research

Question 1

outcome research

Answer 1

focused on the effects of psychotherapy

Question 2

simple control group

Answer 2

a waiting list condition
- have to receive the intervention after a delay

Question 3

typical research course

Answer 3

1. uncontrolled study checking status before/after treatment
2. comparisons with waiting list controls
3. comparisons with placebo or basic counseling
4. comparisons with other medications or other efficacious psychotherapies

Question 4

empirically supported treatments (EST)

Answer 4

treatments that have met the standards set by one or more groups who have reviewed the psychotherapy literature to identify treatments for particular disorders

Question 5

how can psychotherapy be harmful?

Answer 5

1. an ineffective treatment is harmful
2. if it continues to divert resources from programs that could be helpful
3. some disorders worsen without treatment
4. you’re withholding effective treatments that exist

Question 6

how good are inpatient therapists at predicting treatment success?

Answer 6

no better than chance

Question 7

why is clinical experience unhelpful in predicting treatment outcomes?

Answer 7

it taxes cognitive capacity and leaves you open to cognitive biases
clinicians rarely receive feedback
spontaneous remissions
illusory correlations
availability heuristic

Question 8

sensitivity

Answer 8

likelihood of testing positive if one has a specified mental disorder

Question 9

specificity

Answer 9

likelihood of testing negative if one does not have the specified disorder

Question 10

treatment utility

Answer 10

the extent that an assessment instrument contributes to decisions about treatment that lead to better outcomes

Question 11

structured interviews are more valid than semi structured because…

Answer 11

1. good adherence to diagnostic criteria and good interrater reliability
2. designed to comprehensively inquire about DSM criteria

Question 12

limitations of structured interviews

Answer 12

1. easy for patients to over/under-report symptoms
2. memory is fallible
3. need to use clinical judgment when getting info. from multiple sources (which is fallible)
4. doesn’t reduce the occurrence of racial bias

Question 13

dilution effect

Answer 13

validity decreases when we place more weight on the highly salient but low-validity info. at the expense of less salient, but more valid info.

Question 14

hindsight bias

Answer 14

overestimating the likelihood that they would’ve predicted an outcome after they’re aware of the outcome

Question 15

converging operations

Answer 15

key paradigm through which scientists interpret data from multiple investigations of a given phenomenon
- hinge on multiple measurements of the same construct

Question 16

cultural tightness

Answer 16

characterization based on the strength of a country’s norms and tolerance for behavioral deviations

Question 17

most powerful predictor of mental illness

Answer 17

socioeconomic deprivation

Question 18

social-communicative model of psychotherapy

Answer 18

the mechanisms through which culture is maintained and transferred across generations are overlapping and, in places, isomorphic with the developmental generation of mental illness

Question 19

executive function

Answer 19

encompassed higher-order processes for directing and regulating thoughts, emotions, and behaviors according to goals and context