new way of acting".

Negative Deviance
Occurs when a player, manager, spectator or anyone involved behaves in a way that knowingly
breaks the rules or ethics of the sport.
 Using performance-enhancing drugs
 Cheating within a contest
 Being bribed to influence he results
 Fan violence and hooliganism
 Illegal betting on the outcome
 Financial irregularities
 Player violence
 Fielding ineligible players

Causes of Deviance Why does deviance occur...

 Individuals lacks the moral restraint to resist
 Individuals value wining ahead of prospect of punishment
 Rewards for winning are so great that people are prepared to risk it.
 Deviant behaviour is more common so less socially unacceptable
 Governing bodies feel less able to punish, owing to commercial interests or fear of being taken
to court.