Abnormal Psychology Exam 1

Which of the following is an argument of critics of the evolutionary perspective?

It is difficult to research this perspective.

Which statement BEST reflects the current care for people with less severe disturbances?

Private insurance companies are likely to cover outpatient treatment.

Understanding a person's unconscious processes is critical in explaining abnormality. Which model of abnormality does this quote MOST closely represent?

Psychodynamic

Research suggests that one negative effect of adolescents using social media sites is that these sites may:

increase peer pressure and social anxiety.

A clinician wants to understand the everyday interactions between a parent and a child. The BEST assessment tool for this is:

naturalistic observation.

A psychologist constructs a comprehensive view of what is causing and maintaining a person's abnormal behavior. This is referred to as:

the clinical picture.

Which of the following dreams is the MOST common?

"What an individual views as abnormal behavior in public may be the only way to effectively interact with family members."

According to a meta-analysis of treatment studies, the average person who received treatment was better off than _____ percent of the untreated control subjects.

75

When I was a child, I loved to go swimming in a lake near my house. However, one afternoon I was bitten on the foot by something in the water. Since that time, I've never been able to swim in a lake. A therapist who assumes this describes a phobia acquired from classical conditioning MOST likely favors which model of abnormality?

Cognitive-behavioral

A student says, "The problem with single-subject experiments is that there is no control group, so you don't know if the treatment is effective." The BEST reply is:

If you use a reversal design, then participants serve as their own controls.

Which group BEST reflects those who may benefit from couple therapy?

Individuals who are in a long-term relationship

If a mother seems excessively involved in her child's life such that the two do not seem to be independent people, their relationship is said to be:

Tertiary

Which statement is the MOST accurate conclusion about the current state of abnormal psychology in the United States?

There is no single definition of abnormality or theoretical understanding of mental illness causes.

In which of these would aggressive behavior be seen as normal behavior?

a culture that emphasizes competitiveness

An institutionalized individual behaving abnormally says, "The doctor claims I'm schizophrenic! How else would you expect me to act?" The individual's comments reflect:

a self-fulfilling prophecy.

A theorist who believes that someone who is labeled a hard worker will, in fact, become a hard worker is MOST likely a _____ theorist.

behavior-focused

A psychologist does a study of an individual that involves history-taking, tests, and interviews of associates. A clear picture is then constructed of this individual so that her behavior is better understood. This study is a(n):

case study.

In preparation for a study of the effectiveness of an antipsychotic drug, an assistant puts all drugs into capsules of the same color and codes them. The assistant will have no part in administering the drug. Neither the subjects nor the experimenter will know who receives which drug. This is an example of a:

double-masked design.

Humans are born with freedom, yet do not 'naturally' strive to reach their full growth potential. The psychologist who would MOST closely agree with this statement would be described as:

existential.

You know, it really doesn't matter: One kind of psychotherapy is generally just about as good as any other. Someone who agrees with this statement is:

falling victim to the uniformity myth.

An example of an analogue experiment is:

having human participants live for a week in a simulated mental hospital to see how they respond.

Because people who exhibit mania have very elevated moods, a new test for mania includes questions about how happy a person feels and how often he or she laughs. This test has:

high face validity.

For those who hold the somatogenic view of mental illness, the best treatment setting for those with mental disorders would be a:

hospital.

The asylums of the 1500s were originally:

hospitals and monasteries.

A clinician has developed a new assessment tool. Clients write stories about their problems, and then two different judges independently evaluate the stories in terms of how logically they are written. Which UNIQUE reliability consideration applies to this type of assessment?

interrater reliability

A self-help group differs from group therapy in that the self-help group:

is not led by a professional clinician.

Luther experiences unshakable sadness. His friends have stopped trying to cheer him up because nothing works. An ancient Greek physician would have labeled his condition:

melancholia

Three-year-old Jessica watches a car repair show on television and then goes into her playroom to "fix a car." This is an example of:

modeling.

DSM-5 is the classification system for abnormal behaviors that is:

most widely used in the United States.

When Mathias did not get a job for which he applied, he was sure that everything was going wrong, that his life was completely off track. This thought is an example of:

overgeneralization.

A general term used for Freud's, Adler's, and Jung's theories is:

psychodynamic.

Minsoo loves to eat sugary food. When he is alone, he eats all the sweets he wants. However, when someone is watching, Minsoo eats fewer sweets. This tendency to decrease a behavior while being observed is an example of:

reactivity.

Factors other than the independent variable may also act on the dependent variable. If these factors vary systematically with the independent variable, they are called:

resistance.

According to Jerome Frank, all forms of therapy have three essential features: a sufferer who seeks relief, a trained and socially accepted healer, and a(n):

series of contacts between the sufferer and the healer.

Research studies evaluating how effective individual therapies are at treating particular disorders have commonly reported:

significant differences among therapies.

What kind of inventory asks about how one would act with others in a variety of situations?

social skills inventory

A _____ test is one that has been set up with common steps to be followed whenever it is administered.

standardized

When Rorschach testers ask, after the test, questions like, "Did the person respond to the whole picture or to specific details, and to the colors or the white spaces?", they are interested in the _____ of the response.

style

Studies report that most therapists are MOST likely to learn about the latest information on the treatment of psychological disorders from:

talking with professional colleagues.

Which is the BEST example of baseline data in a single-subject design?

the level of behavior before treatment begins

Which term was the earliest used to describe those persons whom we now refer to as mentally ill?

unstable