Though there are many perspectives psychologists use to define human behavior as normal or abnormal, we only address three of these perspectives on this website.

The behavioral perspective emphasizes the role of learning, particularly conditioning experiences on the development of psychological disorders. The cognitive perspective emphasizes cognitions (expectations, values, beliefs) in determining the responses a person will make in confronting life's situations, and the medical perspective relates disorders to biological abnormalities. You can find elaborations on each of these perspectives by following their respective links.