What are the two general categories of psychological tests used in clinical practice?

Psychological assessment refers to the

a. procedures used to summarize a client's problem.

A person comes to a mental health professional with a certain complaint. The professional attempts to understand the nature and extent of the problem. This process is called

why is it important to have an appropriate classification of the presenting problem?

A formal diagnosis may be needed for insurance purposes.

b. A determination of the range of presenting symptoms is needed to ensure proper placement in a treatment facility.

c. A recognition of what type of disorder is present will aid in the development of an effective treatment plan.

d. All of the above.

Dr. Vera says, "It may only provide a limited view of a person's problems, but it is important for planning appropriate treatment. Administratively, it is essential so that a facility can know what kinds of problems clients need help with. Even if we don't want to do it, insurance claims require it." What is Dr. Vera is referring to?

Which of the following statements regarding assessment is true?

An adequate assessment should include as much information as possible.

What role does the social context play in assessment?

An evaluation of the environment in which the client lives is necessary in order to understand the demands they face, as well as the supports that are present.

Which of the following is a true statement about assessment and professional orientation?

The focus of the assessment will be largely determined by the professional orientation of the clinician.

The need for rapport between a clinician and a client means

he client must feel comfortable with the clinician and the assessment.

Which of the following demonstrates reliability?

When an IQ test is administered to the same person repeatedly, the results

do not differ.

measures what it is designed to measure.

Which of the following statements about reliability and validity is true?

Valid tests are usually reliable.

Psychological test results are often compared to each other to determine a mid-range, or normal point. In order to accomplish this, test administration must be completely consistent from one person to the next. What is this process called?

Which of the following would be used to reveal a dysrhythmia in brain activity?

Which of the following makes it possible to see all but the most minute abnormalities of brain structure?

Dr. Smith believes that a decrease in frontal lobe function underlies the cognitive deficits seen in schizophrenia. He has hypothesized that effective drug therapy serves to selectively increase metabolic activity in this part of the brain. Which of the following is Dr. Smith most likely to use to test his hypothesis?

positron emission tomography (PET) scans

One advantage of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) over the CAT scan is that the MRI

provides better differentiation and clarity.

Dr. Bruce says "Its beneficial features are the ability to map ongoing psychological activities of the brain without injecting radioactive substances into the patient's body. In addition, they are much more widely available procedures than what was used before." What is Dr. Bruce describing?

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)

The fMRI technique cannot currently be used as a diagnostic tool. This is because

it is very difficult to interpret the results.

Dr. Kim is a psychologist who uses a number of tests to measure a person's cognitive, perceptual, and motor performance to detect brain damage. Dr. Kim is probably a specialist in using

neuropsychological assessment.

While neurological assessment procedures evaluate the brain's physical properties, neuropsychological assessment focuses on

Because his psychologist suspects he might have substantial brain damage, Tony was given a five-hour battery of tests that included listening to rhythmic beats presented by tape recorder and putting different shaped blocks into grooves while blindfolded. The procedure Tony experienced is called the

Ed has suffered a head injury in a car accident. He is referred to a psychologist to see what types of impairment now exist and to get some suggestions for treatment. The best assessment strategy would be

neuropsychological tests.

In which of the following circumstances would a psychosocial assessment clearly need to be used?

Ever since the divorce, James has been sleeping less and less.

A psychosocial assessment typically begins with

Under what circumstances is a structured interview most likely to be used?

When consistent information is needed for research purposes

Which of the following is a drawback of a structured interview?

interviews may include questions about areas that are of no concern to the patient.

Which of the following best illustrates high reliability?

Two interviewers diagnose the same disorder after talking to the same client.

Dr. White is doing research in which she must diagnose clients at a mental health clinic. Because diagnostic reliability is of great concern in research, she will most likely establish diagnoses by using

standardized structured interviews.

The reliability of the assessment interview may be enhanced by the use of

Shanna goes to Dr. Henderson for a first interview. He diagnoses her with a depressive disorder. She then goes to Dr. Smithson, because her friend recommended her. Dr. Smithson diagnoses Shanna with an anxiety disorder. This demonstrates a problem with

A clinical psychologist notes that a client wears his clothes inside out, that his hair is matted, and there is dirt under his fingernails. This information is known as

Dr. Lo asks Julie to pretend that he is her father as part of his psychosocial assessment of Julie. Which of the following would this be an example of?

In which of the following circumstances would a clinician be most likely to use self-monitoring

To find out what situations are likely to elicit problematic behavior

A behaviorally oriented clinician tells her alcohol dependent client: "Here is a checklist I want you to fill out each day. Whenever you feel you need a drink, you should indicate what you were thinking, where you were, who you were with, and whether you went ahead and drank." What procedure is the clinician using?

Which of the following is NOT a reason for using rating scales in clinical observation and self reports?

Danielle is having problems with drinking. She goes to a psychologist who gives her a form to fill out. It has a list of statements about drinking and problems associated with drinking. She is to rate each item between 1 and 3 - 1 meaning it is not a problem for her, 3 meaning it is a very big problem for her and 2 is in between. This is an example of

Joanne says that she cannot say "no" to her intrusive mother. Her therapist has her pretend to engage in such an interaction to assess how weak Joanne's assertiveness skills really are. This illustrates the use of

The use of standardized psychological tests

permits the clinician to determine how a client's behavior compares to some reference group.

are dependent on the competence of the clinician who interprets them.

Intelligence and personality tests can best be described as

indirect means of assessing psychological characteristics.

What would determine whether the WISC-IV or the WAIS-IV is used to test

intelligence?

There are two general categories of psychological tests used in clinical practice. They are

intelligence tests and personality tests.ntelligence tests and personality tests.

Which of the following statements about individually administered IQ tests is correct?

Which of the following is an unstructured approach to studying personality?

Which of the following would be an example of a projective technique?

A child is asked to draw her family.

"Projective" and "objective" are two types of ________ tests.

The aim of a projective test is to

assess the way a patient perceives ambiguous stimuli.

Which of the following is a type of test that tries to find ways in which a person's personality and past experiences cause them to understand and perceive their world?

Which of the following is a projective testing method that has been adapted for computer interpretation?

Which of the following best explains why the Rorschach is less likely to be used today?

Treatment facilities often require other types of information than the

Rorschach provides and insurance companies do not pay for it.

Which statement about the Rorschach is accurate?

A considerable amount of training is required to administer and score it accurately.

Research by Exner and others has shown that the Rorschach

can be scored by computer, thereby increasing its reliability.

The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) has been used to assess all of the following EXCEPT

Several clinicians look at the TAT results of a hospitalized patient. The patient described the characters on the card as not speaking to each other. One clinician says this means the patient has a lot of unresolved anger. Another says it means the patient has a lot of social anxiety. The third says he thinks it means the patient is uninterested in people and prefers to be alone. This demonstrates the following problem with the TAT:

Scoring and interpretation is very subjective.

Which of the following would best address recent criticisms of the TAT?

Which of the following statements about projective tests is correct?

a structured approach to personality assessment.

Which of the following is an objective test?

The empirical keying approach to making a test like the MMPI involves

picking items that differentiate between different groups, no subjective judgment is needed.

What does it mean if Carol scores high on the Schizophrenia scale of the MMPI?

Carol's answers were comparable to those given by a group of people with schizophrenia.

Mike decides he is going to try to look mentally ill when he goes for his disability evaluation. He takes the MMPI-2. He most likely

will be caught by specialized scales on the test.

The text presented the case study of Andrea C, a twenty-one-year-old student from Colombia. The MMPI-2 computer-based report was typical of such reports because

the report provided diagnostic and treatment considerations.

Why was the MMPI-2 needed?

The original MMPI was created over 50 years ago.

A key feature of the MMPI-2 is that

the clinical scales measure the same properties of personality organization

as they always have.

One limitation of the MMPI-2 is that it

requires an individual to be literate.

Computers are excellent devices for storing information on large numbers of people's characteristics and test score patterns. Whenever a person turns up with a specific test score pattern, the computer can print out an appropriate description. This illustrates

One of the problems with actuarial data for an instrument like the MMPI is that

the profiles of many subjects do not "fit" the profile types for which actuarial data are available.

Which of the following would be an important factor to keep in mind when assessing behaviors exhibited during an assessment and how those behaviors might be interpreted?

The theoretical orientation of the clinician

Why is classification a necessary first step in developing an understanding about abnormal behavior?

Communication about abnormal behavior cannot be effective unless what is being discussed is clear.

Which of the following is an assumption of a categorical approach to abnormal behavior?

Each disorder has unique symptoms.

Which approach to the classification of abnormal behavior uses statistical criteria to differentiate between normal and abnormal?

If a diagnosis is made by comparing subjects to a "model" of an illness, which type of classification scheme is being used?

Dr. Hunter is studying personality. He decides that he will classify his subjects into varying levels of intensity on personality traits based on how far they statistically fall above the average score of a “normal person.” He is using a

While the DSM is designed to be a categorical classification scheme,

he existing criteria tend to lead to a prototypal approach.

Symptoms are to signs as ________ is to ________.

Which of the following is an example of a symptom?

The client reported hearing voices.

Since it was first published, the DSM has

A clinician was in an assessment interview with a woman of Asian descent. The clinician realized there might be some cultural values and attitudes that could influence how questions were interpreted and answered. Which of the following would help the clinician obtain information about the potential impact of the woman’s culture on her mental health care?

A clinician is in an assessment interview with a new client. The clinician is having trouble determining an exact diagnosis, but must put something down before the client can receive treatment. What is one reason for this?

The clinician has to provide this information to the medical insurance agency.

Shondra is in fourth grade and has been having trouble sitting still and remaining focused on her schoolwork. Her teacher speaks with her parents about this, and suggests they see a clinician for an assessment. What is one problem with the DSM system that would make her parents reluctant to send her for an assessment?

The diagnosis would become a label that would stick with Shondra.

The number of disorders has _______from earlier versions of the DSM to the DSM-5.

In DSM-5, criteria for Persistent Depressive Disorder combines criteria from Dysthymic Disorder and which other disorder?

A clinician sits down with an individual and conducts an assessment interview. The clinician arrives at a diagnosis of schizophrenia. While writing up the notes on this interview, the clinician is mindful of preferred terminology by mental health professionals. What is the preferred way to refer to the individual in the assessment?

client with schizophrenia

One criticism of diagnostic labels is that

they can influence both other people's and the diagnosed person's perception of themselves in negative ways.

The DSM acknowledges that

a DSM diagnosis is only the first step, much more is needed to determine treatment.

As in assessment, diagnostic interviews can be

structured or unstructured.

When a psychologist is informed of the issues involved in multicultural assessment, this is known as __________ .

is maladaptive but means that a person is not out of touch with reality.

DSM-III classification, which omited the concept of neurosis, was an improvement because

diagnostic criteria are now based on shared, observable symptoms and are more clearly defined.

Fear is a basic emotion that involves

the activation of the "fight-or-flight" response.

Which of the following would be an example of anxiety?

Hilda dreaded walking home alone.

The main way to tell someone is having an uncued panic attack rather than is in a state of fear is

if he or she has a subjective belief that something awful is about to happen.

Which of the following is a typical symptom of panic attacks?

Which of the following is one of the five primary types of anxiety disorders recognized in the DSM-5?

What is one of the major ways the anxiety disorders differ from each other?

Whether there are more fear/panic symptoms or anxiety symptoms involved.

is a tendency to experience negative mood states.

Gradual exposure to feared cues is

a common component of treatment for all anxiety disorders.

Individuals who suffer from phobias

have a disproportionate fear of some specific object.

Martin is afraid to fly. He knows his boss wants him to take a trip for the business. Martin feels miserable, because he wants to keep his job but cannot even imagine getting on a plane. The most likely diagnosis for Martin is

specific phobia, situation type.

Why do people with phobias continue to avoid the thing they fear?

Avoidance is reinforced by anxiety reduction.

Which of the following is associated with a unique physiological response pattern?

blood-injection-injury phobia

An evolutionary psychologist might say, "The unique physiological response in this disorder, involving fainting at the sight of the feared object, may have evolved because fainting might inhibit further attack from a predator." What disorder is being discussed?

blood-injection-injury phobia

Which of the following phobias is a 10-year-old boy most likely to suffer from?

Which of the following explanations for Diana's scissors phobia would Freud be most likely to offer?

Diana's mother is a seamstress and Diana unconsciously wants to kill her.

When Charissa was a young child, she stepped on a bee and was stung. Since that time, she has been terrified of flying insects and runs away if she sees any.

When Kenneth was a young boy he went to a dentist who treated him uncaringly and inflicted a good deal of pain. Even years later, he has an uncontrollable and intense fear of not only dentists but physicians, too. This best illustrates how phobias might be the result of

generalization in classical conditioning.

Nicole's mother is terribly afraid of snakes. Although Nicole has never actually seen a snake, her mother has told her time and again to be careful to look for them when she is walking. Now Nicole has an intense fear of snakes and refuses to walk in the grass. This is an example of

vicarious conditioning of a phobia.

When do phobias like claustrophobia and driving phobia begin?

Casey and Josh have both been bitten by strange dogs. Casey has a dog of his own at home that he loves. Josh has little experience with dogs. Which is likely to develop a phobia?

Casey is less likely to develop a phobia because he has had lots of earlier positive experiences with dogs.

Wendy went swimming in the ocean last week and became mildly fearful when she swallowed a lot of water and felt as though she would drown. Just yesterday someone told her that a shark was seen in the water at the same time she was swimming. Now she is petrified of going into the ocean. This best illustrates

Which of the following is likely to maintain or strengthen conditioned fears over time?

overestimating the likelihood that the event will reoccur

Which of the following illustrates how cognitive variables may act to maintain acquired fears?

Ryan's fear of heights caused him to always wonder just how high up he was in a building.

Evolutionary preparedness explains

why some types of phobias are much more common than others.

What has research on the preparedness theory of phobias found?

Acquired fear responses can be elicited with subliminal exposure to fear-relevant stimuli.

It is fairly easy to condition monkeys and humans to fear snakes but almost impossible to condition either to fear a flower. This supports the ________ theory of phobias.

From an evolutionary perspective, what concept explains the easy acquisition of a fear of spiders or snakes?

Which of the following provides evidence against a role for inherited factors in the development of phobias?

the impact of nonshared environmental factors

Lauren is phobic of birds. Her therapist shows her how to approach a bird in a cage. The therapist then takes the bird out, pets it and feeds it. She then encourages Lauren to do the same behaviors. This type of procedure is called

Which of the following seems to be the best treatment for phobias?

Virtual reality environments

allow exposure therapy to be conducted in a simulated setting.

. Kayla has just started college and wants to make friends. She refuses to go to large parties because she is afraid that she will blush and sweat, and that other people will laugh at her. She is fine when talking to people in one-on-one settings. Kayla's most likely diagnosis is

involves a fear of one or more specific social situations.

The individual with generalized social phobia

exhibits a fear of most social situations.

Most individuals diagnosed with social phobia

can identify the origin of their social phobia.

Studies of preparedness and social phobia

find that angry faces act as fear-relevant stimuli.

Behaviorally inhibited young children are more likely to develop specific phobias. This is an example of a ________ causal factor.

Individuals with social phobia are likely to

attribute events in their lives to external factors.

Cognitive approaches to social phobia focus on

challenging automatic thoughts.

Panic attacks, by definition,

require the presence of at least 4 of 13 characteristic symptoms.

Which of the following is necessary for a diagnosis of panic disorder?

When Jill experienced her first panic attack, she felt as if she were outside of herself, watching herself struggle to catch her breath. Jill's sense of not being part of herself is one of the symptoms of a panic attack known as

Compared to anxiety, panic is

Panic disorders are often misdiagnosed because

symptoms are so somatic they are treated by physicians for medical problems.

Agoraphobia is best described as a fear of

experiencing a panic attack.

________ was once thought to be a fear of crowded places, but now is seen as a complication of having panic attacks in public.

Mrs. B. tells her psychologist, "I cannot leave a certain region around my home without having terrible fears. I am terribly worried when I am in a car or bus. I am afraid I will have another one of those terrifying experiences." What disorder does Mrs. B probably have and what experience is she talking about?

The disorder is agoraphobia, the experience is a panic attack.

In order to qualify as a full-blown panic attack, which of the following must be present?

at least four of thirteen symptoms, most of which are physical

Panic disorder is best described as a(n) ________ condition.

James began having panic attacks immediately after his mother died suddenly. As they became more frequent, he began to fear going into public situations where they might occur. Now he is unable to leave his apartment and has others go out to shop for him. What is unusual about this case?

It is unusual for a person with severe agoraphobia to be a man.

Which of the following is a sociocultural explanation for the higher incidence of anxiety disorders in women?

It is more acceptable for women to exhibit fear.

Approximately ___ to ___ of people with severe agoraphobia are women.

Agoraphobics are highly likely to have all of the following EXCEPT

neurotic personality disorder.

follow some distressing event.

Research using panic provocation agents has revealed

that there are probably multiple biological explanations for panic disorder.

What is thought to explain the effectiveness of the SSRIs in treating panic disorder?

They decrease noradrenergic activity.

Which brain structure is recognized as playing a central role in panic attacks?

Repeated stimulation of the limbic system by discharges from the locus coeruleus may lower the threshold for later experiences of anxiety. Then, through learning, controlled by the prefrontal cortex, the person actively avoids fearful situations." This quotation most clearly refers to the biological processes involved in

panic disorder with agoraphobia.

Betty is hyper-aware of such bodily sensations as heart rate and respiration rate. When she perceives heart or breathing as getting faster she becomes afraid that she is having a heart attack. These thoughts make her symptoms worse and she has a panic attack. Betty's pattern of thinking best illustrates

cognitive theory of panic.

a trait-like belief that certain bodily symptoms may have harmful consequences.

Catastrophizing, fear of standing in line, and fear of crowded places are characteristic of which of the following?

What are the two main types of psychological test?

Which two types of psychological tests are the most often used in clinical practice?

What are the main types of psychological tests?

What are the two characteristics of psychological test?