Chapter 3 vocab/reading

Question 1

clinical assessment

Answer 1

systematic evaluation and measurement of psychological, biological and social factors in a person presenting with a possible psychological disorder

Question 2

diagnosis

Answer 2

process of determining whether a presenting problem meets the established criteria for a specific psychological disorder

Question 3

reliability

Answer 3

degree to which a measurement is consistent - for example, over time or among different raters

Question 4

validity

Answer 4

degree to which a technique measures what it purports to measure

Question 5

standardization

Answer 5

process of establishing specific norms and requirements for a measurement technique to ensure it is used consistently across measurement occasions. this includes instructions for administering the measure, evaluating its findings, and comparing these to data for large numbers of people

Question 6

mental status exam

Answer 6

relatively coarse preliminary test of a client’s judgement, orientation to time and place, and emotional and mental state; typically conducted during an initial interview

Question 7

behavioral assessment

Answer 7

measuring, observing and systematically evaluating (rather than inferring) the client’s thoughts, feelings and behavior in the actual problem situation or context

Question 8

self-monitoring

Answer 8

action by which clients observe and record their own behaviors as either an assessment of a problem and its change or a treatment procedure that makes them more aware of their responses. Also known as self observation.

Question 9

projective tests

Answer 9

psychoanalytically based measure that presents ambiguous stimuli to clients on the assumption that their responses can reveal their unconscious conflicts. such tests are inferential and lack high reliability and validity

Question 10

personal inventory

Answer 10

self-report questionnaire that assesses personal traits by asking respondents to identify descriptions that apply to themselves

Question 11

intelligence quotient (IQ)

Answer 11

score on an intelligence test estimating a person’s deviation from average test performance

Question 12

neuropsychological testing

Answer 12

assessment of brain and nervous system functioning by testing an individual’s performance on behavioral tasks

Question 13

false positive

Answer 13

assessment error in which pathology is reported (that is, test results are positive) when none is actually present.

Question 14

false negative

Answer 14

assessment error in which no pathology is noted (that is, test results are negative) when one is actually present.

Question 15

neuroimaging

Answer 15

sophisticated computer-aided procedure that allows nonintrusive examination of nervous system structure and function

Question 16

psychophysiological assessment

Answer 16

measurement of changes in the nervous system reflecting psychological or emotional events such as anxiety, stress, and sexual arousal

Question 17

electroencephalogram (EEG)

Answer 17

measure of electrical activity patterns in the brain, taken through electrodes placed on the scalp

Question 18

idiographic strategy

Answer 18

a close and detailed investigation of an individual emphasizing what makes that person unique (compare with nomothetic strategy)

Question 19

nomothetic strategy

Answer 19

identification and examination of large groups of people with the same disorder to note similarities and develop general laws

Question 20

classification

Answer 20

assignment of objects or people to categories on the basis of shared characteristics

Question 21

taxonomy

Answer 21

system of naming and classification (for example, of specimens) in science

Question 22

nosology

Answer 22

Classification and naming system for medical and psychological phenomena

Question 23

nomenclature

Answer 23

in a naming system or nosology, the actual labels or names that are applied. In psychopathology, these include mood disorders and eating disorders

Question 24

classical categorical approach

Answer 24

classification method founded on the assumption of clear-cut differences among disorders, each with a different known cause. Also known as pure categorical approach

Question 25

dimensional approach

Answer 25

method of categorizing characteristics on a continuum rather than on a binary, either-or, or all-or-none basis

Question 26

prototypical approach

Answer 26

system for categorizing disorders using both essential, defining characteristics and a range of variation on other characteristics

Question 27

familial aggregation

Answer 27

extent to which a disorder would be found among a patient’s relatives

Question 28

cormorbidity

Answer 28

presence of two or more disorders in an individual at the same time

Question 29

labeling

Answer 29

applying a name to a phenomenon or a pattern of behavior. The label may acquire negative connotations or be applied erroneously to the person rather than that person’s behaviors

Question 30

hypothesis

Answer 30

educated guess or statement to be tested by research

Question 31

research design

Answer 31

plan of experimentation used to test a hypothesis

Question 32

dependent variable

Answer 32

in an experimental study, the phenomenon that is measured and expected to be influenced (compare with independent variable)

Question 33

independent variable

Answer 33

phenomenon manipulated by the experimenter in a study and expected to influence the dependent variable

Question 34

internal validity

Answer 34

extent to which the results of a study can be attributed to the independent variable after confounding alternative explanations have been ruled out

Question 35

external validity

Answer 35

extent to which research findings generalize, or apply, to people and settings not involved in the study

Question 36

testability

Answer 36

ability of a hypothesis, for example, to be subjected to scientific scrutiny and to be accepted or rejected, a necessary condition for the hypothesis to be useful

Question 37

confound

Answer 37

any factor occurring in a study that makes the results uninterpretable because a variable other than the independent variable may also affect the dependent variable

Question 38

control group

Answer 38

group of individuals in a study who are similar to the experimental subjects in every way but are not exposed to the treatment received by the experimental group.Their presence allows for a comparison of the differential effects of the treatment

Question 39

randomization

Answer 39

method for placing individuals into research groups that assures each an equal chance of being assigned to any group, thus eliminating any systematic differences across groups

Question 40

analogue model

Answer 40

approach to research that employs subjects who are similar to clinical clients, allowing replication of a clinical problem under controlled conditions.

Question 41

generalizability

Answer 41

extent to which research results apply to a range of individuals not included in the study.

Question 42

statistical significance

Answer 42

small probability of obtaining the observed research findings by chance

Question 43

clinical significance

Answer 43

degree to which research findings have useful and meaningful applications to real problems

Question 44

effect size

Answer 44

a statistical process that eliminates how large a change in measure occurred. often used before and after a clinical treatment to determine its relative success

Question 45

patient uniformity myth

Answer 45

tendency to consider all members of a category as more similar than they are, ignoring their individual differences