FT Chapter 8 Review Questions

Chapter 8 Case Study Alice is a marital and family therapist who is conducting a couples' retreat this weekend. There are three couples in attendance.Couple A: Marcia and Fred, who argue frequently on how to accommodate each set of parentsCouple B: Todd and Nancy, who operate with Nancy as the sole decision-maker and Todd as followerCouple C: Lucy and Claude, who seem to communicate well and make decisions together During this same discussion, Couple B share that their eighteen-year-old daughter "flew the coop the second she turned eighteen" and now lives three thousand miles away. They say that their daughter claims that the long distance and her lack of money as the reasons why she does not return home for holidays or family events. Bowen would call this phenomenon _____. a. emotional cutoff b. transference c. differentiation d. triangulation

a. emotional cutoff

A genogram is a diagram of a family that encompasses at least _____ generations in order to examine the emotional processes and patterns in the system. a. three b. five c. four d. two

a. three

To begin the weekend, Alice assesses each individual using Bowen's theoretical differentiation-of-self scale. What represents the most likely outcome of this assessment? a. Couple C: Lucy's score indicates high differentiation, while Claude's suggests midrange differentiation. b. Couple A: Marcia and Fred receive scores indicating low differentiation. c. Couple B: Todd's score indicates high differentiation; Nancy's suggest low differentiation. d. The individuals in both Couples A and B receive scores that indicate low differentiation.

b. Couple A: Marcia and Fred receive scores indicating low differentiation.

For Bowen, the term "multigenerational transmission process" refers to the transmission of _____ from one generation to the next. a. family values b. chronic anxiety c. differentiation d. resiliency

b. chronic anxiety

Corinne cannot handle the emotional stress of interacting with her parents so she stops talking with them for a year. This is an example of _____. a. family projection b. emotional cutoff c. triangulation d. self-differentiation

b. emotional cutoff

In his theorizing, Bowen sought to balance two life forces, _____, which he believed to be the core issue for all humans. a. detriangulation and differentiation b. family togetherness and individual autonomy c. anxiety and arousal d. family systems and family structure

b. family togetherness and individual autonomy

During a discussion about family life, Couple A admit that they argue way less when their thirteen-year-old son is around because he serves as a kind of referee. You explain that this decrease in conflict is likely due to _____. a. differentiation b. triangulation c. family projection d. emotional cutoff

b. triangulation

Who originated family systems theory, conceptualizing the family as an emotional unit? a. James Framo b. Ivan Boszormenyi-Nagy c. Murray Bowen d. Carl Whitaker

c. Murray Bowen

Individuals with the greatest _____ between their thoughts and feelings function most poorly and tend to become dysfunctional even under low levels of anxiety. a. emotional cutoff b. differentiation c. fusion d. regression

c. fusion

Bowen family systems therapy is governed by two basic goals: the management of anxiety and relief from symptoms, and a(n) _____. a. decrease in each participant's level of individualization to facilitate family bonding. b. increase in each participant's level of differentiation to optimize emotional cutoff. c. increase in each participant's level of differentiation to improve adaptiveness. d. decrease in each participant's level of differentiation to minimize conflict.

c. increase in each participant's level of differentiation to improve adaptiveness.

Bowen referred to a family's way of coping with stress and maintaining stability as its _____. a. system of family obligations and entitlements b. undifferentiated family ego mass c. nuclear family emotional system d. fusion-differentiation

c. nuclear family emotional system

The technique of the "family ledger" is meant to help family members _____. a. learn how to clear emotional debts b. deepen a sense of self-worth c. see the psychological giving and receiving occurring within the family d. appreciate economic pressures on multigenerational family systems

c. see the psychological giving and receiving occurring within the family

One of the unique aspects of Boszormenyi-Nagy's outlook is his concern with _____. a. structure and process b. dyads and triads c. values and ethics d. insight and action

c. values and ethics

What key factor stimulates humans' emotional system and overrides the cognitive system, leading to behavior that is automatic or uncontrolled? a. anger b. projection c. differentiation d. anxiety

d. anxiety

In Bowen's view, the opposite of self-differentiation is _____. a. family triangles b. enmeshment c. complementarity d. fusion

d. fusion

A couple consisting of two individuals with high differentiation will exhibit _____. a. avoidance of conflict b. feelings that dominate over thinking processes c. goal-directed behavior focused on seeking approval d. independence from others outside the family group

d. independence from others outside the family group

Boszormenyi-Nagy's notion of relational ethics in family therapy focuses on the _____. a. notion that children should honor their mothers and fathers b. setting aside of individual needs for the sake of the needs of the family c. sacrifice of parents being understood and acknowledged by their children d. oscillating balance of fairness among family members

d. oscillating balance of fairness among family members

In the family projection process, poorly differentiated parents focus their attention on their most infantile child, who _____. a. becomes fused with the most individuated child in the family b. becomes a scapegoat and the identified patient when the family enters treatment c. receives their own unconscious strengths with the goal of being rescued by her or him d. receives the parents' own low levels of differentiation

d. receives the parents' own low levels of differentiation

According to Bowen, what is a common way for a two-person system under stress to attempt to achieve stability? a. enmeshment b. fusion c. differentiation d. triangulation

d. triangulation