PSYCH 405 CH 4 Flashcards
What is an assessment?
a collection of relevant information to reach a conclusion
What is clinical assessment?
an assessment used to determine whether, how, and why a person is behaving abnormally and how it may be helped.
What does it mean to standardize something?
the process in which a test is administered to a large group of people whose performance then serves as a standard where scores of individual people are measured against
what is reliability? what is test-retest reliablility? What is interrater reliability?
the consistency of assessment measure. A good assessment will yield similar results
1. test-retest reliability: a test gives similar results every time it is given to similar people
2. interrater reliability: different judges of the test agree on how to interpret it
What is validity? face validity? predictive validity? concurrent validity?
the test must accurately measure what it is supposed to measure
1. face validity: an assessment toll appears to be valid
2. predictive validity: a tool’s ability to predict future characteristics or behavior
3. Concurrent validity: the degree to which the measures gathered from one tool agree with the measures gathered from other assessment techniques
What qualifications make an assessment useful? (3)
it must meet the requirements of standardization, reliability, and validity
what is a clinical interview? What is its purpose?
a face to face encounter (with a therapist?); the purpose is to give special attention to topics they consider most important
what is an unstructured interview?
clinical asks open-ended questions; lack of structure allows interviewer to follow leads and explore relevant topics
what is a structured interview?
clinicians ask specific questions and used an interview schedule ( a standard set of questions for all interviews); this type of interview makes sure clinicians cover same kinds of important issues that can be used to compare other people.
What is a mental status exam?
a set of questions and observations that systematically evaluate the client’s awareness with regard to time, place, memory, mood, appearance
What are some limitations of clinical interviews?
- lack validity, people may lie (Same for unstructured interviews)
- people with depression may present themselves poorly which isn’t true
- interviewer bias
What are clinical test?
devices for gathering information about a few aspects of a person’s psychological functioning where generalizations can be made
what are projective tests?
a test where people have to respond to ambiguous stimuli or follow open-ended instructions. The idea is that people will project aspects of their personality when doing the test
What is the Rorschach test?
interpreting inkblots; the creator found that those who had schizophrenia saw different images than people who have depression
What is the thematic apperception test (TAT)?
people are shown 30 cards of black and white pictures of people and must make up a story about each. Clinicians believe people identify with one of the characters
What is the sentence completion test?
finishing sentences as a way to ease into conversation and pinpoint topics
what is the Draw-a-person (DAP) test?
clients asked to draw human figures, drawings are then judges by shape, line, location, size, features and background
What is something useful about projective tests?
they offer clinicians supplementary insight
What are the limitations of projective tests?
have low validity and reliability, also biased against POC
ex. TAT does not show pictures of POC
What is a personality inventory?
a test designed to measure broad personality traits
ex. statements of behaviors, beliefs, feelings where people deem whether or not it is applicable to them
ex. Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
What is the MMPI?
stands for Minnesota Multi phasic Personality Inventory; has 500 self statements labels true, false, or cannot say. Topics include physcial concerns, mood, sexual behaviors, social activities
What is a profile?
a pattern when the scores of the MMPI are compared; it indicates a person’s general personality
What are some advantages of the MMPI over projective tests?
- they do not take much time to administer
- objectively scored
- standardized so comparisons can be made
What are some advantages and disadvantages of personality inventory?
ad: theya have more validity
dis: personality traits cannot be examined directly; have cultural limitations
response inventories
ask people to provide detailed information about themselves but the test focuses on one specific area of functioning
affective inventories
measure the severity of anxiety, depression, anger
social skills inventories
behavioral and family-social, ask client to respond to a variety of social situations
cognitive inventories
reveal a person’s typical thoughts and assumptions and help uncover counterproductive patterns of thinking
What are some limitations of inventories?
lack of standardization, reliability, validity
psychophysiological tests
measure physiological responses as possible indicators of psychological problems
galvanic skin response
physiological changes of skin reactions
polygraph/ lie detector
electors are attached to a person’s body and detect changes in breathing, perspiration, and heart wile the person answers questions
what are limitations of psychophysiological tests?
they require expensive equipment and are inaccurate
neuroimaging /brain-scanning
designed to measure brain structure and activity directly
electroencephalogram (EEG)
records brain waves through electrodes placed on the scalp that sends waves to a machine that records them
does not pinpoint where the activity is coming from
computerized axial tomography (CT/CAT scan)
x rays of brain structure are taken at different angles and then combines
positron emission tomography (PET)
computer produced motion picture of chemical activity throughout the brain
magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
use magnetic hydrogen atoms to produce a detailed image of the brain
functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)
coverts MRI pics into detailed picture of neuron activity (functioning brain pic)
neuropsychological test
measure cognitive, perceptual, motor performance
abnormal performance means underlying brain problems
Bender Visual-Motor Gestalt test
asked to look and redraw 9 cards
intelligence
the capacity to judge well
intelligence test
tests various verbal and nonverbal skills
intelligence quotient (IQ)
general score from intelligence tests
What are some limitation of Intelligence tests?
-cultural bias
- test anxiety influences results
- bias scoring
naturalistic observation
clinicians observe clients in everyday environments
analog observation
clinicians observe them in artificial setting
self-monitoring
clients observe themselves
clinical picture
integrated picture of the factors that are causing and maintaining a clients disturbance
diagnosis
a determination of a person’s psychological problems for a disorder
syndrome
a cluster of symptoms
diagnostic category
a particular pattern of symptoms
classification system
a list of categories, disorders, with descriptions of the symptoms and guidelines for assigning individuals to categories
ICD
international classification of Diseases, DSM but for other countries
DMS-5 Work groups
group of clinicians and researchers that collected input to develop DSM
Categorical information
the name of the distinct category
dimensional information
how severe a client’s symptoms are and how dysfunctional the client is
anxiety disorder
general feelings of anxiety and worry
depressive disorder
extreme episodes of sadness
validity of the classification system
the accuracy of the diagnostic categories provided
predictive validity
how predictable are the future symptoms/events
empirically supported/ evidence based treatment
a movement where the clinical field seeks to identify which therapies have received clear support or each disorder and what treatments guidelines follow
uniformity myth
a false belief that all therapies are equivalent despite differences in the therapists’ training, experience, theoretical orientations, and personalities
rapprochement movement
a movement to identify a set of common factors or common strategies that run through all successful therapies
psychopharmacologist
a psychiatrist who primarily prescribes medications
