Abnormal Psych Ch. 4

Question 1

psychological assessment

Answer 1

procedure by which clinicians, using psychological tests, observations, and interviews, develop a summary of a client’s symptoms and problems

Question 2

clinical diagnosis

Answer 2

process through which a clinician arrives at a general “summary classification” of the patient’s symptoms by following a clearly defined system such as DSM-5 or ICD-11 (International Classification of Diseases)

Question 3

reliability

Answer 3

A term describing the degree to which an assessment measure produces the same result each time it is used to evaluate the same thing

Question 4

Test-retest reliability and inter-rater reliability

Answer 4

-Test-retest reliability is whether a test result gives us a similar value today as it did a few days earlier
-Inter-rater reliability would describe the degree to which different clinicians agree on a diagnosis

Question 5

validity

Answer 5

The extent to which a measuring instrument actually measures what it is supposed to measure

Question 6

standardization

Answer 6

The process by which a psychological test is administered, scored, and interpreted in a consistent (“standard”) manner

Question 7

T score distribution

Answer 7

an example of how users can evaluate whether the individual’s core is low, average, or high

Question 8

presenting problem

Answer 8

the major symptoms or behaviors the client is experiencing

Question 9

cultural competence

Answer 9

In using Western-developed tests, users need to take into account the dominant language, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and gender of the clients

Question 10

clinical interview

Answer 10

usually involves a face-to-face interaction in which a clinician obtains information about a client’s situation, behavior, and personality

Question 11

structured interview

Answer 11

-follows a predetermined format
-each question is structured in a manner to allow responses to be quantified or clearly determined
-research data shows that a structured format yields far more reliable results than unstructured or flexible format

Question 12

semi-structured interview

Answer 12

Interviewer is required to ask questions in a specific order and in a specific way, but is free to ask follow-up questions to better determine if the interviewee actually has the symptom being assessed

Question 13

unstructured interview

Answer 13

Subjective and do not follow a predetermined set of questions

Question 14

role playing

Answer 14

a type of analogue situation; a more controlled behavioral setting for conducting observations

Question 15

self-monitoring

Answer 15

a client’s objective reporting of behavior, thoughts, and feelings as they occur in various natural settings

Question 16

rating scales

Answer 16

can help both to organize information and to encourage reliability and objectivity

Question 17

Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS)

Answer 17

one of the most widely used instruments for assessing the presence of psychiatric symptoms

Question 18

Intelligence Tests

Vocabulary (verbal)
and
Digit span (performance)

Answer 18

-Vocabulary (verbal): subtest that consists of a list of words to define that are presented orally to the individual
-Digit span (performance): sequence of numbers is administered orally; test taker asked to repeat them in the order given

Question 18

projective personality tests

Answer 18

Unstructured and rely on various ambiguous stimuli such as inkblots rather than on explicit questions

Question 19

Rorschach Inkblot Test

Answer 19

uses 10 inkblot pictures, to which a subject responds to “what you see, what it makes you think of” and “what it means to you”

Question 20

Thematic Apperception Test

Answer 20

uses a series of simple pictures about which a subject is instructed to make up stories

Question 21

Sentence Completion Test

Answer 21

designed for children, adolescents, and young adults; consists of the beginnings of sentences that clients are asked to complete

Question 22

objective personality tests

Answer 22

Structured; typically use questionnaires, self-report inventories, or rating scales

Question 23

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)

Answer 23

Prototype and standard for personality assessment; widely used in clinical and forensic (court-related) assessment

Question 24

neuropsychological assessment

Answer 24

Various tests to measure a person’s cognitive, perceptual, and motor performance

Question 25

Electroencephalogram (EEG)

Answer 25

assesses brain wave patterns; changes in the brain can be recorded almost immediately after they occur

Question 26

Computed Tomography (CT)

Answer 26

scan that can reveal images of parts of the brain that might be diseased

Question 27

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)

and

Functional MRI

Answer 27

another technique used to provide images of the brain

-functional MRI tells us about neuronal activity (the working brain)

Question 28

Position Emission Tomography (PET)

Answer 28

radioactive agents are injected into a person to show how an organ is functioning

Question 29

categorical approach

Answer 29

seeks to classify behavior into distinct categories; approach used in the DSM

Question 30

dimensional approach

Answer 30

(classification approach) assumes that a person’s typical behavior is the product of differing strengths or intensities of definable dimensions (mood, emotional stability, etc.)

Question 31

prototypal approach

Answer 31

clinician decides if their patient fits the pattern of a “perfect” or “theoretically ideal” case

Question 32

symptom

Answer 32

a patient’s subjective description of what’s wrong

Question 33

signs

Answer 33

objective and visual indicators of a problem