Psychology EPPP 2025 – Practice Questions with Answers for
ASPPB Licensure Exam Preparation
This document contains a comprehensive set of practice questions and detailed answer
explanations for the 2025 Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology (EPPP).
Covering all key domains—biological bases of behavior, cognitive-affective processes,
social and multicultural bases, growth and development, assessment, intervention, ethics,
and research methods—this guide is ideal for candidates preparing for psychology
licensure through the ASPPB. Designed to reflect the structure and difficulty level of the
actual EPPP exam.
1. What are the assumptions of psychodynamic therapies:
1. human behavior is largely unconscious
2. early childhood has a profound effect on adult functioning
3. universal principles explain personality and bx
4. insight into unconscious processes is a key goal of therapy
2. What are the main psychodynamic approaches:
1. Freudian psychoanalysis
2. Adler's individual psychology
3. Jung's analytical psychotherapy
4 Mahler's separation-individuation
,3. What were Freud's two interrelated personality theories:
Structural drive theory
Developmental theory
4. What was Freud's structural drive theory:
The human personality is composed of three interacting psychic structures: the
id, ego, and superego
5. Describe Freud's id:
- present at birth
- life and death instincts
- source of all psychic energy
- operates on pleasure principle
- seeks immediate gratification
- avoids tension
6. Describe Freud's ego: - develops at 6 months, because id cannot gratify all it's
needs
- operates on reality principal
- postpones gratification until appropriate object is available
- secondary process thinking (realistic, rational, planning)
- mediates conflicting demands of id and reality, and superego
7. Describe Freud's superego:
- develops between 4 - 5 years
- internalization of society's values and standards
- learned through rewards and punishment
,- blocks id instincts if they are not socially acceptable
8. What was Freud's developmental theory: Also known as the
psychosexual theory of development. Personality develops through a series of
stages in childhood, each focused on a different erogenous zone of the body.
Stages are: oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital.
Successfully navigating each stage is crucial for healthy personality development;
failure to do so can lead to fixations that affect adult behavior.
9. How did Freud conceptualize anxiety and it's function: Central to his
personality theory, and defined as an unpleasant experience linked with the
autonomic nervous system.
function is to alert the ego of threat
10. Why do humans use defense mechanisms, according to Freud: When
the ego cannot ward off danger using realistic means. This leads to dysfunctional
bx when they become the ego's habitual way of dealing with danger.
11. What are the two characteristics of defense mechanisms:
1. Operate on an unconscious level
2. Deny or distort reality
12. Define repression: The most basic of Freud's defense mechanisms, and
underlies all other defense mechanisms.
When the id's drives and needs are pushed to a person's unconscious
13. Define reaction formation: A freudian defense mechanism in which anxiety-
evoking impulses are avoided by expressing their opposite
14. Define projection: A freudian defense mechanism in which impulses are
attributed to another person or object.
, 15. How did Freud view maladaptive behavior?: Psychopathology stems from
an unconscious, unresolved conflict which occurred in childhood
16. How would Freud describe phobias: Displacement of anxiety onto an object
or event symbolic of the unresolved conflict
17. How would Freud describe depression: When a person turns inward their
object loss and anger towards lost object
18. How would Freud describe mania: A person's defense against aggressive
urges that threaten to overwhelm the ego.
19. What is the goal of Freudian psychoanalysis: Reduce psychopathology by:
1. bringing unconscious into the conscious awareness
2. integrating previously repressed material into the personality
20. What is the primary technique used in freudian psychotherapy?
List it's targets:
Analysis which targets
- client's free associations
- dreams
- resistances
- transferences
21. Define psychic determinism and it's function in psychoanalysis: The
belief that all behaviors are meaningful and serve a psychological function.
underlies ALL analysis.
Ex. Freudian slip
22. What are the four stages of Freudian analysis, and what happens in
each: Confrontation - statements to help clients see behavior in a new way
Clarification - restating remarks in clearer terms
ASPPB Licensure Exam Preparation
This document contains a comprehensive set of practice questions and detailed answer
explanations for the 2025 Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology (EPPP).
Covering all key domains—biological bases of behavior, cognitive-affective processes,
social and multicultural bases, growth and development, assessment, intervention, ethics,
and research methods—this guide is ideal for candidates preparing for psychology
licensure through the ASPPB. Designed to reflect the structure and difficulty level of the
actual EPPP exam.
1. What are the assumptions of psychodynamic therapies:
1. human behavior is largely unconscious
2. early childhood has a profound effect on adult functioning
3. universal principles explain personality and bx
4. insight into unconscious processes is a key goal of therapy
2. What are the main psychodynamic approaches:
1. Freudian psychoanalysis
2. Adler's individual psychology
3. Jung's analytical psychotherapy
4 Mahler's separation-individuation
,3. What were Freud's two interrelated personality theories:
Structural drive theory
Developmental theory
4. What was Freud's structural drive theory:
The human personality is composed of three interacting psychic structures: the
id, ego, and superego
5. Describe Freud's id:
- present at birth
- life and death instincts
- source of all psychic energy
- operates on pleasure principle
- seeks immediate gratification
- avoids tension
6. Describe Freud's ego: - develops at 6 months, because id cannot gratify all it's
needs
- operates on reality principal
- postpones gratification until appropriate object is available
- secondary process thinking (realistic, rational, planning)
- mediates conflicting demands of id and reality, and superego
7. Describe Freud's superego:
- develops between 4 - 5 years
- internalization of society's values and standards
- learned through rewards and punishment
,- blocks id instincts if they are not socially acceptable
8. What was Freud's developmental theory: Also known as the
psychosexual theory of development. Personality develops through a series of
stages in childhood, each focused on a different erogenous zone of the body.
Stages are: oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital.
Successfully navigating each stage is crucial for healthy personality development;
failure to do so can lead to fixations that affect adult behavior.
9. How did Freud conceptualize anxiety and it's function: Central to his
personality theory, and defined as an unpleasant experience linked with the
autonomic nervous system.
function is to alert the ego of threat
10. Why do humans use defense mechanisms, according to Freud: When
the ego cannot ward off danger using realistic means. This leads to dysfunctional
bx when they become the ego's habitual way of dealing with danger.
11. What are the two characteristics of defense mechanisms:
1. Operate on an unconscious level
2. Deny or distort reality
12. Define repression: The most basic of Freud's defense mechanisms, and
underlies all other defense mechanisms.
When the id's drives and needs are pushed to a person's unconscious
13. Define reaction formation: A freudian defense mechanism in which anxiety-
evoking impulses are avoided by expressing their opposite
14. Define projection: A freudian defense mechanism in which impulses are
attributed to another person or object.
, 15. How did Freud view maladaptive behavior?: Psychopathology stems from
an unconscious, unresolved conflict which occurred in childhood
16. How would Freud describe phobias: Displacement of anxiety onto an object
or event symbolic of the unresolved conflict
17. How would Freud describe depression: When a person turns inward their
object loss and anger towards lost object
18. How would Freud describe mania: A person's defense against aggressive
urges that threaten to overwhelm the ego.
19. What is the goal of Freudian psychoanalysis: Reduce psychopathology by:
1. bringing unconscious into the conscious awareness
2. integrating previously repressed material into the personality
20. What is the primary technique used in freudian psychotherapy?
List it's targets:
Analysis which targets
- client's free associations
- dreams
- resistances
- transferences
21. Define psychic determinism and it's function in psychoanalysis: The
belief that all behaviors are meaningful and serve a psychological function.
underlies ALL analysis.
Ex. Freudian slip
22. What are the four stages of Freudian analysis, and what happens in
each: Confrontation - statements to help clients see behavior in a new way
Clarification - restating remarks in clearer terms
