Deck 4: Interviewing and Observation in Clinical Psychology

Question 1

In order to improve informal observation methods, clinicians should

A) lengthen the first interview session to facilitate the sharing of anecdotal information.
B) consult with other clinicians about information obtained during early interviews.
C) observe overt behaviors and place greater emphasis on them during the interview.
D) focus on establishing a diagnosis as quickly as possible.

Answer 1

observe overt behaviors and place greater emphasis on them during the interview.

Question 2

Why is it important to attempt to improve an observation's ecological validity?

A) Greater ecological validity can help clinicians design treatment programs that can be more easily implemented in home, school, or work environments.
B) It is important that clinicians be aware of everyone's carbon footprint.
C) The greater the ecological validity, the more sophisticated the diagnosis.
D) all of the above

Answer 2

Greater ecological validity can help clinicians design treatment programs that can be more easily implemented in home, school, or work environments.

Question 3

Several clinicians are viewing videos of interviews and then making ratings or other inferences from them.They are probably in a research study investigating

A) concurrent validity.
B) test-retest reliability.
C) interrater reliability
D) predictive validity.

Answer 3

interrater reliability

Question 4

Which of the following interviewers are most likely to rely on a structured interview?

A) an intake worker at a mental health center
B) an epidemiological researcher
C) a crisis worker at a suicide hotline
D) all of the above would be equally likely to use structured interviews

Question 5

Another term for controlled observations is

A) analog behavior observations.
B) situation tests.
C) contrived observations.
D) all of the above are synonymous with controlled observations

Question 6

As distinct from normal communication, clinicians attempt to avoid subtle communication problems by

A) maximizing the clarity of the messages they sent to their clients and by clarifying the messages received from them.
B) carefully repeating what the client says.
C) using jargon as a shorthand to reassure the client that the clinician knows what is going on.
D) never asking direct questions or indicating they don't understand what is being conveyed.

Question 7

Active listening, paraphrasing, and reflection are all considered

A) non-directive interview techniques.
B) better than direct questioning for eliciting a broad range of conversational topics.
C) techniques that tend to encourage further elaboration by the client.
D) all of the above

Question 8

An often-used technique for demonstrating the problems with eye-witness accounts is having an accomplice enter a classroom, pretend to shoot the professor, then leave.The class members are then asked to describe the "gunman." This is an example of

A) a virtual reality assessment.
B) a staged naturalistic event.
C) an unethical observational tool.
D) a role-playing test.

Question 9

Which of the following is NOT usually considered one of the main benefits of the orientation interview?

A) misconceptions are often discussed and corrected
B) clients develop a better understanding of upcoming assessment and treatment activities
C) clients get information that enables them to choose their therapist
D) research participants can be provided with the ethically-required information before engaging in the requirements of the study

Question 10

In order to minimize the chances of failing to recognize cultural variations in response to being interviewed, a clinician should

A) only work with those clients of similar cultural or ethnic background.
B) never directly address the situation, but just assume everything will be fine.
C) consult with colleagues and/or enlist the help of persons with more expertise in working with particular clients.
D) stick to a structured interview format when working with individuals of different cultural or ethnic backgrounds.

Question 11

The type of interview that usually establishes the nature of the problem being presented is

A) a mental status exam.
B) an intake interview.
C) a problem-referral interview.
D) an orientation interview.

Question 12

Which of the following is a type of behavioral observation that is also the cornerstone for many group, psychodynamic, and humanistic treatments?

A) thought sampling
B) contrived observation
C) role-playing
D) self-monitoring

Question 13

When a researcher or clinician obtains information contained in records, such as medical reports or school transcripts, she

A) is risking violating the privacy of the subject or client.
B) is likely to be including non-essential information that might cloud clinical judgment.
C) does not need to worry about confidentiality issues.
D) is using nonreactive or unobtrusive measurements.

Question 14

Virtual reality assessments

A) engage clients in the process, but do not carry over to real-world situations.
B) have not been developed to the point where they are helpful, but progress is being made.
C) may be better predictors of performance, in some cases, than reality-based tests.
D) have replaced role-playing assessments in most cases.

Question 15

An interview is

A) a conversation with a purpose or goal.
B) central to clinical assessment.
C) usually the starting point of treatment.
D) all of the above

Question 16

Self-monitoring

A) requires the client to record various events and behaviors occurring in their daily life.
B) is often used by behaviorally-oriented clinicians to establish base-rates of behavior.
C) may not provide accurate information about addictive behavior.
D) all of the above

Question 17

Among the sources of errors that can occur in the interview are

A) the clinician being much more intelligent than the client.
B) malingering and impression management.
C) client biases about the interview process.
D) all of the above

Question 18

Which of the following would probably not be an important part of the opening of a first interview with a client?

A) establishing a comfortable rapport
B) frame setting
C) a discussion of fees
D) the use of open-ended questions

Question 19

Interviewing skills

A) are developed in clinical training by participating in carefully supervised practice.
B) are so basic that little specific training is usually required.
C) provide information only about a client's verbal interactions.
D) are usually taught by reading about them in books.

Question 20

Physiological measures

A) have been used less frequently since the advent of virtual reality assessments.
B) have been demonstrated to be useful in only a few instances.
C) are mainly used by individuals involved in law enforcement.
D) are being used more often as clinicians become involved in treatment of disorders with clear physiological components.

Question 21

Describe the two courses that crisis interviews usually take.

Question 22

Most clinicians find nonverbal behavior interesting in many ways during interviews.

Question 23

Clinicians can be faced with so many choices of observational assessment instruments that it can be difficult for them to know which ones would be best in any given situation.

Question 24

Behavioral Avoidance Tests (BATs)

A) are new procedures for inducing experimental neuroses.
B) are often used to assess overt anxiety.
C) have been demonstrated to be less useful than Behavioral Approach Tests.
D) were developed in the early 1900s, but are rarely used today.

Question 25

Interrater reliability is usually higher for nonstructured interviews than it is for structured interviews.

Question 26

Explain the interventions that can improve the interrater reliability of participant observer data.

Question 27

When conceiving the setting for interviews, the interviewer must be careful to avoid any personal effects, as they might taint the client's responses.

Question 28

Discuss the ways in which paraphrasing or reflection might be preferable to direct questioning in a clinical interview.

Question 29

The major challenge that remains today in the collection of observational data is

A) the data is often cumbersome and difficult to organize and interpret.
B) the possibility that observer bias will distort the data collection and interpretation.
C) there is no universally accepted procedure for behavioral observation.
D) all of the above are challenges inherent in collecting observational data.

Question 30

Self-report measures are now so reliable that it is not necessary to use observational assessment to help correct for errors.

Question 31

The concept of repeated scanning and focusing is used in psychophysiologic measures.

Question 32

If an observational assessment accurately predicts a future behavior, then that observation would have

A) concurrent validity.
B) predictive reliability.
C) predictive validity.
D) convergent validity.

Question 33

Often clients under observation will respond according to their perceptions of the social contexts of the observation situation.These social cues are called

A) observational assessment confounds.
B) behavioral biases.
C) correlational stimuli.
D) demand characteristics.

Question 34

Explain why, in many clinical settings, structured interviews have become increasingly popular.

Question 35

Termination interviews are to therapy as debriefings are to clinical research.

Question 36

An interview could be considered semistructured when the interviewer imposes structure by asking questions that guide the conversation, but also maintains a non-directive stance.

Question 37

Ethnography is a study that is based on participant observation.

Question 38

Discuss the relationships between theoretical orientation of the interviewer and the likely preference for structure he or she maintains.

Question 39

There is evidence that nonverbal behavior during an intake interview is related to subsequent therapeutic success.

Question 40

Which of the following accurately describes the relationship between task complexity and interrater reliability?

A) As task complexity goes up, interrater reliability increases.
B) As task complexity decreases, interrater reliability increases.
C) As task complexity decreases, interrater reliability decreases.
D) There is no predictable relationship between task complexity and interrater reliability.

Question 41

Discuss the factors that are likely to lead to an increased use of instruments that measure physiological responses.