Counseling and Helping Relationships (Intro to Counseling/Advance Counseling/Practicum) Flashcards

Question 1

Q

Sigmund Freud is the father of psychoanalysis, which is both a

*form of treatment and a very comprehensive personality theo-**
*ry. According to Freud’s theory, inborn drives (mainly sexual)**
*help form the personality. _______ and _______, who originally**
*worked with Freud, created individual psychology and analytic**
*psychology, respectively.**
*a. Carl Jung; Alfred Adler.**
*b. Alfred Adler; Carl Jung.**
*c. Joseph Breuer; A. A. Brill.**
*d. Alfred Adler; Rollo May.**

Answer

A

b. Alfred Adler; Carl Jung.

Alfred Adler was the father of individual psychology, and Carl
Gustav Jung (correctly pronounced “Yung”) founded analytic
psychology. But a word of caution is in order here: read all test

questions carefully. Since the question utilizes the word respec-
tively Adler’s name (i.e., individual psychology) must come be-
fore Jung’s name (i.e., analytic psychology),

Question 2

Q

*Eric Berne’s transactional analysis (TA) posits three ego states:**
*the Child, the Adult, and the Parent. These roughly correspond**
*to Freud’s structural theory that includes**
*a. oral, anal, phallic.**
*b. unconscious, preconscious, and conscious.**
*c. a and b.**
*d. id, ego, and superego.**

Answer

A

d. id, ego, and superego.

. Instead, the id, ego, and superego, and

the Child, Adult, and Parent are hypothetical constructs used to
explain the function of the personality. In Freudian theory, as

well as in TA, experts in the fi eld often refer to the aforemen-
tioned entities as the “structural theory.” You will recall that the

entities in choice “a” (oral, anal, and phallic) are the names of

Freud’s fi rst three psychosexual stages. The unconscious, pre-
conscious, and conscious noted in choice “b” relates to Freud’s

topographic notion that the mind has depth like an iceberg. The

word topography means mapping, in this case that the Freud-
ians, have mapped the mind.

Question 3

Q

*In transactional analysis, the _______ is the conscience, or ego state concerned with moral behavior, while in Freudian theory it is the _______.**
*a. Adult; unconscious.**
*b. Parent; ego.**
*c. Parent; superego.**
*d. Parent; id.**

Answer

A

c. Parent; superego.

Berne’s transactional
analysis utilizes popular terminology. The Parent ego state has

been likened to Freud’s superego. If a child has nurturing care-
takers, he or she is said to develop “nurturing parent” qualities

such as being nonjudgmental and sympathetic to others. The
Parent ego state, however, may be fi lled with prejudicial and
critical messages.

Question 4

Q

*Freud felt that successful resolution of the Oedipus complex led**
*to the development of the superego. This is accomplished by**
*a. identifi cation with the aggressor, the parent of the same**
*sex.**
*b. analysis during the childhood years.**
*c. identifi cation with the parent of the opposite sex, the ag-**
*gressor.**

d. transference.

Answer

A

*a. identifi cation with the aggressor, the parent of the same**
*sex.**

The child thus strives for

identifi cation with the parent of the same sex to achieve vicari-
ous sexual satisfaction.

Question 5

Q

Freudians refer to the ego as

*a. the executive administrator of the personality and the re-**
*ality principle.**
*b. the guardian angel of the mind.**
*c. the pleasure principle.**
*d. the seat of libido.**

Answer

A

*a. the executive administrator of the personality and the re-**
*ality principle**

Some scholars refer to the ego as the “executive administrator”
since it governs or acts as a police offi cer to control the impulses
from the id (instincts) and the superego (the conscience). The
ego is a mediator. The ego is also called the reality principle and
houses the individual’s identity.

Question 6

Q

*Freud’s theory speaks of Eros and Thanatos. A client who threat-**
*ens a self-destructive act is being ruled primarily by**
*a. Eros.**
*b. Eros and the id.**
*c. Thanatos.**
*d. both Eros and Thanatos.**

Answer

A

c. Thanatos.

Eros is the
Greek god of the love of life. To the Freudians this means
self-preservation. Thanatos is the Greek word for death. Later
Freudian writings use the word to describe a death wish or what
is sometimes called the death instinct. Today we call specialists
who study death thanatologists.

Question 7

Q

*The id is present at birth and never matures. It operates mainly**
*out of awareness to satisfy instinctual needs according to the**
*a. reality principle.**
*b. notion of transference.**
*c. Eros principle.**
*d. pleasure principle.**

Answer

A

d. pleasure principle.

Question 8

Q

If you think of the mind as a seesaw, then the fulcrum or balancing apparatus would be the

*a. id, which has no concept of rationality or time.**
*b. ego.**
*c. superego, which judges behavior as right or wrong.**
*d. BASIC-ID.**

Answer

A

b. ego.

Question 9

Q

*A therapist who says to a patient, “Say whatever comes to mind,” is practicing**
*a. directive counseling.**
*b. TA.**
*c. paraphrasing.**
*d. free association.**

Answer

A

d. free association.

Free association is literally defi ned as instructing the client to
say whatever comes to mind.

Question 10

Q

*The superego contains the ego ideal. The superego strives for**
*_______, rather than _______ like the id.**
*a. perfection; pleasure.**
*b. pleasure; perfection.**
*c. morals; ethics.**
*d. logic; reality.**

Answer

A

a. perfection; pleasure.

The superego is more concerned with the ideal than what is real.

The superego is composed of values, morals, and ideals of par-
ents, caretakers, and society.

Question 11

Q

All of these theorists could be associated with the analytic movement except

*a. Freud.**
*b. Jung.**
*c. Adler.**
*d. Wolpe.**

Answer

A

d. Wolpe.

Joseph Wolpe developed

a paradigm known as “systematic desensitization” which is use-
ful when trying to weaken (i.e., desensitize) a client’s response to

an anxiety-producing stimuli. Systematic desensitization is a

form of behavior therapy based on Pavlov’s classical con-
ditioning.

Question 12

Q

*Most scholars would assert that Freud’s 1900 work entitled The Interpretation of Dreams was his most infl uential work. Dreams have**
*a. manifest and latent content.**
*b. preconscious and unconscious factors.**
*c. id and ego.**
*d. superego and id.**

Answer

A

a. manifest and latent content.

According to Freud, the dream

is composed of a surface meaning, which is the manifest content,

and then a hidden meaning or so-called latent content. In ther-
apy, dream work consists of deciphering the hidden meaning of

the dream (e.g., symbolism) so the individual can be aware of
unconscious motives, impulses, desires, and confl icts.

Question 13

Q

*When a client projects feelings toward the therapist that he or**
*she originally had toward a signifi cant other, it is called**
*a. free association.**
*b. insight.**
*c. transference.**
*d. resistance.**

Answer

A

c. transference.

Some counselors feel that transference is actually a form of pro-
jection, displacement, and repetition in which the client treats

the counselor in the same manner as he or she would an author-

ity fi gure from the past (e.g., a mother, a father, a caretaker, or

signifi cant other).

Question 14

Q

Which case is not associated with the psychodynamic movement?

*a. Little Hans.**
*b. Little Albert.**
*c. Anna O.**
*d. Schreber.**

Answer

A

b. Little Albert.

In 1920, John Watson and his graduate student, who later be-
came his wife, Rosalie Rayner conditioned an 11-month-old

boy named Albert to be afraid of furry objects. First Albert was
exposed to a white rat. Initially the child was not afraid of the
rat: however, Watson and Rayner would strike a steel bar, which

created a loud noise whenever the child would get near the ani-
mal.

Question 15

Q

*In contrast with classical psychoanalysis, psychodynamic coun-**
*seling or therapy**
*a. utilizes fewer sessions per week.**
*b. does not utilize the couch.**
*c. is performed face to face.**
*d. all of the above.**

Answer

A

d. all of the above.

Question 16

Q

*Talking about diffi culties in order to purge emotions and feel-**
*ings is a curative process known as**
*a. catharsis and/or abreaction.**
*b. resistance.**
*c. accurate empathy.**
*d. refl ection of emotional content.**

Answer

A

a. catharsis and/or abreaction.

Hard-core analysts often prefer the word abreaction to the non-
technical term catharsis. Other writers use the word catharsis to

connote mild purging of emotion, and abreaction when the re-
pressed emotional outburst is very powerful and violent. Freud

and Breuer initially used the term to describe highly charged
repressed emotions, which were released during the hypnotic
process.

Question 17

Q

Id, ego, superego is to structural theory as _______ is to topographical theory.

*a. Child, Adult, Parent.**
*b. abreaction, catharsis, introspection.**
*c. ego ideal.**
*d. unconscious, preconscious, conscious.**

Answer

A

d. unconscious, preconscious, conscious.

, let me explain why choice “a” is incorrect. Id, ego, and su-
perego refer to Freud’s structural theory of the personality while

Child, Adult, and Parent is the structural model proposed by

Eric Berne, father of transactional analysis. The question, never-
theless, does not ask you to compare the id, ego, and superego to

another structural theory; it asks you to compare it to the com-
ponents in the topographical theory. Remember, the one where

the mind is seen as an iceberg? The term introspection intro-
duced in choice “b” describes any process in which the client

attempts to describe his or her own internal thoughts, feelings,
and ideas.

Question 18

Q

*The most controversial aspect of Freud’s theory is**
*a. catharsis.**
*b. the Oedipus complex.**
*c. the notion of the preconscious mind.**
*d. the interpretation of dreams.**

Answer

A

b. the Oedipus complex.

Question 19

Q

*Evidence for the unconscious mind comes from all of these ex-**
*cept**
*a. hypnosis.**
*b. slips of the tongue and humor.**
*c. dreams.**
*d. subjective units of distress scale.**

Answer

A

d. subjective units of distress scale.

Subjective units of distress scale (SUDS) is a concept used in

forming a hierarchy to perform Wolpe’s systematic desensitiza-

tion: a behavior therapy technique for curbing phobic reactions,
anxiety, and avoidance responses to innocuous situations. The
SUDS is created via the process of introspection by rating the
anxiety associated with the situation. Generally, the scale most

counselors use is 0 to 100, with 100 being the most threaten-
ing situation. The counselor can ask a client to rate imagined

situations on the subjective units of disturbance scale so that a
treatment hierarchy can be formulated. Just for the record, slips

of the tongue (choice “b”), or what Freud called “the psychopa-
thology of everyday life,” will be technically referred to as “para-
praxis” on some exams.

Question 20

Q

*In a counseling session, a counselor asked a patient to recall what transpired three months ago to trigger her depression. There was silence for about two and one-half minutes. The client then began to remember. This exchange most likely illustrates the function of the**
*a. preconscious mind.**
*b. ego ideal.**
*c. conscious mind.**
*d. unconscious mind.**

Answer

A

a. preconscious mind.

The preconscious mind

is capable of bringing ideas, images, and thoughts into aware-
ness with minimal diffi culty (e.g., in this question the memory of

what transpired several months ago to trigger the client’s depres-
sion).

Question 21

Q

*Unconscious processes, which serve to minimize anxiety and**
*protect the self from severe id or superego demands, are called**
*a. slips of the tongue.**
*b. ego defense mechanisms.**
*c. id defense processes.**
*d. latent dream material.**

Answer

A

b. ego defense mechanisms.

The id strives for immediate satisfaction, while the superego is
ready and willing to punish the ego via guilt if the id is allowed to
act on such impulses. This creates tension and a certain degree
of pressure within the personality. The ego controls the tension

and relieves anxiety utilizing “ego defense mechanisms.”

Question 22

Q

*Most therapists agree that ego defense mechanisms deny or dis-**
*tort reality. Rationalization, compensation, repression, projec-**
*tion, reaction formation, identifi cation, introjection, denial, and**
*displacement are ego defense mechanisms. According to the**
*Freudians, the most important defense mechanism is**
*a. repression.**
*b. reaction formation**
*c. denial.**
*d. sublimation**

Answer

A

a. repression.

Freud saw defense mechanisms as an unconscious method a per-
son uses to protect him- or herself from anxiety. The Freudians

*feel that repression is the kingpin or granddaddy of ego defense**
*mechanisms. A child who is sexually abused, for example, may**

repress (i.e., truly forget) the incident. In later life, the repres-
sion that served to protect the person and “helped her through

RT58628_C005.indd 152 T58628_C005.indd 152 11/2/2007 10:12:01 AM 1/2/2007 10:12:01 AM

Theories of Counseling and the Helping Relationship 153

the distasteful incident at the time” can cause emotional prob-
lems. Psychoanalytically trained counselors thus attempt to help

the client recall the repressed memory and make it conscious so
it can be dealt with. This is called insight and is often curative.

Choice “b,” reaction formation, occurs when a person can’t ac-
cept a given impulse and thus behaves in the opposite manner.

Choice “c,” denial, is similar to repression except that it is a con-
scious act. An individual who says, “I refuse to think about it,” is

displaying denial. Sublimation, in choice “d,” is present when a
person acts out an unconscious impulse in a socially acceptable
way. Hence, a very aggressive individual might pursue a career
in boxing, wrestling, or football.

Question 23

Q

*Suppression differs from repression in that**
*a. suppression is stronger.**
*b. repression only occurs in children.**
*c. repression is automatic or involuntary.**
*d. all of the above.**

Answer

A

c. repression is automatic or involuntary.

If you missed this one, review question 222. Some exams refer to
suppression as denial.

Question 24

Q

*An aggressive male who becomes a professional boxer because he is sadistic is displaying**
*a. suppression.**
*b. rationalization.**
*c. sublimation.**
*d. displacement.**

Answer

A

c. sublimation.

Question 25

Q

An advertising psychologist secretly imbeds the word SEX into

*newspaper ads intended to advertise his center’s chemical de-**
*pendency program. This is the practice of**
*a. sublimation.**
*b. repression.**
*c. introjection.**
*d. none of the above.**

Answer

A

d. none of the above.

Question 26

Q

*A man receives a nickel an hour pay raise. He was expecting a**
*one dollar per hour raise. He is furious but nonassertive. He**
*thus smiles and thanks his boss. That night he yells at his wife for**
*no apparent reason. This is an example of**
*a. displacement.**
*b. denial.**
*c. identifi cation.**
*d . a Type II error.**

Answer

A

a. displacement.

Here the man yells at his wife instead of kicking the family dog.
This is displacement par excellence. Identifi cation (choice “c”) is
also a defense mechanism, which results when a person identifi es
with a cause or a successful person with the unconscious hope

that he or she will be perceived as successful or worthwhile. An-
other possibility is that the identifi cation with the other person

serves to lower the fear or anxiety toward that person. Finally, a
Type II or so-called beta error is a statistical term,

Question 27

Q

A student tells a college counselor that he is not upset by a grade of “F” in physical education that marred his fourth year perfect 4.0 average, inasmuch as “straight A students are eggheads.” This demonstrates

*a. introjection.**
*b. reaction formation.**
*c. sour grapes rationalization.**
*d. sweet lemon rationalization.**

Answer

A

c. sour grapes rationalization.

Remember the fable in which the fox couldn’t secure the grapes

so he said they were probably sour anyway? Well here’s the hu-
man equivalent affectionately known as the sour grapes variety

of rationalization. “I didn’t really want it anyway,” is the way this
one is usually expressed. Choice “d” depicts the “sweet lemon”

variety of rationalization. Here the person tells you how won-
derful a distasteful set of circumstances really is. Thus, in ratio-
nalization the person either underrates a reward (sour grapes)

or overrates a reward (sweet lemon) to protect the self from a
bruised ego.

Question 28

Q

*A master’s level counselor lands an entry level counseling job in**
*an agency in a warm climate. Her offi ce is not air conditioned,**
*but the counselor insists she likes this because sweating really**
*helps to keep her weight in check. This illuminates**
*a. sour grapes rationalization.**
*b. sweet lemon rationalization.**
*c. repression.**
*d. sublimation.**

Answer

A

b. sweet lemon rationalization.

In the sweet lemon
variety of rationalization the person overrates the situation. In
this question the counselor is essentially saying, “Oh, gee, I just
love to sweat, it keeps the water weight off of me and keeps my
weight down.”

Question 29

Q

*A teenager who had his heart set on winning a tennis match**
*broke his arm in an auto accident. He sends in an entry form to**
*play in the competition which begins just days after the accident. His behavior is infl uenced by**
*a. denial.**
*b. displacement of anger.**
*c. sublimation.**
*d. organ inferiority.**

Answer

A

a. denial.

This is classic denial. The tennis player is failing to face reality.

Question 30

Q

*_______ is like looking in a mirror but thinking you are looking**
*out a window.**
*a. Repression.**
*b. Sour grapes rational**
*ization.**
*c. Projection.**
*d. Denial.**

Answer

A

c. Projection.

Question 31

Q

*Mark is obsessed with stamping out pornography. He is uncon-**
*sciously involved in this cause so that he can view the material. This is**
*a. reaction formation.**
*b. introjection.**
*c. projection.**
*d. rationalization.**

Answer

A

a. reaction formation.

In reaction formation the person acts the opposite of the way he
or she actually feels. An adult living with a very elderly parent,
for example, may spend all his or her time caring for the parent
when in reality the individual unconsciously would like to see
the elderly person die.

Question 32

Q

Ted has always felt inferior intellectually. He currently works out at the gym at least four hours daily and is taking massive doses of dangerous steroids to build his muscles. The ego defense mechanism in action here is

*a. reaction formation.**
*b. compensation.**
*c. projection.**
*d. rationalization.**

Answer

A

b. compensation.

Compensation is evident when an individual attempts to develop
or overdevelop a positive trait to make up for a limitation

Question 33

Q

*Jane feels very inferior. She is now president of the board at**
*a shelter for the homeless. She seems to be obsessed with her**
*work for the agency and spends every spare minute trying to**
*help the cause. When asked to introduce herself in virtually any social situation, Jane invariably responds with, “I’m the presi- dent of the board for the homeless shelter.” Jane is engaging in**
*a. projection.**
*b. displacement.**
*c. introjection.**
*d. identifi cation.**

Answer

A

d. identifi cation.

Question 34

Q

*A client who has incorporated his father’s values into his thought patterns is a product of**
*a. introjection.**
*b. repression.**
*c. rationalization.**
*d. displacement.**

Answer

A

a. introjection

Some-
times introjection causes the person to accept an aggressor’s

values. A prisoner of war might incorporate the value system of
the enemy after a period of time.

Question 35

Q

*The client’s tendency to inhibit or fi ght against the therapeutic**
*process is known as**
*a. resistance.**
*b. sublimation.**
*c. projection.**
*d. individuation.**

Answer

A

a. resistance.

Question 36

Q

Freud has been called the most signifi cant theorist in the entire

*history of psychology. His greatest contribution was his concep-**
*tualization of the unconscious mind. Critics, however, contend**
*that**
*a. he was too concerned with the totem and the taboo.**
*b. he failed to emphasize sex.**
*c. many aspects of his theory are diffi cult to test from a sci-**
*entifi c standpoint.**

d. he was pro female.

Answer

A

*c. many aspects of his theory are diffi cult to test from a sci-**
*entifi c standpoint.**

How can concepts like the id, ego, or unconscious confl icts be
directly measured? The answer is that for the most part, they
can’t. This has been a major criticism of Freud’s theory.

Question 37

Q

The purpose of interpretation in counseling is to

*a. help the therapist appear genuine.**
*b. make the clients aware of their unconscious processes.**
*c. make clients aware of nonverbal behaviors.**
*d. help clients understand feelings and behaviors related to**
*childhood.**

Answer

A

b. make the clients aware of their unconscious processes.

Although choices “c” and “d” are not

necessarily incorrect, choice “b” is a textbook defi nition of inter-
pretation.

Freud said that, “The interpretation of dreams is the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious activities of the mind.”

Question 38

Q

*Organ inferiority relates mainly to the work of**
*a. C. G. Jung’s analytical psychology.**
*b. Alfred Adler’s individual psychology.**
*c. Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory.**
*d. Josef Breuer’s work on hysteria.**

Answer

A

b. Alfred Adler’s individual psychology.

The term individual stresses the unique qualities we each pos-
sess. Individual psychology is keen on analyzing organ inferiority

and methods in which the individual attempts to compensate
for it. It is interesting to note that Alfred Adler was a very sickly
child. Because of rickets (a disease caused by the absence of
vitamin D, the so-called sunshine vitamin), Adler could not walk
until age 4. He was then the victim of pneumonia as well as a
series of accidents. Thus, for Adler, the major psychological goal
is to escape deep-seated feelings of inferiority. Could Adler’s
theory refl ect his own childhood? You decide.

Question 39

Q

*When a client becomes aware of a factor in his or her life that**
*was heretofore unknown, counselors refer to it as**
*a. individual psychology.**
*b. confrontation.**
*c. transference neurosis.**
*d. insight.**

Answer

A

d. insight.

Insight is the “aha, now I understand,” phenomenon. Technically,

the term insight is equated with the work of the gestalt psycholo-
gist Wolfgang Kohler.

Question 40

Q

*C. G. Jung, the founder of analytic psychology, said men operate**
*on logic or the _______ principle, while women are intuitive,**
*operating on the _______ principle.**
*a. Eros; Thanatos.**
*b. Logos; Eros.**
*c. reality; pleasure.**
*d. transference; countertransference.**

Answer

A

b. Logos; Eros.

*Logos implies logic, while eros refers to intuition. Choice “d”**
*uses the terminology, transference and countertransference. In**
*transference, the assumption is that the client will relate to the**
*therapist or counselor as he or she has to signifi cant others. The**
*Freudians are fond of speaking of a “transference neurosis” in**
*which the client is attached to the counselor as if he or she is a**
*substitute parent. Countertransference (also commonly spelled**
*with a hyphen) is said to be evident when the counselor’s strong**
*feelings or attachment to the client are strong enough to hinder**
*the treatment process.**

Question 41

Q

*Jung used drawings balanced around a center point to analyze**
*himself, his clients, and dreams. He called them**
*a. mandalas.**
*b. projective drawings.**
*c. unconscious automatic writing.**
*d. eidetic imagery.**

Answer

A

a. mandalas.

Jung, the father of analytic psychology, borrowed the term man-
dala from Hindu writings in which the mandala was the symbol

of meditation. In Jung’s writings the mandala also can stand for
a magic protective circle that represents self-unifi cation.

Question 42

Q

*_______ emphasized the drive for superiority.**
*a. Jung.**
*b. Adler.**
*c. Constructivist therapists.**

Answer

A

b. Adler.

Alfred Adler, the father
of individual psychology, initially felt that aggressive drives were

responsible for most human behaviors. He then altered the the-
ory slightly and said that the major factor was the “will to power.”

Finally, he concluded that it was the “striving for superiority” or
a thirst for perfection that motivated behavior.

Question 43

Q

*The statement, “Sibling interaction may have more impact than parent/child interaction” describes**
*a. Sigmund Freud’s theory.**
*b. Alfred Adler’s theory.**
*c. insight.**
*d. Carl Jung’s theory.**

Answer

A

b. Alfred Adler’s theory.

Adler, who broke with Freud in 1911, went on to found a num-
ber of child-guidance clinics in which he was able to observe

children’s behavior directly. One criticism of Freud has been
that his child development theories were not based on extensive
research or observations of children’s behavior.

Question 44

Q

*In contrast with Freud, the neo-Freudians emphasized**
*a. baseline measures.**
*b. social factors.**
*c. unconditional positive regard.**
*d. insight.**

Answer

A

b. social factors.

Neo-Freudians such as Alfred Adler, Karen Horney, Erik Erikson, Harry Stack
Sullivan, and Erich Fromm stressed the importance of cultural
(social) issues and, of course, interpersonal (social) relations.

Question 45

Q

*The terms introversion and extroversion are associated with**
*a. psychoanalysis.**
*b. Freud.**
*c. Adler.**
*d. Jung.**

Answer

A

d. Jung.

The introversion–extroversion distinction deals

with inward or outward directiveness.

Question 46

Q

*The personality types of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator**
*(MBTI) are associated with the work of**
*a. psychoanalysis.**
*b. Freud.**
*c. Adler.**
*d. Jung.**

Answer

A

d. Jung.

This test is literally given to several million persons each year!
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is said to be the most widely
used measure of personality preferences and dispositions. The
measure can be used to assess upper elementary children age

12 and over all the way through adulthood and yields a four-
letter code, or “type,” based on four bipolar scales. The bipo-
lar preference scales are extroversion/introversion; sensing

(i.e., current perception)/intuition (i.e., future abstractions and
possibilities); thinking/feeling; and judging (i.e., organizing
and controlling the outside world)/perceiving (i.e., observing
events).

Question 47

Q

One of Adler’s students, Rudolph Dreikurs,

*a. created the TAT.**
*b. was the fi rst to discuss the use of group therapy in private**
*practice.**
*c. was a noted Freud hater.**
*d. created the hierarchy of needs.**

Answer

A

*b. was the fi rst to discuss the use of group therapy in private**
*practice.**

The TAT was introduced in Henry Murray’s 1938 work Explorations

in Personality. Murray called the study of the personality “per-
sonology.” As for choice “c,” I believe I’d go with Andrew Salter,

who wrote The Case Against Psychoanalysis. Salter did ground-
breaking work in behavior therapy, which led to the formation

of assertiveness training. This information appeared in the 1949
classic Conditioned Refl ex Therapy. In reference to choice “d,” it
was Maslow and not Adler who created the hierarchy of needs.

Question 48

Q

Adler emphasized that people wish to belong. This is known as

*a. superiority.**
*b. social connectedness.**
*c. the collective unconscious.**
*d. animus.**

Answer

A

b. social connectedness.

Question 49

Q

Adler was one of the fi rst therapists who relied on paradox. Using this strategy, a client (who was a student in a counselor preparation program) who was afraid to give a presentation in front of his counseling class for fear he might shake and embarrass himself would be instructed to

*a. exaggerate the behavior and really do a thorough job**
*shaking in front of the class.**
*b. practice relaxation techniques for 10 to 20 minutes before**
*the speech.**
*c. practice rational self-talk.**
*d. practice rational thinking.**

Answer

A

*a. exaggerate the behavior and really do a thorough job**
*shaking in front of the class.**

Paradoxical techniques also are associated with the work of

Victor Frankl, who pioneered logotherapy, a form of existen-
tial treatment. Paradoxical strategies often seem to defy logic

as the client is instructed to intensify or purposely engage in
the maladaptive behavior. Paradoxical interventions are often
the direct antithesis of common sense directives such as choice
“b.” Paradoxical methods have become very popular with family
therapists due to the work of Jay Haley and Milton H. Erickson.

Currently, this technique is popular with family therapists who
believe it reduces a family’s resistance to change. Choices “c”
and “d” are almost always associated with the so-called cognitive
therapies, especially rational-emotive behavior psychotherapy.

Question 50

Q

*Jung felt that society caused men to deny their feminine side**
*known as _______ and women to deny their masculine side**
*known as _______.**
*a. Eros; Thanatos**
*b. animus; anima**
*c. anima; animus**
*d. yin; yang**

Answer

A

c. anima; animus

These terms were introduced in the section on human growth
and development, but just for review purposes and for those
who never studied Latin: You can remember that anima is the

feminine term as it ends in “ma,” and needless to say, it is com-
mon to refer to one’s mother as “ma.” You could also remember

animus is the male side of the personality as it ends in “mus” and
reminds one of “muscles,” which are generally a male attribute.

Question 51

Q

*Jung spoke of a collective unconscious common to all men and**
*women. The material that makes up the collective unconscious,**
*which is passed from generation to generation, is known as**
*a. a hierarchy of needs.**
*b. instinctual.**
*c. paradox.**
*d. archetypes.**

Answer

A

d. archetypes.

archetype, (from Greek archetypos, “original pattern”

This is easy to remember if you keep the word archaic in mind.
An archetype is actually a primal universal symbol, which means
the same thing to all men and women (e.g., the cross). Jung

perused literature and found that certain archetypes have ap-

peared in fables, myths, dreams, and religious writings since the
beginning of recorded history.

Question 52

Q

*Common archetypes include**
*a. the persona—the mask or role we present to others to**
*hide our true self.**
*b. animus, anima, self.**
*c. shadow—the mask behind the persona, which contains**
*id-like material, denied, yet desired.**
*d. all of the above.**

Answer

A

d. all of the above.

Question 53

Q

A client is demonstrating inconsistent behavior. She is smiling

*but says that she is very sad about what she did. When her counselor points this out to her, the counselor’s verbal response is known as**
*a. active listening.**
*b. confrontation.**
*c. accurate empathy.**
*d. summarization.**

Answer

A

b. confrontation.

Confrontation could also relate solely to verbal behavior. For ex-
ample, a counselor might confront a client about what he says he

is doing in his life versus what he is truly doing. The essence of
confrontation is to illuminate discrepancies between the client’s
and the helper’s conceptualization of a given situation.

Question 54

Q

*During a professional staff meeting, a counselor says he is worried that if techniques are implemented to stop a 6-year-old boy from sucking his thumb, then he will begin biting his nails or stuttering. The counselor**
*a. is using the logic set forth in gestalt therapy.**

b. is using Donald Meichenbaum’s cognitive behavior modification.

*c. is most likely a behaviorist concerned with symptom sub-**
*stitution.**
*d. is most likely an analytically trained counselor concerned**
*with symptom substitution.**

Answer

A

*d. is most likely an analytically trained counselor concerned**
*with symptom substitution.**

According to the theory, if

you merely deal with the symptom another symptom will man-
ifest itself since the real problem is in the unconscious mind.

Behaviorists do strive for symptom reduction and do not
believe in the concept of symptom substitution.

Question 55

Q

*An eclectic counselor**
*a. is analytic.**
*b. is behavioristic.**
*c. attempts to choose the best theoretical approach based**
*on the client’s attributes, resources, and situation.**
*d. insists on including all family members in the treatment.**

Answer

A

*c. attempts to choose the best theoretical approach based**
*on the client’s attributes, resources, and situation.**

Question 56

Q

*The word eclectic is most closely associated with**
*a. Frederick C. Thorne.**
*b. Freud.**
*c. Piaget.**
*d. Skinner.**

Answer

A

a. Frederick C. Thorne.

It is very important to note that Thorne felt that true eclecticism
was much more than “a hodgepodge of facts”; it needed to be
rigidly scientifi c. Thorne preferred the term psychological case
handling rather than psychotherapy, as he felt the effi cacy of
psychotherapy had not been scientifi cally demonstrated.

Question 57

Q

A counselor who is obsessed with the fact that a client missed his or her session is the victim of

*a. cognitive dissonance.**
*b. transference.**
*c. counter transference.**
*d. positive transference.**

Answer

A

c. counter transference.

n psychoanalytic theory, counter-transference occurs when the therapist projects their own unresolved conflicts onto the clien

In countertransference the counselor’s past is projected onto the
client and the helper’s objectivity suffers markedly. A counselor
who falls in love with a client or feels extreme anger toward a
client is generally considered a victim of countertransference.
Choice “a,” cognitive dissonance, suggests that humans will feel

quite uncomfortable if they have two incompatible or inconsis-
tent beliefs and thus the person will be motivated to reduce the

dissonance.

Question 58

Q

*Lifestyle, birth order, and family constellation are emphasized**
*by**
*a. Freud.**
*b. Jung.**
*c. Adler.**
*d. Thorne and Lazarus.**

Answer

A

c. Adler.

Adlerians believe that our lifestyle is a predictable self-fulfi lling
prophecy based on our psychological feelings about ourselves.

Adler stressed the importance of birth order in the family con-
stellation (e.g., the fi rstborn/oldest child could be dethroned by

a later child who gets most of the attention; thus the fi rstborn
would be prone to experience feelings of inferiority). Firstborns
often go to great lengths to please their parents. A second child

will often try to compete with a fi rstborn child and often sur-
passes the fi rst child’s performance. A middle child (or children)

will often feel that he or she is being treated unfairly. Middle
children are sometimes seen as being quite manipulative. The
youngest child or baby in the family can be pampered or spoiled.
The good news is that they often excel by modeling/imitating the
older children’s behavior. The concept of birth order has been
criticized by some theorists such as Wayne Dyer, famous for his
self-improvement book Your Erroneous Zones, which outsold
every book written in the decade of the 1970s!

Question 59

Q

A counselor who remarks that fi rstborn children are usually conservative but display leadership qualities is most likely

*a. a Freudian who believes in the unconscious mind.**
*b. an Adlerian that believes behavior must be studied in a**
*social context; never in isolation.**
*c. Rogerian who stresses the importance of the therapeutic**
*relationship.**
*d. a behavior modifi er using a behavioral contract.**

Answer

A

*b. an Adlerian that believes behavior must be studied in a**
*social context; never in isolation.**

You can well imagine why the current family therapy movement
has roots in Adlerian theory. Adlerians stress that clients long for
a feeling of belonging and strive for perfection.

Question 60

Q

*Existentialism is to logotherapy as _______ is to behaviorism.**
*a. operants**
*b. associationism**
*c. Skinner**
*d. Socrates**

Answer

A

b. associationism

The fi rst word in the question gives us a

signifi cant clue. That is to say, “existentialism” is a type of philos-
ophy. Now existentialism (the philosophy) is compared to “logo-
therapy,” which is a brand of psychotherapy. The question then

mentions behaviorism, which is a type of psychology and more
loosely defi ned as a brand of treatment. So, the question tells
you that logotherapy grew out of the philosophy of existentialism
and then asks you to fi ll in the blank with the philosophy which
led to the formation of behaviorism.

Question 61

Q

B. F. Skinner’s reinforcement theory elaborated on

*a. Edward Thorndike’s law of effect.**
*b. Adler’s concept of lifestyle.**
*c. Arnold Lazarus’s concept of the BASIC ID used in the**
*multimodal therapeutic approach that is eclectic and ho-**
*listic.**

d. symptom substitution.

Answer

A

a. Edward Thorndike’s law of effect.

The “law of effect” simply asserts that responses accompanied
by satisfaction (i.e., it pleases you) will be repeated, while those
which produce unpleasantness or discomfort will be stamped
out.

Question 62

Q

*Classical conditioning relates to the work of**
*a. E. G. Williamson.**
*b. B. F. Skinner.**
*c. Frankl.**
*d. Ivan Pavlov.**

Answer

A

d. Ivan Pavlov.

Question 63

Q

An association that naturally exists, such as an animal salivating when food is presented, is called

*a. an operant.**
*b. conditioned.**
*c. unconditioned.**
*d. acquisition period.**

Answer

A

c. unconditioned.

From now on, whenever you see the
word conditioned, substitute the word learned. When you see
the word unconditioned substitute the word unlearned. Now
this question becomes a heck of a lot easier, since salivating is an
“unlearned” association. The dog need not sign up for a graduate

course in behaviorism to learn this response. So, for review pur-
poses: conditioned=learned; unconditioned=unlearned.

Question 64

Q

Skinner’s operant conditioning is also referred to as

*a. instrumental learning.**
*b. classical conditioning.**
*c. cognitive learning.**
*d. learning via insight.**

Answer

A

a. instrumental learning.

Operant : an item of behavior that is initially spontaneous, rather than a response to a prior stimulus, but whose consequences may reinforce or inhibit recurrence of that behavior.

nvolving the modification of behavior by the reinforcing or inhibiting effect of its own consequences (instrumental conditioning)

One possible memory device here would be that Skinner’s last
name has an “i” as does the word instrumental, whereas the word
Pavlov doesn’t.

Answer 65

A

a. refl exes.

The word refl ex begins with an “r” and

so does the word respondent. The bottom line: Pavlovian con-
ditioning is respondent while Skinner’s is instrumental/operant.

(PS.: Please don’t read this if you get confused easily, but the
term respondent is generally accredited to Skinner, although it
applies to the theoretical notions of Pavlovian conditioning.)

Answer 66

A

b. tend to increase the probability that a behavior will occur

All reinforcers—yep, both positive
and negative—raise the probability that an antecedent (prior)

behavior will occur.All reinforcers—yep, both positive
and negative—raise the probability that an antecedent (prior)

behavior will occur.

Answer 67

A

c. is not the same thing as punishment.

Negative rein-
forcement is not punishment. All reinforcers raise or strengthen

the probability that a behavior will occur; punishment lowers it.

Some tests will

*discriminate between positive and negative punishment. Posi-**
*tive punishment is said to occur when something is added after a**
*behavior and the behavior decreases, while negative punishment**
*takes place when a stimulus is removed following the behavior**
*and the response decreases.**

Answer 68

A

c. decreases the probability that a behavior will occur.

behavior modifi ers value reinforcement over punishment.

Answer 69

A

a. CS; UCS

*It went like this: “In the U.S. we eat a lot of meat.” In**
*the Pavlovian experiment, the U.S. (which is sometimes written**
*UCS) is the unconditioned (think unlearned) stimulus, or the**
*meat.**

Answer 70

A

d. is .5 or 1⁄2 of a second.

As the interval exceeds 1⁄2 second, more trials are needed for ef-
fective conditioning. How will you remember that the CS comes

before the US? Just remember that “c” comes before “u” in the
alphabet.

common sense would dictate that the
reinforcer (the meat/US) would come after the bell (the CS) to
reinforce it.

When the CS is delayed

until the US occurs, the procedure is known as “delay condi-
tioning.” If, however, the CS terminates before the occurrence

of the US, it is termed “trace conditioning.” Here’s a slick and
easy-to-use memory device. Trace begins with “t” and so does
termination. In trace conditioning, the CS will terminate prior
to the onset of the US (or UCS as it will be abbreviated on some

Answer 71

A

d. no conditioning.

Whether you put the cart before the horse, “u” before “c” in the
alphabet, or the UCS before the CS, it just doesn’t work. This is
called backward conditioning. Generally backward conditioning

is ineffective and doesn’t work. Note: The exam you are taking
could refer to the typical classical conditioning process where

the CS comes before the UCS as “forward conditioning” to dis-
tinguish it from “backward conditioning.”

Answer 72

A

c. stimulus generalization or what Pavlov termed irradiation.

Stimulus generalization, also called
“second order conditioning,” occurs when a stimulus similar to
the CS (the bell) produces the same reaction. Hence, a car horn,

a piano key, or a buzzer on a stove timer could conceivably pro-
duce the same reaction as the bell.

Answer 73

A

d. stimulus discrimination.

Stimulus discrimination is nearly the opposite of stimulus gen-
eralization. Here the learning process is “fi ne tuned,” if you will,

to respond only to a specifi c stimulus. In this example, the dog
would be taught to salivate only when the department chairman
sounds his horn.

Answer 74

A

a. experimental neurosis set in.

“Stop it, you’re driving this dog crazy,” would be the correct re-
sponse to this question. Pavlov termed this phenomenon “ex-
perimental neurosis.” When the differentiation process becomes

too tough because the stimuli are almost identical, the dog will
show signs of emotional disturbance.

Answer 75

A

c. extinction, and the salivation will disappear.

Most experts believe that the CR
is not eliminated but is suppressed, or what is generally called
“inhibited.” The rationale for this position is that if the animal
is given a rest, the CR (i.e., the salivation in this example) will
reappear, though it will be weaker. This phenomenon has been

called “spontaneous recovery.” In Skinnerian or operant condi-
tioning, extinction connotes that reinforcement is withheld and

eventually the behavior will be extinguished (eliminated).

Answer 76

A

c. Little Albert.

The signifi cance of the Little Albert case was that it demonstrat-
ed that fears were “learned” and not the result of some uncon-
scious confl ict.

Answer 77

A

d. extinction.

when using extinction the behavior will get
worse before it is eliminated. This tendency technically is called
a response burst or an extinction burst.

Ignoring a behavior is a common method
of extinction as is the practice of time-out, where the client or
student is isolated from reinforcement.

Answer 78

A

d. a and c

Technically, behavior modifi cation is Skinnerian (i.e., operant,

instrumental) , while behavior therapy is Pavlovian (i.e., classical,
respondent) .

Answer 79

A

*b. by charting the occurrence of the behavior prior to any**
*therapeutic intervention.**

The baseline indicates the frequency of the behavior untreated
and is sometimes signifi ed in the literature on a chart using an
upper case letter A.

Answer 80

A

c. Neal Miller.

Miller and Banuazizi showed that by utilizing rewards

rats could be trained to alter heart rate and intestinal contrac-
tions. Prior to this experiment it was thought that automatic

or “autonomic” bodily processes (such as heart rate, intestinal
contractions, or blood pressure) could not be controlled.

Answer 81

A

a. a phobia could be a learned behavior.

The psychoanalytic or Freudian theory espoused the notion that

a fear was the result of an unconscious confl ict. This is why ana-
lytic psychology is often called “depth psychology.” Something is

assumed to be wrong deep below the level of awareness.

Answer 82

A

a. cure.

John B. Watson demonstrated that a phobic reaction was
“learned,” while Mary Cover Jones demonstrated that “learning”

Answer 83

A

b. stimulus generalization.

This is simple enough to remember, since in stimulus generaliza-
tion the fear “generalizes.”

Answer 84

A

d. Freud’s topographic hypothesis.

Answer 85

A

c. a treatment model.

You must be familiar with the word paradigm, which is utilized
excessively in this fi eld. A paradigm is a “model.”

Many tests will use the term active therapy or “active-direc-
tive” therapy to delineate the directive paradigm.

Answer 86

A

c. using concreteness.

Concreteness is also known as “specifi city” in some of the litera-
ture. The counselor uses the principle of concreteness in an at-
tempt to eliminate vague language.

Answer 87

A

b. a directive.

When used in the context of counseling, a directive is merely a

suggestion.

Answer 88

A

a. A bathroom scale

Biofeedback does not change the client, it merely provides the

client and helper with biological information.

A scale and a mirror are two simple examples.

biofeedback devices are used primarily to teach clients to relax or to control auto- nomic (i.e., automatic) nervous system functions such as blood

pressure, pulse rate, or hand temperature.

Answer 89

A

d. positive reinforcement.

Answer 90

A

c. the counselor’s ability to be himself or herself.

The counselor who is congruent is real and authentic.

Answer 91

A

*a. the ability to understand the client’s world and to com-**
*municate this to the client.**

Robert Carkhuff is very well known for his creation of a 5-point
scale intended to measure empathy, genuineness, concreteness,
and respect.

Answer 92

A

b. positive reinforcer; negative reinforcer

Answer 93

A

d. higher order conditioning.

In this
case, the light (which is a neutral stimulus) has taken on the
power of the bell.

Answer 94

A

a. a temperature trainer.

Answer 95

A

c. EMG feedback.

Why not remember that the “M” in EMG refers to muscle?

Answer 96

A

*a. a lower-probability behavior is reinforced by a higher-**
*probability behavior.**

For test purposes know the acronyms LPB (low-probability be-
havior) and HPB (high-probability behavior). The principle as-
serts that any HPB can be used as a reinforcer for any LPB.

Answer 97

A

c. EEG feedback.

EEG is used to secure feedback related to brain wave rhythms.

Electroencephalogram (EEG) based neurofeedback (NFB) is a method in which brain activity is modulated via self-induced increases or decreases in the power of selected EEG frequency bands

Answer 98

A

c. continuous reinforcement.

This is easy enough to remember. In continuous reinforcement

you “continue” to provide the reinforcement each time the tar-
get behavior occurs.

Answer 99

A

a. ratio; interval

classes of intermittent or partial reinforcement
are ratio and interval. You can remember that “interval” is based

on time rather than the number of responses, since in this soci-
ety we use the phrase “time interval.”

Answer 100

A

d. variable ratio.

In operant conditioning, a variable-ratio schedule is a schedule of reinforcement where a response is reinforced after an unpredictable number of responses. 1 This schedule creates a steady, high rate of responding. Gambling and lottery games are good examples of a reward based on a variable ratio schedule.

The memory device I use is VR, which reminds me of the vo-
cational rehabilitation agency. I remember that this agency is

better than an agency going by FI (fi xed interval), etc.

Answer 101

A

d. standard units of dysfunction scale.

The subjective units of distress scale, or SUDS for short, is used
to help create choice “b,” the anxiety hierarchy.

In the SUDS,0 is used to convey a totally relaxed state, while 100 is the most anxiety-producing state a client can imagine.

According to the “Yerkes-
Dodson Law,” a moderate amount of arousal actually

improves performance! Thus, mild anxiety often can be
a plus, since it keeps arousal at a moderate level. (High
arousal is more appropriate for simple tasks rather than
complex ones, such as a licensing exam.)

Answer 102

A

c. secondary reinforcement.

When a stimulus accompanies a reinforcer it can literally acquire reinforcement properties of its own like an actual or so-called primary reinforcer. When this occurs it is termed as “secondary reinforcement.”

Answer 103

A

b. a back-up reinforcer.

A backup reinforcer is the best answer here since by defi nition

a backup reinforcer is an item or an activity which can be pur-
chased using tokens. A strict behaviorist would assert that choice“d” is incorrect because backup reinforcers are often unconditioned

Answer 104

A

d. aversive conditioning.

The idea here is to pair the alcohol with an aversive, somewhat
unpleasant stimulus to reduce the satisfaction of drinking it.
Ethical dilemmas are common when using this technique.

Some clients have died from Antabuse.

Techniques like these are known as “in vivo aversive condition-
ing” since they are not performed in the imagination.

Answer 105

A

a. imagining that she is calling the airlines for reservations.

In systematic desensitization the order of the hierarchy is from

least anxiety-arousing to the most anxiety-evoking items. Behav-
iorists note that the ideal hierarchy has 10 to 15 evenly spaced

items.

Answer 106

A

b. behavioral rehearsal.

The counselor in this case might also switch roles and model
assertive behavior for the client.

Answer 107

A

*d. relaxation training, construction of anxiety hierarchy, de-**
*sensitization in imagination, and in vivo desensitization.**

Several important points need to be mentioned here. The fi rst
is that your exam may refer to desensitization in imagination as
“interposition.”

in this case, the relaxation obscures the anxiety of the imagined

scene in the hierarchy.) The second point is that it is best if hier-
archy items are evenly spaced using the SUDS. If items are too

far apart, moving up the hierarchy could prove nearly impos-
sible. On the other hand, if items are spaced too close together,

then the helping process will be unusually slow, and behaviorists
place a premium on rapid, effi cacious treatment. Lastly, the “in
vivo” stage implies that the client will actually expose himself or
herself to the scary situations in the hierarchy. Experts believe
that “in vivo” experiences should not begin until the client has
been desensitized to 75% of the hierarchy items.

Answer 108

A

d. sensate focus

Sensate focus is a form of behavioral sex therapy developed by
William H. Masters and Virginia Johnson of St. Louis, Missouri.

Like Joseph Wolpe’s systematic desensitization, this approach
relies on counterconditioning. A couple is told to engage in
touching and caressing (to lower anxiety levels) on a graduated
basis until intercourse is possible.

Answer 109

A

c. covert sensitization.

What is covert sensitization therapy?

a behavior therapy technique for reducing an undesired behavior in which the client imagines performing the undesired behavior (e.g., overeating) and then imagines an unpleasant consequence (e.g., vomiting).

Keep in mind when answering behavior therapy questions
that the word desensitization means to make one less sensitive

while the word sensitization implies that one is made more sen-
sitive to a stimulus.

A counselor who tells an alcoholic to imagine

that a drink nauseates him would be relying on “covert sensiti-
zation.” The client is then instructed to imagine a relief scene

such as an enjoyable feeling when the alcohol is removed and

replaced with a glass of water.

Answer 110

A

a. implosive therapy is always conducted in the imagination.

Here’s a superb memory device: implosive therapy begins with
an “i” and so does the word imagination. Implosive therapy
(the brainchild of T. G. Stampfl ) is always conducted using the

imagination and sometimes relies on psychoanalytic symbol-
ism. Flooding, which is similar, usually occurs when the client

is genuinely exposed to the feared stimulus. Flooding is also
called “deliberate exposure with response prevention.”

Here is
how fl ooding works. Take a man who is afraid of snakes because
he feels they will bite him. Using fl ooding, the client would be
exposed to the snake for nearly an hour without the dreaded
snake bite. Research has demonstrated that in vivo procedures
like fl ooding are extremely effective in cases of agoraphobia (a
fear of open places) and obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCD).

Flooding and implosive therapy do not necessarily utilize relax-
ation nor do they introduce the fearful stimuli gradually.

Answer 111

A

*d. the effects of punishment are usually temporary and it**
*teaches aggression.**

The great behavior modifi er B. F. Skinner did not believe pun-
ishment was very effective. He felt that after the punishment

was administered the behavior would manifest itself once again.
Positive measures are seen as more effective than punishment.

Answer 112

A

b. the counselor is utilizing many closed-ended questions.

A closed-ended question can be answered with “yes” or “no.”

Counselors prefer open-ended

questions, which produce more information. If the aforemen-
tioned counselor wanted to rephrase the question in an open-
ended manner, she could ask, “Can you tell me about the things

in your life you fi nd so depressing?”

Answer 113

A

d. sympathy.

Sympathy often implies pity, while accurate empathy is the ability to experience another person’s subjective experience.

EMDR: Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, a
technique created by Francine Shapiro to deal with traumatic

memories. In the spring of 1987 Shapiro—then a graduate psy-
chology student—accidentally noticed that disturbing memories

began to abate when she was moving her eyes back and forth
while strolling through the park.

Answer 114

A

b. parroting and is not recommended.

If you parrot a client, the client’s response may be something
like, “Yes, I just said that!” Parroting can cause the client to feel

angry and uneasy.

Answer 115

A

a. healing through meaning.

Frankl also has been thought of as the Father of paradoxical in-
tention. Paradoxical intention is implemented by advising the

client to purposely exaggerate a dysfunctional behavior in the

imagination. You might fi nd it a bit paradoxical (no pun intend-
ed) that a technique which comes from logotherapy—which is

clearly a brand of helping based on existential philosophy—is

now generally categorized as a behavioristic technique. Recent-
ly, counselors have gone beyond the paradoxical imagination and

actually prescribe that the client engage in the dysfunctional be-
havior. (For example, a person with OCD or obsessive-compul-
sive disorder might be instructed to wash his or her hands 51

times per day instead of the usual 45 times.)

Answer 116

A

a. Plato and Epictetus.

Existentialism is considered a humanistic form of helping in
which the counselor helps the client discover meaning in his

or her life by doing a deed (e.g., an accomplishment), experi-
encing a value (e.g., love), or suffering (e.g., Frankl discovered

that even being held hostage in a concentration camp could

not take away his dignity). Existential counseling rejects analy-
sis and behaviorism for being deterministic and reductionistic.

The existential viewpoint developed as a reaction to the analytic

and behavioral schools and stresses growth and self-actualiza-
tion.

the Stoic philosopher Epictetus said, “Men
are disturbed not by things, but of the view which they take of
them.” This statement captures the major premise of REBT.

Important exam hint: REBT was formerly known as rational-
emotive therapy (RET).

Answer 117

A

d. being too vague regarding techniques and procedures.

Existential counseling is more of a philosophy of helping than a
grab bag of specifi c intervention strategies. Critics charge that
it is not a systematic approach to treatment. The behaviorists
assert that it is abstract and not scientifi c. The approach rejects
traditional diagnosis and assessment procedures.

Answer 118

A

b. the client’s perception in the here-and-now.

*The focus is on what the person can ultimately become. The**
*present and even the future are emphasized. The key to change**
*is seen as self-determination.**

Answer 119

A

c. the relationship is horizontal.

A horizontal relationship (e.g., I-Thou) assumes equality be-
tween persons.

Answer 120

A

c. Yalom and May.

Rollo May introduced existential therapy in the United States.
Irvin Yalom, another existentialist, is noted for his work in group

therapy. In his book, Love’s Executioner, he reveals his ap-
proach to treatment with some of his most intriguing clients.

Other names that appear in the answer choices to this question
include: Fritz Perls, the Father of gestalt therapy; Albert Ellis,
who pioneered REBT; Arthur Janov, noted for his primal scream
therapy; and Aaron T. Beck, whose cognitive therapy resembles
REBT; if the name Stampfl doesn’t ring a bell, review question

Answer 121

A

d. physical; relationship; identity

Try this if you are searching for a memory device. Mitwelt has
the prefi x “mi,” which sounds like “my” as in “my wife” or “my

brother” or “my son”; the “my” shows possessiveness indica-
tive of a “relationship.” Eigenwelt sounds suspiciously like the

word identity. By a process of elimination you would not need
a memory device for the remaining term Umwelt (the physical
and biological system).

Answer 122

A

*b. that you can’t control the environment, but you can con-**
*trol your response.**

From 1942 to 1945 Frankl was a prisoner in German concen-
tration camps, including Auschwitz and Dachau. Several of his

relatives died in the camps. Frankl felt, nonetheless, that suffer-
ing would be transformed into achievement and creativity.

Answer 123

A

a. free choice, decision, and will.

client to fi nd meaning in life so the client can write his or her
own life story by making meaningful choices. When exploring
the meaning of life some anxiety is normal. Moreover, death
is not seen as an evil concept but rather an entity which gives
meaning to the process of life.

Answer 124

A

d. the philosophy of being and existing.

The metaphysical study of life experience is called ontology.
Please do not confuse this with “oncology”

Answer 125

A

b. reality therapy.

choice “c,” is a technique used

by rational-emotive behavior therapists in which the client is to
imagine that he or she is in a situation which has traditionally

caused emotional disturbance. The client then imagines chang-
ing the feelings via rational, logical, scientifi c thought. Choice

“d” refers to rational behavior therapy (some exams call it ratio-
nal self-counseling), created by psychiatrist Maxie C. Maultsby,

Jr., who studied with Albert Ellis. This approach relies on REBT;
however, the client performs a written self-analysis. Maultsby
claims the technique is well-suited to problems of substance

abuse, and it is highly recommended as a method of multicul-
tural counseling.

Answer 126

A

a. control theory, later referred to as choice theory.

Reality therapy exam questions often use the abbreviation BCP,

which means that perception controls our behavior. Choice the-
ory asserts than the only person whose behavior we can control

is our own. According to control/choice theory, our behavior is
our best attempt to control our world to satisfy our wants and
needs.

rolfi ng, is not a traditional form of talk

therapy but rather a type of deep muscle massage which is as-
sumed to have an impact on the person’s emotional state. Hint:

*Exams should be using the new term choice theory. Neverthe-**
*less, some might still be using the old term control theory.**

Answer 127

A

a. the client’s childhood is explored.

According to choice theory the person’s childhood may have
contributed to the problem. However, the past is never really
the problem. The client’s childhood is usually not explored, and

if the client brings it up, the reality therapist will often try to
emphasize childhood successes, feeling that an analysis of the
diffi culties could actually reinforce maladaptive patterns. Reality
therapy is a present moment form of counseling which focuses

on the here-and-now. According to a strict behaviorist, the envi-
ronment controls behavior. According to Glasser, the individual

controls the environment.

Answer 128

A

c. paraphrasing.

Answer 129

A

d. silence

Veteran counselors believe that some of the most valuable ver-
balizations occur after a period of silence. Silence gives the cli-
ent time to assimilate the counseling process and is helpful in

nondirective therapies because it coaxes the client to direct the
session.????

Answer 130

A

d. successful behaviors.

Glasser believes that dwelling on past failures can reinforce a
negative self-concept, or what reality therapists have termed the
“failure identity.”

Answer 131

A

b. diagnostic labels give clients permission to act sick or irresponsible.

Reality therapy has little use for the formal diagnostic process,
or what is known in clinical circles as “nosology.”

Glasser rejected
this traditional medical model of disease.

Answer 132

A

c. like that of a friend who asks what is wrong.

Unlike the detached psychoanalyst, the reality therapist literally

makes friends with the client. This is the fi rst of eight steps uti-
lized in this model. Step 7 is refusing to use punishment, making

choice “d” a no go here.

Answer 133

A

d. Schools Without Failure.

Glasser also authored choices “a” and “c” as well as his original
1965 classic, Reality Therapy, and an update of the theory in his
2000 book Reality Therapy in Action.

Answer 134

A

*a. that the client and counselor be persistent and never give**
*up.**

Even when the client wants to give up, the therapist does not.

Glasser’s theory has been criticized on the basis that it is too sim-
plistic. Unlike most of the other schools of thought discussed in

this guide, Reality therapy has not been included in some texts
and dictionaries of psychology.

Answer 135

A

a. jogging.

Glasser stressed that peo-
ple can be addicted to positive behaviors and this helps to instill

self-confi dence. A positive addiction must be a noncompetitive
activity which can be performed alone for about one hour each
day. Moreover, the person can see that performing the activity
will lead to personal improvement. Lastly, the person needs to

be capable of performing the activity without becoming self-
critical.

Answer 136

A

c. summarization.

Answer 137

A

b. success

The individual who possesses a success identity feels worthy and

signifi cant to others. Identity is a person’s most important psy-
chological need. A person who is irresponsible, and thus frus-
trated in an attempt to feel loved and worthwhile, will develop

a failure identity and a faulty perception of reality.

Answer 138

A

a. Rational-emotive behavior therapy (REBT).

Analytically trained New York clinical psychologist Ellis is the

Father of REBT, which assumes that the client’s emotional dis-
turbance is the result of irrational thoughts and ideas. The cure

is a high dose of rational thinking.

Answer 139

A

d. a and b.

The credo here is a simple one: Talk sense to yourself. When you
change your thinking you can change your life.

Answer 140

A

*b. Epictetus, a stoic philosopher who suggested we feel the**
*way we think.**

Epictetus said: “People are disturbed not by things, but by the

views they take of them.” In addition to Epictetus, Ellis also men-
tioned Alfred Korzybski, the founder of general semantics, and

Karen Horney, who fi rst recognized the “tyranny of the shoulds”
when refl ecting on the creation of Ellis’s REBT theory. Ellis was
quick to quote a statement from Hamlet: “There’s nothing either
good or bad but thinking makes it so.” Buber and Jaspers are
associated with existential therapy, while Locke’s work closely
resembled what later came to be known as behaviorism.

Answer 141

A

b. activating event; belief system; emotional consequence

Answer 142

A

*c. disputing the irrational behavior at B; a new emotional**
*consequence**

Some of the literature by Ellis refers to E as “an effective new
philosophy of life.” The theory, then, is that you create your own

present emotional and behavioral diffi culties. And talk about op-
timistic: Ellis believes that no matter how bad life seems, you

always—that’s right, always—have the power to ameliorate in-
tense feelings of despair, anxiety, and hostility.

Answer 143

A

a. bibliotherapy.

Bibliotherapy is the use of books or writings pertaining to self-
improvement. A Guide to Rational Living, affectionately known

as “the Guide”, is Ellis’s best known work. The title of his 1988
work, How to Stubbornly Refuse to Make Yourself Miserable
about Anything—Yes, Anything! captures the essence of his
theory. To state that Ellis is a prolifi c writer would be to put it
mildly. He has published over 500 papers and written about 50

books! Choice “c” uses the term musturbation, coined by El-
lis. Musturbation occurs when a client uses too many shoulds,

oughts, and musts in his or her thinking. Some exams may refer
to this as “absolutist thinking.”

Answer 144

A

a. musturbations

When a preference becomes a dogmatic must or a should, then

you can bet that the client is in for a case of emotional distur-
bance.

Answer 145

A

d. awfulizing and terriblizing, also known as catastrophizing.

Choice “d” would occur at point B,

Answer 146

A

b. homework.

Yes, homework. I’m sure the word rings a bell if you think back
to graduate school. In the context of counseling, homework

takes place whenever the counselor gives the client an assign-
ment which is to be done outside the counseling session. Bib-
liotherapy is a prime example. Therapies that basically “teach”

the client (e.g., REBT) are known as “didactic” models of treat-
ment.

Answer 147

A

c. irrational thinking at point B

Ellis believes you can be happy even if you are the survivor

of numerous childhood traumas. For test purposes please keep
in mind that Ellis, Glasser, and the behaviorists put little stock in
the notion of transference.

Answer 148

A

*a. refuting irrational ideas and replacing them with rational**
*ones.**

This is the process of changing your thoughts ergo your feelings
via self-talk, or what Ellis often called internal verbalizations.
REBT clients often receive emotional control cards from their
therapist that delineate irrational ideas and what one can think

rationally to combat these unhealthy thoughts. The act of chang-
ing the client’s mode of thinking is sometimes called cognitive

disputation. REBT therapists also use imaginal disputation (i.e.,
imagery to help with the process) and urge clients to behave in
different patterns (i.e., behavioral disputation).

Answer 149

A

*d. only man thinks in declarations (internal sentences that**
*can cause or ward off emotional discord).**

As far as choice “a” is concerned it is incorrect inasmuch as Ellis
fi rmly believed that his theory promotes scientifi c thinking, and
lower animals may be incapable of such thought. Ellis described
what he called the ABC theory of personality. At point A, there
is an activating event; at point B, the person’s belief system; and
at point C, the emotional consequence. According to Ellis, most
therapies can be faulted for not emphasizing irrational beliefs at
point B. Such theories wrongly assert that A causes C.

Answer 150

A

b. pictures in your mind

A matter of semantics? Perhaps. Glasser insists that behavior is
internally motivated and we choose our actions.

Answer 151

A

a. RBT.

Maultsby is the Father of rational-behavior therapy, which is sim-
ilar to REBT but emphasizes a written self-analysis. Maultsby’s

technique is said to work well for multicultural counseling and
group therapy. In group work the counselor has a didactic or a

teaching role in which participants are taught to apply the tech-
niques to their own lives. The leader encourages equal group

participation for all members and gives reading assignments (i.e.,

bibliotherapy) between the sessions. All in all, the leader is high-
ly directive and uses RBT as a model for self-help. Like REBT,

RBT utilizes rational-emotive imagery on a regular basis. Choice

“d” describes an old abbreviation of stimulus-response behav-
ioral psychology. REBT and RBT are not fond of this model be-
cause it asserts that a stimulus (or what Ellis has basically termed

an activating event at point A) causes a response (or what Ellis
calls the consequence at point C). The S-R model, according to
Ellis, is guilty of leaving out B, the client’s belief system. Thus,
although Ellis might concede that the S-R paradigm explains rat
behavior, it is inadequate when applied to human beings. The
S-R model also has been called the “applied behavior analysis”
or “radical behaviorism” by B. F. Skinner. Radical behaviorism

makes the assumption that the environment maintains and sup-
ports behavior and that only overt behaviors are the subject of

treatment. The treatment? You guessed it—Skinnerian operant
conditioning, of course.

Answer 152

A

*a. dysfunctional ideas are too absolute and broad though not**
*necessarily irrational.**

Beck’s contention was that

depression is the result of a cognitive triad of negative beliefs re-
garding oneself, one’s future, and one’s experience. Beck’s model

has indeed been shown to be applicable in cases of phobia and

anxiety. Since Beck disliked the term irrational ideas, he em-
phasized “rules” or “formulas of living” which cause unhappi-
ness, and he suggested new rules which the client can test. His

daughter Judy Beck is now helping to popularize this approach.
Note: Some exams use the word metacognition to describe an
individual’s tendency to be aware of his or her own cognitions or
cognitive abilities.

Answer 153

A

b. Donald Meichenbaum.

Meichenbaum’s approach is called “Self-Instructional Therapy.”
Implementation of his so-called stress-inoculation technique has
three basic phases. First the client is involved in an “educational
phase.” Here the client is taught to monitor the impact of inner
dialogue on behavior. Next clients are taught to rehearse new
self-talk. This is the “rehearsal phase.” Finally, the “application
phase” is where new inner dialogue is attempted during actual
stress-producing situations. Counselor educators often classify

approaches which dwell on cognition, while emphasizing behav-
ioral strategies for change (e.g., REBT, RBT, self-instructional

therapy) as “cognitive-behavioral approaches” to helping.

Answer 154

A

c. gestalt therapy

Choice “c,” the correct answer, may seem to make about as
much sense as trying to mix water and oil since TA, from a pure
standpoint of classifi cation, is a cognitive approach, while gestalt

is experiential. The well-known counselor educator Gerald Co-
rey suggested that this marriage made in therapeutic heaven was

actually positive inasmuch as gestalt therapy emphasized the af-
fective exploration that was missing from TA, which was too in-
tellectual. In other words, one emphasized what was missing in

the other.

Answer 155

A

a. Nurturing Parent and the Critical Parent

The Parent ego state is the synthesis of the messages received
from parental fi gures and signifi cant others, incorporated into
the personality. Also known as the “exteropsyche,” it bears a very

strong resemblance to Freud’s superego. When a counselor ana-
lyzes out of which ego state a client is primarily operating, it is

known as “structural analysis.” When a counselor analyzes an

ego state within an ego state (e.g., the Critical Parent or the Nur-
turing parent) it is known as “second order structural analysis.” A

statement like, “Get some rest honey, you’ve been studying the
NCE material for a long time and you deserve the rest,” is an

example of the Nurturing Parent. The Nurturing parent is sym-
pathetic, caring, and protective. The critical parent, on the other

hand, might remark, “You should get off your duff and study that
NCE material; how in the heck do you plan on passing?” The
Critical Parent is the master of the shoulds, oughts, and musts.
On occasion, you will see the parent broken down into another

part, the Prejudicial Parent. The Prejudicial Parent is opinion-
ated with biases not based on fact. “Women should always wear

dresses to work,” or “a real man enlists in the marines,” would
be examples. The death or absence of a parent can result in what
TA counselors call an “Incomplete Parent state.”

Answer 156

A

d. processes facts and does not focus on feelings.

The Adult corresponds to Freud’s ego. It is also known as the
“neopsyche.” It is rational, logical, and does not focus on feelings.
Choices “a” and “c” describe the Parent ego state.

Answer 157

A

d. all of the above.

The Child state, sometimes called the “archaeopsyche,” re-
sembles Freud’s id. The Natural Child is what the person would

be naturally: spontaneous, impulsive, and untrained. The little
professor is creative and intuitive. The Little Professor acts on
hunches, often without the necessary information. The adapted
child learns how to comply to avoid a parental slap on the hand.
Messages we receive from parents to form the ego states are

called “injunctions” and cause us to make certain early life deci-
sions. Hence, if an early message was, “I wish you would have

never been born,” then the decision might be, “If my life gets
very stressful, I’ll just kill myself.” Hint: Describing the client

using the P-A-C conceptualization is known as “structural analy-
sis.”

Answer 158

A

a. occur where vectors of communication run parallel.

Choice “a” is a “complementary” transaction in which you get
an appropriate, predicted response. The “crossed transaction”
(note choice “b”) would occur when vectors from a message sent
and a message received do not run parallel. (For example, I send
a message from my Adult to your Adult and you respond from

your Adult to my Child.) Crossed transactions result in a dead-
lock of communication or a host of hurtful feelings. This princi-
ple probably won’t be diffi cult to remember. We generally say it

is not a good thing when individuals work at “cross” purposes. In

TA a “crossed transaction” is not conducive to healthy communi-
cation. Note: See “Graphical Representations” (chapter 13). TA

therapists often use diagrams or pictorial representations in the
treatment process.

Answer 159

A

b. blames others for misery.

Tom Harris suggested four basic life positions. Choices “a,” “c,”
and “d” are indicative of the “I’m Not OK—You’re OK” position.

A self-abusive person is sometimes known as a “masochistic per-
sonality” in the literature. In an extreme case this position would

lead the person to suicide. According to Harris the “I’m OK—
You’re OK” orientation is what successful winners choose. The
“I’m OK—You’re Not OK” is the position taken by adolescent
delinquents and adult criminals. Such persons feel victimized
and are often paranoid. In extreme cases this person may see
homicidal behavior as an acceptable solution to life’s problems.

The “I’m Not OK—You’re Not OK” is the most pessimistic po-
sition. This position could result in schizoid behavior and, in a

worst case scenario, the tendency to kill someone else and then
take one’s own life.

Answer 160

A

*d. the man has moved from the persecutor, to the rescuer, to**
*the victim role.**

Karpman suggested that only three roles are necessary for ma-
nipulative drama: persecutor, rescuer, and victim. A drama is

similar to a TA “game,” yet it has a greater number of events and
the person switches roles during the course of the interaction.
In TA, a game is a transaction with a concealed motive. Games
prevent honest intimate discussion, and one player is always left
with negative feelings. Games have a predictable outcome as
a result of ulterior transactions. An ulterior transaction occurs
when a disguised message is sent. Hint: The act of looking at the
consequences of games is known as “game analysis.”

Answer 161

A

c. contracting.

Using choice “a,” the empty chair technique, the person imag-
ines that another individual is in a chair in front of him or her,

and then the client talks to the person. The technique is popular
in TA as well as in the gestalt model. Contracting, nevertheless,

*is the only technique listed that is used readily by TA and behav-**
*ior therapists.**

Answer 162

A

*b. In a first-degree game the harm is minimal, but the level**
*of harm is quite serious in a third-degree game.**

It is easy to remember that the higher the number the greater
the hurt. For example, a second-degree game is more hurtful

than a fi rst-degree. In the fi rst-degree game the hurt is innocu-
ous; in the second-degree game the hurt is more serious; while

in third-degree games the hurt can be permanent or on occasion

deadly. And, oh yes, as far as choice “d” is concerned: Some ex-
ams will refer to parallel vectors of communication as “comple-
mentary transactions.”

Answer 163

A

When a client manipulates others to experience a childhood

feeling, the result is called a “racket.” (Note: in TA the expe-
rience of trying to secure these feelings is known as “collect-
ing trading stamps.”) Choice “b,” or the life script, is a person’s

ongoing drama which dictates how a person will live his or her
life. Claude Steiner has written extensively on scripts. His book,
Scripts People Live, suggests three basic unhealthy scripts: no

RT58628_C005.indd 220 T58628_C005.indd 220 11/2/2007 10:12:13 AM 1/2/2007 10:12:13 AM

Theories of Counseling and the Helping Relationship 221
love, no mind, and no joy. It is like a theatrical plot based on
early parental messages (often called injunctions in TA). Choice

“d,” abbreviated ANOVA, is a statistical technique used to deter-
mine differences between two or more means. Hold your hors-
es, we’ll get to statistics soon enough. Does domestic violence

have a script? Well, I guess the answer is kind of, sort of.

According to Dr. Leonore Walker, who researched wom-
en in abusive relationships, there is a cycle of violence

with three phases. First, there is a tension building phase
where arguments erupt very easily. Many women have
dubbed this as the “walking on eggshells phase.” Then
there is the battering or acute incident phase where the
actual fi ght or abuse sexual abuse, or worse yet homicide
occurs. Finally, there is a makeup phase often referred
to as the honeymoon phase characterized by romantic
moonlight dinners, the “I’ll never do it again” lines, and
the deliveries from the local fl ower shops. As time goes by
the couple goes through the phases more rapidly and the
honeymoon phase may not even exist.

When a client manipulates others to experience a childhood

feeling, the result is called a “racket.” (Note: in TA the expe-
rience of trying to secure these feelings is known as “collect-
ing trading stamps.”) Choice “b,” or the life script, is a person’s

ongoing drama which dictates how a person will live his or her
life. Claude Steiner has written extensively on scripts. His book,
Scripts People Live, suggests three basic unhealthy scripts: no
love, no mind, and no joy. It is like a theatrical plot based on
early parental messages (often called injunctions in TA). Choice

“d,” abbreviated ANOVA, is a statistical technique used to deter-
mine differences between two or more means. Hold your hors-
es, we’ll get to statistics soon enough. Does domestic violence

have a script? Well, I guess the answer is kind of, sort of.

According to Dr. Leonore Walker, who researched wom-
en in abusive relationships, there is a cycle of violence

with three phases. First, there is a tension building phase
where arguments erupt very easily. Many women have
dubbed this as the “walking on eggshells phase.” Then
there is the battering or acute incident phase where the
actual fi ght or abuse sexual abuse, or worse yet homicide
occurs. Finally, there is a makeup phase often referred
to as the honeymoon phase characterized by romantic
moonlight dinners, the “I’ll never do it again” lines, and
the deliveries from the local fl ower shops. As time goes by
the couple goes through the phases more rapidly and the
honeymoon phase may not even exist.

Answer 164

A

c. a life drama or plot.

The process of ferreting out the client’s script is called “script
analysis.” Some popular life script categories include: the never
scripts, or a person who never feels he or she will succeed; the
always scripts, of individuals who will always remain a given
way; after scripts, that result in a way a person believes he or she
will behave after a certain event occurs; open ended scripts, in
which the person has no direction or plan; until scripts, in which

the client is not allowed to feel good until a certain accomplish-
ment or event arrives; and desirable scripts/less desirable

scripts. Steiner, mentioned in the previous answer, analyzes the

script of TA pioneer Eric Berne in his book! Ulterior transac-
tions (choice “a”) contain hidden transactions as two or more ego

states are operating at the same time. For example, a man may
say to a woman, “Would you like a ride in my new car?” She says.

“Yes, I’d love to.” This seems like a healthy (i.e., parallel) trans-
action from his Adult to her Adult ego state, and she responds in

the same manner. He may, however, have a secret, covert, ulte-
rior message if he is a game player. The ulterior message which

goes from his Child to hers could be, “Wanna make out in my
car?” Her ulterior answer—her Child to his Child—is, “Sure, I’d
love to make out with you.”

Answer 165

A

b. Gestalt therapy.

Berne is the Father of TA, while Frederick S. Perls created Ge-
stalt therapy. In some books he is called Fritz Perls or “Fritz.”

All the other concepts apply to Gestalt therapy. Perls saw the
“top dog” as the critical parent portion of the personality which
is very authoritarian and quick to use “shoulds” and “oughts.”
The “underdog” was seen as weak, powerless, passive, and full
of excuses. These splits in the personality would wage civil war

within the individual. In Gestalt therapy, the empty chair tech-
nique could be employed so the individual could work on these

opposing feelings. That is to say, the person could be the top dog
in one chair and the underdog in the other.

Answer 166

A

d. Carkhuff and Gazda.In an attempt to isolate the factors associated with positive ther-
apeutic outcomes, counselor educators generally state that the

counselor must possess distinct qualities. In the literature these
are known as the “core dimensions.” According to research

by Truax and Mitchell, an effective counselor is authentic and
genuine, not phony; gives positive regard through acceptance;
and has accurate empathic understanding. As mentioned earlier,
the Carkhuff scale rates the counselor from 1 to 5. The higher
the rating the better the counselor is facilitating client growth.
Gazda suggested a “Global Scale for Rating Helper Responses.”
On this scale a 1.0 response does not attend to the client’s needs.
The counselor may discredit or even scold the client. In case I

haven’t made myself clear, this is a response which is not help-
ful in any sense. A 2.0 response, although better than a 1.0, is

superfi cial and deals only partially with surface feelings. The 3.0

response does facilitate growth. Although a 3.0 response is lim-
ited primarily to surface feelings, the counselor does not distort

the content in his or her refl ections. A 4.0 is evident when the

counselor goes beyond refl ection and deals with underlying feel-
ings and meaning.

Answer 167

A

a. Bandler and Grinder’s neurolinguistic programming.

This model (choice “a”), supposedly based somewhat on what
Milton H. Erickson, Fritz Perls, and Virginia Satir really did in
their sessions, makes some incredible claims, such as the ability

to cure a longstanding phobia in less time than it takes to con-
duct a typical counseling session! Perhaps the two most popular

techniques used by NLP practitioners are “refraining” and “an-
choring.” When using refraining the counselor helps the client

to perceive a given situation in a new light so as to produce a new
emotional reaction to it (e.g., a glass of water is not half empty;
it is really half full). In anchoring, a desirable emotional state
is evoked via an outside stimulus such as a touch or a sound or

a specifi c bodily motion. This is similar to classical condition-
ing or the concept of a posthypnotic suggestion (i.e., a sugges-
tion which works after you leave the hypnotist’s offi ce). A client

with a phobia of cats, for example, might squeeze his left arm
when he came in contact with a cat, and this would bring out
an emotion other than fear. If you are taking an exam which
is slanted toward this model, then you must read Structure of
Magic I and Structure of Magic II by Bandler and Grinder. This
approach has been very popular with businesspeople (especially
salespersons) and emphasizes the importance of eye movements

in determining a person’s “representational system” for stor-
ing information, such as hearing, seeing, or feeling. I have no

doubt that the fellow who has made the most money from this

approach, however, is not a licensed therapist but rather info-
mercial king Anthony (Tony) Robbins, who expanded on NLP

and whose various Personal Power tape series have outsold any
other motivational product in history. Tony—a dynamic speaker
by any standard—sports a high school education.

Answer 168

A

a. playing the projection technique.

Choices “a,” “b,” and “c” are all techniques used frequently in
gestalt therapy, but remember that you are searching for the
best answer. Projection is an ego defense mechanism in which

you see something in others that you cannot accept about your-
self. Gestalt hits this head-on, and in “playing the projection”

the counselor literally asks you to act like this person you dis-
like. Choice “c” would work thusly: A client might say, “Don’t all

people in a group feel scared during the initial session of group
counseling?” The client is asked to turn the question into an “I
statement,” in this case, “I feel scared during this initial session

of group counseling.” In gestalt this is known as “taking respon-
sibility for a feeling or situation.” Often, the gestalt counselor

literally asks the client to say this. For example, “I feel scared

during this initial session of group counseling and I take respon-
sibility for being scared.”

Answer 169

A

Gestalt Therapy is concerned primarily with the here-and-now.
When a client tries to avoid a feeling the counselor urges the

d. urge the client to stay with the feeling.

client to face it or “stay with the feeling” if you will. Perls be-
lieved this is necessary for growth. Choice “a,” dream work, is

an integral part of the gestalt approach to counseling. The client

is told to recount the dream “as if it is happening in the pres-
ent.” Everything—yes everything—in the dream is considered a

projection of the self. So if the client is being chased by a mean
old man in the dream, the client might be asked to “become
the mean old man.” The gestalt model emphasizes experience
rather than interpretation, which makes it especially attractive
for group intervention.

Answer 170

A

b. paradox as practiced by Frankl, Haley, or Erickson.

As opposed to the other three therapists (in choice “b”), Perls

emphasized the exaggeration in regard to present moment ver-
bal and nonverbal behavior in the here and now. A gestalt thera-
pist might say, “What is your left hand doing?” (In gestalt, “what”

questions are seen as more valuable than “why” questions.) After

the client responds, the therapist might add, “Can you exagger-
ate that movement in your left hand?” Choice “a” is an oper-
ant behavior modifi cation term which suggests that a behavior

is gradually accomplished by reinforcing “successive steps” until
the target behavior is reached. This technique also is known as
“shaping” or “shaping using successive approximations.”

Answer 171

A

b. change the verbalization to an “I” statement.

A goal of gestalt is to eliminate “it talk” and replace it with “I
statements.” The other choices all relate to career counseling.
The DOT or Dictionary of Occupational Titles, was a popular
career counseling book which listed over 20,000 job titles. As
mentioned above, it has been replaced via O*NET. The OOH
stands for the Occupational Outlook Handbook published by
the U.S. Department of Labor and revised every two years. The
work attempts to depict projected job trends. It also delineates
earnings, necessary training and education for a job, as well as
working conditions and what workers in a given job actually do.
The Strong (formerly the Strong Campbell Interest Inventory or
SCII) is the most popular interest inventory, and it is based on
the theory of John Holland.

Answer 172

A

a. psychodrama.

Psychodrama incorporates role-playing into the treatment pro-
cess. A client, for example, might act out an especially painful
incident in his or her life. Psychodrama was invented by Jacob
L. Moreno, who fi rst coined the term group therapy in 1931.
Gestalt therapists emphasize experiments and exercises.

Answer 173

A

c. retroflcection.

Retrofl ection is the act of doing to yourself what you really wish

to do to someone else. The psychoanalysts often say that the per-
son who wishes to kill him- or herself really wants to kill some-
one else. True? Perhaps. Statistics now indicate that in cases of

suicide, 4 out of every 100 begin with the person killing someone
else!

Answer 174

A

c. retroflcection.

Retrofl ection is the act of doing to yourself what you really wish

to do to someone else. The psychoanalysts often say that the per-
son who wishes to kill him- or herself really wants to kill some-
one else. True? Perhaps. Statistics now indicate that in cases of

suicide, 4 out of every 100 begin with the person killing someone
else!

Answer 175

A

b. a form, fi gure, or confi guration unifi ed as a whole.

Although there is no exact English translation, choice “b” rough-
ly describes the nature of the concept. Gestalt also can imply

that the integrated whole is greater than the sum of its parts.(b)

Answer 176

A

d. fi ve layers of neurosis

Perls likened the process of therapy to that of peeling an onion.

The person has a phony layer, a phobic layer (fear that others
will reject his or her uniqueness), an impasse layer (the person
feels struck), the implosive layer (willingness to expose the true

self), and the explosive layer (person has relief due to authentic-
ity.

Answer 177

A

a. unfi nished business.

Here is a key term in Gestalt therapy. When an unexpressed

feeling of resentment, rage, guilt, anxiety, or other emotion inter-
feres with present situations and causes diffi culties, it is known

as “unfi nished business.” Just in case it comes up on your exam,
Perls borrowed the term gestalt from the system of psychology
proposed by Max Wertheimer of Germany in the 1920s which
emphasized that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

The original gestalt psychologists studied perceptual phenom-
ena (e.g., fi gure/ground relationships). The three most common

principles relating to gestalt psychology are fi rst, “insight learn-
ing” (discussed earlier in this book) as discovered by Wolfgang

Kohler. Second, Bluma Zeigarnik’s well-known “Zeigarnik ef-
fect” which suggests that motivated people tend to experience

tension due to unfi nished tasks, and thus they recall unfi nished
activities better. Thus, if you sincerely care about the outcome of

a task, you will have better recall of that task if it remains incom-
plete, than if completed. (This certainly is a bit like the concept

of “unfi nished business” in gestalt therapy.) Third, Wertheimer’s
“phi-phenomenon,” wherein the illusion of movement can be

achieved via two or more stimuli which are not moving; for ex-
ample a neon sign that has a moving arrow.

Answer 178

A

d. awareness in the here-and-now and dream work.

*The gestalt mode does not believe that a**
*client can “think” one’s self out of unhappiness. The person must**
*experience awareness for growth.**

Answer 179

A

c. top dog, underdog, and the empty chair technique.

The exam you are taking could refer to choice “c” as “games of

dialogue.” In addition to the top dog/underdog split in the per-
sonality, empty chair dialogue also could be used for other op-
posing tendencies, such as feminine versus masculine attributes.

Gestalt assumes that anxiety is often actually “stage fright.” By

this the gestalt therapist assumes the client has internally re-
hearsed a situation and is worried that his or her “performance”

will not be up to snuff. This “rehearsal” is said to get in the way

of spontaneity and healthy personal experimentation. The re-
hearsal technique especially lends itself to group work as group

members can share their rehearsals with one another, and thus

awareness of stage fright (e.g., worrying about not saying or do-
ing the right thing) and fear of not being accepted by others

can be illuminated. And if you marked choice “b,” review the
questions on reality therapy, as choice theory is associated with
this brand of treatment. Glasser’s Choice Theory postulates that
behavior is really an attempt to control our perceptions to satisfy

our genetic needs—survival, love, and belonging, power, free-
dom, and fun.

Answer 180

A

c. often fails to emphasize cognitive concerns.

Quite the antithesis of REBT and related cognitive therapies,
gestalt is considered a bit, well, anti-intellectual if you will. Perls
once asserted that if you lose your mind you can come to your
senses! In gestalt therapy the emphasis is on increasing
psychological as well as bodily awareness. Another charge
is that it is too confrontational if practiced in the manner Perls
demonstrated. Today gestalt therapists are a bit gentler,
softer, and less abrupt than Perls. Confrontation occurs
when the therapist points out discrepancies or incongruencies

between the client’s verbal and nonverbal behaviors. The “mak-
ing the rounds” strategy mentioned in choice “d” alludes to a

popular group exercise in which the client is instructed to say
the same message to everyone in the group. And oh yes, the
word affective in the question means emotional. Some experts
have branded gestalt and existential psychotherapy as “affective”
paradigms since they urge clients to purge emotions in order
to feel better about themselves. Gestalt has traditionally been a
popular modality for group work.

Answer 181

A

b. the late 1960s.

In the 1950s, counseling—not testing—became the key guid-
ance function. Moreover, the 1950s marked a golden age for de-
velopmental psychology. In the late 1960s the fi eld was literally

inundated with competing psychotherapies. In the 1970s bio-
feedback, behavior modifi cation, and crisis hotlines fl ourished.

And in the 1980s professionalism (e.g., licensing and improve-
ment in professional organizations) was evident.

Answer 182

A

b. slower.

Because gestalt therapists are generally rather confrontational,

theorists assume that the client/counselor relationship will prog-
ress at a slower rate. If you marked choice “d” I’d like to suggest

that you read the answers more carefully. Answer “d,” is a syn-
thesis of choice “a” and “b,” and choices “a” and “b” are contra-
dictory.

Answer 183

A

*a. nondirective counseling; client-centered therapy; the**
*person-centered approach.**

A word to the wise: Expect to see any of these names in regard
to questions on Rogers’s theory. The initial name, nondirective
counseling, was intended to set the approach apart from the
directive and analytic models which were popular during the

1940s. In 1951, the process took on its new name, client-cen-
tered therapy, which emphasized Rogers’ theory of personality

and, of course, the fact that the client was not viewed as a “sick

patient.” In 1974, the approach took on its current name, per-
son-centered, to emphasize the power of the person and Rog-
ers’s growing interest in group behavior. Hint: Although I’ve just

given you three key names for this approach, Rogers’s method
could also be known as “self theory.” When his approach
is used in career counseling the role of the self-concept in
terms of career choice is illuminated.

Answer 184

A

a. existential or humanistic

Some exams will call humanistic psychology “third force psychol-
ogy” because it was a reaction to behaviorism and psychoanaly-
sis, the two initial forces at the time. In regard to choices “b” and

“c,” it can be pointed out that cognitive approaches are generally
more directive and do not give the client/counselor relationship
as much emphasis as the Rogerians.

Answer 185

A

*a Refl ection is used a lot yet the counselor rarely gives ad-**
*vice.**

A strict Rogerian would generally not give the client specifi c
techniques for behavioral change or instruct the person “how
to think.” Giving advice is one of the most debated issues
in counseling. Some texts classify advice giving (along
with preaching, lecturing, and excessive questioning) as
a nonhelpful behavior. In fact, many experts insist that
lecturing/preaching is merely a variation of advice giving
and can abet a power struggle between the counselor and
the client. Advice giving in the initial sessions can keep a

client from working through his or her feelings. Never-
theless, in crisis or emergency situations, advice giving is

generally considered an appropriate intervention. Multi-
cultural experts wisely point out that some groups (e.g.,

certain Asian cultures) view counseling as a last resort in
which immediate direction is given to the client. In such
cultures Rogerian counseling is clearly not the treatment

of choice. When I was writing my book Favorite Counseling

and Therapy Techniques I asked a famous person-centered ther-
apist to contribute. He wrote me back and said, “I’m a Rogerian,

I don’t do techniques.”

Answer 186

A

*d. empathy, congruence, genuineness, and demonstrate un-**
*conditional positive regard to create a desirable “I-Thou**

relationship.”

Rogerians speak of “conditions for growth” and a therapeutic

atmosphere which produces a “climate for growth.” The coun-
selor helps produce the climate via genuineness (or congruence,

which indicates the counselor can be real in the relationship),
unconditional positive regard (nonjudgmental acceptance or
nonpossessive warmth), and empathic understanding. Rogers
has an optimistic view concerning the nature of men and women,

believing that they have an inborn tendency toward self-actual-
ization. Overall, the research does not support the notion that

these therapeutic factors are necessarily related to positive ther-
apeutic outcomes. Some studies indicate that the client’s traits

have an even greater impact on the success of psychotherapy.

Answer 187

A

*d. positive when he develops in a warm, accepting, trusting**
*environment.**

Here is a wonderful little review regarding the manner in which
the major modalities of counseling look at mankind. Expect to
see several questions of this ilk on any major exam:

*Rogers (Person-Centered)—Individual is good and moves toward**
*growth and self-actualization.**
*Berne (Transactional Analysis)—Messages learned about self in**
*childhood determine whether person is good or bad, though in-**
*tervention can change this script.**

Freud (Psychoanalysis)—Deterministic; people are controlled by

*biological instincts; are unsocialized, irrational; driven by uncon-**
*scious forces such as sex and aggression.**
*Ellis (Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy)—People have a cul-**
*tural/biological propensity to think in a disturbed manner but**

can be taught to use their capacity to react differently.

*Perls (Gestalt)—People are not bad or good. People have the capac-**
*ity to govern life effectively as “whole.” People are part of their**

environment and must be viewed as such.

*Glasser (Reality Therapy)—Individuals strive to meet basic physi-**
*ological needs and the need to be worthwhile to self and others.**
*Brain as control system tries to meet needs.**
*Adler (Individual Psychology)—Man is basically good; much of**
*behavior is determined via birth order.**
*Jung (Analytic Psychology)—Man strives for individuation or a**
*sense of self-fulfi llment.**
*Skinner (Behavior Modifi cation)—Humans are like other animals:**
*mechanistic and controlled via environmental stimuli and rein-**
*forcement contingencies; not good or bad; no self-determina-**
*tion or freedom.**
*Bandura (Neobehavioristic)—Person produces and is a product of**
*conditioning.**
*Frankl (Logotherapy)—Existential view is that humans are good,**
*rational, and retain freedom of choice.**
*Williamson (Trait-factor)—Through education and scientifi c data,**
*man can become himself. Humans are born with potential for**
*good or evil. Others are needed to help unleash positive poten-**
*tial. Man is mainly rational, not intuitive.**

Answer 188

A

*b. treat all diagnostic categories of the DSM using the same**
*principles.**

The person-centered model puts little stock in the formal pro-
cess of diagnosis and psychological assessment. People are peo-
ple, and when they are labeled they are debased to “patients.”

Moreover, traditionally, strict adherents to this model do not ask
a large number of questions (choice “c”). (Some years ago it was

considered a cardinal sin if a graduate student serving a counsel-
ing practicum asked a client a question while engaging in the

practice of person-centered counseling. Today, the practice of

asking clients questions is more common; nevertheless, open-
ended questions are highly recommended whenever possible.)

Choice “d,” contracting, is more popular with behavioristic
counselors and “directive” methods rather than “nondirective”
strategies.

Answer 189

A

a. external behavior matches an internal response or state.

When the counselor has the ability to be “real” in the relation-
ship, we say that he or she is genuine or congruent. Rogers

insists that three key factors are needed for an effective help-
ing climate. The counselor’s attitude must include genuineness

(again, also called congruence), unconditional positive regard

(also referred to as nonpossessive warmth), and empathic un-
derstanding. Congruence is a condition where the counselor is

very aware of his or her own feelings and accurately expresses
this to the client. Of the three elements, Rogers suggested that
congruence—which really implies that the counselor is genuine,
authentic, and does not put on a professional front—is the most
important of the three elements.

Answer 190

A

b. three conditions are necessary.

congruence, unconditional positive regard, empathy

Answer 191

A

d. a client who is not very verbal.

In choice “c,” the term phrenology refers to an early pseudosci-
entifi c psychological doctrine which asserted that one’s person-
ality could be determined by the shape and confi guration of the

skull.

Answer 192

A

d. b and c.

I have heard counselors humorously say that Rogerian counsel-
ing is like a joke without a punch line! Many counselors now
believe that some degree of directiveness is needed after the
relationship is built; otherwise treatment merely goes in circles.
Some books and exams refer to the process after the relationship
is built as the “action phase” of counseling. J. O. Prochaska is

very critical of the research which supposedly indicates the ef-
fectiveness of the Rogerian model, as some of the studies lacked

a control group, failed to take the placebo effect into account,

did not use the best statistical technique, or relied on self-re-
ports of the client.

Answer 193

A

d. generally do not adhere to one single theory.

Now hear this! I fully expect that you will see several questions
on your exam related to consultation. Many counselors tell me

they have never studied this topic. Read this answer over sev-
eral times. Choice “c” is not the best answer inasmuch as no

integrated theory of consultation exists at this time. Consultation
can target organizational concerns or service delivery. Several
major consultation models exist. First is Caplan’s psychodynamic
mental health consultation in which the consultant does not see
the client directly but advises the consultee (i.e., the individual
in the organization who is receiving the consultant’s services).

This model is interesting because it recommends that the con-
sultant—not the counselor/consultee—be ethically and legally

responsible for the client’s welfare and treatment. Second is the

“behavioral consultation’’ or “social learning theory model” asso-
ciated with Bandura, in which the consultant designs behavioral

change programs for the consultee to implement. Third is the
process consultation model by Edgar Schein, which is said to be
analogous to the “doctor–patient” model. The consultant is paid
to diagnose the problem (i.e., the consultee is not certain what

it is) and prescribe a solution. The focus is on the agency or or-
ganization, not the individual client. With process consultation,

the focus is not—I repeat—is not on the content of the prob-
lem, but rather the process used to solve the problems. Schein

also mentions the purchase of expertise model in which the con-
sultee says: “Here’s the problem; you fi x it.” This is similar to

the doctor–patient model except that the consultee knows what
is wrong. Fourth is triadic consultation in which the consultant
works with a mediator to provide services to a client.

Answer 194

A

b. work/organizational

Answer 195

A

a. verbal tracking.

Here is a nice little memory device. The word attending is simi-
lar to the word attention. Attending behavior occurs when you

give your clients your complete attention. Helpful “nonverbal”
behavior would include leaning forward slightly, eye contact,
and appropriate facial expression, such as smiling. Nonhelpful
nonverbals would be frowning, yawning, sitting far away from
the client, repeatedly closing your eyes, shaking a fi nger at the
client, acting as if you are in a hurry, or talking extremely fast or
slow. Some exams may speak of task-facilitative behavior versus
abstractive behavior in regard to the process of attending. When
the counselor’s thoughts are in relation to the client, this is said
to be task-facilitative. When the counselor is thinking about his
or her own concerns (e.g., how much money he or she is making
that day or where to go for lunch), then it is seen as abstractive
behavior.

Answer 196

A

b. expertise, attractiveness, and trustworthiness.

Some exams will call social power “social infl uence.” My memo-
ry technique here is what I call the “EAT” formula; the “E” is for

expertness, the “A” for attractiveness, and the “T” for trustwor-
thiness. The three factors fi rst made an impact on the counseling

profession in 1968 when Stanley Strong wrote a landmark article
which suggested that counselors perceived as expert, attractive,

and trustworthy would not be discredited by the client. Expert-
ness here refers to the manner in which the client perceives the

counselor rather than the way the counselor perceives himself
or herself. A counselor’s self-perception is technically known as

“competence.” E. Fuller Torrey, author of The Death of Psy-
chiatry, suggested that a wall full of degrees and an impressive

offi ce can help to insure that the counselor will be perceived
as an expert. Thus, a counselor who is seen as an expert may
not actually be competent. Attractiveness implies that positive
feelings and thoughts regarding the counselor are helpful. One
hypothesis states that if the client and counselor have had similar

experiences, the client will view the counselor as attractive. Cli-
ents who say, “I like my counselor,” are demonstrating that the

counselor has been perceived as attractive. The chemical depen-
dency model (CD), in which a recovering addict helps a practic-
ing addict, is based on this principle. In regard to trust, it is felt

that a violation of confi dentiality will nearly always eliminate this
factor.

Answer 197

A

d. competence, power, and intimacy.

Competence, power, and intimacy are all factors that impact the
counselor’s “social infl uence.” Competence refl ects a counselor’s

feelings regarding his or her adequacy. A counselor who feels in-
competent could directly or indirectly (e.g., tone of voice or body

posture) communicate this to the client. In counseling, power
is seen as a positive trait used to enhance the client’s growth.
Counselors struggling with their own feelings in regard to a lack
of power may become rigid, coercive, or even belligerent toward
the client. Others may become overly nondirective. A counselor
who has personal issues revolving around intimacy also could
be extremely nondirective or afraid to confront clients for fear
of rejection. Clearly, such a counselor stays at arm’s length from
clients and could personally benefi t from treatment.

Answer 198

A

d. competence, power, and intimacy.

Competence, power, and intimacy are all factors that impact the
counselor’s “social infl uence.” Competence refl ects a counselor’s

feelings regarding his or her adequacy. A counselor who feels in-
competent could directly or indirectly (e.g., tone of voice or body

posture) communicate this to the client. In counseling, power
is seen as a positive trait used to enhance the client’s growth.
Counselors struggling with their own feelings in regard to a lack
of power may become rigid, coercive, or even belligerent toward
the client. Others may become overly nondirective. A counselor
who has personal issues revolving around intimacy also could
be extremely nondirective or afraid to confront clients for fear
of rejection. Clearly, such a counselor stays at arm’s length from
clients and could personally benefi t from treatment.

Answer 199

A

d. a and b.

Answer 200

A

c. basic, subtractive, and additive.

In basic empathy the counselor’s response is on the same level

as the client’s. In the case of subtractive empathy, the coun-
selor s behavior does not completely convey an understanding of

what has been communicated. Additive empathy is most desir-
able since it adds to the client’s understanding and awareness.

Answer 201

A

a. Truax; Carkhuff

Robert Carkhuff has been quoted time and time again for his
statement that, “all helping is for better or worse.” Or as he says,
“no helpee is left unchanged by any helping interaction.”

Answer 202

A

c. empathy, positive regard (or respect), and genuineness.

Choice “b” (remember?) is the social infl uence core. The pur-
pose of this question is to make certain you are able to distin-
guish between the social infl uence core and the human relations core .

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Counseling and Helping Relationships (Intro to Counseling/Advance Counseling/Practicum) Flashcards

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