Quiz Flashcards
What criticism of school psychology exist in regards to theory?
- training, research and practice is poorly linked to theory, models and frameworks
- interventions are atheoretical and focus solely on effectiveness and not causal processes or mechanisms of change
What were the findings of Mercer, Idler, and Bartfai (2014) regarding theory in school psychology research?
about 50% of research articles in this field do not attend to theory or contribute to theory
What are common theoretical orientations of counselling psychologists? And to what do they contribute the cause of mental health problems?
- Feminist, multicultural, and social justice
- social environmental explanations
What are common theoretical orientations of clinical psychologists? And to what do they contribute the cause of mental health problems?
- Cognitive behavioural, psychodynamic or psychoanalytic
- With-person causes
Why should we use theory?
- Provides structure to guide our practices and help us solve problems
- Helps us conceptualize data
- helps us increase intervention effectiveness by focusing on the important aspects
- Allows us to flexibly consider other angles and theories if we understand our own
- Helps us to best move the field forward in research and practice
What is a theoretical framework?
- A school of thoughts or domains
- A broad approach or orientations with processes applicable to many different intervention targets and procedures
What are the core domains within school psychology?
- Behavioural
- Cognitive
- Developmental
- Social
- Biological
What is the layout of theories in psychology?
- Broadest category is domains
- Small Theories
- Conceptual framework
What are psychological theories (small theories)?
- a testable set of principles that are well researched and can be used to predict human behaviour
- connected to a particular domain, and lead to particular practices
- help us identify the causality of intervention and expected outcomes
What are conceptual frameworks?
- A network of interlinked concepts that together provide a comprehensive understanding of a phenomenon
- Similar to theory, as they help with data interpretation and conceptualizing underlying constructs
- Less researched, more complex, and more narrow than theories
What is an Integrative or Eclectic Theoretical Approach?
- looks beyond the confines of a single domain approach
- Allows flexible approaches to customize to unique needs and contexts
- Consistent with a call for practitioners to rely on integration of theory and empirical research
What are criticism of eclectic approaches?
- Lack of Organization and structure
- Equated with lazy, sloppy, or unorganized practices
What are the 3 ways to integrate approaches into an eclectic framework?
- Technical Integration
- Theoretical Integration
- Assimilative Integration
What is Technical Integration (eclectic)?
- Systematic selection of techniques from many approaches without necessarily the underpinning theory
- “A variety of tools in the toolkit”
- effectiveness determined by therapists flexibility, versatility, and technical eclecticism
- not heavily theory based
What is Theoretical Integration (eclectic)?
- Create a conceptual framework that synthesizes the best of two or more approaches
- Integrates underlying techniques for each theory
- Most difficult
What is Assimilative Integration (eclectic)?
Grounded in a single orientation, but drawing techniques from other models in as seamless a fashion as possible
What are the benefits of an eclectic practice in school psychology?
- Consistent with calls for SP’s to rely on integration of theory and empirical research
- Consistent with recognition that many major theories are consistent with and build on each other more than competing
- Attends to the diversity in our practice
What is the traditional school psychology service delivery model?
- Refer - test - place and Aptitude - by - treatment interaction (ATI)
- These are largely based on the beliefs that results on tests can be used to drive instruction and intervention
- Largely correlational approach
What are the criticisms of the traditional school psychology service delivery model?
- It is deficit focused
- The empirical support equivocal
What is some of the research against traditional service delivery models?
- Biased decision making and referrals limits the SP’s ability to support all students or even the right students
- the Wait to Fail model often means we are intervening when students are already too far behind
- It does not meaningfully inform intervention as many areas assessed cannot be directly changed, and we have a hard time understanding whether interventions are working
What is behavioural psychology?
focus on changing observable behaviours
focus on single-case design methodology
What are some theories under behavioural psychology?
- Behavioural learning theory
- social learning theory
What are some examples of academic interventions under behavioural psychology?
direct instruction
reinforce accurate responding
functional analyses of academic problems
What are some examples of behavioural interventions under behavioural psychology?
determine if a consequence is negatively reinforcing the behaviour
daily report cards
check in-check out
What is cognitive psychology?
informed by cognitive processing theory, it seeks to modify cognitive abilities or processes such as attention or working memory, most often to improve academic performance
What are some theories under cognitive psychology?
Information processing theory
Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) Theory
Schema theory
Academic Interventions under Cognitive Psychology
repeated rehearsal of associations
reducing retroactive interference
testing effect
mnemonic strategies
Behavioural interventions under Cognitive Psychology
self regulation
social scripts
promoting alternative thinking strategies
What is cognitive-behavioural theory
conceptualizes thoughts and perceptions as mediators of the relations between environmental events and emotional responses, as well as incorporating principles of cognitive and behavioural therapies to address targeted thoughts, behaviours, and/or emotions
What is ecological systems theory?
Under developmental psychology
the study of the multiple interconnected environmental systems that influence individual development
What are theories under developmental psychology?
Ecological systems theory
psychosocial development theory
moral reasoning theory
social development theory
Examples of academic interventions under developmental psychology
teach at an instructional level
early intervention
address developmentally appropriate skills and prerequisite skills
parents support academic learning
Examples of behavioural interventions under developmental psychology
conjoint behavioural consultation
use effective classroom management practices
coordinate efforts across agencies
Incredible Years training
What is social cognitive theory?
incorporating observational learning, self determination theory, or social information-processing approaches
Theories under social psychology
attribution theory
drive theory
social comparison theory
stereotype threat theory
academic interventions under social psychology
provide social supports for academic skill
peer tutoring
behavioural interventions under social psychology
social learning of appropriate behaviour
teachers model behaviour
Assumptions of ecological systems theory
- the student and system are inseparable
- the issue is not solely within the student, but reflects a divergence between student and system
- a disparity exists between the expectations of the student and the students ability
- the focus of intervention should be to close the mismatch between student and system
What are the four areas of student engagement?
- affective engagement - a sense of belonging
- behavioural engagement - participation in school and extracurricular activities
- cognitive engagement - the student’s perception of the relevance of school to future aspirations
- academic engagement - completion of school tasks
What is the learning hierarchy?
a tool to understand the phases of learning through which all people progress when they learn a new school
What are the four phases of the learning hierarchy?
- acquisition - slow and inaccurate performance, need explicit instruction and modeling
- proficiency - students are sufficiently accurate but remain slow and require repetition for automatization
- generalization - the student has speed and accuracy but learning to apply skill to different situations
- adaptation - student can generalize
What is Applied Behaviour Analysis
a branch of professional psychology concerned with the scientific study of important human behaviour and its controlling variables
What are the observations of Skinner’s operant conditioning paradigm?
- organisms emit a variety of behaviours that act or operate on the environment
- certain behaviours but not others are repeated based on the consequences they produce
- organisms have the capacity to learn from the consequences of their actions
What is experimental control?
demonstrating that a treatment is capable of producing changes in behaviour that are large enough to be seen when graphed, occur repeatedly for all participants, and occur for all participants
Characteristics of contemporary ABA
application of a wide variety of principles from experimental operant research, functional analysis, empasis on reinforcement-based procedures, training of direct care providers, and program for the maintenance and generalization of effects
Similarities between RTI and ABA
- emphasis on assessment informing intervention
- systematic monitoring of student progress
- decision-making process based on a student’s response to evidence based interventions
What is Functional Behaviour Assessment?
Assessing problem behaviour to identify its immediate antecedents and consequences (ABC)
What is Functional Behaviour Analysis?
involves the experimental manipulation of conditions that occur before and after a problem behaviour as brief test conditions
goal: to identify with confidence the type of reinforcement that this behaviour uses
What is Brief Experimental Analysis?
involves rapidly exposing a student to different treatment conditions and assessing each condition/s effect on a target behaviour
What is a basic tenant of ABA research>
behavioural treatments should be techological and conceptually systematic, meaning that their principles and procedures should be fully specified and should eliminate, reverse, or weaken the variables actually influencing the occurrence of problem behaviour
What is systematic formative evaluation?
ongoing evaluation of instructional programs based on direct repeated measures of student outcomes
How does postnatal brain development happen?
through selective subtraction of neurons, not addition
humans are born with most of their neurons already developed
What two areas of the brain develop new neurons after birth
hippocampus - used for forming certain types of new memories
Caudate nucleus and putamen (collectively the striatum) - used for forming new memories, especially around skills and habits
How does alcohol impact the developing brain?
- impairs production of neurons
- impairs migration of neurons to their final destinations
- increases apoptosis - programmed cell death
How does the slow development of the prefrontal cortex relate to adolescence?
- inhibition of impulses is lacking, which many attribute teen’s risky and antisocial behaviours to
1a - however, the most risky and antisocial acts are done by a small population with a history of such things - better explanation - lack of inhibition of impulses leads to desire to engage in exciting, thrill-seeking events especially if there is peer praise
How do synapses communicate?
- some synapses that are very exact communicate with electrical signals
- most communicate through the use of neurotransmitters
- three types of synapses - ionotropic, metabotropic, neuromodulators
What is developmentally regulated plasticity?
brain plasticity is greatest during a certain age range, but there is capacity for change outside of that range
What types of activities can enhance brain function?
- near transfer - teach skills we want children to learn and have them practice
- growing up in an enriched environment
- physical activity - increases blood flow to the brain
What is far transfer?
the supposed benefit to cognitive processes from practicing something that is unrelated or distantly related
overall has a weak correlation with improvement in psychological processes
What are common measures of brain activity?
- EEG - electroencephalograph
- MEG - magnetoencephalography
- SPECT - single-photon emission computed tomography
- CAT - computed axial tomography
- PET - Positron emission tomography
- MRI - magnetic resonance imaging
- fMRI - functional magentic resonance imaging
What does an electroencephalograph (EEG) do?
using electrodes glued to the head to measure the mean activity of neurons under the electrodes
often used to measure stages of sleep or seizure activity
limited to measuring neurons at the surface of the brain
What does a magnetoencephalography (MEG) do?
measures tiny changes in magnetic activity evoked by brain activity
slightly better spatial resolution than EEG
limited to measuring neurons at the surface of the brain
What is an evoked response potential (ERP)?
the change in brain activity following a stimulus
often measured with an EEG
What does single-photon-emission computed tomography (SPECT) do?
a radioactive isotope is injected into the blood and then sensors surrounding the head are used to trace blood flow in the brain
useful for localizin brain tumours or the effects of brain trauma
What does a computed axial tomography (CAT) scan do?
a dye is injected into the bloodstream to increase visual contrast, then x-rays are passed through the head and recorded by detectors on the other side in a rotating fashion
useful for localizing brain tumours or the effects of brain trauma
carry some risk because of exposure to radiation
What does a positron emission tomography (PET) scan do?
a radioactively labeled chemical such as glucose is injected into the bloodstream, and then since active brain areas use more glucose, we can measure relative levels of brain activity
useful for localizing brain tumours or the effects of brain trauma
carry some risk because of exposure to radiation
What does magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) do?
applies a strong magnetic field to align the axes of rotation of all the water molecules to the head. Then a brief radiofrequency pulse is applied and removed, causing the water molecules to release energy and the MRI measures it
can show tumours and other abnormalities
requires absolute stillness from patient, so its not great for kids
what does a functional MRI do?
measures hemoglobin molecules instead of water
used to measure activity in relative brain areas during an activity of some sort
How do genes impact expression of disorders?
- no such thing as a “single gene” for any disorder
- most likely reason for heritability is copy number variants (having a gene that influences brain development deleted or copied too many times)
What is heritability?
an estimate of the fraction of the observed variation in some characteristic within a population that is due to the genetic variation within that population
varies from 0 to 1
What is epigenetics?
changes in gene expression without changes in the DNA sequence, often due to experiences or environment in the child, or in either parent
- shared family traits can be either genetic or epigenetic
What is the evidentiary relationships between environment and genetics?
If the environment is satisfactory, then genetic variations control much of the outcome
If the environment is poor, the variations in how poor overwhelm the effects of genetic variation
What are some biological bases of reading disabilities?
- challenges controlling eye movements
- auditory memory/auditory sequence recognition
- problems with phonological sensitivity
- attentional control
- twin studies show altered brain connectivity and lower gray matter
What are some biological bases of ASD?
- Brain abnormalities (but no consistent findings)
- Larger than average expansion of the brain between birth and age 1
- in some cases, there is a rare genetic mutation or copy number variant (likely many small effects produce ASD outcome)
- Epigenetics, like maternal medication use or illness
What are two core concepts in Cognitive Psychology frameworks?
Working memory - storage of mental representations
Executive functions - choosing which process to use to apply to the mental representations
What is working memory?
the ability to simultaneously store and process information
What is in the multicomponent model of working memory?
- articulatory loop - for storing verbal information
- visuospatial scratch pad for storing spatial information
- central executive that directs processes in the articulatory loop and visuospatial scratchpad
What is executive function?
a suite of general purpose control mechanisms that modulate the operation of various cognitive subprocesses and thereby regulate the dynamics of human cognition
What are the 3 EF?
- shifting - moving from one stimulus or task to another
- inhibition - suppressing irrelevant stimuli or tasks in the service of focusing on relevant ones
- Updating - adding and deleting representations in WM
What is long term memory?
memory that is slow and error-prone in the encoding of representations and the retrival of those representations
there is no limit on LTM
What are the relevant systems in LTM to school psych?
- Declarative
- Episodic
- Semantic
- Procedural
What is declarative memory?
encodes ifnormation that you “know that” and can consciously retrieve
factual
two subgroups: episodic and semantic
What is episodic memory?
encodes events that a person has experienced
Has two parts
1. Semantic content - facts of memories; directly recalled
2. contextual content - internal state and local context during the memory; indirectly retrieval
What is semantic memory?
encodes facts and concepts
a collection of episodic memories without the contextual context (ie you recall episodic memories en masse and the contextual content cancels out, so that you’re left only with semantic)
What is procedural memory?
encodes information that you “know how”
retrieved and applied unconsciously
How are procedural memories encoded?
Encoded as productions, each of which has a condition and action aspect
1. Condition aspect - specifies a pattern of representations in WM that must be present for the production to match
2. Action aspect - the doing - when a production matches, we execute action, which results in addition or deletion of representations in WM
What is the power law of practice?
key empirical finding of procedural memory
the time to perform a cognitive skill decreases with practice, specifically as a power function of the number of times a skill has previously performed
What is automaticity?
the ability to execute an action quickly and accurately when practices
What is controlled processing?
directed from the top down by goals, is flexible and can be modified by novel tasks, and it is effortful and places heavy demands on WM
What is automatic processing
directed from the bottom up by inputs, inflexible and difficult to modify for novel tasks, but effortless in making light demands on WM
What is compilation?
According to ACT theory, this is how with practice, a complex skill encoded in declarative LTM comes to be encoded in procedural LTM
Why does compilation improve performance?
- Retrieving from declarative LTM is slow and accurate, but retrieving productions is fast and accurate
- Following compilation, the steps do not need to be maintain in WM, only the results (partial products) of executing them
What is product composition?
a process where a sequence of multiple productions is chunked into a single production
What is instance theory of automatization?
with practice, the results of performing a complex skill come to be encoded as an instance in declarative LTM, where they can can be quickly and accurately retrieved
What is the difference between compilation (ACT theory) and instances (instance theory)?
ACT understands automatic processing as reflecting a shift to productions encoded in procedural memory, whereas the instance theory presents it as a shift to simple retrieval from declarative memory
What are the 8 principles of learning?
- Learning through practice
- Learnin through Interleaving
- Learning through Processing
- Learning through testing
- Learning through Generalization
- Learning through contrast
- Learning through telling
- Learning through failure
What is learning through practice?
the distribution of study experiences over time
What is the spacing effect?
studying across multiple sessions results in better learning than massing study in a single session when total study time is equal
What is expanded practice?
a variant of spaced practice where the interval between study sessions is steadily increased
What is memorization?
verbatim recall of information at a later time
What is induction?
discovery of new, abstract knowledge
better happens when spaced practice is used
What is learning through interleaving?
learning is best when multiple learning tasks are interleaved
leads to worse performance during instruction but must better retention when tested later
What is learning through processing?
the kind of processing performed when enxoding new information impacts later retrievability
supported by 3 effects
1. levels of processing
2. transfer-approproate processing
3. generation
What is the levels of processing effect?
the more deeply or semantically information is processed at encoding, the more accurately it can be retrieved later
What is the transfer-appropriate processing effect?
memory processing is best when the processing performed at encoding matches the processing required at retrieval
What is the generation effect?
memory performance is better when the encoding task requires generation rather than just passive readingW
What is learning through testing?
tests can be used to promote learning not just assess learning
What is the testing effect?
following initial study of new information, taking a test produces better long-term retention than additional studying
What is the goal of transfer in learning?
applying information learned in one setting and for one purpose to other settings and for other purposes
What are the transfer assumptions of the education system?
Knowledge and skills learned
a) in one class will transfer to other classes
b) in one year will transfer to other years
c) in school will transfer to the workplace
What is learning through generalization?
when people learn abstract representations that can be retrieved later in novel settings and applied to solve novel problems
What is analogical problem solving?
requires retriving the solution to a source problem that has previously been solved and applying (or transferring) it to a new target problem
What is learning through contrast?
transfer is promoted when people learn the critical distintions between the concepts of a domain
What is learning through telling?
transfer is most likely to occur when constructivist instruction approaches such as contrasting cases are followed by direct instruction approaches such as lecture
What is learning through failure?
when first learning a new domain, there is value in struggling with complex problems rather than beginning with predigested lectures and simple problems, even if the struggles are unsuccessful and the complex problems are unsolved
might only be effective for students with sufficient prior knowledge
What are three differences between cognitive psychology and school psychology?
- C is a basic science, SP is an applied science
- CP more aligned with experimental approach, SP more aligned with correlational
- CP focused on developing instruction, SP focused on developing interventions
What is social psychology?
the study of how an individual’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviour are influenced by the actual or implied presence of others
What are attitudes?
the tendency to evaluate an entity with some degree of favour or disfavour
What is the process of attitude formation?
involved affect or emotion, cognition, and behaviour
emotions are formed through conditioning processes, simple exposure to a stimulus, and social learning involving observations and modeling
What is attribution theory?
the study of how individuals assign internal or external causation to situations and how they act on this information
What relevance does attribution theory have to school psychology?
- the tendency for people to underestimate situational causes relative to internal dispositional factors in others’ behaviour
- attributional models of achievement behaviour
- the study of extrinsic-intrinsic motivation/self determination theory
- various attribution models of learned hopelessness and depression
What important factors increase liking?
- heightened physical attractiveness
- similarity of perceiver and other
- extent of meaningul social contact between two individuals
What does attachment theories suggest?
young children form cognitive (working) models of caregivers (such as parents) that affect relationships not only immediately but well into the future
What are the ultimate goals of prevention science?
expand the success of science in developing effective interventions for psychosocial problems and ultimately reduce the societal prevalence and overall adverse impact of these problems on human development
What is functional contextualism?
a philosophical yet pragmatic approach to science that relies on a set of predefined and empirically based rules and concepts to predict and influence human behaviour
What are the three key elements of prevention science?
Epidemiology
life course developmental science
intervention trial technology
What is epidemiology?
the systematic study of the ongoing prevalence of a problem, disease, or diagnosis and all of the associated risk and protective factors connected to that problem
What SP practice is consistent with an epidemiological approach?
Simple universal screening can be used to identify
1. most prevalent or universal risk factors effecting many
2. groups of selective at risk students exposed to similar risk factors
3. individual students in risk or displaying early signs and symptoms of an oncoming disorder
What is life course developmental science?
an approach that argues for the need to be attentive to the dynamic nature of human development
What is a focus in school psychology in the life course developmental science domain?
Risk and protective factors
risk factors - conditions, attributes, or behaviours that increase the lieklyhood of a negative outcome
protective factors - a contextual or personal condition that buffers the impact of the risk factors and makes negative outcomes less likely
What are the predominant social influences over development at different ages?
Family - first 5 years of life
School, teacher and peer - between school entry and adolescence
Peer - later childhood and adolescence
What is intervention trial technology?
the use of the scientific method for evaluating whether or not interventions work
What is the primary method for identifying cause and effect?
Experimental studies
Key:
- random assignment of participants
- manipulation of a protective factor to reduce the impact of the risk factor
What are the steps of the research cycle?
- Define the problem
- propose a conceptual framework for how the problem develops (containing both a theory of development and theory of change)
- Hypothesized model is tested to confirm and refine predictions
- Causal links are demonstrated through randomized control trials
- Taking the causal links to scale in broader populations
- Broader dissemination of knowledge
What is the research cycle?
the guiding framework in prevention science for knowledge development
What are the implications of the prevention science on the development of the SP knowledge base?
- researcher should attend to where a specific knowledge development lies in the research cycle
- provides clear guidance on requirements of a scientific approach
- priority given to develop sophisticated analytic methods to address challenges
What are important considerations for SP’s using research?
- how well researchers on the topic have developed efficient tools for practitioners
- how attentive research has been to developmental considerations, including timing of risks and interventions
- whether research has applied rigorous methods
What are person-centred approaches in prevention science?
a family of statistical methods that
a) describe cases based on similar scores on multiple variables
b) group similar cases into profiles
c) distinguish the number and characteristics of individuals fitting into these profiles
What is the classroom check up (CCU)?
an efficient tool developed to support teachers in developing effective classroom management skills
- targets teachers motivation to use current practices important for student success
- reduce negative teacher-student interactions that increase problems
- increase teacher behaviours to promote student success and competence
What are multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS)?
models of school intervention that rely on data to select, organize, and monitor the impact of a continuum of evidence-based programs and practices
What are the fundamental premises of a tiered prevention approach?
- All children can benefit from universal supports
- the risk of progressing to a more intensive service needs can me mitigated for many children by intervening earlier with less intensive supports
- lack of response to less intensive services can better identify those most in need of intensive support
What are the three levels of a tiered prevention model?
- UNiversal Prevention
- Selective prevention
- Indicated prevention
What are the features of universal prevention?
- services to the entire population without regard for risk status
- evidence based practices
- low intensity and easy to implement
- most children get what they need here
What are the features of selective prevention?
- services to a subgroup based on the presence of an identified risk factor
- more intensive than tier 1
- about 15-20% of students fall into this group
What are the features of indicated prevention?
- services to a person showing early signs of a disorder without meeting full criteria
- most intensive and most individualized
- about 3-5% of students fall into this group
What are the four parts of an MTSS Approach?
- Screening
- Identification
- Implementation
- Evaluation Procedures
What are core components of the screening phase?
- select universal prevent programs to reduce the most prevalent risks
- identify subgroups at risk and in risk
What are the core components of the identification phase?
- identify most prevalent universal risk factor
- identify subgroups at need of more intensive supports
- use these screening outcomes as the pre-measure and can evaluate programming by re-administering at a later time
What are the core components of the implementation phase
- select and implement universal, selective and indicated supports
What is an example of a universal support?
- classroom management support
- Consultants can support by
a) assessing the classroom
b) providing feedback to teacher
c) developing a menu of options for intervention
d) choosing the intervention
e) planning the intervention and having the teacher self-monitor progress
f) ongoing monitoring and feedback
What is an example of a selective support?
Self management
- often consists of self-monitoring, which is a multiple stage self-management intervention comprising self-assessment and goal setting, self-monitoring, self-recording, and self-evaluation
What is an example of an indicated support?
Wraparound case management
- promotes school attendance and reduces school suspensions, arrests and aggression
- requires involvement from multidisciplinary teams in the school, family, and community and a child-focused plan
What are the core components of the evaluation phase?
gathering the screening data as a baseline
collect other posttest measures to compare pretest-posttest scores
