Alliant Comprehensive Exam (MFT) – Marriage and Family Therapy Study Guide
& Practice Test
Any behavior that is rewarded is? - correct answer ✔✔Repeated
Which concepts would characterize the work of a cognitive-behavioral family therapist? -
correct answer ✔✔Teaching communication, problem-solving, and conflict-resolution skills
According to *early* models of behavioral marital/family therapy, couples and families were
thought to have problems primarily because of? - correct answer ✔✔Skill deficits
The early behavioral model had good initial results, but poor long-term results. They made
several changes to the model which significantly improved long-term results. Which was one of
these changes as discussed in class? - correct answer ✔✔Directly addressing not just the
stimuli, but also the meaning people applied to various stimuli
Which of the following are commonly used CBT interventions? - correct answer ✔✔Downward
arrow and Collaborative Empiricism
You are working with a family to help each of them explore the cognitions underlying each of
their stances in the system, starting with surface-level cognitions, and proceeding to deeper,
fundamental assumptions about self and others. As a CBT therapist, you're most likely using
which intervention? - correct answer ✔✔Downward arrow
Sarah and James notice that their son, William, hasn't been eating his vegetables. Sarah wants
to let him eat dessert only if he eats his vegetables. James wants to take away his video games
unless he eats his vegetables. According to principles of operant conditioning, which approach is
the most likely to produce long-term behavioral change? - correct answer ✔✔Sarah's
,Which of the following is NOT a communication stance described by Virginia Satir? - correct
answer ✔✔Fatalistic
This theory explicitly downplays the importance of an elaborate theory, and states that people
have problems primarily when they are emotionally "stuck" or incongruent, and that they will
self-heal if obstructions to congruent emotional experiencing are removed. - correct answer
✔✔Experiential
You find yourself hugging clients, crying, moving people (and yourself) around the room a lot,
having clients talk to absent family members in session, and spending the weekends sitting on
the beach with your fellow soul-children at the Esalen Institute in Northern CA. You most likely
use which theory? - correct answer ✔✔Experiential
What is the term used in structural family therapy to describe bringing the problematic
sequences into the treatment room by having clients act them out so that the therapist can
observe and change them? - correct answer ✔✔Enactment
Early in structural therapy the therapists gets to know the family by essentially becoming a part
of it. This process is known as? - correct answer ✔✔Joining
Contemporary CBT downplays the importance of emotions? - correct answer ✔✔False
According to the experiential approach, human beings are essentially? - correct answer
✔✔Good and growth-oriented
According to experiential family therapy, what is the main characteristic of a healthy family
environment? - correct answer ✔✔The freedom for each family member to be themselves
In an attempt to help Meg understand how Christina experienced her,the therapist had them
take turns physically arranging themselves in relation to their partner. Christina chose to lay
,down while having Meg stand over her with her hands on her hips. Which experiential therapy
intervention did the therapist use? - correct answer ✔✔Sculpting
According to structural family therapy, what is the most comprehensive component of a healthy
family? - correct answer ✔✔Having a family structure that responds appropriately to the
developmental needs of each family member
Which sequence of interventions describes the overall process of change in structural therapy? -
correct answer ✔✔joining, accommodating, restructuring
Meg and Christina sought therapy for help managing the acting out behavior of their son, Mark.
When Mark started to act out in session, their therapist encouraged Meg and Christina to get
Mark to behave. Which structural therapy intervention did their therapist use? - correct answer
✔✔Enactment
Structural family therapy has been shown to be effective when working with which of the
following populations? - correct answer ✔✔Children with anorexia nervosa; drug addicts;
psychosomatic children
Whenever Maria's husband gets angry, she immediately starts to treat him in a condescending
way. To Maria, all people who get angry are weak and inferior to those who don't. According to
object relations theory, Maria is: - correct answer ✔✔Split
Object relations theory of mate selection states that? - correct answer ✔✔We are attracted to
people who have "disowned" parts of themselves that we have "disowned," but show it in the
opposite way
According to Object Relations theory, most difficulties we encounter are truly difficulties of? -
correct answer ✔✔Ourselves
, According to Object Relations, the tendency to blame others for possessing attributes that
you're not comfortable with in yourself is? - correct answer ✔✔Projective Identification
According to Carl Jung, an early psychodynamic theorist, the foundation(s) of mental illness
is/are? - correct answer ✔✔The avoidance of true suffering
"I either have it all together or I'm a complete failure" - correct answer ✔✔Black and White
Thinking
"I can never do anything right!" in response to a simple mistake (i.e., believing that one event is
part of a never-ending pattern). - correct answer ✔✔Overgeneralization
"That's all my fault!" in response to your partner disclosing that he/she failed their exam (and it
really had nothing to do with you). - correct answer ✔✔Personalization
Feeling worried about something, thus being certain it is a bad thing. - correct answer
✔✔Emotional Reasoning
"I know what they *really* meant." - correct answer ✔✔Jumping to Conclusions
What are Primary and Secondary Emotions in Attachment Theory? - correct answer ✔✔When
an attachment is threatened, a person initially feels primary emotions—"soft" emotions such as
sadness, fear, hurt, and longing. The expression of primary emotions
tends to evoke compassionate responses from people.
But a person who feels unsafe expressing primary emotions will instead express defensive,
secondary emotions such as
anger, contempt, or coldness.
& Practice Test
Any behavior that is rewarded is? - correct answer ✔✔Repeated
Which concepts would characterize the work of a cognitive-behavioral family therapist? -
correct answer ✔✔Teaching communication, problem-solving, and conflict-resolution skills
According to *early* models of behavioral marital/family therapy, couples and families were
thought to have problems primarily because of? - correct answer ✔✔Skill deficits
The early behavioral model had good initial results, but poor long-term results. They made
several changes to the model which significantly improved long-term results. Which was one of
these changes as discussed in class? - correct answer ✔✔Directly addressing not just the
stimuli, but also the meaning people applied to various stimuli
Which of the following are commonly used CBT interventions? - correct answer ✔✔Downward
arrow and Collaborative Empiricism
You are working with a family to help each of them explore the cognitions underlying each of
their stances in the system, starting with surface-level cognitions, and proceeding to deeper,
fundamental assumptions about self and others. As a CBT therapist, you're most likely using
which intervention? - correct answer ✔✔Downward arrow
Sarah and James notice that their son, William, hasn't been eating his vegetables. Sarah wants
to let him eat dessert only if he eats his vegetables. James wants to take away his video games
unless he eats his vegetables. According to principles of operant conditioning, which approach is
the most likely to produce long-term behavioral change? - correct answer ✔✔Sarah's
,Which of the following is NOT a communication stance described by Virginia Satir? - correct
answer ✔✔Fatalistic
This theory explicitly downplays the importance of an elaborate theory, and states that people
have problems primarily when they are emotionally "stuck" or incongruent, and that they will
self-heal if obstructions to congruent emotional experiencing are removed. - correct answer
✔✔Experiential
You find yourself hugging clients, crying, moving people (and yourself) around the room a lot,
having clients talk to absent family members in session, and spending the weekends sitting on
the beach with your fellow soul-children at the Esalen Institute in Northern CA. You most likely
use which theory? - correct answer ✔✔Experiential
What is the term used in structural family therapy to describe bringing the problematic
sequences into the treatment room by having clients act them out so that the therapist can
observe and change them? - correct answer ✔✔Enactment
Early in structural therapy the therapists gets to know the family by essentially becoming a part
of it. This process is known as? - correct answer ✔✔Joining
Contemporary CBT downplays the importance of emotions? - correct answer ✔✔False
According to the experiential approach, human beings are essentially? - correct answer
✔✔Good and growth-oriented
According to experiential family therapy, what is the main characteristic of a healthy family
environment? - correct answer ✔✔The freedom for each family member to be themselves
In an attempt to help Meg understand how Christina experienced her,the therapist had them
take turns physically arranging themselves in relation to their partner. Christina chose to lay
,down while having Meg stand over her with her hands on her hips. Which experiential therapy
intervention did the therapist use? - correct answer ✔✔Sculpting
According to structural family therapy, what is the most comprehensive component of a healthy
family? - correct answer ✔✔Having a family structure that responds appropriately to the
developmental needs of each family member
Which sequence of interventions describes the overall process of change in structural therapy? -
correct answer ✔✔joining, accommodating, restructuring
Meg and Christina sought therapy for help managing the acting out behavior of their son, Mark.
When Mark started to act out in session, their therapist encouraged Meg and Christina to get
Mark to behave. Which structural therapy intervention did their therapist use? - correct answer
✔✔Enactment
Structural family therapy has been shown to be effective when working with which of the
following populations? - correct answer ✔✔Children with anorexia nervosa; drug addicts;
psychosomatic children
Whenever Maria's husband gets angry, she immediately starts to treat him in a condescending
way. To Maria, all people who get angry are weak and inferior to those who don't. According to
object relations theory, Maria is: - correct answer ✔✔Split
Object relations theory of mate selection states that? - correct answer ✔✔We are attracted to
people who have "disowned" parts of themselves that we have "disowned," but show it in the
opposite way
According to Object Relations theory, most difficulties we encounter are truly difficulties of? -
correct answer ✔✔Ourselves
, According to Object Relations, the tendency to blame others for possessing attributes that
you're not comfortable with in yourself is? - correct answer ✔✔Projective Identification
According to Carl Jung, an early psychodynamic theorist, the foundation(s) of mental illness
is/are? - correct answer ✔✔The avoidance of true suffering
"I either have it all together or I'm a complete failure" - correct answer ✔✔Black and White
Thinking
"I can never do anything right!" in response to a simple mistake (i.e., believing that one event is
part of a never-ending pattern). - correct answer ✔✔Overgeneralization
"That's all my fault!" in response to your partner disclosing that he/she failed their exam (and it
really had nothing to do with you). - correct answer ✔✔Personalization
Feeling worried about something, thus being certain it is a bad thing. - correct answer
✔✔Emotional Reasoning
"I know what they *really* meant." - correct answer ✔✔Jumping to Conclusions
What are Primary and Secondary Emotions in Attachment Theory? - correct answer ✔✔When
an attachment is threatened, a person initially feels primary emotions—"soft" emotions such as
sadness, fear, hurt, and longing. The expression of primary emotions
tends to evoke compassionate responses from people.
But a person who feels unsafe expressing primary emotions will instead express defensive,
secondary emotions such as
anger, contempt, or coldness.
