EPPP Qs 6 Flashcards
Overcorrection consists of restitution and positive practice, which can be used alone or together. Positive practice is most similar to which of the following?
A. chaining
B. negative punishment
C. discrimination training
D. habit reversal training
Answer D is correct.
Positive practice involves having the individual practice appropriate behaviors that are alternatives to his or her inappropriate behavior.
Habit reversal training similarly involves eliminating an undesirable behavior by having the individual practice an alternative, usually incompatible, behavior.
The MMPI-2’s _____ scale consists of infrequently endorsed items.
A. FB
B. S
C. TRIN
D. VRIN
Answer A is correct.
The FB (F-Back) scale consists of items that are infrequently endorsed by examinees and are similar to those included in the F scale but appear later in the inventory. A high score on this scale indicates an attempt to “fake bad.” The S (Superlative) scale assesses an examinee’s tendency to present him/herself in an unrealistically positive way. The TRIN and VRIN scales both assess response consistency.
A concurrent validity study finds that a selection test has the same validity coefficient for men and women and that men and women obtained similar job performance scores. However, women obtained significantly lower scores than men on the selection test. Which of the following terms is used to describe this situation?
A. criterion deficiency
B. measurement error
C. test unfairness
D. divergent validity
Answer C is correct.
As defined in the EEOC’s Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures, test unfairness occurs when a criterion-related validity coefficient is the same for two groups and the two groups achieve similar scores on the criterion but their scores on the predictor are significantly different.
Leader-member exchange (LMX) theory is based on the assumption that:
A. leaders who ensure that each subordinate’s job satisfies the subordinate’s prepotent needs are the most effective leaders.
B. leaders who adopt a relations-oriented (participative) leadership style are the most effective leaders.
C. leaders adopt different behaviors with different subordinates and these behaviors depend on the quality of the leader-subordinate relationship.
D. leaders adopt different behaviors with different subordinates and these behaviors are determined by the subordinate’s willingness to be a “team player.”
Answer C is correct. LMX theory is based on the assumption that leaders treat different subordinates differently, depending on the quality of the interactions between the leader and each subordinate. More specifically, it proposes that subordinates are treated as in-group or out-group members based on whether or not the leader perceives them as being competent, trustworthy, and willing to assume responsibility: In-group members have high-quality relationships with their leaders, while out-group members have low-quality relationships with their leaders.
Which of the following is most useful for explaining racial/ethnic disparities in mental and physical health?
A. cultural encapsulation
B. minority stress theory
C. diagnostic overshadowing
D. social identity theory
Answer B is correct. Minority stress theory provides “a framework for conceptualizing how experiences unique to minority groups – prejudice and discrimination, in particular – confer chronic psychological stress and heightened physiological responses that impact mental and physical health over time” [J. H. Ng, L. M. Ward, M. Shea, L. Hart, P. Guerino, and S. H. Scholle, Explaining the relationship between minority group status and health disparities: A review of selected concepts, Health Equity, 3(1), 47-60, 2019]. Cultural encapsulation (answer A) refers to a lack of understanding of how culture affects behavior and explains why some mental health professionals are unable to work effectively with members of different cultural groups. In the context of multicultural counseling, diagnostic overshadowing (answer C) occurs when a therapist minimizes or misinterprets a client’s presenting problem due to focusing on the client’s age, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, or other characteristic. Social identity theory (answer D) is used to explain racial prejudice and discrimination and is based on the assumptions that people have a natural tendency to categorize people into groups, identify with one or more groups, and favor in-groups.
When initially hired by the Acme Company three years ago, Jill Doe was told she’d receive regular raises as long as her work is satisfactory. Although Jill has consistently received excellent job evaluations from her supervisor, she has not received the raises she was promised. According to expectancy theory, which of Jill’s beliefs is most negatively affected by this situation?
A. valence
B. instrumentality
C. predictability
D. expectancy
Answer B is correct. Expectancy theory proposes that work motivation is affected by three beliefs: expectancy, instrumentality, and valence. Instrumentality is the belief that one’s job performance will be rewarded. In the situation described in this question, Jill’s excellent job performance has not been rewarded with regular raises, which were promised to her when she was hired. Valence (answer A) refers to a worker’s beliefs about the value of the rewards he/she receives. Expectancy (answer D) refers to a worker’s belief that effort will lead to successful job performance. And predictability (answer C) is not one of the determinants of motivation identified by expectancy theory.
Neuroimaging studies of individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have linked it to a reduced volume of the hippocampus and:
A. increased activity in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and decreased activity in the amygdala.
B. decreased activity in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and increased activity in the amygdala.
C. increased activity in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and amygdala.
D. decreased activity in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and amygdala.
Answer B is correct. Neuroimaging studies have linked PTSD to several brain abnormalities, including a hyperactive amygdala and anterior cingulate cortex, a hypoactive ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), and a reduced volume of the hippocampus, with some studies finding increased activity of the hippocampus and other studies finding decreased activity.
A group leader familiar with Janis’s groupthink is most likely to describe a “mindguard” as:
A. a critical evaluator.
B. the group placater.
C. an information filter.
D. an authentic dissenter.
Answer C is correct. As described by Janis (1982), self-appointed mindguards shield group members from disconfirming or problematic information that might have an adverse effect on the group’s cohesiveness. In other words, they act as an information filter.
Hackman and Oldham’s (1980) job characteristics model predicts that designing a job so it provides employees with five core job characteristics will have the greatest positive impact on employees who are:
A. low in self-monitoring.
B. high in self-monitoring.
C. low in growth-need strength.
D. high in growth-need strength.
Answer D is correct. According to Hackman and Oldham, the effects of the five core job characteristics on job outcomes are moderated by an employee’s growth-need strength: Workers with high growth-need strength (those who seek to fulfill higher-order needs) are more likely than those with low growth-need strength to be positively affected by a job that provides the five core characteristics (skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback). Self-monitoring (answers A and B) is not identified by Hackman and Oldham as a characteristic related to their job characteristics model. It refers to the extent to which people rely on internal or external cues to guide their behaviors: People low in self-monitoring rely on their own attitudes, beliefs, and feelings to determine how to act in social situations and, therefore, act similarly in different social situations. In contrast, people who are high in self-monitoring are concerned about the impressions that others have of them and adapt their actions to fit the emotions and behaviors of other people. As a result, they may act differently in different social situations.
At the end of the initial therapy session with a married couple who say they constantly argue, a practitioner of __________ therapy will assign them a task to complete before the next session that requires them to identify things in their relationship that they want to continue.
A. solution-focused
B. interpersonal
C. reality
D. acceptance and commitment
Answer A is correct.
Each session of solution-focused therapy is structured and involves asking questions, providing feedback, and assigning a task to complete before the next session. For example, the formula first session task is assigned at the end of the first session and requires clients to identify something in their lives that they want to continue.
____________ conditioning is the most effective method for establishing a conditioned response.
A. Backward
B. Trace
C. Delay
D. Simultaneous
Answer C is correct. Delay conditioning is a type of forward conditioning in which presentation of the conditioned stimulus precedes and overlaps presentation of the unconditioned stimulus. Of the methods for presenting the conditioned and unconditioned stimuli, delay conditioning produces the fastest acquisition of the conditioned response.
The best conclusion that can be drawn from research on the impact of age and gender on psychotherapy outcomes is that:
A. age and gender both have a significant impact on psychotherapy outcomes with older women having the best outcomes.
B. gender has little or no impact on psychotherapy outcomes but age has a significant impact with older men and women having better outcomes than younger men and women.
C. age has little or no impact on psychotherapy outcomes, but gender has a significant impact with men having the best outcomes.
D. age and gender have little or no consistent impact on psychotherapy outcomes.
Answer D is correct. Studies investigating the effects of age and gender on psychotherapy outcomes have not produced entirely consistent results, but the best overall conclusion is that age and gender have little or no impact on outcomes and that apparent differences are actually due to other factors. For example, one study found that, when the initial severity of symptoms was controlled, the age of clients explained essentially none of the variance in psychotherapy outcomes. See, e.g., J. F. Boswell, M. J. Constantino, and L. M. Anderson, Potential obstacles to treatment success in adults: Client characteristics, in S. Maltzman (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of treatment processes and outcomes in psychology: A multidisciplinary biopsychosocial approach (pp. 183-205), New York, Oxford University Press , 2016.
Ryder and his colleagues (2008) compared the symptoms of depression of Chinese outpatients residing in China and Euro-Canadian outpatients and found that:
A. Chinese patients were more likely than Euro-Canadian patients to express somatic symptoms and less likely to express psychological symptoms.
B. Chinese patients were more likely than Euro-Canadian patients to express psychological symptoms and less likely to express somatic symptoms.
C. Chinese patients and Euro-Canadian patients expressed a similar proportion of somatic and psychological symptoms.
D. Chinese outpatients expressed both somatic and psychological symptoms while Euro-Canadian patients expressed psychological symptoms only.
Answer A is correct.
If you’re not familiar with the Ryder et al. (2008) study, knowing that patients belonging to certain ethnic and cultural groups (including Chinese patients) are more likely to express depression as somatic complaints would have helped you identify the correct answer to this question. These investigators found that Euro-Canadian and Chinese outpatients both expressed a mixture of somatic and psychological symptoms but that Euro-Canadian patients expressed a greater proportion of psychological symptoms while Chinese patients expressed a greater proportion of somatic symptoms. Ryder et al. attribute the propensity of Chinese patients to somaticize depression to “externally oriented thinking,” which occurs because their culture tends to discourage focusing on internal emotional states and, as a result, they’re more likely to notice somatic symptoms. [A. G. Ryder et al., The cultural shaping of depression: Somatic symptoms in China, psychological symptoms in North America?, Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 117(2), 300-313, 2008]
The three primary functions of interprofessional collaboration in primary care settings are referred to as the “triple aim” and include all of the following except:
A. improve health outcomes.
B. improve patient care.
C. reduce disparities in services.
D. reduce healthcare costs.
Answer C is correct. The three primary functions of interprofessional collaboration in primary care are the functions listed in answers A, B, and D. Reducing disparities in services (answer C) is the best answer not only because it is not one of the three primary functions identified in the literature but also because it is best viewed as a contributor to improved health outcomes and patient care rather than as a separate function. [See, e.g., R. A. Zucchero, Psychology student experience of a brief, interprofessional team training, Psychology Learning & Teaching, 16(1), 84-92, 2017.]
A psychotherapist who has an emic perspective:
A. focuses on changing characteristics of the client to better fit environmental demands.
B. focuses on changing the client’s environment to better fit the client’s needs.
C. recognizes the differences between cultural groups.
D. tends to overlook important cultural differences.
Answer C is correct. A psychologist who has an emic perspective believes that behavior is affected by culture and, as a result, views the causes and manifestations of and optimal interventions for psychological disorders as being affected by a person’s cultural background. In contrast, a psychologist who has an etic perspective does not consider the impact of culture and views the causes and manifestations of and optimal interventions for psychological disorders as being essentially the same for members of all cultures. Answers D describes an etic perspective.
Answers A and B refer to autoplastic and alloplastic interventions, respectively.
Piferi, Jobe, and Jones (2006) asked college students why they donated money or provided other assistance to victims of 9/11. The results of a follow-up study indicated that students who gave which of the following reasons were most likely to continue to give assistance one year later?
A. because others would do the same thing for them
B. because it was the patriotic thing to do
C. because the victims were suffering
D. because it helped reduce their own pain
Answer C is correct. R. L. Piferi, R. L. Jobe, and W. H. Jones’s study found that altruistic motivation for helping victims of a tragedy (helping to improve the victims’ well-being) was more predictive than egoistic motivation (helping to alleviate one’s own suffering) for predicting future helping [Giving to others during national tragedy: The effects of altruistic and egoistic motivations in long-term giving, Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 23(1), 171-184, 2006].
Interest inventories are least useful for predicting which of the following?
A. job choice
B. job satisfaction
C. job performance
D. job persistence
Answer C is correct. Research evaluating the validity of interest inventories has found that they are good predictors of job choice, satisfaction, and persistence. However, they are less valid than intelligence tests for predicting academic and job performance, apparently because performance depends more on ability than interests.
As described by Kahneman and Tversky (1974), the representativeness heuristic is most similar to which of the following?
A. illusory correlation
B. counterfactual thinking
C. confirmation bias
D. base rate fallacy
Answer D is correct. The base rate fallacy (also known as base rate neglect) is the tendency to ignore or underuse base rate information and to rely, instead, on irrelevant information. Of the cognitive errors and biases listed in the answers, it’s most similar to the representativeness heuristic. When relying on this heuristic to make judgments about the likelihood of an event, a person ignores base rates and other important information and focuses, instead, on the extent to which the event resembles a typical case. Some experts believe the base rate fallacy is the result of relying on the representativeness heuristic.
African American therapy clients are most likely to prefer:
A. a collaborative, client-centered, nondirective approach.
B. an authoritative, educational/informational approach.
C. an egalitarian, problem-focused, time-limited approach.
D. a nondirective, insight-oriented approach.
Answer C is correct.
Although it’s best not to assume that all members of any racial/ethnic group have the same therapy preferences, some generalizations are useful as guidelines. For example, D. W. Sue and D. Sue stress the importance of fostering an egalitarian, collaborative relationship with African American therapy clients and relying on a time-limited, problem-solving approach (Counseling the culturally diverse: Theory and practice, Hoboken, NJ, John Wiley & Sons, 2016).
Which of the following areas of the brain has been identified as “ground zero” for Alzheimer’s disease?
A. amygdala
B. thalamus
C. locus coeruleus
D. corpus callosum
Answer C is correct. To identify the correct answer to this question, you have to know that the term “ground zero” is used to refer to the starting point of an event and that the locus coeruleus (an area in the brain stem) has been identified as the first area of the brain to be affected by Alzheimer’s disease (Mather & Harley, 2016). As the disorder progresses, many other areas of the brain are affected including the amygdala, thalamus, and corpus callosum.
Tom watches a very violent movie and, on his way out of the crowded movie theater, his skinny friend accidentally steps on Tom’s foot. Tom reacts by becoming very angry and yelling at and shoving his friend. Tom’s behavior toward his friend is best explained by which of the following?
A. excitation transfer theory
B. social facilitation
C. mere exposure effect
D. frustration aggression hypothesis
Answer A is correct. Excitation transfer “occurs when the arousal caused by one stimulus is added to the arousal from a second stimulus and the combined arousal is attributed (erroneously) to the second stimulus” (C. A. Sanderson, Social psychology, Hoboken, NJ, John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 2010, p. 423) In the situation described in this question, Tom experienced physiological arousal from watching the violent movie and, when his friend stepped on his foot, the arousal from that event combined with the arousal from the movie. Consistent with the prediction of excitation transfer theory, Tom attributed the combined arousal to having his foot stepped on and overreacted by becoming angry and yelling at and shoving his friend. Note that the frustration-aggression hypothesis (answer D) predicts that the inability to achieve a goal leads to frustration which, in turn, leads to aggressive behavior. This doesn’t describe Tom’s experience.
Cognitive processing therapy (CPT) is a research supported treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder that combines which of the following?
A. challenging problematic cognitions related to the trauma and writing and reading a detailed description of the trauma
B. challenging dysfunctional thoughts related to the trauma and stress inoculation training
C. reality testing dysfunctional thoughts related to the trauma and prolonged exposure using an anxiety hierarchy
D. bilateral eye movements with cognitive processing of traumatic memories
Answer A is correct. CPT has received considerable research support as a treatment for PTSD and combines cognitive therapy with exposure. The cognitive therapy component focuses on identifying and challenging negative beliefs (“stuck points”) that keep the person from recovering from the trauma. The exposure component involves writing a detailed description of the traumatic event and reading it aloud to the therapist.
Diazepam, alprazolam, and lorazepam are:
A. opioids that are used to treat chronic pain.
B. antidepressants that are used to treat atypical depression.
C. benzodiazepines that are used to treat anxiety and insomnia.
D. barbiturates that are used to treat anxiety and seizures.
Answer C is correct. Diazepan (Valium), alprazolam (Xanax), and lorazepam (Ativan) are benzodiazepines and are one type of sedative-hypnotics (barbiturates are another type). The benzodiazepines increase GABA activity and are used to treat anxiety, insomnia, seizures, and alcohol withdrawal.
The first-line treatment for female orgasmic disorder (FOD) is generally considered to be which of the following?
A. orgasmic reconditioning
B. relaxation training
C. Kegel exercises
D. directed masturbation
Answer D is correct. Behavioral and cognitive-behavioral techniques have been found effective for treating FOD. Of these, directed masturbation is the most empirically supported technique (especially for lifelong FOD) and is considered to be the first-line treatment for this disorder.
A patient with a brain injury who is nonagitated but confused and responds to simple, familiar commands but has difficulty retaining new information would most likely receive a __________ rating on the Rancho Scale of Cognitive Functioning Revised.
A. Level I
B. Level III
C. Level V
D. Level VIII
A patient with a brain injury who is nonagitated but confused and responds to simple, familiar commands but has difficulty retaining new information would most likely receive a __________ rating on the Rancho Scale of Cognitive Functioning Revised.
A. Level I
B. Level III
C. Level V
D. Level VIII
Practitioners of Glasser’s (1998) reality therapy are most likely to agree that the primary source of human motivation is which of the following?
A. basic innate needs
B. striving for superiority
C. an innate self-actualizing tendency
D. future goals
Answer A is correct. Glasser proposed that five basic innate needs act as the primary sources of motivation: survival, freedom, love and belonging, power, and fun.
A recently hired employee gets his first performance review and notices that, while the review is very positive and his supervisor has said many nice things about him, the supervisor has included a minor criticism of his written reports. This single criticism causes the employee to conclude that he’s worthless and will never get promoted out of his entry-level job. Aaron Beck would consider the employee’s conclusion to be an example of which of the following?
A. personalization
B. selective abstraction
C. dichotomous thinking
D. arbitrary inference
Answer B is correct. Selective abstraction is a type of cognitive distortion that involves drawing a conclusion based on one detail while ignoring the “bigger picture.” In the situation described in this question, the employee has decided that he’s worthless and not likely to be promoted based on a single criticism while ignoring the fact that he received a very positive performance review. Selective abstraction is sometimes confused with arbitrary inference (answer D). However, selective abstraction involves drawing a conclusion based on a detail that’s taken out of context, while arbitrary inference involves drawing a conclusion without any corroborating evidence.
Which of the following are evidence-based treatments for binge-eating disorder?
A. cognitive-behavioral therapy and interpersonal psychotherapy
B. cognitive-behavioral therapy and motivational interviewing
C. family focused therapy and interpersonal psychotherapy
D. family-based treatment and acceptance and commitment therapy
Answer A is correct. The adaptations of cognitive-behavioral therapy and interpersonal therapy for eating disorders are evidence-based treatments for binge-eating disorder and are recommended by the American Psychological Association’s Society of Clinical Psychology (https://div12.org/treatments).
Which of the following best describes the frequency of the insanity defense and acquittals?
A. It’s raised in less than 1% of all felony cases and leads to acquittal only about 25% of the time.
B. It’s raised in 5 to 15% of all felony cases and leads to acquittal only about 30% of the time.
C. It’s raised in about 25% of all felony cases and leads to acquittal about 50% of the time.
D. It’s raised in about 50% of all felony cases and leads to acquittal only about 25% of the time.
Answer A is correct. The not guilty by reason of insanity defense is relatively rare in felony cases and is usually unsuccessful. The rates of occurrence vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction but, overall, the insanity defense is raised in less than 1% of all felony cases and is successful only about 25% of the time. See, e.g., C. R. Bartol and A. M. Bartol, Psychology and law: Research and practice (2nd ed.), Thousand Oaks, CA, SAGE Publications, Inc., 2019.
Dronabinol is a synthetic form of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) that has been FDA approved for the treatment of:
A. chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting.
B. irritable bowel syndrome.
C. dystonia.
D. levodopa-induced dyskinesias.
Answer A is correct. Dronabinol has been approved for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting for patients with cancer who have not responded to other antiemetic treatments. It has not been approved by the FDA for the conditions listed in answers B, C, and D.
When conducting research to evaluate the outcomes of a new treatment for a mental disorder:
A. efficacy studies that maximize internal validity are usually conducted first and effectiveness studies that maximize external validity are conducted next.
B. effectiveness studies that maximize internal validity are usually conducted first and efficacy studies that maximize internal validity are conducted next.
C. efficacy studies that maximize external validity are usually conducted first and effectiveness studies that maximize internal validity are conducted next.
D. effectiveness studies that maximize external validity are usually conducted first and efficacy studies that maximize internal validity are conducted next.
Answer A is correct. To identify the correct answer to this question, you need to know that efficacy studies maximize internal validity (which makes it possible to identify the effects of a treatment on the outcome variables), while effectiveness studies maximize external validity (which makes it possible to generalize those effects to other populations and conditions). Knowing this would allow you to eliminate answers B and C. Then, to identify answer A as the correct answer, you have to know that internal validity places a limit on external validity – i.e., if a treatment has limited internal validity, it will necessarily have limited external validity. Therefore, it makes sense that you’d want to be “able to conclude with reasonable certainty that your independent variable is responsible for the observed change in the dependent variable before there is anything worthwhile to generalize to the population at large” [J. Rosqvist, J. C. Thomas, & P. Truax, Effectiveness versus efficacy studies, in J. C. Thomas & M. Hersen (Eds.), Understanding research in clinical and counseling psychology (pp. 319-354), New York, Routledge, 2011].
Lewinsohn’s (1974) model of depression attributes it to:
A. a chronic boundary disturbance.
B. “depressogenic” cognitions.
C. a low rate of response-contingent reinforcement.
D. inadequate stimulus discrimination.
Answer C is correct. Knowing that Lewinsohn’s model of depression is known as social reinforcement theory would have helped you identify the correct answer to this question. The model is based on the principles of operant conditioning and attributes depression to low rates of response-contingent reinforcement for social behaviors due to a lack of reinforcement in the environment and/or poor social skills.
Rods and cones are the two types of photoreceptors in the eye. The cones are responsible for all of the following except:
A. color vision.
B. vision in bright light.
C. peripheral vision.
D. visual acuity.
Answer C is correct. The cones work best in bright light and are responsible for visual acuity (sharpness and precise detail) and the perception of color. The rods do not perceive color but are most important for peripheral vision and, because they’re more sensitive to light, are responsible for vision in dim light.
A psychology intern working at a mental health clinic tells her supervisor that, during the first session with a new client, he revealed that he’s gay. The intern says she does not want to work with this client or any other gay or lesbian clients because homosexuality violates her religious beliefs. The supervisor should:
A. tell the intern that she should just treat the client like any other client and volunteer to provide her with additional supervision as needed to help her do so.
B. tell the intern that she has to work with diverse clients (including homosexual clients) to complete her internship and volunteer to provide her with additional supervision to help her resolve the conflict between her religious beliefs and the requirements of her internship.
C. determine if it’s necessary to reassign the intern’s current client to another therapist and reassure the intern that she has the right to refuse to work with gay and lesbian clients.
D. determine if it’s necessary to reassign the intern’s current client to another therapist and discuss with the intern ways that might help her reconcile the conflict between her religious beliefs and the requirement that psychologists work effectively with diverse (including homosexual) clients.
Answer D is correct. Conflicts between religious values and professional competence when working with diverse clients have been addressed by a number of experts. For example, the APA’s Virtual Working Group on Restrictions Affecting Diversity Training in Graduate Education developed a Sample Program Policy Statement that articulates the policy for APA-accredited programs when trainees experience conflicts when working with diverse clients. Among other things, its states that the program is committed to helping trainees develop the knowledge and skills they need to work with diverse clients and to providing trainees with additional time and faculty support to help them integrate their personal values with the professional competence they need to work with all clients. Answer D is the best answer because it not only reflects this position but also takes into account the welfare of the intern’s current client. See, e.g., E. H. Wise, K. J. Bieschke, L. Forrest, J. Cohen-Filpic, W. L. Hathaway, and L. A. Douce, Psychology’s proactive approach to conscience clause court cases and legislation, Training and Education in Professional Psychology, 9, 259-268, 2015.
Research comparing the effectiveness of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) as treatments for major depressive disorder has found that ECT is associated with:
A. higher response and remission rates than rTMS is.
B. lower response and remission rates than rTMS is.
C. higher response rates but lower remission rates than rTMS is.
D. lower response rates but higher remission rates than rTMS is.
Answer A is correct. ECT and rTMS are both evidence-based treatments for major depressive disorder, but ECT has been found to have higher response and remission rates, with the superiority of ECT being greatest for patients with psychotic depression (Ren et al., 2014).
Chronic __________ excitotoxicity has been linked to Alzheimer’s disease, Huntington’s disease, and several other neurodegenerative disorders.
A. acetylcholine
B. serotonin
C. glutamate
D. GABA
Answer C is correct. Excessive levels of glutamate in certain areas of the brain can cause excitoxicity (overexcitation of neurons), which causes degeneration of the neurons and has been found to play a role in seizures, stroke-related brain damage, and several neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer’s disease, Huntington’s disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
Assuming that a woman’s symptoms meet the diagnostic criteria for a diagnosis of delusional disorder, the appropriate type of delusion is erotomanic if she’s convinced that:
A. her husband is having sexual relations with several of the neighbors.
B. a local celebrity she met at a fundraiser six months ago is in love with her.
C. every man she meets wants to have sex with her.
D. no “decent man” could ever be in love with her.
Answer B is correct. The DSM-5 states that the erotomanic type “applies when the central theme [of the delusion] is that another person is in love with the individual” (p. 90).
On the MMPI-2, which of the following is suggested by a combination of elevated scores on scales 1 (Hs) and 3 (Hy) and a low score on scale 2 (D)?
A. passive-aggressive tendencies
B. immaturity and self-centeredness
C. somatization of psychological problems
D. exaggeration or faking of psychological problems
Answer C is correct. Elevated scores on scales 1 (Hs) and 3 (Hy) with a significantly lower score on scale 2 (D) on the MMPI-2 is referred to as the “conversion V” pattern. It’s associated with somatization of psychological problems, poor insight into feelings and motivation, and a desire to appear rational and normal.
A 12-year-old boy stops teasing his younger sister because, whenever he does, his parents subtract 50 cents from his weekly allowance. This is an example of which of the following?
A. positive reinforcement.
B. negative reinforcement.
C. positive punishment.
D. negative punishment.
Answer D is correct. Negative punishment occurs when a behavior decreases or stops because a stimulus is removed following the behavior. In the situation described in this question, the behavior is teasing and the stimulus is a loss of 50 cents, and the boy stopped teasing his sister because 50 cents is taken away whenever he does so.
The research has found that, in adulthood, __________ memory is most negatively affected by increasing age.
A. primary
B. secondary
C. implicit
D. sensory
Answer B is correct. Secondary memory is another name for recent long-term memory. It’s associated with the greatest age-related decline and is more pronounced for recall tasks than recognition tasks.
Kluver and Bucy (1938) found that bilateral lesioning of which of the following areas of the brain in rhesus monkeys caused visual agnosia, reduced fear, increased docility, dietary changes, and abnormal sexual behavior.
A. medulla, hippocampus, and frontal lobes
B. medulla, hypothalamus, and frontal lobes
C. amygdala, hippocampus, and temporal lobes
D. amygdala, hypothalamus, and temporal lobes
Answer C is correct. H. Kluver and P. C. Bucy (1939) state that Kluver-Bucy syndrome was caused by lesioning the temporal lobe, hippocampus, and amygdala of rhesus monkeys. They also note that the hippocampus is part of the Papez circuit which is responsible for emotions and includes the hypothalamus and other structures, and they suggest that lesioning the hippocampus interrupted this circuit, which means that it also interrupted the normal functioning of those structures. However, answer D is not the best answer because Kluver and Bucy did not lesion the hypothalamus, and this question is asking about the areas of the brain that they lesioned [Preliminary analysis of the functions of the temporal lobes in monkeys, Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry, 42(6), 979-100, 1939].
John Watson used classical conditioning to establish a phobia in a young boy named Albert. At the beginning of the study, Albert had a natural startle response to an unexpected loud noise but he was not afraid of a white rat. However, by repeatedly pairing presentation of the white rat with an unexpected loud noise, Albert eventually exhibited a startle response when the white rat was presented alone. In this situation, the white rat was which of the following?
A. the unconditioned stimulus
B. the conditioned stimulus
C. the back-up reinforcer
D. the generalized conditioned reinforcer
Answer B is correct. Classical conditioning involves repeatedly pairing presentation of a neutral stimulus (a stimulus that does not naturally elicit the target response) with an unconditioned stimulus (a stimulus that naturally elicits the target response) so that the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus and elicits the target response when presented alone. In Watson’s research, the loud noise was the unconditioned stimulus because it naturally produced a startle response, and the white rat became the conditioned stimulus because it produced a startle response after being paired with the loud noise.
When it’s determined that a child’s nocturnal enuresis is not due to a medical condition, the most effective treatment in terms of long-term effects is which of the following?
A. desmopressin
B. imipramine
C. moisture alarm
D. hypnotherapy
Answer C is correct. The moisture alarm and desmopressin have similar short-term effects, but the moisture alarm has been found to have the best long-term effects. See, e.g., N. Perrin, L. Sayer, and A. While, The efficacy of alarm therapy versus desmopressin therapy in the treatment of primary mono-symptomatic nocturnal enuresis: A systematic review, Primary Health Care Research and Development, 19, 1-11, 2013.
The course of ____________ varies and may involve an acute onset of symptoms or a stepwise or progressive decline in functioning with fluctuations in symptoms or plateaus of varying length.
A. vascular neurocognitive disorder
B. alcohol-induced neurocognitive disorder
C. neurocognitive disorder due to Alzheimer’s disease
D. neurocognitive disorder due to Parkinson’s disease
Answer A is correct. The course of vascular neurocognitive disorder depends on the nature and severity of the cerebrovascular disease, the areas of the brain that are affected, and other factors, and it may involve an acute onset of symptoms or a stepwise or fluctuating decline in functioning.
According to Berry (2005), immigrants and minority group members are most likely to experience the lowest level of acculturative stress when they have adopted which of the following acculturation strategies?
A. marginalization
B. assimilation
C. separation
D. integration
Answer D is correct. Berry distinguished between the four acculturation strategies listed in the answers, which differ with regard to how immigrants or minority group members respond to their own cultures and the culture of the dominant society. According to Berry, the least acculturative stress is experienced by individuals who adopt an integration strategy, which involves retaining one’s own culture and accepting the culture of the dominant society.
According to self-verification theory (Swann, Pelham, & Krull, 1989), people who are insecure about their physical appearance and have other negative self-views are most likely to be drawn to potential romantic partners who:
A. verify their negative self-views.
B. challenge their negative self-views.
C. avoid making any positive or negative comments about them.
D. talk mostly about themselves.
Answer A is correct. Self-verification theory predicts that, regardless of whether a person’s self-concept is positive or negative, the person will seek feedback from and prefer to spend time with people who confirm his/her self-concept.
Which of the following uses eye opening, verbal, and motor responses to stimuli to evaluate a patient’s level of consciousness?
A. Mini Mental State Exam
B. Rancho Scale of Cognitive Functioning
C. Bender Visual-Motor Gestalt Test
D. Glasgow Coma Scale
Answer D is correct. When using the Glasgow Coma Scale to assess level of consciousness, the patient is rated on his/her best eye opening, verbal, and motor responses. The total rating ranges from 3 (deep coma or brain death) to 15 (normal).
When a patient with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) has not responded adequately to an SSRI or SNRI, the most likely drug-of-choice is:
A. propranolol.
B. buspirone.
C. valproic acid.
D. risperidone.
Answer B is correct. The first-line drugs for GAD are SSRIs and SNRIs. When symptoms do not respond to these antidepressants, the drug-of-choice is often the anxiolytic buspirone (Buspar) or a benzodiazepine.
In a research study, Halloween trick-or-treaters were assigned to one of four conditions: alone and identifiable, alone and unidentifiable, group and identifiable, or group and unidentifiable. For children in each condition, the researcher left the room after instructing them to take only one piece of candy from the bowl on the table. The results indicated that children took the most candy from the bowl when they were in a group and unidentifiable. These results provide support for which of the following?
A. deindividuation
B. insufficient justification
C. behavioral willingness
D. groupthink
Answer A is correct. The study described in this question is similar to the one conducted by E. Diener, S. C. Fraser, A. L. Beaman, and R. T. Kelem (Effects of deindividuation variables on stealing by Halloween trick-or-treaters, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 33, 178-183, 1976). Consistent with other research on deindividuation, Diener et al. found that children took the most candy when they were in a group and could do so anonymously.
According to Sherif and Hovland’s (1961) social judgment theory, which of the following affects the size of a person’s latitudes of acceptance, rejection, and non-commitment?
A. the person’s use of the peripheral or central route to process the information contained in the persuasive message
B. the person’s belief about his/her ability to perform the behavior advocated by the persuasive message
C. the person’s prior exposure to the arguments presented in the persuasive message
D. the person’s ego-involvement with the issue addressed by the persuasive message
Answer D is correct. Social judgment theory predicts that the more ego-involved a person is with one side of the issue addressed by a persuasive message, the smaller his/her latitudes of acceptance and non-commitment and the larger his/her latitude of rejection. In other words, the greater the person’s ego-involvement in his/her position, the less likely the person is to be persuaded by a message advocating an opposing position.
Among first-degree relatives who share 50% of their genes, when one person has schizophrenia, his/her relative has a _____% chance of also receiving the diagnosis.
A. 6 to 17
B. 15 to 28
C. 25 to 34
D. 46 to 50
Answer A is correct. I. I. Gottesman reports that, when a person has schizophrenia, the chance that a first-degree relative who shares 50% of that person’s genes is 6% for a biological parent, 9% for a biological sibling, 13% for a child, and 17% for a dizygotic twin. In contrast, the chance is 48% for monozygotic twins who share 100% of their genes (Schizophrenia genesis: The origins of madness, New York, W. H. Freeman and Company, 1991).
A child who has received a diagnosis of ADHD will likely obtain the lowest score on the WISC-V’s:
A. Working Memory Index.
B. Visual Spatial Index.
C. Processing Speed Index.
D. Verbal Comprehension Index.
Answer C is correct. Children with ADHD included in the WISC-V standardization sample obtained the lowest mean score on the Processing Speed Index followed by, in order from lowest to highest score, the Working Memory, Fluid Reasoning, Visual Spatial, and Verbal Comprehension Indexes (D. Wechsler, WISC-V: Technical and interpretive manual supplement, Bloomington, MN, PsychCorp, 2014).
Following a traumatic brain injury, Carl tends to bump into things on the left side of his body and, when asked to copy a picture of a house, he draws only the right side of the house. Which of the following areas of Carl’s brain was most likely affected by the injury?
A. temporal lobe
B. parietal lobe
C. frontal lobe
D. occipital lobe
Answer B is correct. Carl’s symptoms are characteristic of contralateral neglect, which is caused by damage to the parietal lobe (most often the right parietal lobe). A person with this disorder neglects the side of his/her body opposite the location of the damage and is unaware of objects on that side of his/her body.
Research participants are asked to memorize a list of unrelated words and then recall the words in any order after a brief delay. Most likely, the subjects will recall:
A. words from the beginning of the list better than words from the middle or end of the list.
B. words from the end of the list better than words from the beginning or middle of the list.
C. words from the beginning and end of the list about equally well and better than words from the middle of the list.
D. words from the middle and end of the list about equally well and better than words from the beginning of the list.
Answer A is correct. The **serial position effect ** occurs when a person is asked to memorize a list of unrelated words and then asked to recall as many words as possible in any order either immediately or after a brief delay. When asked to recall the words immediately, a person is likely to exhibit both primacy and recency effects – i.e., to recall more words at the beginning and end of the list than words in the middle of the list. In contrast, when asked to recall the words after a brief delay, the person will exhibit only a primacy effect.
When determining if a client’s symptoms are due to somatic symptom disorder or illness anxiety disorder, the presence of which of the following would help confirm the diagnosis of somatic symptom disorder?
A. The client has persistent thoughts about the seriousness of her symptoms.
B. The client is preoccupied with worry about having or acquiring a serious illness.
C. The client is preoccupied with a perceived flaw in her physical appearance.
D. The client engages in excessive health-related behaviors.
Answer A is correct. A characteristic that distinguishes somatic symptom disorder from illness anxiety disorder is that a person with somatic symptom disorder is preoccupied with one or more somatic symptoms (answer A), while a person with illness anxiety disorder is preoccupied with having or acquiring a serious illness (answer B). People with both disorders often engage in excessive health-related behaviors (answer D), and people with body dysmorphic disorder are preoccupied with a perceived defect or flaw in their physical appearance (answer C).
In response to the Heinz dilemma, Morgan says that Heinz shouldn’t steal the drug that his wife needs because people will think he’s a thief if he does so. Morgan’s response suggests that he’s in Kohlberg’s __________ level of moral development.
A. preconventional
B. conventional
C. transconventional
D. postconventional
Answer B is correct. The two stages of Kohlberg’s conventional level are (a) the “good boy/good girl” stage, during which the acceptability of a behavior depends on whether or not it’s socially approved of or liked by others, and (b) the law and order orientation stage, during which the acceptability of a behavior depends on whether or not it violates laws and rules that have been established by legitimate authorities. Morgan’s response indicates that he’s in the first stage of the conventional level.
Venlafaxine and duloxetine are:
A. SSRIs.
B. SNRIs.
C. TCAs.
D. MAOIs.
Answer B is correct. Venlafaxine and duloxetine are SNRIs that are used to treat major depressive disorder, social anxiety disorder, and neuropathic pain.
Which of the following is most useful for understanding why the elicitation of strong emotions occurs less often in the later (versus earlier) stages of an intimate relationship?
A. Aronson and Linder’s gain-loss effect
B. Berscheid’s emotion-in-relationships model
C. Byrne’s law of attraction
D. Baumeister and Bushman’s mere exposure effect
Answer B is correct. According to Berscheid (1991), strong emotions are elicited in close relationships when a partner engages in an unexpected behavior that interrupts the partners’ usual behavioral routines. It predicts that the elicitation of strong positive or negative emotions occurs less often in the later stages of a close relationship because a partner’s behaviors are less likely to be unexpected.
An accumulation of neuritic plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in the entorhinal cortex, hippocampus, and amygdala is associated with which of the following?
A. neurocognitive disorder due to HIV infection
B. neurocognitive disorder due to Parkinson’s disease
C. neurocognitive disorder due to Alzheimer’s disease
D. frontotemporal neurocognitive disorder
Answer C is correct. Neurocognitive disorder due to Alzheimer’s disease has been linked to a progressive accumulation of extracellular amyloid-predominant neuritic plaques and intracellular tau-predominant neurofibrillary tangles in the areas of the brain listed in this question.
A person whose symptoms meet the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for alcohol withdrawal is least likely to exhibit which of the following?
A. generalized tonic-clonic seizures
B. nystagmus
C. transient hallucinations or illusions
D. autonomic hyperactivity
Answer B is correct. The DSM-5 diagnosis of alcohol withdrawal requires the presence of two or more of the following symptoms after cessation or reduction of heavy and prolonged alcohol use:
1. autonomic hyperactivity,
2. hand tremor,
3. insomnia,
4. nausea or vomiting,
5. transient hallucinations or illusions,
6. psychomotor agitation,
7. anxiety, and
8. generalized tonic-clonic seizures. Nystagmus is one of the diagnostic criteria for alcohol intoxication.
Which of the following is ordinarily one of the last self-conscious emotions to emerge?
A. guilt
B. embarrassment
C. jealousy
D. empathy
Answer A is correct. Embarrassment, envy (jealousy), and empathy are the first self-conscious emotions to emerge at about 18 to 24 months of age. These emotions are followed by pride, shame, and guilt at about 30 to 36 months of age.
During a couple’s first therapy session, the wife says, “my life would be a lot better if I wasn’t so depressed all the time.” The therapist, a practitioner of narrative family therapy, is most likely to respond to the woman’s statement by asking her which of the following?
A. How has being depressed affected your marriage?
B. What would your life be like if you weren’t always depressed?
C. Does being depressed help you in any way?
D. How long has the depression been controlling your life?
Answer D is correct. Externalizing the problem is an essential strategy of narrative family therapy and involves “reframing the problem from an internal deficiency or pathological condition in the individual to an objectified external and unwelcome narrative with a will of its own to dominate their lives” [H. Goldenberg and I. Goldenberg, Family therapy: An overview (8th ed.), Belmont, CA, 2012, p. 403]. Of the questions listed in the answers, a narrative family therapist is most likely to ask how long the depression has been controlling the client’s life since this would help externalize and objectify the depression.
The distribution of scores obtained by 200 college undergraduates on an introductory psychology final exam is positively skewed. If the scores obtained by these students are converted to percentile ranks, the resulting distribution will be:
A. normally shaped.
B. positively skewed.
C. flat (rectangular).
D. leptokurtic.
Answer C is correct. Percentile rank distributions are always flat regardless of the shape of the raw score distribution because percentile ranks are evenly distributed throughout the range of scores: The same number of scores fall between the percentile ranks of 1 and 10, 11 and 20, 21 and 30, etc.
The numerator of the F-ratio produced by a one-way ANOVA is a measure of variability in dependent variable scores that’s due to:
A. treatment effects only.
B. error only.
C. treatment effects plus error.
D. treatment effects minus error.
Answer C is correct. The F-ratio is calculated by dividing the mean square between (MSB) by the mean square within (MSW).
MSB is a measure of variability due to a combination of treatment effects plus error,
while MSW is a measure of variability due to error only. When MSB is divided by MSW, this produces the F-ratio which provides an estimate of treatment effects.
Judge, Bono, Ilies, and Gerehardt’s (2002) meta-analysis of the research found that, of the Big Five personality traits, ___________ is the best predictor of leader effectiveness.
A. openness to experience
B. extraversion
C. conscientiousness
D. agreeableness
Answer B is correct. Judge, Bono, Ilies, and Gerehardt’s meta-analysis found that extraversion and conscientiousness have the largest correlation coefficients with leader effectiveness (.31 and .28, respectively). (Note that this question is asking specifically about the personality trait that’s most predictive of leader effectiveness.
If it asked about the best predictor of **job performance across different jobs and performance criteria, the correct answer would have been conscientiousness.)
Heinrich and colleagues (2010) used the acronym WEIRD to describe which of the following?
A. the lack of diversity in the characteristics of research participants.
B. the lack of diversity among mental health professionals.
C. the factors that contribute to covert forms of racism.
D. the factors that contribute to deviance from social norms.
Answer A is correct. As described by Henrich et al. (2010), WEIRD is an acronym for western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic cultures. According to these investigators, studies published in the world’s top journals have over-relied on samples drawn from WEIRD cultures, and, consequently, their results may have limited generalizability to people in other cultures.
According to Ridley (2005), when an African American client of a White therapist is unwilling to disclose personal information due to cultural paranoia, the therapist should:
A. ignore the client’s paranoia unless it interferes with the progress of therapy.
B. interpret the client’s paranoia as transference.
C. discuss the meaning of the client’s paranoia with him/her.
D. determine if the client’s paranoia occurs in other situations.
Answer C is correct. As defined by C. R. Ridley, cultural paranoia refers to “a minority group member’s healthy reaction to racism” [Overcoming unintentional racism in counseling and therapy: A practitioner’s guide to intentional intervention (2nd ed.), Thousand Oaks, CA, SAGE Publications, Inc., 2005, p. 64]. He proposes that, in this situation, the appropriate strategy for a White therapist is to discuss the meaning of the cultural paranoia with the client and encourage the client to distinguish between when it is and is not safe to self-disclose.
Mothers and fathers often begin to perceive and treat their boy and girl babies in gender stereotypic ways:
A. at or soon after the birth of their babies.
B. about 6 months after the birth of their babies.
C. about 12 months after the birth of their babies.
D. between 24 and 30 months after the birth of their babies.
Answer A is correct. Mothers and fathers tend to perceive and treat boys and girls differently on the basis of sex as soon as their children are born. For example, parents often describe newborn boys as “strong” and “big” and handle them more firmly and describe newborn girls as “delicate” and “little” and handle them more gently.
Several studies have found that extreme scores on the F, K, and L scales of the MMPI-2 distinguish between parents going through child custody evaluations who do and do not have symptoms of which of the following?
A. substance use disorder
B. parental alienation syndrome
C. borderline personality disorder
D. malingering
Answer B is correct. Several studies have found that parents undergoing child custody evaluations who have symptoms of parental alienation syndrome are more likely than those without symptoms to respond defensively to the MMPI-2 as evidenced by higher-than-normal scores on the L and K scales and lower-than-normal scores on the F scale. See, e.g., R. M. Gordon, R. Stoffey, and J. Bottenelli, MMPI-2 findings of primitive defenses in alienating parents, The American Journal of Family Therapy, 36, 211-228, 2008.
Studies conducted at Ohio State University in the 1950s found that leader behaviors can be described in terms of two independent dimensions which the researchers named:
A. transformational and transactional.
B. directive and delegative.
C. high LPC and low LPC.
D. initiating structure and consideration.
Answer D is correct. Ohio State University researchers found that leader behaviors represent two independent dimensions: Leaders high in initiating structure are task-oriented and focus on achieving performance goals, while leaders high in consideration are person-oriented and focus on fostering the trust and respect of subordinates.
Which of the following is not characteristic of neurocognitive disorder with Lewy bodies?
A. fluctuating cognition that involves changes in attention and alertness
B. recurrent visual hallucinations
C. spontaneous parkinsonism
D. perseverative behavior
Answer D is correct. The DSM-5 identifies the symptoms listed in answers A, B, and C as the core diagnostic features of neurocognitive disorder with Lewy bodies. Perseverative, stereotyped, or compulsive/ritualistic behavior is a diagnostic criterion for frontotemporal neurocognitive disorder.
The term “shrinking retrograde amnesia” refers to:
A. the tendency of remote long-term memories to be affected more than recent memories by a head injury.
B. the tendency of recent long-term memories to be affected more than remote memories by a head injury.
C. the return of more recent long-term memories before older long-term memories following a head injury that caused retrograde amnesia.
D. the return of older long-term memories before more recent long-term memories following a head injury that caused retrograde amnesia.
Answer D is correct. The recovery of long-term memories following a traumatic brain injury ordinarily involves “shrinking retrograde amnesia” in which more distant (remote) memories return first.
Which of the following is true about the inheritance of an X-linked trait?
A. A male does not express the trait whether it’s due to a recessive or a dominant allele.
B. A male expresses the trait only when it’s due to a dominant allele.
C. A male expresses the trait only when it’s due to a recessive allele.
D. A male expresses the trait whether it’s due to a recessive or a dominant allele.
Answer D is correct.
An X-linked trait can be dominant or recessive. When a male inherits an X-linked recessive allele from his mother, the trait carried by that allele is always expressed because males have only one X-chromosome and there’s no corresponding dominant allele. In contrast, females have two X chromosomes and, consequently, express the trait only when they have inherited the X-linked recessive allele from both parents.
Which of the following disorders primarily affects females and is caused by a mutation in an X-linked gene?
A. Rett syndrome
B. Klinefelter syndrome
C. cri-du-chat syndrome
D. Angelman’s syndrome
Answer A is correct. Rett syndrome (RTT) is an X-linked dominant disorder that occurs almost exclusively in females and is usually caused by a mutation in the MECP2 gene. Klinefelter syndrome (answer B) occurs in males and is due to the presence of two or more X chromosomes in addition to a single Y chromosome.
Cri-du-chat syndrome (answer C) is caused by a deletion on chromosome 5.
Angelman syndrome (answer D) is usually due to a deletion on the maternal chromosome 15.
Based on the results of their meta-analysis of the research, Davidson and Parker (2001) concluded that rapid eye movements do not add to the effectiveness of EMDR and that its effects are actually due to:
A. exposure in imagination.
B. counterconditioning.
C. flooding.
D. latent inhibition.
Answer A is correct. Davidson and Parker concluded that rapid eye movements do not add to the effectiveness of EMDR and that its benefits are due to repeated exposure in imagination to the feared event. Note, however, that a more recent meta-analysis by Lee and Cuijpers (2013) found that eye movements do contribute to the beneficial effects of EMDR.
Dr. Hannigan has just started seeing a husband and wife in therapy. The husband’s insurance covers individual therapy but not couple or family therapy, and the couple cannot afford to pay for therapy themselves. If Dr. Hannigan bills the insurance company for individual therapy for the husband, he has acted:
A. ethically since he is, in fact, providing therapy to the husband.
B. ethically since the couple wouldn’t be able to pay for therapy themselves.
C. ethically since this is common practice.
D. unethically.
Answer D is correct. Billing an insurance company for a reimbursable form of therapy instead of the non-reimbursable form that’s actually being provided is insurance fraud and is both illegal and unethical.
Research by Ellis and Garber (2000) found that the relationship between maternal mood disorder and early onset puberty in girls is mediated by which of the following?
A. poor nutrition
B. biological father absence/stepfather presence
C. childhood sexual abuse
D. presence of one or more older sisters
Answer B is correct. According to Ellis and Garber’s mediational model, the association between maternal mood disorder and early onset puberty in girls is mediated by two factors: biological father absence with stepfather presence and stressful family relationships. They also propose that the pheromones emitted by an unrelated male adult (stepfather) accelerate the onset of puberty in young girls.
According to expectancy theory, an employee’s motivation is determined by several factors including “expectancy,” which refers to the employee’s beliefs about:
A. the desirability of the rewards he/she will receive for performing the job successfully.
B. the degree to which his/her work-related goals match the company’s goals.
C. the likelihood that successful job performance will allow him/her to obtain certain outcomes.
D. the likelihood that exerting effort on-the-job will result in successful job performance.
Answer D is correct. Expectancy theory describes job motivation as the result of three factors:
(a) the worker’s belief that effort will lead to successful performance (expectancy);
(b) the worker’s belief that successful performance will result in certain outcomes (instrumentality); and
(c) the value (i.e. desirability) of those outcomes for the worker (valence).
The main goal of frame-of-reference training is to:
A. train raters how to develop and evaluate employee performance measures.
B. train raters how to use a new rating scale to rate employee performance.
C. help raters identify rater biases and errors that affect their employee performance ratings.
D. help raters distinguish between different levels of employee performance.
Answer D is correct. As its name suggests, frame-of-reference (FOR) training is used to help raters adopt a common frame of reference when rating employee performance. This involves ensuring that trainees understand the multidimensional nature of job performance and can distinguish between different levels of performance. Frame-of-reference training has been found to be more effective than training that focuses on rater biases.
Carskadon’s (2011) “perfect storm” model describes the factors that contribute to adolescent sleep deprivation. Which of the following is not one of the factors included in Carskadon’s model?
A. screen time
B. school start time
C. bedtime snacking
D. bedtime autonomy
Answer C is correct. According to Carskadon (2011), adolescent sleep deprivation is the result of a “perfect storm” that is created by a combination of biological, societal, and psychosocial factors: The main biological factor is a circadian phase delay (delayed sleep onset) that accompanies puberty as the result of changes in the secretion of melatonin. The primary societal factor is an early start time for school that limits the available time for sleep, while the psychosocial factors are greater autonomy over bedtimes, increased academic pressures, and excessive screen time (use of screen-based media) in the evening.
Juvenile bipolar disorder and ADHD share several characteristics but also have symptoms that are useful for distinguishing between them. With regard to hypersexuality, the studies have found that it is:
A. useful for distinguishing between the two disorders because it is more common for youth with ADHD than for those with bipolar disorder.
B. useful for distinguishing between the two disorders because it is more common for youth with bipolar disorder than for those with ADHD.
C. not useful for distinguishing between the two disorders because it is characteristic of both juvenile ADHD and juvenile bipolar disorder.
D. not useful for distinguishing between the two disorders because it is not associated with either juvenile ADHD or juvenile bipolar disorder.
Answer B is correct. Geller et al. (2002) propose that consideration of mania symptoms that do not overlap with symptoms of ADHD can help avoid over- or under-diagnosing bipolar disorder in children and adolescents. One of these symptoms is hypersexuality, which is more common in youth with bipolar disorder than in those with ADHD.
Esketamine, a nasal spray version of ketamine, has been found to be an effective treatment for:
A. treatment-resistant mania.
B. treatment-resistant depression.
C. tobacco-use disorder.
D. opioid use disorder.
Answer B is correct. Of the disorders listed in the answers, ketamine has been found to be an effective treatment only for treatment-resistant depression (TRD). Definitions of TRD vary, but it is often defined as involving an inadequate response to at least two antidepressants from different classes.
The best conclusion that can be drawn about the results of research on the effects of superordinate goals is that they can turn:
A. strangers into acquaintances.
B. enemies into friends.
C. cooperation into competition.
D. commitment into indifference.
Answer B is correct. Sherif’s (1966) Robbers Cave study and several other studies have confirmed that introducing superordinate goals (goals that can be achieved only when hostile groups work together cooperatively) can reduce intergroup hostility – i.e., can turn enemies into friends.
According to the DSM-5, which of the following share several characteristics including impulsivity, manipulativeness, seductiveness, and superficiality?
A. borderline and schizotypal personality disorders
B. borderline and dependent personality disorders
C. antisocial and narcissistic personality disorders
D. antisocial and histrionic personality disorders
Answer D is correct. The DSM-5 notes that antisocial and histrionic personality disorders “share a tendency to be impulsive, superficial, excitement seeking, reckless, seductive, and manipulative” (p. 662).
A young child uses the word “dog” to refer only to the family dog and not to other dogs. This is an example of which of the following?
A. holophrastic error
B. telegraphic error
C. underextension
D. under-regularization
Answer C is correct. Underextension occurs when children apply a word only to a specific person, object, or event rather than to all of the people, objects, or events it applies to. In contrast, overextension occurs when children use a word too broadly – i.e., when they apply it to people, objects, or events it does not apply to.
Neuroimaging studies have linked Huntington’s disease to glucose hypometabolism in the:
A. substantia nigra.
B. primary motor cortex.
C. cingulate cortex and cerebellum.
D. caudate nucleus and putamen.
Answer D is correct. Neuroimaging studies have found that glucose hypometabolism and atrophy in the caudate nucleus and putamen precede the onset of the clinical symptoms of Huntington’s disease.
There is evidence that increasing the level of _______ in healthy adults who do not have deficits in emotion perception can cause them to become overly sensitive to the emotional facial expressions of others.
A. cortisol
B. glucagon
C. adrenaline
D. oxytocin
Answer D is correct. Research has found that oxytocin can improve the ability to recognize emotions in the facial expressions of other people for individuals who have autism or other disorder that impairs this ability.
However, there is also evidence that increasing oxytocin levels in healthy adults who do not have deficits in emotion perception can impair this ability because it causes them to be overly sensitive to emotional facial expressions, especially expressions of disgust and surprise (e.g., Cardoso, Ellenbogen, & Linnen, 2014).
Covert sensitization uses which of the following to eliminate an undesirable behavior?
A. higher-order conditioning
B. classical extinction
C. aversive counterconditioning
D. avoidance conditioning
Answer C is correct. Covert sensitization is a type of aversion therapy that’s conducted in imagination rather than in vivo (with real stimuli). Aversion therapy is also known as aversive counterconditioning.
Reality therapy is based on choice theory which proposes that people have five genetically encoded needs. These needs include all the following except:
A. survival.
B. freedom.
C. intimacy.
D. power.
Answer C is correct. The five basic innate needs identified by choice theory are love and belonging, power, fun, freedom, and survival. Although “intimacy” might be considered a substitute for “love and belonging,” it’s not the correct answer because the other three answers are identical to the language associated with choice theory and reality therapy.
An advantage of the single-subject ABAB design is that it enables a researcher to:
A. compare the effects of a treatment on two different behaviors.
B. compare the effects of two different treatments by administering them at two different times.
C. be more certain that the observed effects of the treatment can be generalized to different conditions.
D. be more certain that the treatment is responsible for any observed change in the subject’s behavio
Answer D is correct. When using the single-subject ABAB design, the study includes two baseline (A) phases and two treatment (B) phases, and the study begins with a baseline (no treatment) phase that’s followed by application of the treatment, a second baseline phase in which the treatment is withdrawn, and a second treatment phase in which the same treatment is applied. If the target behavior changes in the predicted way during both treatment phases and the second baseline phase, a researcher can be fairly confident that a change in the behavior was due to the treatment.
To assess the intelligence of a 12-year-old child, you would administer which of the following?
A. WPPSI-IV
B. WAIS-IV
C. CMMS
D. SB5
Answer D is correct.
The age range for the SB5 is 2:0 to 85+ years, so it’s appropriate for a 12-year-old-child. In contrast, the age range is 2:6 to 7:7 for the WPPSI-IV, 16:0 to 90:11 for the WAIS-IV, and 3:0 to 10:0 for the CMMS.
Which of the following best describes the effects of increasing age on crystallized and fluid intelligence?
A. Crystallized intelligence begins to decline at about 30 to 40 years of age, while fluid intelligence continues to increase and peaks at 60 to 70 years of age.
B. Fluid intelligence begins to decline at about 30 to 40 years of age, while crystallized intelligence continues to increase and peaks at 60 to 70 years of age.
C. Crystallized and fluid intelligence both increase until about 40 or 50 years of age and then decrease, with fluid intelligence decreasing more than crystallized intelligence.
D. Crystalized and fluid intelligence both increase until about 40 to 50 years of age and then decrease, with crystallized intelligence decreasing more than fluid intelligence.
Answer B is correct. To identify the correct answer to this question, you just need to know that fluid intelligence begins to decrease at an earlier age in adulthood than does crystallized intelligence.
Compared to cones, rods are more:
A. important for color vision.
B. important for peripheral vision.
C. responsible for visual acuity.
D. responsible for vision in bright light.
Answer B is correct.
Cones and rods are the two types of photoreceptors in the eye. Cones work best in bright light and are responsible for visual acuity (sharpness and precise detail) and the perception of color. Rods do not perceive color but are most important for** peripheral vision and are responsible for vision in dim light**.
Cultural distance refers to which of the following?
A. how well the culture of an immigrant’s home country matches the culture of the host country
B. how well an immigrant’s personality and other personal attributes match the cultural values and norms of the host country
C. the extent to which immigrants retain their own culture and reject the culture of the host country.
D. the extent to which immigrants internalize the host society’s stereotypes of immigrants.
Answer A is correct. Cultural distance refers to differences in the culture of an immigrant’s home country and the culture of the host country in terms of language, core values and beliefs, government, legal system, and other basic cultural characteristics.
Cultural fit (answer B) refers to the degree to which an **immigrant’s personality **and other personal attributes are similar to the cultural values and norms of the host country.
Which of the following is an example of a morpheme?
A. ba-ba
B. sh
C. do
D. d
Answer C is correct. Morphemes are the smallest units of language that have meaning and cannot be broken down into smaller parts. They include free morphemes that can stand alone as a word (e.g., do, dog) and bound morphemes that must be combined with at least one other morpheme to form a word (e.g., ing, er).
Phonemes (e.g., sh, d) are the smallest units of sound that can be understood in a language.
When adults 70 years of age and older are asked to recall events from their past, they often exhibit a spike in the number of memories for events that occurred between the ages of about 15 and 25. One explanation for this “reminiscence bump” is that it’s related to which of the following?
A. renewed adolescent egocentrism
B. a vocabulary spurt
C. personal identity formation
D. shift in time perspective
Answer C is correct. The “reminiscence bump” has been attributed to several factors including identity formation – i.e., it occurs because adolescence and early adulthood are critical periods for the formation and establishment of an adult identity. From this perspective, “memories of autobiographical events from this period receive preferential encoding and retention given their relevance to the consolidation of the self and the formation of enduring personal self-goals” (Q. Wang, The autobiographical self in time and culture, New York, Oxford University Press, 2013, p. 160).
When using personalized normative feedback (PNF) as an intervention for Jacob, a 21-year-old college student who frequently engages in heavy alcohol use, his therapist will:
A. provide Jacob with information that allows him to compare his daily blood alcohol levels during the course of treatment with the daily blood alcohol levels of other patients who have received the same treatment.
B. have Jacob list and compare the pros and cons of his current drinking with the likely pros and cons of reduced drinking.
C. provide Jacob with information that allows him to compare the frequency of his drinking to the actual average frequency of drinking of other college students.
D. reframe Jacob’s alcohol use in terms of its negative personal, social, and financial consequences.
Answer C is correct. PNF involves providing clients with information that allows them to compare the frequency of their own behavior and perceived frequency of the behavior for a typical person in their peer group to the actual average frequency for people in their peer group. (Although answer C does not mention Jacob’s perceived frequency of alcohol use by a typical person in his peer group, it is the best answer of those provided.)
A number of studies have confirmed that the link between childhood maltreatment and adult obesity is mediated by which of the following?
A. substance use
B. sleep deprivation
C. socioeconomic status
D. depression
Answer D is correct. Several studies (e.g., Danese & Tan, 2014) have found that depression mediates the relationship between childhood maltreatment (especially physical and sexual abuse) and adult obesity. In other words, childhood maltreatment increases the risk for depression, and depression then increases the risk for obesity.
Which of the following are alternatives to lithium for treating mania associated with bipolar disorder?
A. carbamazepine and valproic acid
B. tacrine and donepezil
C. fluoxetine and sertraline
D. venlafaxine and paroxetine
Which of the following are alternatives to lithium for treating mania associated with bipolar disorder?
A. carbamazepine and valproic acid
B. tacrine and donepezil
C. fluoxetine and sertraline
D. venlafaxine and paroxetine
Twin studies have found that:
A. shared and nonshared environmental factors have similar levels of influence on intelligence that remain relatively stable throughout the lifespan.
B. the influence of shared factors on intelligence increases over the lifespan, while the influence of nonshared factors is stable during childhood but thereafter increases with increasing age.
C. the influence of shared factors on intelligence decreases beginning in adulthood, while the influence of nonshared factors substantially increases beginning in adolescence.
D. the influence of shared factors on intelligence decreases beginning in adolescence, while the influence of nonshared factors is relatively stable throughout the lifespan.
Answer D is correct.
Environmental factors that influence intelligence (and other traits) are categorized as shared or non-shared.
Shared factors have a large influence on intelligence until adolescence when their influence begins to decrease and then sharply decreases in adulthood. In contrast, nonshared factors have a relatively stable influence throughout the lifespan. (Note that, contrary to what might be expected, the contribution of genetics to intelligence increases over the lifespan.)
Being familiar with the facial feedback hypothesis, Sam tells an unhappy friend that she’ll feel better if she smiles. Sam’s suggestion is also consistent with which of the following theories of emotion?
A. cognitive-appraisal theory
B. two-factor theory
C. James-Lange theory
D. Cannon-Bard theory
Answer C is correct. The facial feedback hypothesis predicts that the facial expressions associated with different emotions produce those emotions – e.g., that smiling can make someone feel happy. This is consistent with James-Lange theory, which proposes that a physical reaction elicited by an external event precedes the experience of emotion – e.g., people cry in response to an external event and then feel sad because they’re crying.
A psychologist conducts a study to evaluate the effects of three different work shifts (day, swing, and graveyard) on the average number of errors, absences, and accidents of assembly line workers during a six-month period. To minimize the probability of making a Type I error, the psychologist will use which of the following to analyze the data she collects?
A. one-way ANOVA
B. three-way ANOVA
C. ANCOVA
D. MANOVA
Answer D is correct. The MANOVA (multivariate analysis of variance) is used when a study includes one or more independent variables and two or more dependent variables that are each measured on an interval or ratio scale. An advantage of conducting a single MANOVA rather than separate ANOVAs for each dependent variable is that doing so reduces the probability of making a Type I error – i.e., it reduces the experimentwise error rate. The study described in this question has one independent variable (work shift) and three dependent variables that are all measured on a ratio scale (number of errors, absences, and accidents). Therefore, the MANOVA can be used to analyze the data collected in this study.
A student is asked to give a persuasive speech supporting the death penalty by his Psychology 101 instructor. Even though the other students in the class know the topic was assigned to him, most of them say the student actually supports the death penalty after they listen to his speech. The conclusion of these students illustrates which of the following?
A. ultimate attribution error
B. fundamental attribution error
C. self-serving bias
D. counterfactual thinking
Answer B is correct. Despite knowing that the topic was assigned to the student, most students in the class assumed that the position the student advocated in his speech reflects his actual position. Their assumption is predicted by the fundamental attribution error, which is the tendency to overestimate the role of dispositional factors and underestimate the role of situational factors when making attributions about the behaviors of other people.
The Stanley/Brown safety plan for people at-risk for suicide includes all of the following except:
A. using internal coping strategies.
B. signing a no-suicide contract.
C. identifying warning signs.
D. socializing for the purpose of support or distraction.
Answer B is correct. The Stanley/Brown safety plan consists of six steps:
(1) recognizing the warning signs of an imminent suicidal crisis,
(2) using internal coping strategies (e.g., going for a walk, reading a book), (3) utilizing social contacts as a means of distraction or support,
(4) contacting family or friends who may help resolve the crisis,
(5) contacting mental health professionals or agencies, and
(6) reducing access to lethal means.
The DSM-5 divides the diagnostic criteria for conduct disorder into four categories that include all the following except:
A. serious violation of rules.
B. deceitfulness or theft.
C. lack of remorse or guilt.
D. destruction of property.
Answer C is correct. The four diagnostic categories for conduct disorder identified in the DSM-5 are aggression to people and animals, destruction of property, deceitfulness or theft, and serious violation of rules. Lack of remorse or guilt is a specifier for this disorder.
The DSM-5 diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) requires an onset of symptoms before _____ years of age and a duration of symptoms for at least _____ months.
A. 9; 3
B. 9; 6
C. 12; 6
D. 12; 9
Answer C is correct. The DSM-5 diagnosis of ADHD requires the presence of characteristic symptoms in at least two settings (e.g., at home and at school) with symptoms having an onset before 12 years of age and a duration of at least six months.
When a test developer uses varimax to rotate the factors identified in a factor analysis, the rotated factors are __________, which means that they’re uncorrelated:
A. oblique.
B. orthogonal.
C. heterogeneous.
D. homogeneous.
Answer B is correct. To identify the correct answer to this question, you do NOT need to be familiar with varimax rotation: You just need to know that, in the context of factor analysis, orthogonal factors are uncorrelated while oblique factors are correlated. (Varimax is one of several methods of factor rotation that produces orthogonal factors.)
The most common comorbid psychiatric disorder for individuals with specific learning disorder is:
A. ADHD.
B. oppositional defiant disorder.
C. language disorder.
D. social anxiety disorder.
Answer A is correct. Studies have consistently found ADHD to be the most frequent comorbid disorder among individuals who have received a diagnosis of specific learning disorder.
Gottman and Levenson’s (2002) longitudinal study of married couples identified four behaviors that are associated with an increased risk for divorce. They also found that which of the four behaviors is the single best predictor of divorce?
A. defensiveness
B. contempt
C. stonewalling
D. criticism
Answer B is correct. Gottman and Levenson found that, of the four behaviors listed in the answers to this question, contempt (which is characterized by hostility, disrespect, and disgust) is the most damaging to a couple’s relationship and is the single best predictor of divorce.
Which of the following best describes the provisions of the ethics codes of the American and Canadian Psychological Associations regarding the use of a psychological test with members of particular racial/ethnic group when the reliability and validity of the test have not been established for that group but have been established for other populations?
A. It may be acceptable to administer the test to members of that group when alternative measures are unavailable.
B. It may be acceptable to administer the test to members of that group when alternative measures are unavailable and the possible limitations of test’s results are specified.
C. It may be acceptable to administer the test to members of that group if their informed consents are obtained before doing so.
D. It would be unacceptable to administer the test to members of that group under any circumstances.
Answer B is correct. This answer is most consistent with the requirements of Standard 9.02(b) of the APA Ethics Code and Standard III.8 of the Canadian Code of Ethics. Standard 9.02(b) states that, when the reliability and validity of the tests they use haven’t been established for members of the population being tested, psychologists “describe the strengths and limitations of test results and interpretations.” And Standard III.8 requires psychologists to acknowledge the limitations of their findings.
The behavioral technique known as successive approximation conditioning is also known as:
A. shaping.
B. chaining.
C. higher-order conditioning.
D. prompting.
Answer A is correct. Shaping is also known as successive approximation conditioning because it involves reinforcing successive approximations to the desired behavior until the desired behavior is established.
Smith, Glass, and Miller’s (1980) meta-analysis of 475 psychotherapy outcome studies produced a mean effect size of:
A. .95.
B. .85.
C. .75.
D. .55.
Answer B is correct. Smith, Glass, and Miller’s (1980) meta-analysis produced a mean effect size of .85, which means that the average patient who received psychotherapy was “better off” than 80% of patients who did not receive psychotherapy.
Sonia, a 62-year old widow, tells her therapist that she has an “anxiety attack” whenever she has to take a bus or train and, as a result, has had to quit her job and has stopped visiting friends and family members. When her therapist asks her what about taking a bus or train makes her anxious, she says she’s afraid she’ll have an anxiety attack and won’t be able to get off the train or bus or get help. Which of the following would help confirm that the appropriate DSM-5 diagnosis for Sonia is agoraphobia?
A. She says her anxiety attacks make her feel like she’s going to die from a heart attack even though her doctor has told her she “has the heart of a much younger woman.”
B. She says her anxiety attacks began when she was in a bus accident ten months ago that killed the bus driver.
C. She says that, for the last six months, she’s stayed in the house a lot because she started having anxiety attacks whenever she leaves the house without a friend or family member.
D. She says that she’s had problems with anxiety for most of her adult life but that it’s gotten worse as she’s gotten older.
Answer C is correct. The DSM-5 diagnosis of agoraphobia requires the presence of marked anxiety related to at least two of five situations – using public transportation, being in open spaces, being in enclosed spaces, standing in line or being in a crowd, and being outside of the home alone. Learning that Sonia has anxiety attacks not only when she uses public transportation but also when she goes outside her house alone would help confirm this diagnosis.
Depth perception depends on monocular and binocular cues. Which of the following is a binocular cue?
A. interposition
B. convergence
C. motion parallax
D. linear perspective
Answer B is correct. Binocular cues depend on both eyes and include retinal disparity and convergence. Monocular cues depend on one eye and include the relative size of objects, the overlap (interposition) of objects, linear perspective, texture gradients, and the relative motion of objects (motion parallax).
Trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy (TF-CBT) is an evidence-based treatment that was initially designed for:
A. adults with combat-related PTSD.
B. adult survivors of child sexual abuse.
C. children and adolescents ages 3 to 18 years who have experienced sexual abuse.
D. adolescents and young adults ages 13 to 21 years who have experienced traumatic life events.
Answer C is correct. TF-CBT was originally developed for children and adolescents ages 3 to 18 to address problems related to child sexual abuse. It has subsequently been used to treat children and adolescents who have been exposed to other types of traumatic events.
Which of the following is most useful for identifying the behavioral anchors that are incorporated into behaviorally anchored rating scales (BARS)?
A. needs analysis
B. organizational analysis
C. paired comparison technique
D. critical incident technique
Answer D is correct. Knowing that behavioral anchors are descriptions of specific job behaviors that represent good, average, and poor performance would have helped you identify the critical incident technique as being most useful for developing BARS. Note that, while the critical incident technique is ordinarily used to identify extreme behaviors (i.e., very successful and very unsuccessful behaviors), the terms “critical incident” and “critical incident technique” are sometimes used more generally to refer to descriptions of specific job-related behaviors.
The predictions made by McGregor (1960) about Theory X and Theory Y managers is most consistent with which of the following?
A. self-fulfilling prophecy effect
B. Hawthorne effect
C. self-serving bias
D. ultimate attribution error
Answer A is correct. According to McGregor, a supervisor’s beliefs about subordinates’ work-related attitudes and behaviors determine how the supervisor acts toward subordinates which, in turn, affects how subordinates behave. In other words, the supervisor’s beliefs about subordinates have a self-fulfilling prophecy effect on their job performance.
Research investigating the accuracy of the Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE) for identifying neurocognitive disorder suggests that it produces:
A. similar rates of false positives for European Americans, African Americans, and Hispanic Americans.
B. a higher rate of false positives for European Americans than for African Americans and Hispanic Americans.
C. higher rates of false positives for African Americans and Hispanic Americans than for European Americans.
D. higher rates for false positives for African Americans and Hispanic American than for European Americans only when education level is not controlled.
Answer C is correct. In their frequently cited study, M. Bohnstedt, P. J. Fox, and N. D. Kohatsu found that older European American adults obtained MMSE scores less indicative of neurocognitive disorder than did older African American and Hispanic American adults even when education level, occupation, age, sex, and other variables were controlled. However, there were no differences among these groups when diagnoses were made by clinicians [Correlates of Mini-Mental Status Examination scores among elderly demented patients: The influence of race-ethnicity, Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 47(12), 1381-1387, 1994].
Which of the following best describes the most common consequences of divorce for heterosexual couples?
A. Women are more likely to experience transient economic problems, while men are more likely to experience transient health problems.
B. Women are more likely to experience chronic economic problems, while men are more likely to experience chronic health problems.
C. Women are more likely to experience chronic economic problems, while men are more likely to experience transient health problems.
D. Women are more likely to experience transient economic problems, while men are more likely to experience chronic health problems.
Answer C is correct. The research has found that, following divorce, women are more likely to experience a decline in economic well-being, while men are more likely to experience a decline in health. There is also evidence that the negative economic consequences for women tend to be chronic, while the negative health consequences for men are often transient.
The scores obtained by 35 students on a math exam and a physics exam are converted to ranks. To determine the degree of association between the two sets of ranks, the appropriate correlation coefficient is which of the following?
A. biserial
B. point biserial
C. Spearman
D. Pearson
Answer C is correct. Knowing that “Spearman” refers to the Spearman rank-order correlation coefficient would have helped you identify the correct answer to this question. As its name suggests, it’s used to determine the correlation between rank-ordered data.
The DSM-5 diagnosis of gender dysphoria requires:
A. persistent discomfort with one’s assigned gender.
B. a strong and persistent cross-gender identification.
C. discordance between one’s experienced and assigned gender.
D. persistent distress related to one’s sexual orientation
Answer C is correct. This is the best answer because it’s closest to the DSM-5’s description of gender dysphoria, which states that it’s characterized by “marked incongruence between one’s experienced/expressed gender and assigned gender” (p. 452).
For practitioners of dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), a primary aim of telephone coaching is:
A. increasing generalization of behavioral skills.
B. providing follow-up care.
C. identifying future goals.
D. correcting dysfunctional thoughts.
Answer A is correct. The primary goals of telephone coaching are to (a) increase generalization of behavioral skills the client acquired during therapy to everyday situations and crises and (b) repair the therapeutic relationship (i.e., decrease any conflicts with or feelings of alienation or distance from the therapist).
The sentences “The mouse was chased by the cat” and “The cat chased the mouse” have the same meaning but differ in terms of:
A. pragmatics.
B. semantics.
C. syntax.
D. paralanguage.
Answer C is correct. Syntax refers to rules that determine how words can be combined into phases or sentences. For example, words can be arranged so that a sentence is in the passive voice (“The mouse was chased by the cat”) or the active voice (“The cat chased the mouse”).
According to Janis (1982) groupthink is least likely to occur when the group leader:
A. offers his/her opinion about the best solution to the problem at the beginning of the group meeting.
B. encourages each group member to express his/her opinion during group meetings.
C. fosters and supports a high degree of group cohesiveness when the group is first formed.
D. assigns the role of facilitator to the most experienced group member.
Answer B is correct. Janis proposes that group leaders can reduce the risk for groupthink by remaining neutral in the beginning of a discussion, encouraging members to express their opinions, appointing a member to play devil’s advocate, and bringing in outside opinions.
Martina doesn’t like Julian but loves the car that Julian just bought. According to balance theory, it’s likely that Martina will:
A. decide she likes Julian.
B. decide she doesn’t like the car that Julian bought.
C. decide either that she likes Julian or doesn’t like the car that Julian bought.
D. decide that she likes Julian and doesn’t like the car that Julian bought.
Answer C is correct. Heider’s (1958) balance theory focuses on the relationships among three elements: the person (P), another person (O), and an attitude object or event (X). It predicts that the relationships among these elements can be either balanced or unbalanced and that an unbalanced situation causes discomfort, which the person (P) will be motivated to change. The situation described in this question is unbalanced, so Martina will be motivated to establish balance by changing her attitude toward Julian or toward the car that Julian bought. Note that answer D is incorrect because, unlike answer C, it states that Martina will change her attitude toward Julian and toward the car that Julian bought, which would create another unbalanced
Aronson and Mills (1959) found that college students who experienced a very unpleasant initiation in order to be accepted into a group subsequently expressed more liking for the group than did college students who did not experience the unpleasant initiation. This result supports which of the following?
A. theory of planned behavior
B. elaboration likelihood model
C. social judgment theory
D. cognitive dissonance theory
Answer D is correct. The results of the E. Aronson and J. Mills study confirmed the prediction of cognitive dissonance theory that subjects would justify the suffering they endured to be accepted into a group by deciding that the group was worth the suffering [The effect of severity of initiation on liking for a group, The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 59(2), 17-181, 1959].
An orthogonal rotation of factors identified in a factor analysis produces a communality of .40 for one of the tests included in the analysis. This means that ____% of variability in the scores on the test is explained by the factor analysis.
A. 16
B. 36
C. 40
D. 60
Answer C is correct. For the exam, keep in mind that a factor loading is interpreted by squaring it to determine the amount of variability in test scores that is explained by ONE factor, while
a communality is interpreted directly as the amount of variability explained by ALL of the identified factors: When a test’s communality is .40, this means that the identified factors explain 40% of the variability in test scores.
Which of the following best explains the link between maternal overnutrition during pregnancy and her offspring’s increased risk for obesity, metabolic syndrome, and type 2 diabetes mellitus in childhood and adulthood?
A. reaction range
B. fetal-maternal exchange
C. dynamic systems theory
D. fetal programming
Answer D is correct. Fetal programming occurs when exposure to certain events during embryonic and fetal development (e.g., maternal overnutrition) not only affects the offspring’s characteristics at birth but can also have long-term effects on the offspring’s health. Fetal programming, reaction range, and dynamic systems theory are described in the lifespan development content summary. Fetal-maternal exchange is not described in the content summary and refers to the exchange of substances between maternal and fetal blood at the placenta.
Conduction aphasia is characterized by:
A. impaired comprehension, fluent aphasia, anomia, and impaired repetition.
B. impaired comprehension, nonfluent aphasia, anomia, and impaired repetition.
C. relatively intact comprehension, fluent aphasia, anomia, and impaired repetition.
D. relatively intact comprehension, nonfluent aphasia, anomia, and unimpaired repetition.
Answer C is correct. Conduction aphasia is characterized by
1. relatively intact comprehension with
2. fluent speech that contains many errors,
3. anomia, and
4. impaired repetition.
It’s caused by damage to the arcuate fasciculus, which connects Wernicke’s area to Broca’s area.
Gina, age 32, comes to therapy with her husband, who tells you that Gina has always been very enthusiastic about her job as a self-employed interior designer but that, lately, “things have gotten out of hand.” He says that about three weeks ago, Gina began jumping from one project to another and hasn’t finished any of them and, as a result, has been fired by all but one of her clients who is a friend and is trying to be patient. Gina says that “things aren’t that bad” and that she feels happier now than she has in a long time. However, she admits that she’s having trouble with work because her “brain is filled with too many ideas.” She states she hasn’t been sleeping much because of her racing thoughts but that she doesn’t feel tired. Gina also says that, in middle school and high school, she sometimes had trouble finishing her homework. The most likely diagnosis for Gina is:
A. bipolar I disorder.
B. bipolar II disorder.
C. cyclothymic disorder.
D. ADHD.
Answer A is correct. Gina’s symptoms are most suggestive of bipolar I disorder, which is diagnosed when a person has had at least one manic episode that lasted for at least one week. Gina’s elevated mood, increased goal activity (jumping from one project to another), racing thoughts, and decreased need for sleep are characteristic of a manic episode.
Research has confirmed that which of the following treatments has the best long-term effects for children who have received a DSM-5 diagnosis of enuresis, nocturnal only?
A. bladder training exercises
B. the night alarm
C. scheduled voiding
D. fluid restriction
Answer B is correct. The night alarm is also known as the moisture alarm, enuresis alarm, and bell-and-pad and is considered the first-line treatment for nocturnal enuresis. (Note that desmopressin is comparable to the night alarm in terms of short-term effects. However, relapse rates are high when the drug is stopped, and the night alarm has a lower relapse rate and better long-term effects.)
The primary methods for assessing the fidelity of community-based interventions are:
A. focus groups and surveys of practitioners and participants.
B. in-depth interviews of practitioners and objective measures of outcomes.
C. self-reports from practitioners and participants and observations of intervention sessions.
D. self-reports from participants and objective measures of outcomes.
Answer C is correct. Fidelity refers to the degree to which a treatment is delivered as intended. Measures of fidelity for community-based interventions are usually tailored to the particular intervention and often take the form of self-reports from practitioners and participants and/or
observations of in vivo or recorded intervention sessions by a **trained observer who rates the practitioner’s adherence and competence (Breitenstein et al., 2010).
Research by Patterson and his colleagues at the Oregon Social Learning Center led to the development of an intervention for aggressive, antisocial behavior in children that focuses primarily on:
A. identifying and replacing children’s cognitive biases.
B. teaching children to monitor and control aggressive behaviors.
C. teaching parents effective parenting strategies.
D. improving the social bonds between parents and their children.
Answer C is correct. Patterson and his colleagues (e.g., Patterson, Reid, & Dishion, 1992) found that aggression and other antisocial behaviors in children were related to coercive family interactions that become progressively more coercive over time, with parents using increasingly harsh punishments and children becoming more disruptive and aggressive. Their Parent Management Training – Oregon Model (PMTO) was designed to stop this cycle by providing parents with therapy to help them deal better with stress and teaching them effective parenting skills.
Which of the following individuals is at greatest risk for developing tardive dyskinesia as the result of taking an antipsychotic drug as a treatment for schizophrenia?
A. a 70-year-old woman
B. a 25-year-old woman
C. a 60-year-old man
D. a 20-year-old man
Answer A is correct. The risk for tardive dyskinesia is related to age and gender with older adults and women being at the greatest risk. Therefore, of the people listed in the answers, a 70-year-old woman is most likely to develop this disorder when taking an antipsychotic drug. See, e.g., B. Fadem and S. Simring, Psychiatry recall (2nd ed.), Philadelphia, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2004.
A utility analysis of an employee selection program will provide information on which of the following?
A. the criterion-related validity of a new selection technique
B. the risk for adverse impact when using a new selection technique
C. the monetary costs and benefits of using a new selection technique
D. the reactions of job applicants to a new selection technique
Answer C is correct. Utility analysis is used to obtain information on the monetary value (return on investment) of a selection test, training program, or other employment practice.
A special education teacher reinforces a student with a token each time the student answers a question she asks him. Once the student is answering every question, she reduces the amount of reinforcement by providing him with a token after every third question that he answers. The procedure being used by the teacher is referred to as:
A. shaping.
B. fading.
C. thinning.
D. extinguishing.
Answer C is correct. Reducing the amount of positive reinforcement is referred to as thinning.
As described by Vygotsky, the acquisition of knowledge depends primarily on:
A. individual construction.
B. social interactions.
C. reinforcement.
D. information processing.
Answer B is correct. Knowing that Vygotsky’s theory is referred to as sociocultural theory would have helped you identify the correct answer to this question. As its name suggests, it emphasizes the impact of social interactions and cultural influences on cognitive development.
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) for Parkinson’s disease is:
A. a type of physical therapy.
B. a type of noninvasive brain stimulation.
C. a neurosurgical intervention.
D. an electro-analgesia therapy.
Answer C is correct. DBS is a surgical treatment for Parkinson’s disease that involves implanting electrodes that deliver electrical impulses in areas of the brain that are known to be responsible for the patient’s motor symptoms and implanting a programmable pulse generator under the skin in the patient’s chest. When turned on by the patient, the pulse generator sends electrical impulses to target areas in the brain, which reduces symptoms by altering brain activity in those areas.
As a result of damage to her left parietal lobe, a woman is unable to perform purposeful motor movements when she is asked to do so (e.g., asked to comb her hair or pretend to brush her teeth). This inability is referred to as:
A. Gerstmann’s syndrome.
B. Balint’s syndrome.
C. ideomotor apraxia.
D. ideational apraxia.
Answer C is correct. Ideomotor apraxia involves an inability to actually perform or pretend to perform a purposeful motor movement in response to a verbal command that is not due to impaired comprehension or physical ability or lack of motivation. It is usually caused by damage to the left parietal lobe but can also be caused by damage to several other areas of the brain including the premotor cortex and corpus callosum.
Which of the following tests would be useful for assessing the cognitive abilities of a 7-year-old child who has received a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder and has limited language abilities?
A. Cognitive Assessment System
B. Cognitive Abilities Test
C. Bayley-4
D. Leiter-3
Answer D is correct. The Leiter-3 is a nonverbal measure of cognitive abilities for individuals 3 to 75+ years of age who have cognitive delays, speech or hearing impairments, autism spectrum disorder, or limited English proficiency. It can be administered without verbal instructions and requires examinees to match a set of response cards to corresponding illustrations.
Hypnopompic hallucinations:
A. occur during the transition from sleep to wakefulness.
B. occur during the transition from wakefulness to sleep.
C. involve seeing oneself from an external perspective during an episode of sleep paralysis.
D. involve sensing the presence of another person in the room during an episode of sleep paralysis.
Answer A is correct. People with narcolepsy often experience hypnagogic and/or hypnopompic hallucinations which occur, respectively, during the transition from wakefulness to sleep or from sleep to wakefulness.
When reading text that has multiple typographical errors, you don’t notice the errors and are able to read and understand the text’s meaning. This ability is best explained by which of the following?
A. bottom-up processing
B. top-down processing
C. serial processing
D. parallel processing
Answer B is correct. The ability to read and understand text that contains multiple errors is attributable to top-down processing which occurs when the brain uses pre-existing knowledge and expectations to interpret perceptual information. When reading text with typographical errors, you may not even notice the errors because you unconsciously and automatically correct them while reading.
A new psychology instructor concludes that she must be “an incredibly boring and incompetent teacher” because, during her first introductory psychology class, two of the 65 students in the class walked out of the lecture hall before the period was over. As described by Aaron Beck, the teacher’s conclusion illustrates which of the following?
A. emotional reasoning
B. arbitrary inference
C. magnification
D. personalization
Answer B is correct. Beck described arbitrary inference as a cognitive distortion that occurs when a person draws a conclusion based on inadequate evidence.
A school counselor is working with a middle school student who rarely finishes his homework just because he doesn’t like doing it. To help the student identify a reinforcer that’s likely to motivate him to do his homework, the counselor will use which of the following?
A. differential reinforcement
B. Premack principle
C. response cost
D. overcorrection
Answer B is correct. The Premack principle is a type of positive reinforcement in which a high-frequency behavior (a highly desirable activity) is used as a reinforcer for a low-frequency behavior (an undesirable activity) to increase the low-frequency behavior. Of the techniques listed, it would be most useful for helping a client identify an effective reinforcer since it just requires identifying one of his preferred high-frequency activities.
You would use Raven’s Standard Progressive Matrices to assess the:
A. nonverbal cognitive abilities of a 10-year-old child with limited English proficiency.
B. nonverbal and verbal cognitive abilities of a 26-year-old gifted adult.
C. receptive vocabulary of a 6-year-old child with autism spectrum disorder.
D. school readiness of a 4-year-old child.
Answer A is correct. The Standard Progressive Matrices is a version of Raven’s Progressive Matrices for individuals 6 years of age and older. Like the other versions, it assesses nonverbal intelligence and, because instructions are simple and can be pantomimed if necessary, it’s useful for individuals who are hearing-impaired or non-English speakers.
A research psychologist decides that it’s not possible to conduct a research study without deceiving participants about the true purpose of the study. Being familiar with ethical requirements, the psychologist knows that:
A. she doesn’t have to tell participants about the true nature of the study following their participation if she allows them to withdraw from the study at any time and the study doesn’t involve physical or emotional pain.
B. she doesn’t have to tell participants about the true purpose of the study following their participation if she’s determined that deception is justified by the prospective value of its results.
C. she must tell participants about the true purpose of the study immediately after their participation and allow them to withdraw their data.
D. she must tell participants about the true purpose of the study as early as feasible and allow them to withdraw their data
Answer D is correct. The use of deception in research is covered in Standard 8.07 of the APA Ethics Code and Standard III.25 of the Canadian Code of Ethics. Standard 8.07(c) states that “psychologists explain any deception that is an integral feature of the design and conduct of an experiment to participants as early as is feasible, preferably at the conclusion of their participation, but no later than at the conclusion of the data collection, and permit participants to withdraw their data.”
Overlearning is most useful for:
A. skills and knowledge that will be used frequently on-the-job.
B. skills and knowledge that will be used infrequently on-the-job.
C. teaching tasks that can be divided into subtasks.
D. teaching tasks that must be completed in a particular sequence.
Answer B is correct. Overlearning refers to learning or practicing beyond the point of mastery and results in automaticity, which occurs when information is recalled or a behavior is performed with little conscious effort or awareness. Automaticity is especially important for tasks that are performed relatively infrequently and when correct performance is essential because errors can have serious negative consequences.
Research on persuasion suggests that source credibility is most affected by which of the following?
A. attractiveness and likeability
B. intelligence and personality
C. expertise and trustworthiness
D. expertise and attractiveness
Answer C is correct. Research by Hovland, Janis, and Kelley (1953) found that the credibility of the source of a persuasive message is affected primarily by the source’s level of expertise and trustworthiness.
With regard to stimulus control, a positive discriminative stimulus:
A. is a secondary reinforcer.
B. is a backup reinforcer.
C. signals that a behavior will not be reinforced.
D. signals that a behavior will be reinforced.
Answer D is correct. A positive discriminative stimulus signals that reinforcement will be delivered following the performance of a particular behavior, while a negative discriminative stimulus signals that reinforcement will not be delivered.
Raymond Miller, age 19, is brought to therapy by his parents, who say that “he hasn’t been himself” for a little over three months. Mrs. Miller says that Raymond is usually a friendly, talkative, outgoing person who loves spending time with his family and friends and has always taken pride in his physical appearance. However, Raymond has stopped participating in his usual activities, rarely speaks, and just wants to stay home and watch TV or do nothing. He also objects to taking a shower, brushing his teeth, or combing his hair and has been wearing the same clothes for at least one month. Mr. Miller says that, when he watches TV with Raymond, Raymond sometimes insists that he sees some of the actors in the room. He also says that Raymond has been reluctant to sleep in his own room at night because “there’s too many people in there” and they won’t let him sleep. Based on this information, the most likely diagnosis for Raymond is:
A. brief psychotic disorder.
B. schizophreniform disorder.
C. schizophrenia.
D. schizoaffective disorder.
Answer B is correct. The DSM-5 diagnosis of schizophreniform disorder requires the presence of at least two characteristic symptoms for at least one month but less than six months, with at least one symptom being delusions, hallucinations, or disorganized speech.
Raymond is having visual hallucinations and is exhibiting avolition (apathy) and possibly alogia (a relative absence of speech), which are characteristic negative symptoms, and his symptoms have lasted for a little over three months.
In vivo exposure is most effective when it’s paired with applied tension rather than relaxation for which of the following anxiety disorders?
A. panic disorder
B. agoraphobia
C. specific phobia, animal type
D. specific phobia, blood-injection-injury type
Answer D is correct. As noted in the DSM-5, in contrast to people with other types of specific phobia, people with the blood-injection-injury type often experience vasovagal fainting, which involves an “initial brief acceleration of heart rate and elevation of blood pressure followed by a deceleration of heart rate and drop in blood pressure” (p. 199). Consequently, exposure for this type is most effective when it’s combined with applied tension, which involves repeatedly tensing and relaxing the body’s large muscle groups to increase blood pressure and prevent fainting.
Marcia’s (1966) identity development model identifies four identity statuses that differ with regard to:
A. ego identity and strength.
B. crisis and maturity.
C. knowledge and ability.
D. crisis and choice.
Answer D is correct. Marcia identified four identity statuses (
1. diffusion,
2. moratorium,
3. foreclosure, and
4. achievement)
that describe identity development in adolescence, with a person’s status being determined by whether or not the person has experienced an identity crisis and made choices with regard to his/her identity (e.g., has chosen a career).
The experts generally recommend that, for the clinical diagnosis of personality disorders, self-report measures:
A. should not be used because of their limited reliability and validity.
B. are preferred to semistructured interviews because they have higher levels of reliability and validity.
C. are most useful as initial screening devices that are followed by a semistructured interview when they indicate a client has symptoms of a personality disorder.
D. are most useful for obtaining additional information when a semistructured interview indicates that a client has symptoms of a personality disorder.
Answer C is correct. Self-report measures and semistructured interviews are commonly used by clinicians to assist with the diagnosis of personality disorders. Some investigators suggest that the optimal strategy is to combine the two, with the self-report measure being administered first. For example, T. A. Widiger and D. B. Samuel’s recommendation “is to first administer a self-report inventory to alert oneself to the potential presence of particular maladaptive personality traits followed by a semistructured interview to verify their presence” [Evidence-based assessment of personality disorders, Psychological Assessment, 17(3), pp. 278-287].
A parent wants to increase her son’s willingness to help with two household chores – taking out the garbage and cleaning the cat box. Being familiar with the principles of operant conditioning, she begins to reinforce the boy for each behavior with points that can be exchanged for money at the end of each week. After six weeks, she realizes the point system is working for taking out the garbage but not for cleaning the cat box because of the boy’s dislike of the latter chore, and she stops giving him points for cleaning the cat box. As a result, the boy stops cleaning the cat box but starts taking out the garbage more often. The boy’s response to the change in reinforcement is:
A. predicted by the matching law.
B. referred to as behavioral contrast.
C. the result of blocking.
D. referred to as an extinction burst.
Answer B is correct. Behavioral contrast occurs when two behaviors are reinforced and reinforcement for one behavior is stopped. In this situation, the behavior that’s still being reinforced increases in frequency, while the behavior that’s no longer being reinforced decreases.
he results of previous research suggest that people who donate money to the Red Cross or other charity to help victims of a disaster are most likely to continue donating money during the next year if the reason they originally donated money was:
A. to relieve their own distress caused by the disaster.
B. to help relieve the distress of the victims of the disaster.
C. because they know a victim of the disaster.
D. because they believe it’s their civic responsibility to do so.
Answer B is correct. This is a difficult question because it refers to a specific study without naming the study. However, if you know that the empathy-altruism hypothesis for prosocial behavior has been found to be more accurate than the negative state relief model, you may have been able to make an “educated guess.” The previous research mentioned in the question was conducted by R. L. Piferi, R. L. Jobe, and W. H. Jones. They found that subjects in their study gave several reasons for donating money or providing other assistance to victims of 9/11 but the altruistic motivation (helping to improve the victims’ well-being) was most predictive of future donations and assistance [Giving to others during national tragedy: The effects of altruistic and egoistic motivations in long-term giving, Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 23(1), 171-184, 2006].
An employer is most likely to advocate the use of a realistic job preview to:
A. support recruitment efforts for managerial-level jobs.
B. reduce employee dissatisfaction and turnover.
C. assist with a task-oriented job analysis.
D. increase employee interest in and motivation for participating in job training.
Answer B is correct. A realistic job preview (RJP) involves informing job applicants about the positive and negative aspects of the job to reduce the risk for turnover after they’re hired by ensuring they have realistic job expectations.
The risk for developing agranulocytosis, a potentially fatal blood disorder, is greatest for which of the following antipsychotic drugs?
A. chlorpromazine
B. fluphenazine
C. risperidone
D. clozapine
Answer D is correct. Agranulocytosis is a potential side effect of several antipsychotics but most often occurs with clozapine use. See, e.g., W. Austin and M. A. Boyd, Psychiatric and mental health nursing for Canadian practice (2nd ed.), Philadelphia, Wolters Kluwer/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2010.
Use of which of the following techniques to alter a child’s undesirable behavior may require providing the child with verbal instructions and/or physical guidance?
A. response cost
B. Premack principle
C. overcorrection
D. differential reinforcement
Answer C is correct.
Overcorrection is used to eliminate and replace an undesirable behavior and usually includes two phases: restitution and positive practice. When using this technique, verbal instructions and/or physical guidance may be necessary to help ensure the individual performs the desired behaviors.
The standard error of the mean decreases in magnitude as the:
A. population standard deviation and sample size decrease.
B. population standard deviation and sample size increase.
C. population standard deviation increases and sample size decreases.
D. population standard deviation decreases and sample size increases.
Answer D is correct. The standard error of the mean is the standard deviation of the sampling distribution of means and is used to determine how well a sample mean estimates a population mean.
It’s calculated by dividing the population standard deviation by the square root of the sample size, and it decreases in magnitude as the population standard deviation decreases and the sample size increases, and vice versa.
The Vineland-3 would be most useful for:
A. confirming the diagnosis of intellectual disability for a 6-year-old child.
B. confirming the diagnosis of neurocognitive disorder for a 72-year-old adult.
C. assessing the nonverbal cognitive abilities of an 18-year-old with limited English proficiency.
D. assessing the cognitive abilities of a 10-year-old child with autism spectrum disorder.
Answer A is correct. The DSM-5 diagnosis of intellectual disability requires deficits in both intellectual and adaptive functioning. The Vineland-3 is a measure of adaptive functioning that’s often used to assist in the diagnosis of this disorder.
As described by Simon (1957) managers often “satisfice” rather than “optimize” or “maximize” due to:
A. skepticism about the abilities of subordinates.
B. a desire to avoid challenging the status quo.
C. time constraints and limited cognitive abilities.
D. an unwillingness to compromise.
Answer C is correct.
Simon’s bounded rationality model proposes that rational decision-making is limited by time restrictions, insufficient information, and the cognitive limitations of the decision maker. As a result, decision makers often satisfice – i.e., consider alternatives only until a “good enough” alternative is found rather than identify and consider all possible alternatives before choosing one.
In the context of classical conditioning, blocking occurs when:
A. a previously conditioned CS is repeatedly presented with a new US.
B. a previously conditioned CS is repeatedly presented after the US.
C. a new neutral stimulus and a previously conditioned CS are presented together after presentation of the US.
D. a new neutral stimulus and a previously conditioned CS are presented together before presentation of the US.
Answer D is correct. Blocking occurs when a new neutral stimulus is simultaneously presented with a previously conditioned stimulus (CS) before presenting the unconditioned stimulus (US). In this situation, the new neutral stimulus will not become a conditioned stimulus and will not elicit a conditioned response when presented alone. This occurs because classical conditioning of the first neutral (conditioned) stimulus blocks classical conditioning of the second neutral stimulus, apparently because the second neutral stimulus does not provide any new information about the occurrence of the unconditioned stimulus.
According to Sherif and Hovland’s (1961) social judgment theory, an “internal anchor” is:
A. a person’s attitude toward an issue prior to hearing a persuasive message about that issue.
B. the route (central or peripheral) a person uses when listening to a persuasive message.
C. a person’s level of mental discomfort when faced with conflicting attitudes or a conflicting attitude and behavior.
D. the strength of a person’s attitude before being exposed to arguments against his/her position and counterarguments that refute those arguments.
Answer A is correct. Social judgment theory is based on the assumption that the effectiveness of a persuasive message depends on a person’s current position (the person’s internal anchor), and it distinguishes between three “latitudes” that represent different degrees of similarity between the person’s position and the position advocated by a persuasive message. If you aren’t familiar with the term “internal anchor,” you may have been able to identify this answer as the correct one using the process of elimination: Central and peripheral routes (answer B) are addressed by the elaboration likelihood model, mental discomfort caused by conflicting attitudes and a conflicting attitude and behavior (answer C) is addressed by cognitive dissonance theory, and providing a person with weak arguments against his/her attitude and counterarguments refuting those arguments (answer D) is relevant to the attitude inoculation hypothesis.
Researchers interested in developmental changes in the recognition of facial expressions of emotion have identified a fear bias that involves paying more attention to fearful faces than happy faces. The fear bias usually first occurs when babies are about:
A. 3 months of age.
B. 7 months of age.
C. 12 months of age.
D. 18 months of age.
Answer B is correct. A consistent finding of the research is that infants show a shift in their attention to particular facial expressions of emotion by 7 months of age: Prior to this age, they give more attention to happy faces, but this changes at about 7 months to more attention to fearful faces.
Dr. Ballard, a licensed psychologist, has just started working at a community health center in a small town and is asked to provide therapy to an adult client from an ethnic background that he’s relatively unfamiliar with. However, there are no mental health professionals working at the center or in the community who have more experience than he has, and the client’s presenting problem is one that he’s experienced treating. Dr. Ballard’s best course of action would be to:
A. agree to see the client but seek supervision or consultation by telephone, videoconference, or other means with someone who has experience working with members of this population.
B. agree to see the client only if he’s able to complete an online continuing education course on providing therapy to members of this population.
C. tell the client about his lack of experience and let the client decide if she wants to continue therapy with him.
D. decline the request to see the client since he doesn’t have experience working with members of this population.
Answer A is correct. This answer is most consistent with Standard 2.01 of the APA Ethics Code and Standard II.8 of the Canadian Code of Ethics, which require psychologists to obtain consultation, make a referral, or take other appropriate action when they do not have the necessary competence to provide professional services to a client. From the information given in this question, a referral doesn’t seem feasible since there are no mental health professionals in the community who have more experience than Dr. Ballard does (and it’s not given as an alternative answer). In addition, taking a single online continuing education course (answer B) is not likely to be adequate.
During the first session with a family consisting of a mother, father, and their 11-year-old son, the mother says they came to therapy because of their son’s “anger problem.” The therapist, a practitioner of Milan systemic family therapy, asks the mother and father to describe how she/he usually responds to the boy’s anger. The therapist’s response to the mother’s statement is an example of which of the following?
A. process question
B. circular question
C. reframing
D. unbalancing
Answer B is correct. Circular questions are an essential technique of Milan systemic therapy and are used to “(a) assess and (b) make overt the overall dynamics and interactive patterns in the system, thereby reframing the problem for all participants without the therapist having to verbally provide a reframe” [D. R. Gehart, Mastering competencies in family therapy: A practical approach to theories and clinical case documentation (2nd ed.), Belmont, CA, Brooks/Cole, 2014, p. 89]. By asking the mother and father how they react to their son’s anger, the therapist will obtain information about how the parents interact with their son when he’s angry. Note that, even if you’re unfamiliar with the nature or purpose of circular questions, as long as you know that Milan systemic family therapists use circular questions, you would have been able to identify the correct answer to this question.
An investigator randomly assigns research subjects to either Group A or Group B. Subjects in Group A will be asked to memorize a list of six unrelated words, then to memorize a list of six different unrelated words, and then to recall the words from the first list. Subjects in Group B will be asked to memorize the same initial list of six unrelated words, then to recite the alphabet two times, and then to recall the words from the list. The reason why subjects in Group B will be asked to recite the alphabet is to:
A. prevent rehearsal of the list of words.
B. facilitate memory consolidation.
C. prevent proactive interference.
D. facilitate the decay of memory traces.
Answer A is correct. The procedure described in this question is used to assess the effects of retroactive interference. Subjects in Group B engage in a distracting task to keep them from rehearsing the list of words so that poorer recall by Group A subjects can be attributed to retroactive interference rather than to the fact that Group B subjects had more time to memorize the list of words.
According to Donn Byrne’s (1971) law of attraction, we’re most likely to be attracted to people who:
A. are competent after they’ve committed a small blunder.
B. initially dislike us but change their minds once they get to know us.
C. are familiar because we encounter them frequently.
D. provide us with more reinforcement than punishment.
Answer D is correct. Byrne’s (1971) law of attraction proposes that we’re attracted to people who provide us with more reinforcement than punishment. It also predicts that there’s a positive relationship between attitude similarity and attraction since interacting with people who have similar attitudes is reinforcing because it validates our views and produces good feelings.
Research has found that electrical stimulation of different areas of the ___________ in cats and other animal species produces different types of aggressive behavior.
A. hypothalamus
B. medulla oblongata
C. cingulate gyrus
D. hippocampus
Answer A is correct. Various areas of the hypothalamus have been linked to different types of aggressive behavior in several animal species. For example, research with cats has found that electrical stimulation of the medial hypothalamus usually produces affective attack behavior, while electrical stimulation of the lateral hypothalamus produces stalking attack behavior. See, e.g., M. Wasman and J. P. Flynn, Directed attack elicited from the hypothalamus, Archives of Neurology, 6, 208-219, 1962.
People who have received which of the following diagnoses may express some unhappiness about not having any close friends but avoid developing relationships due to anxiety related to suspiciousness about the motivations of other people?
A. schizotypal personality disorder
B. avoidant personality disorder
C. borderline personality disorder
D. schizoid personality disorder
Answer A is correct. One of the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for schizotypal personality disorder is excessive social anxiety that’s related to “paranoid fears.” In addition, the DSM-5 notes that people with schizotypal personality disorder “may express unhappiness about their lack of relationships, [but] their behavior suggests a decreased desire for intimate contacts” (p. 656).
Which of the following is not one of the three major dimensions of temperament identified by Rothbart (2011)?
A. surgency/extraversion
B. approach/withdrawal
C. negative affectivity
D. effortful control
Answer B is correct. The three dimensions of temperament identified by Rothbart are surgency/extraversion, negative affectivity, and effortful control. See, e.g., M. Rothbart, Becoming who we are: Temperament and personality in development, New York, Guilford Press, 2011.
A psychologist designs a study to compare the effects of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) and mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) on the anxiety symptoms of clinic patients who have just received a diagnosis of social anxiety disorder. The study will involve randomly assigning patients to one of the two treatments and measuring their level of social anxiety during the first treatment session and one week, one month, and three months following the end of treatment. The psychologist is using which of the following research designs?
A. counterbalanced
B. between subjects
C. multiple baseline
D. mixed
Answer D is correct. To identify the correct answer to this question, you have to recognize that this study has two independent variables: type of treatment and time. (Time is an independent variable when the dependent variable is measured on multiple occasions during the course of the study.) Type of treatment is a between-subjects variable because each subject will participate in only one of the two interventions (MBCT or MBSR), while time is a within-subjects variable because each subject’s level of anxiety will be measured four times. When a study includes at least one between-subjects variable and one within-subjects variable, the study has a mixed design.
According to __________, a just noticeable difference in stimulus intensity is a constant proportion of the magnitude of the initial stimulus intensity.
A. Fechner’s law
B. Helmholtz’s law
C. Stevens’s power law
D. Weber’s law
Answer D is correct. The statement in this question accurately describes Weber’s law, which states that the just noticeable difference (JND) for a stimulus is a constant proportion, regardless of the intensity of the original stimulus. For example, the proportion is always 2% for weight, which means that, to notice a change in weight, a second object must be at least 2% lighter or heavier than the first object.
Damage to the arcuate fasciculus can produce conduction aphasia which is characterized by which of the following?
A. fluent spontaneous speech, normal comprehension, and impaired repetition.
B. fluent spontaneous speech, impaired comprehension, and normal repetition.
C. nonfluent spontaneous speech, normal comprehension, and normal repetition.
D. nonfluent spontaneous speech, impaired comprehension, and impaired repetition.
Answer A is correct. Conduction aphasia is a rare type of aphasia that’s usually caused by damage to the arcuate fasciculus, which is the bundle of fibers that connects Wernicke’s and Broca’s areas. People with this type of aphasia have relatively intact comprehension, fluent (but paraphasic) spontaneous speech, and impaired ability to repeat phrases, especially lengthy and complex phrases.
The beta-blockers propranolol (Inderal) and atenolol (Tenormin) are:
A. more useful for reducing the emotional symptoms of anxiety than its physical or cognitive symptoms.
B. more useful for reducing the physical symptoms of anxiety than its emotional or cognitive symptoms.
C. more useful for reducing the cognitive symptoms of anxiety than its emotional or physical symptoms.
D. equally effective for reducing the emotional, cognitive, and physical symptoms of anxiety.
Answer B is correct. Although propranolol and atenolol have been found useful for relieving the physical symptoms of some types of anxiety (especially performance-related anxiety), they do not have a direct effect on its emotional or cognitive symptoms.
he human brain is about 25% of its adult size and weight at birth, but it grows quickly and is at least 75% of its adult size and weight by _____ of age.
A. six months
B. 12 months
C. 24 months
D. 36 months
Answer C is correct. The brain increases in size quickly following birth due primarily to an increase in nerve fibers (dendrites and axons) and glial cells, which are responsible for the myelination of nerve fibers. It reaches at least 75% its adult size and weight by about 24 months of age.
Bob has received a diagnosis of panic disorder and, during his last therapy session, his therapist asked him to spin in a chair to recreate the dizziness that Bob experiences when he’s having a panic attack. This technique is an example of which of the following?
A. cue exposure
B. virtual reality exposure
C. interoceptive exposure
D. exteroceptive exposure
Answer C is correct. Interoceptive exposure involves using techniques that expose the individual to the physical sensations associated with a panic attack, and its goal is to help the client habituate to those sensations. (Cue exposure is used to treat alcohol dependence, and exteroceptive exposure is also known as situational exposure and involves exposing the individual to the actual situations that elicit a phobic response.)
The WAIS-IV General Ability Index (GAI) score can be used to obtain a measure of an examinee’s intelligence that minimizes the effects of:
A. working memory and processing speed.
B. verbal comprehension and processing speed.
C. working memory and perceptual reasoning.
D. verbal comprehension and perceptual reasoning.
nswer A is correct. The GAI score is determined by scores on the core Verbal Comprehension Index and Perceptual Reasoning Index subtests and is useful when it’s desirable to obtain a measure of intelligence that minimizes the effects of working memory and processing speed.
Most babies exhibit a “vocabulary spurt” at about ___ months of age when they use about 50 words and thereafter acquire additional words very quickly.
A. 7
B. 12
C. 18
D. 26
Answer C is correct. The vocabulary spurt is also known as the vocabulary explosion and, for most babies, begins when they’ve mastered about 50 words which is usually around 18 months of age. See, e.g., D. W. Carroll, Psychology of language (5th ed.), Belmont, CA, Wadsworth, 2008.
