Abnormal Psychology, Current Perspectives, 9Th Edition - Chapter 2

Front 1

EEG

Back 1

electroencephalogram

Front 2

EMG

Back 2

electromyogram

Front 3

GSR

Back 3

galvanic skin response

Front 4

categorical classification

Back 4

The sorting of patients into quantitatively distince categories, as in the DSM.

Front 5

comorbidity

Back 5

A condition in which a patient meets the criteria for more than one DSM-IV Axis I disorder.

Front 6

descriptive validity

Back 6

The degree to which an assessment device provides significant information about the current behavior of the people being assessed.

Front 7

diagnosis

Back 7

The classification and labeling of a patient's problem with one of a set of recognized categories of abnormal behavior.

Front 8

dimensional classification

Back 8

The assignment of patients to scores on the quantitative dimensions, such as personality, course and functioning.

Front 9

electroencephalogram

Back 9

A brain test in which electrodes, attached to the head with tape, pick up electrical activity within the brain and measure it in oscillating patterns known as brain waves.

Front 10

electromyogram

Back 10

A polygraph recordin of the changes in the electrical activity of muscles.

Front 11

galvanic skin response

Back 11

A polygraphic recording of teh changes in the electrical resistance of the skin, an indication of sweat gland activity.

Front 12

intelligence quotient

Back 12

The subject's final score on an adult version fo the Stanfor-Binet Intelligence scale.

Front 13

intelligence tests

Back 13

Psychological assessment techniques effective in predicting success in school but questionable as a valid measure of intelligence.

Front 14

interjudge reliability

Back 14

A criterion for judging the reliability of a psychological test: The test should yeild the same results when scored or interprested by different judges.

Front 15

internal conistency

Back 15

A criterion for judging the reliability of a psychological test: Different parts of the test should yield the same result.

Front 16

interview

Back 16

An assessment method consisting of face-to-face conversation between subject and examiner.

Front 17

MSE

Back 17

Mental Status Exam.

Front 18

Mental Status Exam

Back 18

The mental status exam is a set of mental tests used to detect dementia (severe mental deterioration) and other organic brain disorders. The diagnostition evaluates the patient on appearance, speech, mood, perception, thought, content, and cognitive processes (e.g., memory).

Front 19

MSE

Back 19

Mental Status Exam.

Front 20

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2

Back 20

The most widely used self-report personality inventory, the purpose of which is to simplify differential diagnosis by comparing self-descriptive statements endorsed by new patients to statements endorsed by groups of people already diagnosed with a particular condition.

Front 21

mini mental status exam

Back 21

A shorter version of the mental status exam.

Front 22

MMS

Back 22

Mini Mental Status Exam

Front 23

MMPI-2

Back 23

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2

Front 24

person variables

Back 24

A person's stable traits. Adherents of the psychometric approach hold that personality issues mainly from person variables.

Front 25

polygraph

Back 25

A recording device equipped with sensors, which, when attached to the body, can pick up subtle physiological changes in the form of electical impulses. The changes are recorded on a moving roll of paper.

Front 26

predictive validity

Back 26

The degree to which a test's findings are consistent with the subject's future performance.

Front 27

projective personality tests

Back 27

Assessment techniques used to draw out, indirectly, individuals' true conflicts and motives by presenting and allowing them to project their private selves into their responses.

Front 28

psychological assessment

Back 28

The collection, organization, and interpretation of information about a person and his or her situation.

Front 29

psychological test

Back 29

An assessment of technique in which the subject is presented with a series of stimuli to which he or she is asked to respond.

Front 30

psychometric approach

Back 30

A method of psychological testing that aims at locating and measuring stable underlying traits.

Front 31

reliability

Back 31

(1) In the scientific method, the degree to which a description remains stable over time and under different testing conditions. (2) The degree to which a measurement yields consistent results under varyin conditions.

Front 32

response sets

Back 32

Test-taking attitudes that lead subjects to distort their responses, often unconsciously.

Front 33

Rorschach Psychodiagnostic Inkblot Test

Back 33

The most well-known projective personality test, in which subjects are asked to interpret 10 cards, each showing a symmetrical inkblot design.

Front 34

self-report personality inventories

Back 34

Psychological tests which, unlike projective tests such as the Rorschach and TAT, ask the subjects direct questions about themselves.

Front 35

situational variables

Back 35

The environmental stimuli that precede and follow any given action by a person.

Front 36

test-retest reliability

Back 36

A criterion for judging the reliability of a psychological test: The test should yield the same result when administered to the same person at different times.

Front 37

Thematic Apperception Test

Back 37

A frequently used projective personality test in which the subject is presented with a series of pictures showing one, two, or three people doing something. The scenes are ambiguous enough to allow for a variety of interpretations, yet they nudge the subject in the direction of certain kinds of assocations, unlike the Rorschach test. For example, a man in a business suit might tap a subject's feelings about his or her father.

Front 38

TAT

Back 38

Thematic Apperception Test

Front 39

traits

Back 39

Stable underlying characteristics that presumably exist in differring degrees in everyone.

Front 40

validity

Back 40

The degree to which a description or test measures what it is supposed to measure.