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151 Cards in this Set

  • Front
  • Back
Four pillars of assessment
1. Norm-referenced tests
2. Interviews
3. Observations
4. Informal assessment procedures (e.g. personal documents, school records)
Analogue approach
An approach to behavioural assessment e.g. using progressive photos of stimulus to assess a phobia
Contrast effect (behavioural assessment)
Ratings become more positive or negative because a prior rating was more positive or negative
Bias
Systematic error in estimating a variable, causing a deviation from the examinee's real performance. A biased test systematically overestimates or underestimates the value of a variable.
Reliability minimum/maximum values
Minimum reported value of .7 (or .8) for research, higher for measures that will affect someone's future.
Test-retest reliability
A measure of temporal stability. The correlation between administrations of the test at two different times in which you wouldn't expect behaviour to change. (However, the major flaw is that some people remember material better than others)
Inter-rater reliability
Correlation between 2+ raters on a test.
Can use percentage agreement, kappa, or intraclass correlation coefficient
Parallel/alternate forms reliability
Reliability assessed using a parallel form of the test with similar (not the same) items. Overcomes issues of memory, but it's hard to get a truly parallel form.
Internal consistency
A measure of how consistently a test is answered.

Forms:
Split-half: Correlations between 2 halves of the test
Kuder-Richardson: Average of all split-halves
Cronbach's Alpha: Average correlation of items with test score (?). Usually want about .7-.8
Standard Error of Measurement/Standard Error of a Score (SEM)
An estimate of error usually associated with a test score/measurement - the standard deviation (spread) of test scores that would have been obtained had a particular person between tested multiple times.

Allows estimation of range in which the true score is likely to exist and is used to set confidence intervals.

SEM = SD x square root of (1-reliability coefficient)
Confidence intervals
The range in which you will find a person's true score 95% of the time

A 95% CI = approximately 2 standard deviations.

To find the scores with a 95% CI, SEM of 3 and a score of 100:

Range = Score +/- SD x SEM
= 100 +/- 2x3
= 100 +/6
= 94-106
Basal rules
Child has to get a certain number of items correct. If they don't, they have to move backwards in the test.
Validity (general)
Does a test measure what it's supposed to?
Content validity
Do items represent the domain that the test is supposed to measure? That is, how much the test represents every single element of a domain.
Criterion-related validity
How well does the test perform against a particular criterion, such as a psychiatric diagnosis.

Two types:
Concurrent - Related to a currently available criterion measure
Predictive - Correlation between test scores and future performance against a criterion.
Construct
Is the test related to a particular construct or psychological concept (e.g. anxiety)?

Two types:
Convergent: Correlates with similar test measuring that construct
Discriminant/Divergent: Does not correlate with a test measuring an unrelated construct.
Percentile
A ranking that conveys information about the relative position of a score within a distribution of scores - 'Equal to or better than'
Communication skill: Acknowledgement
Informing client you are listening with attention and empathy
Communication skill: Descriptive statements
Describing content of interview (you look sad when...)
Communication skill: Reflective statements
Repeating or paraphrasing statements to reflect the underlying emotion.
Communication skill: Reframing
Providing a more appropriate interpretation of a client's situation (it sounds like your mum is noticing that...)
Communication skill: Summary statements
Reviewing information that has been presented (you have told me that x; I'd like to know more about y)
Labile affect
Excessive fluctuations in affect (noted during mental status exam)
Person-first language
Framing diagnoses/information in a respectful manner - e.g. saying 'a child with autism' as opposed to 'an autistic child'
Child Assessment Schedule for Children
Semi-structured interview for assessing children on social, emotional and behavioural functioning. Used to derive DSM-IV diagnoses.
Diagnostic Interview for Children and Adolescents (DICA-R)
A diagnostic semi-structured interview aimed at children and adolescents. Has child, adolescent and parent versions.
Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)
A standardised rating scale appropriate for children looking strengths and difficulties, focusing on:
- emotional symptoms
- conduct problems
- hyperactivity/inattention
- peer relationships
- and prosocial behaviour
Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL)
A parent-completed self-report standardised scale looking at child's withdrawal, somatic complaints, anxiety/depression, social problems, thought problems, attention problems, aggression and delinquency.
Connors Scale
A parent-completed self-report standardised scale assessing child's ADHD symptomatology.
Intelligence
The ability to adjust or adapt, to learn and to perform abstract thinking.
The Flynn Effect
The substantial and long-sustained increase in both fluid and crystallized intelligence test scores by an average of .33 IQ points per year [Flynn observed that the mean IQ of an average 20 y.o. in the 80s was 15 points higher than that of a comparable person in the 40s]
Bayley Scales of Infant Development (BSID-III)
A norm-referenced developmental assessment battery for ages 1-42 months (0-3.5 years).
Assesses development over 3 domains: Motor, language and cognitive development
Good psychometrics
NOT an intelligence test
Griffiths Mental Development Scales
A developmental assessment for ages 0-8 years.
Involves six subscales: Locomotor, personal-social, language, eye and hand coordination, performance and practical reasoning.
Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI-III)
An intelligence test for preschool and primary-aged children measuring verbal and nonverbal fluid reasoning, receptive vs expressive vocabulary and processing speed
Produces Verbal, Performance and Full Scale IQs.
Has good psychometrics but practice adds up to 6 IQ points.
Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-IV)
An intelligence test for children aged 6 - 16,11 years
Involves 10 core and 5 supplementary subtests
Produces four index scores: Verbal Comprehension, Working Memory, Processing Speed and Perceptual Reasoning plus Full Scale IQ.
Good psychometrics but practise adds up to 7 IQ points.
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-IV)
An intelligence test for ages 16-89 years
Produces four index scores: Verbal Comprehension, Working Memory, Processing Speed and Perceptual Reasoning plus Full Scale IQ.
Good psychometrics
Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI)
A BRIEF intelligence test for ages 6-89 (takes 15-30 minutes)
Generates verbal, performance and full scale IQs
Has good criterion validity
Useful for screening
Stanford-Binet (5th ed) (SB-V)
An intelligence test for ages 2-85
Generates Verbal (5 subtests), Nonverbal (5 subtests) and Full Scale IQs.
Good internal consistency and criterion validity
Practice adds up to 3.2 IQ points
Woodcock-Johnson III tests of cognitive abilities
An intelligence test for ages 2-90
The standard battery has 10 tests, while the extended has 10 more tests.
Based on Cattell Horn Carroll's theory on structure of intelligence.
Good psychometrics
Differential Ability Scales (DAS)
An intelligence test for early years (2,6 - 6,11) and school age (7,0 - 17,11).
Comprised of 10 core subtests and 10 diagnostic subtests
Has good reliability
Practice adds up to 5.1 IQ points
Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (KABC-II)
An intelligence test for ages 3-18
Produces two global scores: Mental processing index and fluid-crystallised index
18 subtests
Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (KBIT-2)
A BRIEF intelligence test for ages 4-90.
Takes 15-30 minutes and produces a Verbal and Nonverbal score.
Generally good psychometrics as a screener.
Raven's progressive matrices
A nonverbal, 'culture-fair' intelligence test requiring an individual to determine which figure belongs in a given matrix.
Has 3 forms: Standard (ages 6-80), coloured (for children 5-11, the elderly and the mentally or physically impaired) and advanced (for ages 11-adult)
Tests of group intelligence
Otis-Lennon School Ability Test
Wonderlic Personnel Test
Cognitive Abilities Test
Test of Cognitive Skills
Intellectual Disability
DSM-IV: An IQ of 70 or below (-2 SDs below mean) on an IQ test with onset before age 18 and deficits in adaptive functioning

DSM-5: Intellectual Developmental Disorder: A disorder that includes a deficit in general mental abilities, impairment in adaptive functioning and onset during developmental period.
Global Developmental Delay
A kind of intellectual disorder diagnosed only in children under 5, where the child is too young for clinical severity to be reliably assessed
Unspecified Intellectual Disability
A kind of intellectual disorder only made for individuals aged over 5 when assessment is not possible due to factors like sensory or physical impairments (involves exceptional circumstances where you strongly believe an intellectual disability is present)
Autistic Disorder
A developmental, lifelong disorder involving abnormalities in reciprocal social interaction, communication, restricted, repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behaviour and abnormality of development at or before 36 months.
Autism Spectrum Disorder
A continuum of symptoms involving deficits in social communication, restricted, repetitive behaviours, interests or activities, symptoms present in early childhood and impairment of functioning. Also involves hyper- or hypo-reactivity to sensory input. (doesn't require language delay)

Has 3 severity specifiers:
Level 1 - Requiring support
Level 2 - Requiring substantial support
Level 3 - Requiring very substantial support
Asperger Disorder
A disorder involving social deficits like autism but no language delay or intellectual disability
Pervasive Developmental Disorder-NOS/atypical autism
A disorder like autism involving the same social deficits and either or both communication deficits or repetitive behaviours

...but may involve late onset or may not have communication deficits/the repetitive behaviorus
Childhood Disintegrative Disorder
A very rare disorder with features like autism but must have normal development up to 2 years, then lose receptive language and social skills (and may lose motor and adaptive skills)
Rett's Syndrome
A biological disorder no longer in the DSM involving a spontaneous mutation resulting in loss of hand skills and social engagement, poor gait and severely impaired language.
Social (pragmatic) communication disorder
A new disorder in DSM-5 involving persistent difficulties in social use of verbal and nonverbal communication, and an onset in early developmental period
However, lacks a good clinical measure and lacks reliability/validity as a disorder independent from ASD.
Autism screening measures
DBC-Autism Screening Algorithm (for ages 4-18 with an intellectual disability)
Social Responsiveness Scale (ages 4-18)
Social Communication Questionnaire (for ages 4+ with mental age 2+, but has poor psychometrics)
Checklist for Autism in Toddlers - CHAT, M-CHAT and Q-CHAT - for toddlers 18-24 months
DBD-Early Screen (DBS-ES) - 18-48 months
Vineland Adaptive Behaviour Scales
A scale of autism symptomatology that measures adaptive behaviour - communication, daily living skills, socialisation, motor skills.
Autism Diagnostic Interview (ADI-R)
A parent interview for autism from age of 24 months. Has a toddler version from age 10 months. Long, but has strong psychometrics.
Diagnostic Interview for Social and Communication Disorders (DISCO)
A parent interview used from ages 3 years to diagnose SOCIAL and COMMUNICATION disorders. Used to measure autism symptomology. Very long, and needs more evaluation of psychometrics.
Parent Interview for Autism (PIA)
A structured parent interview for autism specific for young children.
Developmental, Dimensional and Diagnostic Interview (3Di)
A computer-based, freely available parent interview for autism symptomology. Has a broader scope than the ADI-R as it also covers other psychiatric diagnoses, but little is known about psychometrics (little has been published re: reliability/validity).
Gilliam Autism Rating Scale (GAR)
A parent and teacher report for autism in children 4-18 years. Has unsupported psychometrics.
Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS)
A common, well-supported observation measure for Autism. Also has a recently developed toddler version (with improved psychometrics for assessing younger children).
Childhood Autism rating Scale (CARS)
An observation-based clinician measure for autism in children aged 24 months and above. Has poorer psychometrics than the ADOS.
Screening Tool for Autism in Two-year Olds (STAT)
A level 2 (Clinician-administered) observational screening instrument for autism
Biological markers of depression
Include serotonergic, lipids, trace metals (low zinc, magnesium/high mercury), vitamins (low folic acid, B12, B6), hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, structural and brain flow abnormalities)
Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (K-SADS)
A semi-structured, broad and descriptive interview. The gold standard for assessing unipolar depressive disorder in children and adolescents. Also used for assessing anxiety.
Development and Well-being Assessment (DAWBA)
A package of structured interviews, questionnaires and rating techniques for assessing emotional, behavioural and hyperactivity disorders in 5-17 year olds. Can be administered by a computer or a human (not necessarily a clinician). Information is collected from up to 3 sources - the parent, the child (if aged above 11) and a teacher.
Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D)
An antiquated, 21-item scale for depression in adults which is popular in anti-depressant trials. It doesn't cover all symptoms of a DSM-5 diagnosis (e.g. weight gain, overeating and hypersomnia) and asks weird questions about 'genital symptoms'.
Scores of 20 or more indicate moderate depression, while scores 0-7 are 'normal'.
Children's Depression Rating Scale Revised
An observer-rated measure of depression in 6-12 year olds (but also used in adolescents). Addresses a broad range of symptoms and has adequate psychometrics.
Beck Depression Inventory II
A 21-item self-report measure of depression according to DSM-IV criteria. One of the most common. Produces a rating of 0-63 - minimal = 0-13, while severe = 29+.

Questionable validity with older population as normative sample ranged 13-86 but mean was 37.2.
Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ)
A brief, up-to-date self-report questionnaire assessing depression over 9 items (one for each major criteria). Has good sensitivity and specificity. Owned by Pfizer.
Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale II
A self-report scale for depression in adolescents. Has a clinical cut off above 76 (120 = max). Has good psychometrics.
Edinburgh Post Natal Depression Scale
A self-report scale for assessing post natal depression. A score >12 indicated diagnosis. 'Short and sweet'.
Scale for Suicidal Ideation (Beck)
A 21-item scale measuring suicidal behaviour and ideation. Patients in the higher risk category (scores above 2) are about 7x greater risk of suicide than those in the lower risk category. Good psychometrics.
Suicidal Ideation Questionnaire
A scale focusing on frequency of suicidal thoughts. Cut off = 41. Good psychometrics.
Also has a junior version.
Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS)
A measure assessing suicidal ideation and behaviour separately. Takes less than five minutes.
Generalised Anxiety Disorder
A) Excessive anxiety and worry for at least 6 months
B) Worry is difficult to control
C) Associated with 3 of: feeling wound up/tense, easily fatigued, concentration problems, irritability, muscle tension, sleep difficulties
Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for children
A scale for assessing anxiety in children
Beck Anxiety Inventory
A 21-item scale for assessing anxiety in adults over the past week. Has good psychometrics. Has a large focus on somatic complaints (which is both a strength and a weakness).
Generalised Anxiety Disorder 7
The anxiety component of the PHQ. Assesses anxiety over 7 items, with scores ranging 0-21. Good at detecting GAD, PTSD, Panic disorder and Social phobia, but also picks up on over things and has overlap/low specificity.
Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Distress (SCARED-R)
A 66 item comprehensive scale assessing a range of anxiety disorders in children.
School Refusal Assessment Scale Revised
A scale assessing school refusal - has a functional approach, looking at factors about why they're refusing to attend school.
Self-Efficacy Questionnaire for School Situations (SEQ-SS)
A scale assessing school refusal which gives a sense of the child's ability to cope with school
Visual Analogue Scale
A visual scale used for children involving pictures, such as happy/sad faces.
Fear Thermometer
A visual 'thermometer' scale measuring degree of fear experienced by children, used in the context of school refusal.
Self-Statement Assessment
A qualitative measure used for school refusal involving statement completion.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
A trauma-related disorder involving exposure to a stressor, intrusions of thoughts, avoiding stimuli, negative cognitions and mood, alterations in arousal and reactivity, and causes distress and lasts longer than a month.
Impact of Events Scale- Revised
A common, 22 item adult measure of PTSD. Includes intrusion, avoidance and hyperarousal subscales. Good at discriminating between traumatised and non-traumatised individuals.
Child PTSD Symptom Scale
A 24-item self-report measure of PTSD severity in 8-18 year olds. Includes re-experiencing, avoidance and hyperarousal subscales. Scores above or equal to 11 have a highly sensitive, specific PTSD diagnosis. Good psychometrics.
University of California at Los Angeles Child PTSD Reaction Index - UCLA PTSD RI
A screening tool for PTSD in children and adolescents.
Adolescent Dissociative Experiences Scale
A 28 item self report scale assessing dissociation in adolescents. Has reasonable psychometrics, but 'normal' youth who daydream may score highly. Includes subscales on dissociative amnesia, absorption and imaginative involvement, passive influence, depersonalisation/derealisation.
Personality
A stable set of tendencies and characteristics that determine commonalities and differences in peoples' psychological behaviour (thoughts, feelings and actions) that have continuity in time and that may not be easily understood as the sole result of the social and biological pressures of the moment.
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2)
A valid, reliable self-report (paper/pencil or computer) inventory measuring personality functioning and psychiatric symptoms.

Issues with this test: It is not designed for 'normal' personality assessment, requires an 8th grade reading level, was standardised on a US, mostly white sample, and takes 1-1.5 hours, no adults in normative sample aged 85+, retrospective.

The basic scales are as follows:
Abnormal concern over bodily health
Depression
Interpersonal behaviours that occur as a reaction to stress
Asocial/amoral behaviours
Interests
Suspiciousness/paranoia
Anxiety
Disturbances of thinking, mood and behaviour
Social introversion vs socially outgoing behaviour.

It also contains a number of validity scales.
Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI)
A 344 item, reliable and valid self-report scale of personality assessment used in both clinical and non-clinical populations. It is not designed for 'normal' personality assessment. It can be administered online, and adolescent/short forms are available.

Contains validity scales, namely Negative Impression (NIM) and Positive Impression (PIM).

The treatment consideration scales are aggression, suicidal ideation, stress, nonsupport, and treatment rejection.

Issues: Requires a 4th grade reading level, requires 95% completion for interpretation.
16 Personality Factor Questionnaire (16 PF)
A reliable and valid 185-item questionnaire designed to measure 'normal' personality developed by factor analysing all English-language adjectives describing human behaviour. Takes 25-50 minutes.

The 16 personality factors: Warmth, Liveliness, Social Boldness, Privateness, Self-reliance, Dominance, Vigilance, Openness to Change, Sensitivity, Abstractedness, Rule Consciousness, Perfectionism, Emotional Stability, Vigilance, Apprehension and Tension.

Requires a 5th grade reading level and is suitable for ages 16+
Rorschach Inkblot Test
A personality assessment involving interpretation of inkblots. Interpretation involves looking at the following clusters: Processing, mediation (translation of info), ideation (meaningful organisation of info), controls (coping capacity), affect, self-perception, interpersonal relationships.

Interpretation is not based primarily on the content of the response; interpretation is based on things like time taken to provide a response, 'shock' at the card, determinants (aspects of the inkblock that triggered response) and location (which parts triggered response).

Statistics are fed into the following 'constellations' - Suicide potential, perceptual-thinking index, depression, coping deficits, hypervigilance, obsessiveness.
Thematic Apperception Test - TAT
A non-diagnostic personality test for ages 7+ involving 10 cards. The client must tell a story and answer 4 questions:
1) What led up to what's happening in the card?
2) What's happening now?
3) What are they thinking and feeling?
4) What is the outcome?

This test is not reliable and has questionable validity, but gives useful information regarding the client's approach to life circumstances, probable nature of their interpersonal relationships, the client's inner needs, environmental concerns and problem solving/decision making.
Fundamental Attribution Error
A cognitive heuristic seen in forensic assessment where people tend to overemphasise stable dispositional factors, like aggression, while underemphasising situational factors when making a prediction of risk.
Representativeness
A cognitive heuristic seen in forensic assessment where a wrong judgement is made because an existing prototype/stereotype already exists in our minds. Our prototype is what we think is the most relevant or typical example of a particular event or object. So in this case, if a person represents the typical description of a criminal, we assume they will engage in criminal behaviour.
Availability
A cognitive heuristic seen in forensic assessment where we focus on available information more than we should.
Adjustment from an anchor
A cognitive heuristic seen in forensic assessment where we rely too heavily on the first piece of information offered (the 'anchor') when making decisions.
Actuarial methods
Formal decision-making algorithms designed to predict risk in criminals. They are based on static risk factors and are context free. They have better reliability, predictive validity and objectiveness than subjective clinical methods. They cannot guide treatment and only generate predictions based on group data.
Violent Risk Appraisal Guide - VRAG
A 12-item actuarial scale used to predict violence following release. Includes elementary school maladjustment, personality disorder diagnosis, age of offence, schizophrenia (lowers risk), lived with both parents to age 16, failure on prior release, non-violent offence, marital status, if victim died (associated with longer time in prison, so less risk). Includes score on the Hare PCL-R psychopathy checklist.
Historical, Clinical Risk Management (HCR-20)
A 20-item structured clinical appraisal method for predicting risk which includes both clinical judgement and an actuarial component. Looks at 10 documented (static) historical factors, 5 present dynamic factors and 5 future (speculative) factors. It also suggests risk reduction strategies based on identified risk factors. Has better predictive accuracy for males than females (but a female version involves 9 specific risk factors and has improved psychometrics)
Geriatric Depression Scale
A 30-item self-report scale for assessing depression in older adults. Takes 10 minutes and focuses on affective rather than somatic symptoms. Has a simple yes/no response scale, addressing issues of Likert scales in elderly populations. Has strong validity for older adults without substantial cognitive impairment.
Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia
A commonly used tool for assessing depression in older adults involving interviewing the client and an informant and observations. Validated for older people with and without dementia and the only tool suitable for assessing those with moderate-severe dementia.
Culture-Bound Syndrome
A limited and localised syndrome tied to a particular culture. Not all are considered pathological.
Idiom of distress
A way of communicating distress in a manner culturally understood and (to a degree) accepted.
Amok
Malaysia: A dissociative, aggressive, violent or homicidal episode following a period of brooding presenting often alongside persecutory ideas, automatism, amnesia or exhaustion. Almost always occurs in a male aged 20-45 who experienced a loss of social status or major life change.
Koro
A culture-specific syndrome in which an individual has an overpowering belief that his or her genitals (e.g., penis or female nipples) are retracting and will disappear, despite the lack of any true longstanding changes to the genitals. Generally occurs in ages 19-25 and occurs in the context of inter-ethnic tension. Occurs in China/Singapore/Malaysia but also worldwide.
Hikikomori
A Japanese 'syndrome' involving withdrawal from society, isolation and confinement for at least 6 months, often beginning with school refusal. Contributing factors include highly stressful school environments, unstable job market and intense pressure to conform.
Baksbat
A Cambodian variant of PTSD/response to distress involving dissociation, 'double fear', submission and a loss of togetherness. Argued to be a type of generational trauma.
Mini Mental State Exam (MMSE)
The most common screener for cognitive issues, taking only 5-10 minutes. Looks at orientation (to time and place), concentration, memory, language and visual construction. May not be appropriate for some cultures due to issues like different concepts of time and illiteracy.
Example items: Repeat after me: NO IFS ANDS OR BUTS
Read these words and do what it says: CLOSE YOUR EYES
Copy this design

The Modified version assesses a broader range of cognitions and has better psychometrics.
Cultural Formation Interview
An interview for clinical consultation of people from different cultures to the interviewer. Includes questions on the client's interpretation of the issue, how their identity affects them, and what sort help they desire.
Attachment
An enduring affective bond characterised by a tendency to seek and maintain proximity to a specific figure, particularly when under stress.

Criteria: Ability to recognise object of attachment, preference for the object and separation process, understanding of infant's care context, ability to understand/respond to infant signals of anxiety, security and proximity seeking.
Ages and Stages Questionnaire 2nd ed
A reliable screening approach for development in children from birth-5 years. Involves 30 items given in periods ranging 2-6 months. Looks at communication, gross/fine motor skills, problem solving, personal and social development.
Batelle Developmental Inventory screening test
A screening approach for developmental delays in children from birth-8 years. Looks at developmental milestones, covering motor, communication, personal-social, adaptive, and cognitive development.
Brief Infant/Toddler Social Emotional Assessment
A screening tool for assessing problems in socio-emotional development in infants/toddlers aged 12-36 months. Assesses activity, emotional regulation and social competence.
Bowlby's Attachment Theory
A theory describing the dynamics of long-term relationships between humans. Its most important tenet is that an infant needs to develop a relationship with at least one primary caregiver for social and emotional development to occur normally. Explains how much the parents' relationship with the child influences development; separation, loss and disruption lead to insecurity, poor self concept, etc. Attachment endures through the life cycle, involves engagement of emotion, is organised around the goal of feeling secure, predicts ontogeny (growth), is minimally shaped by learning (reward/punishment) and is important for survival.
Strange Situation Procedure
The most common and empirically supported method (the gold standard) for assessing attachment in infants (12-20 months). In the procedure, the mother and infant are placed in an unfamiliar playroom equipped with toys while a researcher observes/records the procedure through a one-way mirror. The procedure consists of eight sequential episodes in which the child experiences both separation from and reunion with the mother as well as the presence of an unfamiliar stranger.
Secure attachment
A form of attachment in which the infant seeks comfort, proximity and contact with the mother, who is a secure base. The mother responds to the infant predictably with empathy, and is attuned.

This style promotes resilience/development.

Associated with autonomous adults, who acknowledge the importance of attachment relationships, describe childhood relationships in a balanced/open way, are tolerant of imperfections, and are specific, clear and believable when discussing their attachment experiences.
Avoidant Attachment
An attachment style where the infant avoids/ignores the mother, who predictably rejects the infant and is insensitive to signals.

These children have slightly more externalising and internalising problems than secure or resistant children.

This style is associated with Dismissing adults, who dismiss the importance of attachment, idealise their caregivers, are defensive, report painful childhood relationship experiences without emotional responses and can't provide specific examples but convey consistent, clear and believable sense of their attachment. These adults typically invest in cognitive activities more than emotionally laden activities.
Ambivalent/Anxious-Resistent Attachment
An attachment style where the infant shows anger and resistance, with simultaneous desire for contact and an inability to be comforted. The mother unpredictable allows access and is insensitive to infant signals.

Associated with Preoccupied adults, who provide incoherent narratives about child relationship experiences, struggle psychologically with their family, may have many vignettes but confused and passive thinking or unmodulated fear and anger about attachment experiences. Preoccupied wit own parents. These adults tend to focus on relationships more than cognitive activities.
Disorganised attachment
An attachment style where the infant is dazed on reunion, freezes, expresses fear and confusion, and avoids the mother then seeks the mother. The mother is confused, frightening or frightened, with a history of unresolved attachment trauma/loss.

May experience their caregivers as either frightening or frightened. In other words, the caregiver is both the source of the child's alarm as well as the child's haven of safety. Through parental behaviors that are frightening, the caregiver puts the child in an irresolvable paradox of approach-avoidance. This paradox, in fact, may be one explanation for some of the 'stilling' and 'freezing' behaviors observed in children judged to be disorganized. Human interactions are experienced as erratic, thus children cannot form a coherent, organized interactive template.

These children have moderately more externalising problems and dissociative disorders.

Associated with Unresolved adults, who may share characteristics with other classifications but also have narratives of unresolved mourning after significant loss or trauma in infancy. More likely to develop BPD, acting out, and psychiatric illnesses.
Adult Attachment Interview (AAI)
A one-hour, semi-structured interview for assessing attachment in adults. Looks at attachment history, description of relationships and use of language, access to memories, integration of experiences, emotional understanding and reflection.

The adult attachment style predict interviewees' children's classifications in the Strange Situation
Attachment-based child therapy
A range of attachment-based interventions. The therapist acts as reliable base and interprets attachment-related interactions between themselves and the child, promoting an environment where the child can free themselves from earlier insecure attachments and develop a secure attachment.
Eastern US approach to neuropsychological assessment
An approach to neuropsychological assignment based on observing patients and making interpretations

Based on the work of Gershwin
Midwest approach to neuropsychological assessment
A numerical-focused approach to neuropsychological assignment focused on giving tests, creating an impairment index and measuring against norms to determine if something is normal or not.
Aphasia
A type of language disturbance.

Variations include Wernicke's (damage to an area located in the left temporal lobe, results in problems with producing meaningful language) and Broca's (damage to area located in the left frontal lobe, problems with motor components of speech).
Frontal lobe
The front part of the brain which performs executive functions. Damage can cause problems in task initiation, perseveration, inhibition, problem-solving, Broca's aphasia and behavioural changes (generally only if bilateral damage)
Fluency tests
Tests used to assess frontal lobe damage involving generating ideas within a time limit - may be phonemic (generating words starting with a particular letter) or semantic (generating subjects that fit into a category)
Rey Complex Figure Test
A test used to assess frontal lobe and temporal lobe damage involving replicating a detailed figure after looking at it briefly. Many different cognitive abilities are needed for a correct performance, and the test therefore permits the evaluation of different functions, such as visuospatial abilities, memory, attention, planning, and working memory (executive functions).
Tower Test
A strategy test used to assess frontal lobe damage - planning and organisation. Involves stacking beads or blocks into a correct pattern or organisation.
Dysnomia
The inability to name objects
Temporal lobe
A lobe located at the bottom of the brain involved in the retention of visual memories, processing sensory input, comprehending language, storing new memories, odour perception, emotion, and deriving meaning. Damage affects sensory input, language comprehension (Wernicke's aphasia), and memory.
Word recognition
A test of auditory processing and comprehension involving recognising and interpreting words. e.g. "Where's the phone?" Assesses temporal lobe damage.
List learning
A test of verbal memory involving memorising and then recalling a list of words. Assesses temporal lobe damage.
Memory for faces/memory for scenes
Tests of visual memory involving memorising faces and scenes. Assesses temporal lobe damage.
Naming test
A test of language functions involving naming pictures. Assesses temporal lobe damage.
Parietal lobe
The 'top' lobe of the brain which integrates sensory and perceptual information from different modalities, particularly determining spatial sense and navigation. For example, it comprises somatosensory cortex and the dorsal stream of the visual system. This enables regions of the cortex to map objects perceived visually into body coordinate positions. It also processes music.

Damage can result in neglect, alexia, agraphia and acalculia.
Line Bisection
A test of visual attention used for assessing parietal lobe damage. The client must draw a line through lines on a page. Indicated visual neglect.
Wechsler Individual Achievement Test Second Edition (WIAT-II)
A test assessing the academic achievement of children, adolescents, college students and adults, aged 4 through 85. Used in neuropsychological assessment to look at mathematical reasoning and assess parietal lobe damage.
Alexia
A brain disorder affecting the ability to read associated with parietal lobe damage.
Agraphia
The inability to write associated with parietal lobe damage.
Acalculia
An acquired impairment in which patients have difficulty performing simple mathematical tasks, such as adding, subtracting, multiplying and even simply stating which of two numbers is larger. Associated with parietal lobe damage.
Visual field testing
Testing used to assess occipital lobe damage, which determines if part of the visual field is left pblank.
Blindsight
The phenomenon where people who are cortically blind due to legions in their striate cortex (V1) respond to visual stimuli they do not consciously see.
Token test
A sensitive quantitative and descriptive test battery for auditory processing inefficiencies and disorders associated with temporal lobe damage, aphasia, and certain language and learning disabilities.
Occipital lobe
The visual processing lobe located at the 'rear' of the brain.
Social responsiveness scale (SRS)
A parent and teacher SCREENING report measuring autism symptomology for ages 4 to 18 years. Assesses social awareness, social information processing, capacity for reciprocal social communication, social anxiety/avoidance, and autistic preoccupations and traits
Coffee Can Experiment
A forensic experiment that determined most risk assessment instruments tapped four overlapping dimensions:

1) Criminal history
2) Irresponsibility
3) Psychopathology and criminal attitudes
3) Substance abuse-related problems