NCE NATIONAL COUNSELOR
EXAMINATION BUNDLED EXAM
CERTIFICATION STUDY GUIDE 2026
COMPLETE VERIFIED ANSWERS GRADED
A+
⩥ Jean Piaget. Answer: leading name in cognitive development in
children; developed a four stage model that remains the same for any
culture although the age of the individual could vary; structuralist; his
findings were often derived from observing his own children; felt
teachers should lecture less, as children in concrete operations learn best
via their own actions and experimentation with peers; genetic
epistemologist
⩥ Erik Erikson. Answer: an ego psychologist who developed a
psychosocial theory that includes the whole lifespan and focuses on the
resolution of psychosocial crises; stages are described using bipolar or
opposing tendencies; theory is epigenetic in nature; the individual does
not totally succeed or fail, but rather leans toward a given alternative; a
maturationist; believed each developmental stage needs to be resolved
before an individual could move on to the next stage
⩥ Jay Haley. Answer: known for his work in strategic and problem
solving therapy, often utilizing the technique of paradox
,⩥ Arnold Lazarus. Answer: a pioneer in the behavior therapy movement,
especially in regard to the use of systematic desensitization; his
approach to counseling is multimodal, eclectic, and holistic; BASIC-ID;
worked closely with Joseph Wolpe
⩥ William Perry. Answer: known for his ideas related to adult cognitive
development, especially college students; Perry stresses dualistic
thinking common to teens
⩥ Dualistic thinking. Answer: things are conceptualized as good or bad
or right and wrong; common to teens; William Perry
⩥ Relativistic thinking. Answer: ability to perceive that not everything is
right or wrong, but an answer can exist relative to a specific situation;
there is more than one way to view the world; adulthood
⩥ Robert Kegan. Answer: adult cognitive development; his model
stresses interpersonal development - a constructive model of
development, meaning that individuals construct reality throughout the
lifespan; encourages meaning making; speaks of a holding environment
in counseling in which the client can make meaning in the face of a
crisis and can find new direction; Six Stages of Lifespan Development:
incorporative, impulsive, imperial, interpersonal, institutional,
interindividual
,⩥ Alfred Binet. Answer: created the first intelligence test with Theodore
Simon; created a 30-question test with school-related items of increased
difficult; used his own daughters as test subjects in order to investigate
mental processes; cited as one of the pioneers in projective testing based
on his work with inkblots; created the first IQ test around 1905 to
discriminate normal from retarded Parisian children so that mentally
retarded children could be taught separately
⩥ t test
(aka Two-groups or two-randomized-gruops research design). Answer: a
parametric statistical test used in formal experiments to determine
whether there is a significant difference between two groups (i.e., two
means); utilized to ascertain if the means of the groups are significantly
different from each other; when using, the groups should be normally
distributed; a test of significance; simplistic form of the analysis of
variance (ANOVA); when computed, it yields a t value which is then
compared to a t table and if the t value obtained statistically is lower
than the t value (aka critical t) in the table, then you accept the null
hypothesis; you computation must exceed the number cited in the table
in order to reject null
⩥ Conservation. Answer: the notion that a substance's mass, weight, and
volume (in the order mastered - MWV) remain the same even if it
changes shape; Piaget's term; mastered during the concrete operations
stage
, ⩥ Symbolic schema/mental processes. Answer: allows language and
symbolism in play to occur (i.e., a milk carton can easily become a
spaceship); a cognitive structure that grows with life experience; Piaget's
theory
⩥ Schema. Answer: the child's current cognitive structures; a system
which permits the child to test out things in the physical world and
process new information
⩥ Lev Vygotsky. Answer: disagreed with Piaget's notion that
developmental stages take place naturally - insisted that the stages
unfold due to educational intervention; pioneered the zone of proximal
development
⩥ Lawrence Kohlberg. Answer: leading theorist in moral development;
theory is epigenetic in nature; theory has 3 levels of moral development
each with 2 stages that applies to all people
⩥ Abraham Maslow. Answer: a humanistic psychologist famous for his
hierarchy of needs (survival, security, safety, love, self-esteem, self-
actualization) in which the lower-order needs must be fulfilled before the
individual can be concerned with higher-order needs; to research the
dilemma of self-actualization, he interviewed the best people he could
find who escaped "the psychology of the average;" rejected analytic
psychology and behaviorism; coined the term, positive psychology;
theory is epigenetic in nature
EXAMINATION BUNDLED EXAM
CERTIFICATION STUDY GUIDE 2026
COMPLETE VERIFIED ANSWERS GRADED
A+
⩥ Jean Piaget. Answer: leading name in cognitive development in
children; developed a four stage model that remains the same for any
culture although the age of the individual could vary; structuralist; his
findings were often derived from observing his own children; felt
teachers should lecture less, as children in concrete operations learn best
via their own actions and experimentation with peers; genetic
epistemologist
⩥ Erik Erikson. Answer: an ego psychologist who developed a
psychosocial theory that includes the whole lifespan and focuses on the
resolution of psychosocial crises; stages are described using bipolar or
opposing tendencies; theory is epigenetic in nature; the individual does
not totally succeed or fail, but rather leans toward a given alternative; a
maturationist; believed each developmental stage needs to be resolved
before an individual could move on to the next stage
⩥ Jay Haley. Answer: known for his work in strategic and problem
solving therapy, often utilizing the technique of paradox
,⩥ Arnold Lazarus. Answer: a pioneer in the behavior therapy movement,
especially in regard to the use of systematic desensitization; his
approach to counseling is multimodal, eclectic, and holistic; BASIC-ID;
worked closely with Joseph Wolpe
⩥ William Perry. Answer: known for his ideas related to adult cognitive
development, especially college students; Perry stresses dualistic
thinking common to teens
⩥ Dualistic thinking. Answer: things are conceptualized as good or bad
or right and wrong; common to teens; William Perry
⩥ Relativistic thinking. Answer: ability to perceive that not everything is
right or wrong, but an answer can exist relative to a specific situation;
there is more than one way to view the world; adulthood
⩥ Robert Kegan. Answer: adult cognitive development; his model
stresses interpersonal development - a constructive model of
development, meaning that individuals construct reality throughout the
lifespan; encourages meaning making; speaks of a holding environment
in counseling in which the client can make meaning in the face of a
crisis and can find new direction; Six Stages of Lifespan Development:
incorporative, impulsive, imperial, interpersonal, institutional,
interindividual
,⩥ Alfred Binet. Answer: created the first intelligence test with Theodore
Simon; created a 30-question test with school-related items of increased
difficult; used his own daughters as test subjects in order to investigate
mental processes; cited as one of the pioneers in projective testing based
on his work with inkblots; created the first IQ test around 1905 to
discriminate normal from retarded Parisian children so that mentally
retarded children could be taught separately
⩥ t test
(aka Two-groups or two-randomized-gruops research design). Answer: a
parametric statistical test used in formal experiments to determine
whether there is a significant difference between two groups (i.e., two
means); utilized to ascertain if the means of the groups are significantly
different from each other; when using, the groups should be normally
distributed; a test of significance; simplistic form of the analysis of
variance (ANOVA); when computed, it yields a t value which is then
compared to a t table and if the t value obtained statistically is lower
than the t value (aka critical t) in the table, then you accept the null
hypothesis; you computation must exceed the number cited in the table
in order to reject null
⩥ Conservation. Answer: the notion that a substance's mass, weight, and
volume (in the order mastered - MWV) remain the same even if it
changes shape; Piaget's term; mastered during the concrete operations
stage
, ⩥ Symbolic schema/mental processes. Answer: allows language and
symbolism in play to occur (i.e., a milk carton can easily become a
spaceship); a cognitive structure that grows with life experience; Piaget's
theory
⩥ Schema. Answer: the child's current cognitive structures; a system
which permits the child to test out things in the physical world and
process new information
⩥ Lev Vygotsky. Answer: disagreed with Piaget's notion that
developmental stages take place naturally - insisted that the stages
unfold due to educational intervention; pioneered the zone of proximal
development
⩥ Lawrence Kohlberg. Answer: leading theorist in moral development;
theory is epigenetic in nature; theory has 3 levels of moral development
each with 2 stages that applies to all people
⩥ Abraham Maslow. Answer: a humanistic psychologist famous for his
hierarchy of needs (survival, security, safety, love, self-esteem, self-
actualization) in which the lower-order needs must be fulfilled before the
individual can be concerned with higher-order needs; to research the
dilemma of self-actualization, he interviewed the best people he could
find who escaped "the psychology of the average;" rejected analytic
psychology and behaviorism; coined the term, positive psychology;
theory is epigenetic in nature
