COUC 601 Midterm Exam Questions and
Correct Answers
Differentiation of Self - Answer-Capacity to think and reflect rather than respond emotionally. The
ability to be flexible and act wisely in the face of anxiety.
Undifferentiated People - Answer-Extremely reactive to the people and anxiety around them.
Bowen's Central Ideas - Answer-Differentiation of self
Triangulation
Fusion
Bowen Perspective on Symptoms - Answer-The Result of Stress
Circular Causality - Answer-The view that causality is nonlinear, occurring instead within a relationship
context and through a network of interacting loops; any cause is thus seen as an effect of a prior cause,
as in the interactions within families.
, cybernetics - Answer-The study of methods of feedback control within a system, especially the flow of
information through feedback loops.
Science of feedback; how information can help self-regulate a system.
Double-bind concept - Answer-Conflict created when an individual receives contradictory messages on
different levels of abstraction and cannot leave the situation or relieve the conflict or tension.
Constructivism - Answer-Relativistic point of view that emphasizes the subjective construction of reality.
Implies that what we see in families may be based as much on our perceptions as on what's actually
going on.
Goal of Bowenian Therapy - Answer-Insight
Bowenian Assessments - Answer-Genograms
Bowenian Techniques - Answer-Process Questions
Relationship Experiments
First Order Change - Answer-When only a specific behaviour within a system changes. Superficial
change that is temporary.
Second Order Change - Answer-When the rules of the system change.
Sustained change in the organization of structure of the system.
Linear Causality - Answer-View that nonreciprocal relationships exists between events in a sequence, so
that one event causes the next event, not vice versa.
Correct Answers
Differentiation of Self - Answer-Capacity to think and reflect rather than respond emotionally. The
ability to be flexible and act wisely in the face of anxiety.
Undifferentiated People - Answer-Extremely reactive to the people and anxiety around them.
Bowen's Central Ideas - Answer-Differentiation of self
Triangulation
Fusion
Bowen Perspective on Symptoms - Answer-The Result of Stress
Circular Causality - Answer-The view that causality is nonlinear, occurring instead within a relationship
context and through a network of interacting loops; any cause is thus seen as an effect of a prior cause,
as in the interactions within families.
, cybernetics - Answer-The study of methods of feedback control within a system, especially the flow of
information through feedback loops.
Science of feedback; how information can help self-regulate a system.
Double-bind concept - Answer-Conflict created when an individual receives contradictory messages on
different levels of abstraction and cannot leave the situation or relieve the conflict or tension.
Constructivism - Answer-Relativistic point of view that emphasizes the subjective construction of reality.
Implies that what we see in families may be based as much on our perceptions as on what's actually
going on.
Goal of Bowenian Therapy - Answer-Insight
Bowenian Assessments - Answer-Genograms
Bowenian Techniques - Answer-Process Questions
Relationship Experiments
First Order Change - Answer-When only a specific behaviour within a system changes. Superficial
change that is temporary.
Second Order Change - Answer-When the rules of the system change.
Sustained change in the organization of structure of the system.
Linear Causality - Answer-View that nonreciprocal relationships exists between events in a sequence, so
that one event causes the next event, not vice versa.
