Chapter 2 - Historical Overview

Question 1

Association for Psychological Science (APS)

Answer 1

The professional psychological organization formed in 1988 when an academic-scientific contingent broke off from the APA. Goals include advancing the discipline of psychology, preserving its scientific base, and promoting public understanding of the field and its applications.

Question 2

Behavior Therapy

Answer 2

A popular learning framework for treating disorders that is based on the principles of conditioning. It usually focuses on observable behavior and is typically of relatively brief duration.

Question 3

Brief (time-effective) Therapy

Answer 3

Generally speaking, therapy of 15 or fewer sessions’ duration. It has gained popularity in recent years due to the financial constrained imposed by managed care, as well as studies demonstrating that its effectiveness is on par with that of traditional psychotherapy.

Question 4

Community Psychology

Answer 4

A psychological specialty that focuses on the prevention and treatment of mental problems, particularly among people who are traditionally underserved.

Question 5

Eclectics

Answer 5

Clinicians who employ the techniques of more than one theoretical orientation. The nature of the presenting problem determines which orientation to use in a given case.

Question 6

Etiological

Answer 6

Casual, for example, an etiological factor for depression is believed to contribute to its onset.

Question 7

G

Answer 7

A term introduced by Charles Spearman to describe his concept of a general factor of intelligence.

Question 8

Guidance Clinics

Answer 8

Clinics devoted to the evaluation and treatment of children’s intellectual and behavioral difficulties.

Question 9

Health Psychology

Answer 9

A psychological specialty that focuses on the prevention of illness, the promotion and maintenance of good health, and the psychological treatment of individuals with diagnosed medical conditions.

Question 10

Manualized Treatment

Answer 10

Treatment that is presented and described in a manual format (i.e., outlining the rationales, goals, and techniques that correspond to each phase of the treatment).

Question 11

Measurement of Intelligence

Answer 11

The use of tests to measure various mental capacities (e.g., the speed of mental processes, the ability to learn over trials).

Question 12

Mental Tests

Answer 12

The term coined by James McKeen Cattell to describe his measures of individual differences in reaction time. He believed that performance on these tests was associated with intelligence.

Question 13

Neuropsychological Assessment

Answer 13

An assessment approach – based on empirically established brain-behavior relationships – that evaluates a person’s relative strengths and weaknesses across a number of areas (e.g., memory, speed of processing, and manual dexterity).

Question 14

Objective Measures

Answer 14

Psychological tests that draw conclusions about people’s states or traits on the basis of their responses to unambiguous stimuli, such as rating scales or questionnaire items. Responses to objective measures are often interpreted using a nomothetic approach.

Question 15

Personality Disorders

Answer 15

Enduring and maladaptive patters of experience and behavior that emerge b adolescence or young adulthood and persist through much of adulthood. Examples include paranoid, antisocial, and dependent personality disorders.

Question 16

Personality Testing

Answer 16

The use of measures or techniques to provide insight into enduring characteristics or traits.

Question 17

Play Therapy

Answer 17

A technique, derived from traditional Freudian principles, that uses expressive play to help release anxiety or hostility. Proponents believe that such a release has a curative effect.

Question 18

Projective Techniques

Answer 18

Psychological testing techniques, such as the Rorschach or the Thematic Apperception Test, that use people’s responses to ambiguous test stimuli to make judgments about their personality traits or their psychological state.

Question 19

Psychoanalysis

Answer 19

A framework for understanding and treating mental illness based on the collaborative work of Breuer and Freud in the late 1800s.

Question 20

Psychodiagnosis

Answer 20

The use and interpretation of psychological test scores for the purposes of diagnosis and treatment planning.

Question 21

Psychotherapy Research

Answer 21

Research that evaluates the effectiveness of therapy or certain therapy components. It may be used to determine which intervention is more effective for treating a certain condition or which component of a particular therapy is most crucial for bringing about an observed change.

Question 22

Radical Behaviorism

Answer 22

A movement in psychology that began in the late 1950s and persisted through the 1960s. Proponents of this movement asserted that only overt behaviors could be measured and even questioned the existence of personality traits.

Question 23

Scientist-Practitioner Model

Answer 23

The principal model for clinical psychology training of the past 50 years (also referred to as the Boulder model). This model strives to produce professionals who can effectively integrate the roles of scientist and practitioner.

Question 24

Structured Diagnostic Interviews

Answer 24

A class of assessment tools, all of which consist of questions keyed to diagnostic criteria. The term structured means that interviewers ask all interviewees the same questions in the same order and score the answers in standard ways.

Question 25

Systematic Desensitization

Answer 25

A behavioral technique for the treatment of anxiety disorders in which patients practice relaxation while visualizing anxiety-provoking situations of increasing intensity.