Clinical Psychology (EPPP) Exam
Questions and Answers
Clinical Psychology ANSWERS - the study, diagnosis, and treatment of
psychological and behavioral disorders
Assumptions of Psychodynamic Therapies ANSWERS - human behavior is
motivated by unconscious processes
- early development has a profound effect on adult functioning
- universal principles explain personality development and behavior
- insight into unconscious processes is a key component of therapy
Freudian Psychoanalysis ANSWERS - human beings are determined by irrational
forces, unconscious motivations, biological and instinctual needs and drives, and
psychosexual events that occur during the first five years of life
Freud's Personality Theory ANSWERS - composed of two theories: structural
(drive) theory and developmental theory
Structural Theory
(Freud) ANSWERS - the personality is composed of three structures: the id, ego,
and superego
Efficacy ANSWERS - clinical trials
- argument that strict experimental control of this outcome measure limits the
generalizability of study results
- most useful for establishing whether or not a treatment has an effect
Effectiveness ANSWERS - quasi-experimental outcome studies focused on the
environment in which the intervention is actually done and typical patients
- can be used to assess clinical utility (e.g., generalizability, feasibility, and cost
effectiveness)
Consumer Reports Survey (1995) ANSWERS - survey mailed to 184,000
magazine subscribers
- found that clients benefit substantially from psychotherapy
- long term treatment (6+ months) is better than short term
- no particular therapeutic modality is better
- patients whose treatment was limited by insurance or managed care reported fewer
gains
,- critiqued as an effectiveness study because methodological flaws don't allow for ways
to determine if respondents are an unbiased sample
Placebo Effect ANSWERS - provide subjects with the nonspecific (common)
factors of psychotherapy, such as attention and support
- usually leads to improvements over no-treatment groups
Id ANSWERS - present at birth and consists of the person's life and death
instincts
- operates on pleasure principle and seeks immediate gratification of its instinctual
drives in order to avoid tension
Ego ANSWERS - develops at six months of age
- operates ont eh reality principle that defers gratifcation until an appropriate object is
available in reality and employs thinking
- mediates conflicting demands of pleasure and reality
Superego ANSWERS - develops between four and five years
- represents an internalization of society's values and standards
- attempts to permanently block socially unacceptable drives
Developmental Theory
(Freud) ANSWERS - emphasizes the sexual drives of the id and proposes that an
individual's personality is formed during childhood as a result of certain experiences
during psychosexual stages of development
- over or undergratification of a person's sexual needs during a stage is associated with
different personality outcomes
Oral Stage ANSWERS - Freud's first stage of personality development, from birth
to about age 2, during which the instincts of infants are focused on the mouth as the
primary pleasure center.
Anal Stage ANSWERS - Freud's second stage of psychosexual development
where the primary sexual focus is on the elimination or holding onto feces. The stage is
often thought of as representing a child's ability to control his or her own world.
Phallic Stage ANSWERS - Freud's third stage of personality development, from
about age 4 through age 7, during which children obtain gratification primarily from the
genitals.
Latency Stage ANSWERS - Freud's fourth stage of psychosexual development
where sexuality is repressed in the unconscious and children focus on identifying with
their same sex parent and interact with same sex peers.
, Genital Stage ANSWERS - Freud's last stage of personality development, from
the onset of puberty through adulthood, during which the sexual conflicts of childhood
resurface (at puberty) and are often resolved during adolescence).
Defense Mechanisms ANSWERS - occur when the ego is unable to ward off
danger through rational, realistic means
- these operate on an unconscious level and deny or distort reality
(danger or anxiety helps alert the ego to impending threats, such as conflict between
the id and the superego)
Repression ANSWERS - defense mechanism in which id's drives are excluded
from conscious awareness by maintaining them in the unconscious
Reaction Formation ANSWERS - defense mechanism in which one avoids an
anxiety evoking instict by doing the opposite
View of Psychopathology
(Freudian) ANSWERS - maladaptive behavior results from an unconscious,
unresolved conflict that occurred during childhood
Psychoanalytic Therapy ANSWERS - goal is to reduce symptoms by bringing the
unconscious into conscious awareness and integrating previously repressed material
into the personality
- use free associations, dreams, resistances, and transferences to confront, clarify,
interpret, and work through
Free Associations ANSWERS - a method in psychotherapy where a patient is
encouraged to sit back, relax, free his/her mind, refrain from trying to be logical, and
report every image or idea that enters his/her awareness, usually in response to some
word or picture that the therapist provides as an initial stimulus
Psychic Determinism ANSWERS - belief that all behaviors are meaningful and
serve some psychological function
- ex slips of tongue (parapraxes) are expressions of unconscious motives
Psychoanalytic Therapy:
Confrontation ANSWERS - making statements that help the client see her
behavior in a new way
Psychoanalytic Therapy:
Clarification ANSWERS - restating the client's remarks and feelings in clearer
terms
Psychoanalytic Therapy:
Interpretation ANSWERS - more explicitly connecting current behavior to
unconscious processes
Questions and Answers
Clinical Psychology ANSWERS - the study, diagnosis, and treatment of
psychological and behavioral disorders
Assumptions of Psychodynamic Therapies ANSWERS - human behavior is
motivated by unconscious processes
- early development has a profound effect on adult functioning
- universal principles explain personality development and behavior
- insight into unconscious processes is a key component of therapy
Freudian Psychoanalysis ANSWERS - human beings are determined by irrational
forces, unconscious motivations, biological and instinctual needs and drives, and
psychosexual events that occur during the first five years of life
Freud's Personality Theory ANSWERS - composed of two theories: structural
(drive) theory and developmental theory
Structural Theory
(Freud) ANSWERS - the personality is composed of three structures: the id, ego,
and superego
Efficacy ANSWERS - clinical trials
- argument that strict experimental control of this outcome measure limits the
generalizability of study results
- most useful for establishing whether or not a treatment has an effect
Effectiveness ANSWERS - quasi-experimental outcome studies focused on the
environment in which the intervention is actually done and typical patients
- can be used to assess clinical utility (e.g., generalizability, feasibility, and cost
effectiveness)
Consumer Reports Survey (1995) ANSWERS - survey mailed to 184,000
magazine subscribers
- found that clients benefit substantially from psychotherapy
- long term treatment (6+ months) is better than short term
- no particular therapeutic modality is better
- patients whose treatment was limited by insurance or managed care reported fewer
gains
,- critiqued as an effectiveness study because methodological flaws don't allow for ways
to determine if respondents are an unbiased sample
Placebo Effect ANSWERS - provide subjects with the nonspecific (common)
factors of psychotherapy, such as attention and support
- usually leads to improvements over no-treatment groups
Id ANSWERS - present at birth and consists of the person's life and death
instincts
- operates on pleasure principle and seeks immediate gratification of its instinctual
drives in order to avoid tension
Ego ANSWERS - develops at six months of age
- operates ont eh reality principle that defers gratifcation until an appropriate object is
available in reality and employs thinking
- mediates conflicting demands of pleasure and reality
Superego ANSWERS - develops between four and five years
- represents an internalization of society's values and standards
- attempts to permanently block socially unacceptable drives
Developmental Theory
(Freud) ANSWERS - emphasizes the sexual drives of the id and proposes that an
individual's personality is formed during childhood as a result of certain experiences
during psychosexual stages of development
- over or undergratification of a person's sexual needs during a stage is associated with
different personality outcomes
Oral Stage ANSWERS - Freud's first stage of personality development, from birth
to about age 2, during which the instincts of infants are focused on the mouth as the
primary pleasure center.
Anal Stage ANSWERS - Freud's second stage of psychosexual development
where the primary sexual focus is on the elimination or holding onto feces. The stage is
often thought of as representing a child's ability to control his or her own world.
Phallic Stage ANSWERS - Freud's third stage of personality development, from
about age 4 through age 7, during which children obtain gratification primarily from the
genitals.
Latency Stage ANSWERS - Freud's fourth stage of psychosexual development
where sexuality is repressed in the unconscious and children focus on identifying with
their same sex parent and interact with same sex peers.
, Genital Stage ANSWERS - Freud's last stage of personality development, from
the onset of puberty through adulthood, during which the sexual conflicts of childhood
resurface (at puberty) and are often resolved during adolescence).
Defense Mechanisms ANSWERS - occur when the ego is unable to ward off
danger through rational, realistic means
- these operate on an unconscious level and deny or distort reality
(danger or anxiety helps alert the ego to impending threats, such as conflict between
the id and the superego)
Repression ANSWERS - defense mechanism in which id's drives are excluded
from conscious awareness by maintaining them in the unconscious
Reaction Formation ANSWERS - defense mechanism in which one avoids an
anxiety evoking instict by doing the opposite
View of Psychopathology
(Freudian) ANSWERS - maladaptive behavior results from an unconscious,
unresolved conflict that occurred during childhood
Psychoanalytic Therapy ANSWERS - goal is to reduce symptoms by bringing the
unconscious into conscious awareness and integrating previously repressed material
into the personality
- use free associations, dreams, resistances, and transferences to confront, clarify,
interpret, and work through
Free Associations ANSWERS - a method in psychotherapy where a patient is
encouraged to sit back, relax, free his/her mind, refrain from trying to be logical, and
report every image or idea that enters his/her awareness, usually in response to some
word or picture that the therapist provides as an initial stimulus
Psychic Determinism ANSWERS - belief that all behaviors are meaningful and
serve some psychological function
- ex slips of tongue (parapraxes) are expressions of unconscious motives
Psychoanalytic Therapy:
Confrontation ANSWERS - making statements that help the client see her
behavior in a new way
Psychoanalytic Therapy:
Clarification ANSWERS - restating the client's remarks and feelings in clearer
terms
Psychoanalytic Therapy:
Interpretation ANSWERS - more explicitly connecting current behavior to
unconscious processes
