Clinical assessment
the systematic evaluation and measurement of psychological, biological, and social factors in an individual presenting with a possible psychological disorder.
exemplifies multidimensional, integrative approach to gathering information about a client to ma
Diagnosis
the process of determining whether a person's presenting problem(s) meets the established criteria for a psychological disorder
Reliability
(= consistency) is the most important requirement of assessment procedures and is the degree to which a measure is consistent.
Consistency across two or more raters is called interrater reliability, whereas consistency across time is referred to as test-r
Validity
(= accuracy) is the degree to which a technique measures what it is designed to measure.
i. Comparing the results of one assessment measure with the results of others helps determine concurrent/descriptive validity.
ii. Predictive validity is how well the
Standardization
process by which a set of standards or norms is established for an assessment technique to ensure its consistency across different measurements.
may refer to administrative procedures (rules for giving the assessment), evaluating the findings (scoring the
Types of Assessment
a. Clinicians often recommend a physical examination, particularly if the patient has not been seen by a medical doctor in the past year. it is important to conduct a physical examination with a physician. The reason for the physical exam is important to
Clinical Inteview
the core of most clinical work and is used primarily to gather information about past and present behavior, attitudes, emotions, and a history of the person's problem(s) and life circumstances (stress, trauma).
i. Other important points to cover include p
Behavioral assessment
takes the mental status exam a step further by using direct observation to formally and systematically assess an individual's thoughts, feelings, and overt behaviors in specific situations or contexts.
i. Probably more appropriate than the interview in as
Psychological tests
must be reliable and valid, and include several specific tools designed to determine cognitive, emotional, or behavioral responses that may be associated with a specific disorder or personality features.
i. Projective tests arose out of the psychoanalytic
Intelligence tests
were initially developed to predict how well persons would do in school (e.g., Binet and Simon's work with French government in 1904).
i. The Binet-Simon test was revised and translated by Lewis Terman of Stanford University in 1916 and became known as th
Neuropsychological tests
used to assess brain and nervous system functioning (person's abilities in areas such as receptive and expressive language, attention and concentration, memory, motor skills, perceptual abilities, and learning and abstraction). They do so by testing indiv
Neuroimaging
name for a set of procedures that allow a window on brain and nervous system structure (i.e., parts of the brain) and function (i.e., what the brain does via blood flow and metabolic activity). They involve sophisticated computer-aided procedures that all
Psychophysiological assessment
refers to measurement of changes in the nervous system reflecting emotional or psychological events (anxiety, stress, sexual arousal)
i. An Electroencephalogram (EEG) is a peripheral measure of electrical activity in the brain related to the firing of a s
Diagnosis
the process of determining whether a set of symptoms can be classified as a psychological disorder according to diagnostic criteria in the DSM-V. (or identifying a general class of problems that hang together). Diagnosis is useful for obtaining informatio
Mental Illness in a social context- being sane insane places
a. In 1973, sociologist David Rosenhan sought to examine how difficult it would be for people to shed the "mentally ill" label. He was particularly interested in how psychiatric hospital staff process information about patients.
b. Rosenhan and 7 associat
Basic components of a research study
a. Hypothesis, or educated guess, about what is to be studied and what one expects to find. The research design is the method or plan of experimentation used to evaluate and test the hypothesis.
1. Not all hypotheses are testable, but those used in scienc
Internal validity
refers to the extent to which we are confident that the independent variable caused the dependent variable to change
Confounds (aka confounding variable)
contaminating factors in a research study that make results uninterpretable, or uncontrolled alternative explanations for the changes observed in our dependent variable. These variables are not accounted for in the study. Confounds represent threats to in
control group
group of people who are similar to the experimental group in every way, but are NOT exposed to the independent variable. For example, one group may be given an active treatment (i.e., the independent variable) while the control group never gets the treatm
Randomization
another strategy that helps bolster the internal validity of a study, and is defined as a process of randomly assigning people to different experimental conditions in such a way that each person has an equal chance of being placed in any condition (e.g.,
analog models
a third way to improve internal validity involve recreating aspects of real world phenomena in the laboratory so that they closely approximate the real world. Analog models could be thought of as creating a close replica of facets of the real world in the
External validity (generalizability)
refers to the degree to which a study's results may be applied to other people or settings not involved in the study. That is, researchers want to be able to generalize their findings to real world phenomena. The rub, of course, is that if the experimenta
statistical significance
psychological research means that the probability of obtaining an observed effect by chance is small. Whether that difference is important and meaningful is another matter.
3. Although results may be statistically significant, they may not be clinically s
Patient uniformity myth
1. This myth leads researchers to make broad and perhaps inaccurate generalizations about disorders and treatment from groups of treated patients to individuals who may later undergo the treatment.
2. The problem is that the average gains in the treatment
Types of research methods
a. studying individual cases
b. research by correlation
c. research by experiment
d. single case experimental designs
studying individual cases
1. One way to intensively examine an individual with unique behavioral and physical patterns is the case study method.
2. This method involves extensive observation and clinical description of a person, and can provide important information about a partic
research by correlation
1. Unlike experimental designs, correlational designs do not involve the manipulation of an independent variable. Rather, data are sampled from phenomena just as they occur, and are then examined to see how the variables relate with one another. That is,
Epidemiological research
a. Epidemiology is the study of incidence, distribution, and consequences of a problem or set of problems in a population.
b. The primary goal of epidemiologists is to determine the extent of a problem/disorder in a group of people and to find important c
research by experiment
1. Instead of simply measuring two things, an experiment involves the manipulation of an independent variable under carefully controlled conditions and the observation of its effects of the dependent variable(s) of interest.
a. The independent variable is
Single case experimental designs
This type of design, owing much to the methodological innovations of B. F. Skinner, involves the rigorous and systematic study of an individual under a variety of experimental conditions and over time. The independent variable is manipulated for a single
Genetics
1. We know that there is an interaction between our genetic makeup and our experiences. This interaction determines, in part, how we will develop. The goal of behavioral geneticists (i.e., people who study the genetics of behavior) is to identify the role
strategies to study interaction between environment and genetics
a. family studies
b. adoption studies
c. twin studies
d. genetic linkage analysis
family studies
scientists examine a behavioral pattern or emotional trait shared among family members.
a. Proband = family member with the trait singled out for study
b. The role of genetics is supported, in part, if the trait occurs more often in first-degree relatives
Adoption studies
begin to allow one to separate environmental from genetic contributions to psychopathology.
b. scientists identify adoptees that have a particular behavioral pattern or psychological disorder and attempt to locate first-degree relatives who were raised in
Twin studies
give behavioral geneticists the closest possible look at the role of genes in development.
b. Identical (monozygotic) twins look identical and have identical genes, whereas fraternal (dizygotic) twins come from different eggs and have about 50% of their g
Genetic linkage analysis
can locate the site of the defective gene
principle: When a family disorder is studied, other inherited characteristics are also assessed. The other characteristics (called genetic markers) are selected because we know their exact location on the chromoso
cross-sectional designs
a. Cross sectional designs represent a variation of correlational research involving comparisons of different people at different age groups, each called a cohort, on some characteristic.
b. Confounding of age and experience is known as the cohort effect
longitudinal designs
a. Longitudinal designs evaluate the same persons over time and assess changes directly. The cohort effect is not an issue.
b. Limitations
1. Such research is costly and time-consuming, and
2. Danger that the original research question will become irrelev
Program of research
comprises a series of inter-related questions, which often draw upon a series of research designs in order to find answers to them. They are conducted in stages over periods of years, and entail using multiple perspectives to derive a complete picture of
Replication
credo of science (show me, show me again, and better yet, have someone else show me what you found). Programs of research replicate findings in different ways (e.g., designs, methods, populations), and hence build confidence that findings are not due to c
Research ethics
1. Research must follow ethical and legal guidelines (i.e., American Psychological Association's code of ethics) that are aimed at protecting participants and clients. For instance, all research in university and medical settings must be approved by insti