AMFTRB MFT Exam Set 1/2
Premack principle of punishment - Answer-From behavioral therapy , a technique in
which a high probability behavior i.e. one that the subject would voluntarily tend to
engage in frequently , is used to reinforce a low probability target behavior in order to
increase the frequency of the target behavior - dessert after dinner
Punishment - Answer-From the operant conditioning paradigm , a process for
decreasing an undesirable behavior by applying an aversive stimulus immediately
following the target behavior . For example , a teacher reprimands ( aversive stimulus )
a child when the child throws his sandwich on the floor ( target behavior In response the
child no longer throws food on the floor . Note : the same apparently " aversive stimulus
may be perceived by the organism - in this case the child - as either punishing or
reinforcing . If the teacher's reprimand satisfies the child's need for attention and as a
result the frequency of the target behavior increases the interaction can no longer be
defined as punishment but as a negative reinforcement See Negative Reinforcement
Ripple Effect - Answer-Refers to how a change that occurs at one level of a system
results in changes at other levels of the system
Working Through - Answer-From psychodynamic therapy , insight leads clients to
engage in new and more productive ways of behaving and interacting .
Therapeutic Letters - Answer-From narrative therapy , a procedure created by Epston
used to extend the therapy in which the therapist summarizes in writing the client's
competencies with respect to overcoming the problem and acknowledges the sparkling
events
Shaping - Answer-A behavioral procedure in which successive approximations to a
desired often more complex behavior are reinforced until the desired behavior is
achieved
Marriage Encounter - Answer-A psychoeducational weekend couple's retreat for
improved communication problem solving sexual intimacy , and spiritual health
Originally for Catholic married couples and later adapted for Protestant and Jewish
couples .
Multidirectional Partiality - Answer-From Nagy's contextual family therapy , the clinical
stance of the therapist in which the therapist is accountable to , and supportive of ,
every relevant member , even when it necessitates accepting contradictory positions
within a conflict The therapist strives for neutrality joins with each family member , and
keeps communication open with all members
,Ordeal - Answer-From strategic family therapy directive that is aimed at making the
symptom harder to keep than The ordeal requires the give up family member or
members to do something they do not want to do but is something that would benefit
them in some way -Creates a hadship to Continuing the symptom
Feminist Family Therapy - Answer-A treatment philosophy with a nonsexist , egalitarian
view in which the social and familial gender roles of women and men are actively
considered , including the perspective that social and cultural structures often give men
a greater amount of power and control over political and economic resources .
Levels of Intervention - Answer-Targeting interventions at a specific family subsystem ,
such as the children or parents .
Exciting Ego - Answer-From object relations theory , one of three parts of the ego . It is
unconscious , inflexible , and in a state of longing for a tempting but unsatisfying object .
Detouring - Answer-From structural family therapy when two family members attempt to
preserve their relationship by defining their conflict as a disagreement about a third
person , keeping the focus on that person rather than themselves and their problem
Quantitative Analysis - Answer-The analysis of the numeric quantity of elements in an
interaction .
Rubber Fence - Answer-Wynne's term for the type of boundaries around some families
that may appear open and flexible , but which in fact permit little information from the
outside to penetrate . In these families , rules are in constant flux .
Simple Bind From Hoffman , a mechanism for change in which a message or request is
given and the recipient's new behavior is rewarded . Distinguished from a double bind in
which the nature of the message insures that no response will be rewarded . A double
bind is a simple bind that is continually imposed and then continually lifted . - Answer-
Constitutionalist Self - Answer-From narrative therapy , the view of self is plastic and
continuously deconstructed and reconstructed through interactions . The sense of self
derives from experiences that fit into the dominant narrative . The therapist and client co
- construct a new self that is more congruent with the client's preferred outcome .
Bi Modal Feedback Mechanism - Answer-From Ashby , the rule - bound mechanism by
which a system remains unchanged so long as the internal or external environment is
stable , but when the fluctuation exceeds the range of stability the system must respond
in some new way . The system either breaks down or it makes a leap into new levels of
functioning . The change results in a new set of patterns which , like the old pattern , is
also bound by rules , and it , too , remains unchanged , so long as the environment is
stable
, Perturbation - Answer-An intervention which introduces a small change or ripple without
altering the system's basic organization in an attempt to magnify the change later
The Dirty Middle - Answer-From Framo's couples therapy an impasse in treatment when
couples have gained some insight about the nature of the problems and the irrationality
of their demands on one another , but they still have differences as to what each want
from one another and from the marriage .
Emotional Divorce - Answer-From Bowen's family therapy , the cool distance between
the parents whose relationships vacillated between overcloseness and overdistance .
Facts - Answer-From contextual theory , the attributes that people are born with
( gender , ethnicity , birth defects ) and their life experiences ( parental divorce ,
abuse ) ,
Functional Analysis - Answer-A behavioral assessment technique used to determine the
interpersonal or environmental contingencies that maintain the problem .
Hypothesizing - Answer-A technique used by Milan systemic therapists . A trial and
error process by which the therapist makes initial suppositions about the presenting
problem , then tests the supposition by asking questions or making an intervention
based on that hypothesis . The original supposition is then revised according to the new
information This cybernetic process makes use of information resulting from completed
feedback loops .
Introjection - Answer-A process of normal development in which parts of caretakers are
split off and internalized into the child's developing personality . Expectations of self and
other are based on these internal representations .
Make Believe Play - Answer-From Madanes , a therapeutic technique in which parents
are asked to make - believe they need the child's help and the child is to make - believe
helping them . Since the parents explicitly ask for help and the child overtly helps them ,
there is no need for the covert symptomatic behavior . Additionally , when parents are
put in this inferior position overtly they may feel at odds with what is appropriate and
reassert a superior position .
Morphogenesis - Answer-A system's tendency to change its basic organization or
structure .
Not Knowing - Answer-From collaborative language . systems , a stance in which
therapists do not use diagnoses . give directives , or make hypotheses They may offer
tentative opinions or ideas , but assert that to take a more " expert " or directive stance
would limit the solutions the family and therapist might discover through their
conversations . The therapist and client engage in conversation and inquiry as partners
The therapist is not separate from the problem system
Premack principle of punishment - Answer-From behavioral therapy , a technique in
which a high probability behavior i.e. one that the subject would voluntarily tend to
engage in frequently , is used to reinforce a low probability target behavior in order to
increase the frequency of the target behavior - dessert after dinner
Punishment - Answer-From the operant conditioning paradigm , a process for
decreasing an undesirable behavior by applying an aversive stimulus immediately
following the target behavior . For example , a teacher reprimands ( aversive stimulus )
a child when the child throws his sandwich on the floor ( target behavior In response the
child no longer throws food on the floor . Note : the same apparently " aversive stimulus
may be perceived by the organism - in this case the child - as either punishing or
reinforcing . If the teacher's reprimand satisfies the child's need for attention and as a
result the frequency of the target behavior increases the interaction can no longer be
defined as punishment but as a negative reinforcement See Negative Reinforcement
Ripple Effect - Answer-Refers to how a change that occurs at one level of a system
results in changes at other levels of the system
Working Through - Answer-From psychodynamic therapy , insight leads clients to
engage in new and more productive ways of behaving and interacting .
Therapeutic Letters - Answer-From narrative therapy , a procedure created by Epston
used to extend the therapy in which the therapist summarizes in writing the client's
competencies with respect to overcoming the problem and acknowledges the sparkling
events
Shaping - Answer-A behavioral procedure in which successive approximations to a
desired often more complex behavior are reinforced until the desired behavior is
achieved
Marriage Encounter - Answer-A psychoeducational weekend couple's retreat for
improved communication problem solving sexual intimacy , and spiritual health
Originally for Catholic married couples and later adapted for Protestant and Jewish
couples .
Multidirectional Partiality - Answer-From Nagy's contextual family therapy , the clinical
stance of the therapist in which the therapist is accountable to , and supportive of ,
every relevant member , even when it necessitates accepting contradictory positions
within a conflict The therapist strives for neutrality joins with each family member , and
keeps communication open with all members
,Ordeal - Answer-From strategic family therapy directive that is aimed at making the
symptom harder to keep than The ordeal requires the give up family member or
members to do something they do not want to do but is something that would benefit
them in some way -Creates a hadship to Continuing the symptom
Feminist Family Therapy - Answer-A treatment philosophy with a nonsexist , egalitarian
view in which the social and familial gender roles of women and men are actively
considered , including the perspective that social and cultural structures often give men
a greater amount of power and control over political and economic resources .
Levels of Intervention - Answer-Targeting interventions at a specific family subsystem ,
such as the children or parents .
Exciting Ego - Answer-From object relations theory , one of three parts of the ego . It is
unconscious , inflexible , and in a state of longing for a tempting but unsatisfying object .
Detouring - Answer-From structural family therapy when two family members attempt to
preserve their relationship by defining their conflict as a disagreement about a third
person , keeping the focus on that person rather than themselves and their problem
Quantitative Analysis - Answer-The analysis of the numeric quantity of elements in an
interaction .
Rubber Fence - Answer-Wynne's term for the type of boundaries around some families
that may appear open and flexible , but which in fact permit little information from the
outside to penetrate . In these families , rules are in constant flux .
Simple Bind From Hoffman , a mechanism for change in which a message or request is
given and the recipient's new behavior is rewarded . Distinguished from a double bind in
which the nature of the message insures that no response will be rewarded . A double
bind is a simple bind that is continually imposed and then continually lifted . - Answer-
Constitutionalist Self - Answer-From narrative therapy , the view of self is plastic and
continuously deconstructed and reconstructed through interactions . The sense of self
derives from experiences that fit into the dominant narrative . The therapist and client co
- construct a new self that is more congruent with the client's preferred outcome .
Bi Modal Feedback Mechanism - Answer-From Ashby , the rule - bound mechanism by
which a system remains unchanged so long as the internal or external environment is
stable , but when the fluctuation exceeds the range of stability the system must respond
in some new way . The system either breaks down or it makes a leap into new levels of
functioning . The change results in a new set of patterns which , like the old pattern , is
also bound by rules , and it , too , remains unchanged , so long as the environment is
stable
, Perturbation - Answer-An intervention which introduces a small change or ripple without
altering the system's basic organization in an attempt to magnify the change later
The Dirty Middle - Answer-From Framo's couples therapy an impasse in treatment when
couples have gained some insight about the nature of the problems and the irrationality
of their demands on one another , but they still have differences as to what each want
from one another and from the marriage .
Emotional Divorce - Answer-From Bowen's family therapy , the cool distance between
the parents whose relationships vacillated between overcloseness and overdistance .
Facts - Answer-From contextual theory , the attributes that people are born with
( gender , ethnicity , birth defects ) and their life experiences ( parental divorce ,
abuse ) ,
Functional Analysis - Answer-A behavioral assessment technique used to determine the
interpersonal or environmental contingencies that maintain the problem .
Hypothesizing - Answer-A technique used by Milan systemic therapists . A trial and
error process by which the therapist makes initial suppositions about the presenting
problem , then tests the supposition by asking questions or making an intervention
based on that hypothesis . The original supposition is then revised according to the new
information This cybernetic process makes use of information resulting from completed
feedback loops .
Introjection - Answer-A process of normal development in which parts of caretakers are
split off and internalized into the child's developing personality . Expectations of self and
other are based on these internal representations .
Make Believe Play - Answer-From Madanes , a therapeutic technique in which parents
are asked to make - believe they need the child's help and the child is to make - believe
helping them . Since the parents explicitly ask for help and the child overtly helps them ,
there is no need for the covert symptomatic behavior . Additionally , when parents are
put in this inferior position overtly they may feel at odds with what is appropriate and
reassert a superior position .
Morphogenesis - Answer-A system's tendency to change its basic organization or
structure .
Not Knowing - Answer-From collaborative language . systems , a stance in which
therapists do not use diagnoses . give directives , or make hypotheses They may offer
tentative opinions or ideas , but assert that to take a more " expert " or directive stance
would limit the solutions the family and therapist might discover through their
conversations . The therapist and client engage in conversation and inquiry as partners
The therapist is not separate from the problem system
