Psychology of Trauma Exam 2025
With 100% Correct Answers
model - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔a verbal or visual representation of a concept created in order to
explain a theory
Theory - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔an explanation using an integrated set of principles that
organizes observations and predicts behaviors or events
Hypothesis - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔a supposition or proposed explanation made on the basis of
limited evidence as a starting point for further investigation.
Early Behavioral Model - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔Classical conditioning; Little Albert; Mowrer's
two factor theory -- avoiding the stimulus reduces anxiety
PTSD-specific Fear-Conditioning Models - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔Traumatic event (an
unconditioned stimulus) occurs, the trauma-exposed person responds with intense fear (an
unconditioned response); subsequent reminders of the trauma (the conditioned stimuli)
prompt fear reactions, such as reexperiencing symptoms and distress (the conditioned
response).
Extinction occurs within weeks and months
Information Processing Model - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔Lang: emotions are stored in memory
networks, stimuli elicit the emotional response, verbal, cognitive, physical, and behavioral
responses evoked by the stimuli, meaning of the stimuli and associated response
, Foa et al.: fear network about what is threatening, trauma-related stimuli highly represented,
activation triggers reexperiencing symptoms and hypervigilance
Dissociative model - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔Traumatized people manage their distress by
dissociating awareness of the experience.
The "cost" of psychological energy to maintain dissociation is poor functioning (Janet, 1907).
Dissociative amnesia, emotional numbing, and depersonalization, were strategies to reduce
awareness of aversive emotions. Inability to access memories or emotions may impede
processing of trauma memories = PTSD
Cognitive model - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔Interpretation (maladaptive appraisals) of event leads
to emotional reactions.
Autobiographical memories stored as "event-specific knowledge" due to elevated arousal
results in preferential encoding of sensory information (e.g., visual, smell, sound) rather than
verbal or semantic information (coherent narrative) triggering internal or external threat
present in the "here and now" rather than recalling the memory from the past.
Social model - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔Core assumptions and beliefs guiding information about
support and trust is guided by attachment theory and style -- attachment style dictates how well
you were able to tolerate trauma
The role of emotion regulation across all PTSD models - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔Emotion
regulation is a complex construct that includes the ability to monitor, evaluate, and modulate
emotional states.
Strongly represented in most fear-conditioning and associated neurobiological models of PTSD,
which rely strongly on prefrontal cortical regions regulating limbic-based arousal.
With 100% Correct Answers
model - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔a verbal or visual representation of a concept created in order to
explain a theory
Theory - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔an explanation using an integrated set of principles that
organizes observations and predicts behaviors or events
Hypothesis - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔a supposition or proposed explanation made on the basis of
limited evidence as a starting point for further investigation.
Early Behavioral Model - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔Classical conditioning; Little Albert; Mowrer's
two factor theory -- avoiding the stimulus reduces anxiety
PTSD-specific Fear-Conditioning Models - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔Traumatic event (an
unconditioned stimulus) occurs, the trauma-exposed person responds with intense fear (an
unconditioned response); subsequent reminders of the trauma (the conditioned stimuli)
prompt fear reactions, such as reexperiencing symptoms and distress (the conditioned
response).
Extinction occurs within weeks and months
Information Processing Model - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔Lang: emotions are stored in memory
networks, stimuli elicit the emotional response, verbal, cognitive, physical, and behavioral
responses evoked by the stimuli, meaning of the stimuli and associated response
, Foa et al.: fear network about what is threatening, trauma-related stimuli highly represented,
activation triggers reexperiencing symptoms and hypervigilance
Dissociative model - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔Traumatized people manage their distress by
dissociating awareness of the experience.
The "cost" of psychological energy to maintain dissociation is poor functioning (Janet, 1907).
Dissociative amnesia, emotional numbing, and depersonalization, were strategies to reduce
awareness of aversive emotions. Inability to access memories or emotions may impede
processing of trauma memories = PTSD
Cognitive model - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔Interpretation (maladaptive appraisals) of event leads
to emotional reactions.
Autobiographical memories stored as "event-specific knowledge" due to elevated arousal
results in preferential encoding of sensory information (e.g., visual, smell, sound) rather than
verbal or semantic information (coherent narrative) triggering internal or external threat
present in the "here and now" rather than recalling the memory from the past.
Social model - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔Core assumptions and beliefs guiding information about
support and trust is guided by attachment theory and style -- attachment style dictates how well
you were able to tolerate trauma
The role of emotion regulation across all PTSD models - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔Emotion
regulation is a complex construct that includes the ability to monitor, evaluate, and modulate
emotional states.
Strongly represented in most fear-conditioning and associated neurobiological models of PTSD,
which rely strongly on prefrontal cortical regions regulating limbic-based arousal.
