PSY 370 EXAM 3 QUESTIONS & VERIFIED ANSWERS
what is a clinical assessment - Answers - information-gathering and interpretive skills
used by professional counselor/therapist.
Clinical vs Counseling perspectives - Answers - counseling psychologist focus on those
experiencing normal developmental problems while clinical psychologist focus on
mentally ill and those who exhibit abnormal behaviors. clinical psychologists are more
likely to use an assessment as information gathering tool. counselors are more likely to
use assessment as part of therapy
critical clinical evaluation - Answers - addiction and substance abuse, forensic
assessment, custody evaluations and child abuse and neglect.
diagnosis - Answers - assessment provides information about symptoms. symptoms
can then be compared to a classification system or something more informal depending
on the purpose DSM modeled after medical diagnostic model. used to identify
treatments or interventions
testing people with disabilities - Answers - federal law prohibits discriminating against
people with disabilities in the workplace, education, and other areas. specifically state
that test must make reasonable accommodations.
reasonable accommodations - Answers - vary depending on the person, the test, the
situation and the disability. maybe common sense (lighting, amplification or spoken
instructions) but still require careful thought. need to be familiar with the purpose and
intended use of the test, need to understand potential impact of any modifications. some
tests have been written specifically for people with disabilities. need to compare to
appropriate norms. goal is to ensure that the test score reflects the person and is not
due to the disability.
tests to diagnose disabilities - Answers - a single test score should never be sued as the
sole basis for diagnosing a disability.
integrated assessment - Answers - combine test information with interviews, direct
observations and other methods
clinical interviews - Answers - discussion between a clinician and a client. can be
structured, unstructured or semi-structured.
unstructured clinical interviews - Answers - flexible and allow clinician to be responsive.
may be susceptible to biases such as hypothesis confirmation bias self fulfilling
prophecy, and ethnocentrism. structured interviews reduce this bias.
, Initial phase of unstructured interview - Answers - build rapport, get client's perception of
the problem and observe the client
middle phase of unstructured interviews - Answers - social, medical history, observe
coping behaviors, form and test hypotheses about diagnosis, prognosis (will treatment
work and how long will it take)
termination of unstructured interviews - Answers - ask if client has questions,
summarize the interview, explaIn and schedule further assessment/treatment
concerns when evaluating interviews as tests - Answers - interrater reliability is low but
adding structure tends to improve the reliability. reliability and validity are compromised
when diagnostic criteria are not well developed.
personality traits - Answers - a trait is any distinguishable relatively enduring way in
which one individual varies from another. a psychological trait usually involves behavior.
traits as tendencies to a particular kind of behavior
personality historically - Answers - controversial; people behave differently in different
situations, most researchers concede that both traits and situations are important.
neither alone can fully predict/explain behavior
why measure personality - Answers - job selection, executive coaching, mental health,
establishing a clinical relationship, recommending treatment, tracking development,
assessing brain injury etc.
the big issue with personality measurement - Answers - who do we ask about
personality? depends on the context. the most common form is self report (some info
you cant get elsewhere but are they being honest and do they really know
themselves?).other reports include people who know you well which may predict
outcomes a little bit better depending on what kind of personality construct you're
measuring. issues with that are that people often only see you in one context and
different raters do not agree.
theoretical development of personality - Answers - start with a theory about the structure
of personality or an important trait, write the items, construct validate.
factor analytic - Answers - data reduction
empirical keying - Answers - sometimes good prediction may be seen as more
important than having a good theory. selecting items on the basis of whether they
predict a criterion or not. start with a lot of items, administer to 2 groups and find items
that differentiate the two groups and keep those items
Discovering personality - factor analysis - Answers - big five came from lexical
hypothesis which is a difference between people is important, society will develop words
what is a clinical assessment - Answers - information-gathering and interpretive skills
used by professional counselor/therapist.
Clinical vs Counseling perspectives - Answers - counseling psychologist focus on those
experiencing normal developmental problems while clinical psychologist focus on
mentally ill and those who exhibit abnormal behaviors. clinical psychologists are more
likely to use an assessment as information gathering tool. counselors are more likely to
use assessment as part of therapy
critical clinical evaluation - Answers - addiction and substance abuse, forensic
assessment, custody evaluations and child abuse and neglect.
diagnosis - Answers - assessment provides information about symptoms. symptoms
can then be compared to a classification system or something more informal depending
on the purpose DSM modeled after medical diagnostic model. used to identify
treatments or interventions
testing people with disabilities - Answers - federal law prohibits discriminating against
people with disabilities in the workplace, education, and other areas. specifically state
that test must make reasonable accommodations.
reasonable accommodations - Answers - vary depending on the person, the test, the
situation and the disability. maybe common sense (lighting, amplification or spoken
instructions) but still require careful thought. need to be familiar with the purpose and
intended use of the test, need to understand potential impact of any modifications. some
tests have been written specifically for people with disabilities. need to compare to
appropriate norms. goal is to ensure that the test score reflects the person and is not
due to the disability.
tests to diagnose disabilities - Answers - a single test score should never be sued as the
sole basis for diagnosing a disability.
integrated assessment - Answers - combine test information with interviews, direct
observations and other methods
clinical interviews - Answers - discussion between a clinician and a client. can be
structured, unstructured or semi-structured.
unstructured clinical interviews - Answers - flexible and allow clinician to be responsive.
may be susceptible to biases such as hypothesis confirmation bias self fulfilling
prophecy, and ethnocentrism. structured interviews reduce this bias.
, Initial phase of unstructured interview - Answers - build rapport, get client's perception of
the problem and observe the client
middle phase of unstructured interviews - Answers - social, medical history, observe
coping behaviors, form and test hypotheses about diagnosis, prognosis (will treatment
work and how long will it take)
termination of unstructured interviews - Answers - ask if client has questions,
summarize the interview, explaIn and schedule further assessment/treatment
concerns when evaluating interviews as tests - Answers - interrater reliability is low but
adding structure tends to improve the reliability. reliability and validity are compromised
when diagnostic criteria are not well developed.
personality traits - Answers - a trait is any distinguishable relatively enduring way in
which one individual varies from another. a psychological trait usually involves behavior.
traits as tendencies to a particular kind of behavior
personality historically - Answers - controversial; people behave differently in different
situations, most researchers concede that both traits and situations are important.
neither alone can fully predict/explain behavior
why measure personality - Answers - job selection, executive coaching, mental health,
establishing a clinical relationship, recommending treatment, tracking development,
assessing brain injury etc.
the big issue with personality measurement - Answers - who do we ask about
personality? depends on the context. the most common form is self report (some info
you cant get elsewhere but are they being honest and do they really know
themselves?).other reports include people who know you well which may predict
outcomes a little bit better depending on what kind of personality construct you're
measuring. issues with that are that people often only see you in one context and
different raters do not agree.
theoretical development of personality - Answers - start with a theory about the structure
of personality or an important trait, write the items, construct validate.
factor analytic - Answers - data reduction
empirical keying - Answers - sometimes good prediction may be seen as more
important than having a good theory. selecting items on the basis of whether they
predict a criterion or not. start with a lot of items, administer to 2 groups and find items
that differentiate the two groups and keep those items
Discovering personality - factor analysis - Answers - big five came from lexical
hypothesis which is a difference between people is important, society will develop words
