Chapter 12 Flashcards
What is the definition of psychological assessment according to Ollendick and Hersen (1993)?
An exploratory, hypothesis-testing process using developmentally sensitive and empirically validated procedures to understand a child and formulate specific intervention procedures.
This definition emphasizes the collaborative nature of assessment rather than a mere testing process.
What is the primary purpose of psychological assessment for children?
To engage with the child and their parents in understanding and alleviating the child’s problems.
It contrasts with stereotypes of testing, focusing instead on collaboration and understanding.
Who are the primary clients involved in the psychological assessment of children?
Parents, teachers, and the children themselves, depending on their developmental capacity.
This highlights the collaborative nature of the assessment process.
What are the essential components of conducting a psychological assessment?
- Helping clients formulate questions
- Specifying assessment goals collaboratively
- Discussing results empathically with clients
These components ensure that assessments are tailored to the needs of the child and family.
What is the importance of using methodologically sound instruments in psychological assessment?
Good measurement is critical for understanding psychological functioning and guiding interventions.
Methodologically sound instruments help in accurately assessing various psychological constructs.
What role does measurement play in psychological assessment according to Cecil R. Reynolds?
Measurement is a central component, and while tests can provide useful data, they must be used appropriately and interpreted correctly.
This indicates that the validity of a test derives from its application and interpretation.
True or False: A test by itself is valid or invalid.
False.
The validity depends on how the test is used and the interpretation of its results.
What is incremental validity in psychological assessment?
The extent to which a specific assessment tool adds useful information beyond what is already known from other measures.
It emphasizes the usefulness of various sources of information in assessing psychological conditions.
What must be considered when using assessment instruments across different cultures?
- Cross-cultural validation
- Avoiding stigmatizing language
- Accurate translation of emotional terms
These considerations ensure that assessments are relevant and appropriate for diverse populations.
Fill in the blank: The assessment of children’s psychological functioning must include the use of _______.
[methodologically sound instruments]
What are some common pitfalls in the interpretation of psychological assessment tools?
- Over-relying on discriminant validity evidence
- Misapplying tests for diagnosing various psychopathologies
These pitfalls can lead to erroneous conclusions about a child’s psychological state.
What are the psychological processes that might be assessed by a child-clinical psychologist?
- Intelligence
- Atypical behavior
- Personality
Understanding these processes is critical for effective assessment and intervention.
What is the main goal of psychological assessment?
To determine the DSM or ICD diagnosis or diagnoses corresponding to the behaviors of the child being assessed.
Where are assessments focused on mental health diagnosis most commonly conducted?
Hospitals and psychiatric clinics.
What is the most persuasive selling point of the recent revisions of the DSM and ICD systems?
Improved and more reliable diagnosis.
What are structured diagnostic interviews typically based on?
The symptoms specified for the disorders.
How are structured diagnostic interviews usually conducted?
With a standard series of questions using exact wording indicated in the protocol.
What is a limitation of most structured interview methods?
They do not reference a normative population.
What is the best-known example of a structured diagnostic interview for child psychopathology?
Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children – IV (DISC-IV).
How long can the complete DISC-IV interview take?
Up to 2 hours.
What is one of the well-known structured interviews designed for a restricted range of problems?
Kiddie-Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (K-SADS).
True or False: Structured diagnostic interviews have been shown to achieve reliability of diagnosis.
True.
What is a key difference between the K-SADS protocol and the DISC-IV?
K-SADS allows the clinician to select questions; DISC-IV does not.
What is a trade-off when using standard questions in structured interviews?
Eliciting facts vs. expressing emotion.
What is a criticism of the time taken to administer structured diagnostic interviews?
There is doubt about their incremental validity.
What is one criticism of structured diagnostic interviews regarding informants?
The parent is often the sole informant.
What is one advantage of checklist/questionnaire methods over structured interviews?
Economy.
Fill in the blank: Checklists can be completed while a family is in the _______.
waiting room.
Why are checklists advantageous in psychological assessment?
Portability and can be completed by absent informants like teachers.
What is the purpose of standardization in developing checklists and questionnaires?
To yield norms that permit comparison with other children and adolescents of the same age and sex
Standardization also helps establish psychometric properties such as test-retest reliability.
What are halo effects in the context of checklists and questionnaires?
Indiscriminately describing the person being rated as either positive or negative in all respects
Positive and negative halo effects can skew the assessment results.
What is a common issue when using paper-and-pencil methods for diagnosis?
Loss of personal contact with the interviewer, which may yield invaluable diagnostic information
Personal contact can temper the confidence placed in the actual data obtained.
True or False: Diagnostic interviews can be considered more like questionnaires when they are highly structured and standardized.
True
This raises concerns about the reliability of diagnoses based solely on structured interviews.
What is the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory for Children used for?
Assessment of social anxiety in children
It consists of 26 items scored from 0 (never) to 2 (often), with a maximum score of 52.
What is the cut-off point in the context of questionnaires and checklists?
A score above which indicates the presence of a disorder
It must be justified by supporting data according to ethical standards.
What does the Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment (ASEBA) include?
Separate rating scales for various age ranges starting with preschool
The ASEBA includes parent and teacher rating scales and a youth self-report for adolescents.
List the broad dimensions scored by the ASEBA.
- Externalizing
- Internalizing
- Anxious/Depressed
- Withdrawn/Depressed
- Somatic Complaints
- Social Problems
- Thought Problems
- Attention Problems
- Rule-Breaking Behavior
- Aggressive Behavior
These scales help relate to DSM symptoms for diagnosis.
Define ‘traits’ in the context of personality assessment.
Relatively stable dispositions to engage in particular acts or ways of thinking
Examples of traits include shyness, irascibility, and outgoingness.
What is the difference between personality and temperament?
Personality refers to traits in adults, while temperament refers to traits in children
This distinction helps in the assessment of child behavior.
What are the three temperament types identified by Chess and Thomas?
- Easy
- Difficult
- Slow to warm up
These types are based on dimensions like activity level, intensity of reactions, and mood.
What does the concept of ‘goodness of fit’ refer to?
The matching of different temperament types to environments that maximize adjustment
This can inform recommendations for educational settings for children.
Fill in the blank: The maximum score possible on the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory for Children is _______.
52
What are projective techniques in psychology?
Creative tools that provide ambiguous stimuli to reveal individual differences in personality and adjustment.
Examples include the Rorschach inkblots and the Children’s Apperception Test.
What is the best-known projective technique?
The Rorschach inkblots.
Developed by Hermann Rorschach in 1927.
What does the Rorschach test involve?
Respondents interpret ambiguous inkblots, revealing insights about their personality.
Responses may include details such as what the person sees and how they interpret it.
What is the assumption behind the Children’s Apperception Test?
The main character in the story made up by the child reflects the child’s own personality.
It involves storytelling based on drawings with animals or people.
What is a significant criticism of projective techniques?
They may suggest more pathology than actually exists and are subject to subjective interpretation.
This is a concern for their use in legal or educational contexts.
What is dual diagnosis in child psychology?
The co-occurrence of learning disabilities and emotional/behavioral disorders.
It emphasizes the need for comprehensive assessment and treatment.
What historical issue is associated with IQ testing in psychology?
IQ tests were often used to unjustly classify children from minority backgrounds as mentally retarded.
This led to legal challenges such as Larry P. vs. Riles.
What is Sternberg’s triarchical model of intelligence?
Intelligence is divided into three types: analytic, creative, and practical intelligence.
Practical intelligence focuses on everyday social knowledge.
What is the most widely used instrument for assessing intellectual abilities in children?
Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children – Fourth Edition (WISC-IV).
It provides a total IQ score and scores on core and supplementary subtests.
What are the four factors assessed by the WISC-IV?
- Verbal comprehension
- Perceptual reasoning
- Processing speed
- Short-term working memory
What is a key consideration when interpreting WISC-IV results?
Discrepancies among the subtest scores can provide important insights.
Overinterpretation of individual subtest scores is considered malpractice.
What is a primary purpose of behavioral assessment?
To trace a picture of the child’s typical behavior and the social environment influencing it.
This includes understanding triggers and contexts of behaviors.
What is a benefit of direct observation in behavioral assessment?
It provides detailed information about behavior that children may not articulate.
It is particularly useful for assessing non-verbal or young children.
How can direct observation influence intervention strategies?
It helps identify reinforcement patterns maintaining problem behaviors, enabling targeted interventions.
Example: A teacher greeting a student to improve behavior.
What is a limitation of direct observation?
It can only be conducted for a limited time and may not capture variability in behavior.
Problem behaviors can fluctuate significantly.
What is the Dyadic Parent-Child Interaction Coding System?
A coding scheme for observing parent-child interactions, covering positive and negative behaviors.
It has proven validity and reliability in research.
What is a key requirement for observational assessments?
Ensuring inter-rater reliability, where different observers code the same event similarly.
This is crucial for the validity of observational methods.
What can be used when natural observation is not possible in psychological assessment?
Contrived or closed-field or analogue observation techniques
These techniques aim to optimize observation time and provide insights into behaviors in a controlled environment.
What is an example of a contrived observation setting for assessing a child?
A playroom with toys where a parent is observed interacting with the child
This setting allows for the assessment of compliance and problem behaviors in a familiar context.
Why is it important for contrived tasks to be representative of a child’s daily life?
To ensure the task is acceptable and likely to evoke the problem that led to the referral
This helps in achieving more accurate assessments.
What is a challenge in the assessment of child psychopathology according to Kazdin (2005)?
There is no ‘gold standard’ for validating measures
This complicates the assessment process due to high comorbidity rates among disorders.
What should be included in the assessment process for children?
Consideration of multiple disorders or symptoms and information about adaptive functioning
This includes functioning at school, home, and in the community.
What is lacking in the research regarding psychological assessment?
Research documenting the benefits of the entire psychological assessment process
This is in contrast to the extensive research on psychological tests and assessment procedures.
What did Gelso and Fretz (2001) say about the future of psychological assessment?
Research will determine whether psychological assessment will thrive or decline
They likened it to a ‘dodo bird’ or a ‘phoenix rising’ from critiques.
What is one innovative approach to psychological assessment mentioned in the text?
Integrating assessment into the helping process as a collaborative procedure
This approach takes into account the perspectives and desires of clients.
What did a recent meta-analysis confirm about collaborative assessment?
The benefits of working collaboratively with adult clients
This was based on seventeen studies with 1,496 participants.
How can technology improve the assessment process?
By making assessment more economical, efficient, and authoritative
This includes computer-based interviewing and test administration.
What role do handheld devices play in psychological assessment?
They enable the inclusion of real-time data on individuals’ experiences
This helps in understanding feelings and behaviors in natural contexts.
What are experience-sampling techniques?
Methods where individuals report feelings, moods, and behaviors at different times
These are often conducted via smartphones and involve daily diaries.
What is a marked improvement over retrospective assessment?
Experience sampling techniques
These techniques provide real-time data instead of relying on memory recall.
What are ambulatory biosensors used for in assessment?
Measuring physiological processes in natural environments
They are non-obtrusive devices that track cardiovascular, physical, and chemical activity.
What caution is provided regarding neuroimaging in psychological assessment?
Neuroimaging may not reveal the true cause of psychopathology
The brain can be influenced by psychological states, complicating the interpretation.
What is the potential advantage of using neuroimaging in assessments?
Discovering processes in action that were previously unknown
This can enhance understanding for both the clinician and the assessed individual.
What is psychological assessment of children?
An exploratory, hypothesis-testing process to explain and alleviate a child’s problems
It involves engaging with children and their parents, not just testing.
Who should formulate questions for the assessment process?
Clients, teachers, parents, and children being assessed
This ensures that the assessment is relevant and meaningful.
What is the importance of valid, reliable tests in psychological assessment?
They are essential for proper psychological assessment
Validity and reliability ensure that the results are trustworthy.
What does Reynolds (2010) state about tests?
Tests are not invalid or valid; it is the ways in which they are used that are valid or invalid
This is particularly true for intelligence tests.
What is incremental validity?
The added value of a given test over and above other measures already in common use
It indicates the usefulness of a test in a specific context.
What is necessary for the cross-cultural use of psychological tests?
Cross-cultural validation
Tests must be valid for the specific population and purpose.
What are structured diagnostic interviews designed to do?
Determine diagnoses based on symptoms described in diagnostic manuals like DSM or ICD
The Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children is a prominent example.
What is a criticism of structured diagnostic interviews?
They often rely solely on parents as informants, excluding valuable teacher input
This can limit the breadth of information gathered.
What are checklists and questionnaires used for in clinical assessment?
They are portable, economical, and can be completed by individuals not physically present
They allow for comparison across age groups.
What does the term ‘goodness of fit’ refer to?
The matching of temperament types to environments to maximize adjustment
This concept is key in understanding child behavior.
What are projective measures in psychological assessment?
Ambiguous stimuli responses that reveal differences in personality and adjustment
Examples include Rorschach inkblots and the Children’s Apperception Test.
What is the main concern regarding projective techniques?
Defending interpretations based on subjectivity in legal contexts
Critics argue they may suggest more pathology than exists.
What does contemporary intelligence assessment emphasize?
A multifactor conceptualization, such as Sternberg’s triarchical model
This includes analytic, creative, and practical intelligence.
What is the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children – Fourth Edition known for?
It is the most widely used intelligence test for children
It yields a total IQ score and several subtest scores.
What does direct observation in a natural setting provide?
Detailed information about children who cannot articulate their problems
It helps clinicians understand interactions and stressors.
What is the purpose of coding schemes in behavioral observation?
Provide rigorous procedures for recording behaviors
An example is the Dyadic Parent–Child Interaction Coding System.
What should the assessment process consider due to comorbidity?
Multiple disorders or symptoms
This ensures a comprehensive understanding of the child’s issues.
What is experience-sampling technique?
Individuals record their feelings, moods, and behaviors at different times
This is an improvement over retrospective assessment.
