CPCE (Counselor Preparation Comprehensive
Examination) Practice Exam | Comprehensive
Questions and Correct Answers Plus Rationale | New
Update 2026-2027
Human Growth and Development
1. Ego psychologists...
A) Emphasize the id processes
B) Refute the concept of the superego
C) Believe in man's powers of reasoning to control behavior
D) Are sometimes known as radical behaviorists
Correct Answer: C) Believe in man's powers of reasoning to control behavior
Rationale: Ego psychologists, such as Erik Erikson, emphasize the ego's adaptive
strengths and the individual's capacity to reason, make choices, and control
behavior. They do not focus primarily on id impulses or reject the superego.
2. The only psychoanalyst who created a developmental theory which
encompasses the entire life span was...
A) Erik Erikson
B) Milton H. Erickson
C) A.A. Brill
D) Jean Piaget
Correct Answer: A) Erik Erikson
Rationale: Erikson's psychosocial theory has eight stages spanning from birth to
death, making it the only psychoanalytic developmental theory covering the entire
lifespan. Piaget's theory ends at adolescence.
,3. The statement, "the ego is dependent on the id," would most likely reflect the
work of...
A) Erik Erikson
B) Sigmund Freud
C) Jay Haley
D) Arnold Lazarus
Correct Answer: B) Sigmund Freud
Rationale: Freud viewed the ego as developing from the id and serving the id's
demands while mediating with reality. Erikson emphasized ego autonomy and
mastery.
4. Jean Piaget's idiographic approach created his theory with four stages. The
correct order from stage 1 to stage 4 is...
A) Formal operations, concrete operations, preoperations, sensorimotor
B) Formal operations, preoperations, concrete operations, sensorimotor
C) Sensorimotor, preoperations, concrete operations, formal operations
D) Concrete operations, sensorimotor, preoperations, formal operations
Correct Answer: C) Sensorimotor, preoperations, concrete operations, formal
operations
Rationale: Piaget's stages in order: sensorimotor (0–2), preoperational (2–7),
concrete operational (7–11), and formal operational (11+).
5. A tall skinny pitcher of water is emptied into a small squatty pitcher. A child
indicates that she feels the small pitcher has less water. The child has not yet
mastered...
A) Symbolic schema
B) Conservation
C) Androgynous psychosocial issues
D) Trust vs. mistrust
Correct Answer: B) Conservation
,Rationale: Conservation is the understanding that quantity remains the same
despite changes in shape or appearance. It is mastered in the concrete
operational stage.
6. According to Jean Piaget, a child masters the concept of reversibility in the
third stage, known as concrete operations. This notion suggests...
A) The heavier objects are more difficult for a child to lift
B) The child is ambidextrous
C) The child is more cognizant of mass than weight
D) One can undo an action, hence an object can return to its initial shape
Correct Answer: D) One can undo an action, hence an object can return to its
initial shape
Rationale: Reversibility is the cognitive ability to understand that actions can be
reversed, a key achievement of concrete operational thought.
7. During a thunderstorm, a 6-year-old in Piaget's stage of preoperational
thought says, "The rain is following me." This is an example of...
A) Egocentrism
B) Conservation
C) Centration
D) Abstract thought
Correct Answer: A) Egocentrism
Rationale: Egocentrism is the inability to distinguish one's own perspective from
others'. The child believes the rain is personally following him.
8. Lawrence Kohlberg suggested...
A) A single level of morality
B) Two levels of morality
, C) Three levels of morality
D) Preoperational thought as the basis for all morality
Correct Answer: C) Three levels of morality
Rationale: Kohlberg's three levels are preconventional, conventional, and
postconventional, each with two stages.
9. The term "identity crisis" comes from the work of...
A) Counselors who stress RS involvement issues with clients
B) Erikson
C) Adler
D) Jung
Correct Answer: B) Erikson
Rationale: Erik Erikson introduced the concept of identity crisis as part of his fifth
psychosocial stage, Identity vs. Role Confusion.
10. Trust vs. mistrust is...
A) An Adlerian notion of morality
B) Erikson's first stage of psychosocial development
C) Essentially equivalent to Piaget's concept of egocentrism
D) The basis of morality according to Kohlberg
Correct Answer: B) Erikson's first stage of psychosocial development
Rationale: Trust vs. mistrust (birth–1 year) is Erikson's first stage, where infants
learn whether the world is safe and predictable.
11. A person who has successfully mastered Erikson's first seven stages would be
ready to enter Erikson's final or eighth stage...
A) Generativity vs. Stagnation
B) Initiative vs. Guilt
Examination) Practice Exam | Comprehensive
Questions and Correct Answers Plus Rationale | New
Update 2026-2027
Human Growth and Development
1. Ego psychologists...
A) Emphasize the id processes
B) Refute the concept of the superego
C) Believe in man's powers of reasoning to control behavior
D) Are sometimes known as radical behaviorists
Correct Answer: C) Believe in man's powers of reasoning to control behavior
Rationale: Ego psychologists, such as Erik Erikson, emphasize the ego's adaptive
strengths and the individual's capacity to reason, make choices, and control
behavior. They do not focus primarily on id impulses or reject the superego.
2. The only psychoanalyst who created a developmental theory which
encompasses the entire life span was...
A) Erik Erikson
B) Milton H. Erickson
C) A.A. Brill
D) Jean Piaget
Correct Answer: A) Erik Erikson
Rationale: Erikson's psychosocial theory has eight stages spanning from birth to
death, making it the only psychoanalytic developmental theory covering the entire
lifespan. Piaget's theory ends at adolescence.
,3. The statement, "the ego is dependent on the id," would most likely reflect the
work of...
A) Erik Erikson
B) Sigmund Freud
C) Jay Haley
D) Arnold Lazarus
Correct Answer: B) Sigmund Freud
Rationale: Freud viewed the ego as developing from the id and serving the id's
demands while mediating with reality. Erikson emphasized ego autonomy and
mastery.
4. Jean Piaget's idiographic approach created his theory with four stages. The
correct order from stage 1 to stage 4 is...
A) Formal operations, concrete operations, preoperations, sensorimotor
B) Formal operations, preoperations, concrete operations, sensorimotor
C) Sensorimotor, preoperations, concrete operations, formal operations
D) Concrete operations, sensorimotor, preoperations, formal operations
Correct Answer: C) Sensorimotor, preoperations, concrete operations, formal
operations
Rationale: Piaget's stages in order: sensorimotor (0–2), preoperational (2–7),
concrete operational (7–11), and formal operational (11+).
5. A tall skinny pitcher of water is emptied into a small squatty pitcher. A child
indicates that she feels the small pitcher has less water. The child has not yet
mastered...
A) Symbolic schema
B) Conservation
C) Androgynous psychosocial issues
D) Trust vs. mistrust
Correct Answer: B) Conservation
,Rationale: Conservation is the understanding that quantity remains the same
despite changes in shape or appearance. It is mastered in the concrete
operational stage.
6. According to Jean Piaget, a child masters the concept of reversibility in the
third stage, known as concrete operations. This notion suggests...
A) The heavier objects are more difficult for a child to lift
B) The child is ambidextrous
C) The child is more cognizant of mass than weight
D) One can undo an action, hence an object can return to its initial shape
Correct Answer: D) One can undo an action, hence an object can return to its
initial shape
Rationale: Reversibility is the cognitive ability to understand that actions can be
reversed, a key achievement of concrete operational thought.
7. During a thunderstorm, a 6-year-old in Piaget's stage of preoperational
thought says, "The rain is following me." This is an example of...
A) Egocentrism
B) Conservation
C) Centration
D) Abstract thought
Correct Answer: A) Egocentrism
Rationale: Egocentrism is the inability to distinguish one's own perspective from
others'. The child believes the rain is personally following him.
8. Lawrence Kohlberg suggested...
A) A single level of morality
B) Two levels of morality
, C) Three levels of morality
D) Preoperational thought as the basis for all morality
Correct Answer: C) Three levels of morality
Rationale: Kohlberg's three levels are preconventional, conventional, and
postconventional, each with two stages.
9. The term "identity crisis" comes from the work of...
A) Counselors who stress RS involvement issues with clients
B) Erikson
C) Adler
D) Jung
Correct Answer: B) Erikson
Rationale: Erik Erikson introduced the concept of identity crisis as part of his fifth
psychosocial stage, Identity vs. Role Confusion.
10. Trust vs. mistrust is...
A) An Adlerian notion of morality
B) Erikson's first stage of psychosocial development
C) Essentially equivalent to Piaget's concept of egocentrism
D) The basis of morality according to Kohlberg
Correct Answer: B) Erikson's first stage of psychosocial development
Rationale: Trust vs. mistrust (birth–1 year) is Erikson's first stage, where infants
learn whether the world is safe and predictable.
11. A person who has successfully mastered Erikson's first seven stages would be
ready to enter Erikson's final or eighth stage...
A) Generativity vs. Stagnation
B) Initiative vs. Guilt
