2023

Psychological
Assessment
Matrix

PSY 98 - YC
Lai Nerully O. Gaputan
BS Psycholog 4 - YC

CHAPTER 1: PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING AND ASSESSMENT

Assessment - acknowledges that tests are only one type of tool used by
professional assessors (along with other tools, such as the
interview).
- The value of a test, or of any other tool of assessment, is
intimately linked to the knowledge, skill, and experience of the
assessor.

Psychological Assessment - Gathering and integration of psychology-related data for the

purpose of making a psychological evaluation that is
accomplished through the use of tools such as tests, interviews,
case studies, behavioral observation, and specially designed
apparatuses and measurement procedures.
Psychological Testing - Process of measuring psychology-related variables by means of
devices or procedures designed to obtain a sample of behavior.
Educational Assessment - Refers to the use of tests and other tools to evaluate abilities and
skills relevant to success or failure in a school or pre-school
context.
- Intelligence tests, achievement tests, and reading comprehension
tests are some of the evaluative tools that may spring to mind
with the mention of the term “educational assessment.”
Retrospective Assessment - Defined as the use of evaluative tools to draw conclusions about
psychological aspects of a person as they existed at some point
in time prior to the assessment.
Remote Assessment - Refers to the use of tools of psychological evaluation to gather
data and draw conclusions about a subject who is not in physical
proximity to the person or people conducting the evaluation.
Ecological Momentary - Psychological assessment by means of smartphones.
Assessment (EMA) - Refers to the “in the moment” evaluation of specific problems
and related cognitive and behavioral variables at the exact time
and place that they occur.
- Using various tools of assessment, EMA has been used to help
tackle diverse clinical problems including post-traumatic stress
disorder.
Process of Assessment:
1. Begins with a referral for assessment from a source such as a teacher, parent, school
psychologist, counselor, judge, clinician, or corporate human resources specialist.
2. The assessor may meet with the assessee or others before the formal assessment in order to
clarify aspects of the reason for referral. The assessor prepares for the assessment by selecting
the tools of assessment to be used.
3. Subsequent to the selection of the instruments or procedures to be employed, the formal
assessment will begin.
4. After the assessment, the assessor writes a report of the findings that is designed to answer the
referral question.
Collaborative - The assessor and assessee may work as “partners” from initial
Psychological Assessment contact through final feedback.
Therapeutic - aims to be helpful throughout the assessment process.
Psychological Assessment - The results are not revealed at the end, but shared immediately
so that both the assessor and the assessee can co-develop an
interpretation of the results and decide what questions require
further assessment.
- In this way, therapeutic self-discovery and new understandings
are encouraged throughout the assessment process.
Dynamic Assessment - Refers to an interactive approach to psychological assessment
that usually follows a model of (1) evaluation, (2) intervention
of some sort, and (3) evaluation.
- Dynamic assessment is most typically employed in educational
settings, although it may be employed in correctional, corporate,
neuropsychological, clinical, and most any other setting as well.
Test - Defined simply as a measuring device or procedure.
Psychological Test - Refers to a device or procedure designed to measure variables
related to psychology (such as intelligence, personality, aptitude,
interests, attitudes, or values).
Content - The content (subject matter) of the test will, of course, vary with
the focus of the particular test.
- But even two psychological tests purporting to measure
- the same thing—for example, personality—may differ widely in
item content. This difference is, in part, because two test
developers might have entirely different views regarding what is
important in measuring “personality”; different test developers
employ different definitions of “personality.” Additionally,
different test developers come to the test development process
with different theoretical orientations.
Format - Pertains to the form, plan, structure, arrangement, and layout of
test items as well as to related considerations such as time limits.
- Format is also used to refer to the form in which a test is
administered: computerized, pencil-and- paper, or some other
form.
Tests differ in their administration procedures. Some tests, particularly those designed for
administration on a one-to-one basis, may require an active and knowledgeable test administrator. The
test administration may involve demonstration of various kinds of tasks demanded of the assessee, as
well as trained observation of an assessee’s performance.
Tests differ widely in terms of their guidelines for scoring and interpretation. Some tests are self-
scored by the testtakers themselves, others are scored by computer, and others require scoring by
trained examiners. Some tests, such as most tests of intelligence, come with test manuals that are
explicit not only about scoring criteria but also about the nature of the interpretations that can be made
from the scores. Other tests, such as the Rorschach Inkblot Test, are sold with no manual at all.
Score - A code or summary statement, usually but not necessarily
numerical in nature, that reflects an evaluation of performance
on a test, task, interview, or some other sample of behavior.
Scoring - The process of assigning such evaluative codes or statements to
performance on tests, tasks, interviews, or other behavior
samples.
- In the world of psychological assessment, many different types
of scores exist. Some scores result from the simple summing of
responses (such as the summing of correct/incorrect or
agree/disagree responses), and some scores are derived from
more elaborate procedures.
Cut Score - A reference point, usually numerical, derived by judgment and
used to divide a set of data into two or more classifications.
Psychometrics - Defined as the science of psychological measurement.
Psychometric Soundness - A way to examine whether an assessment measures what it is
supposed to.
Utility - Refers to the usefulness or practical value that a test or other tool
of assessment has for a particular purpose.
Interview - A method of gathering information through direct
communication involving reciprocal exchange.
- Interviews differ with regard to many variables, such as their
purpose, length, and nature.
- Interviews may be used by psychologists in various specialty
areas to help make diagnostic, treatment, selection, or other
decisions.
➢ Panel Interview – an interview used used to help
professionals in human resources to make more
informed recommendations about the hiring, firing, and
advancement of personnel.
➢ Motivational Interviewing - defined as a therapeutic
dialogue that combines person-centered listening skills
such as openness and empathy, with the use of
cognition-altering techniques designed to positively
affect motivation and effect therapeutic change.
Portfolio - Composed of work products products—whether retained on
paper, canvas, film, video, audio, or some other medium.
 - May be used as a tool of evaluation.
Case History Data - Refers to records, transcripts, and other accounts in written,
pictorial, or other form that preserve archival information,
official and informal accounts, and other data and items relevant
to an assessee.
- Case history data may include files or excerpts from files
maintained at institutions and agencies such as schools,
hospitals, employers, religious institutions, and criminal justice
agencies.
- Other examples of case history data are letters and written
correspondence including email, photos and family albums,
newspaper and magazine clippings, home videos, movies,
audiotapes, work samples, artwork, doodlings, and accounts and
pictures pertaining to interests and hobbies. Postings on social
media such as Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter may also serve
as case history
Groupthink - Arises as a result of the varied forces that drive decision-makers
to reach a consensus (such as the motivation to reach a
compromise in positions).
Behavioral Observation - An is employed by assessment professionals.
- Monitoring the actions of others or oneself by visual or
electronic means while recording quantitative and/or qualitative
information regarding those actions.
- Often used as a diagnostic aid in various settings such as
inpatient facilities, behavioral research laboratories, and
classrooms.
Naturalistic Observation - Venture outside of the confines of clinics, classrooms,
workplaces, and research laboratories in order to observe
behavior of humans in a natural setting—that is, the setting in
which the behavior would typically be expected to occur.
Role Play - Acting an improvised or partially improvised part in a simulated
situation.
Role-Play Tests - A tool of assessment wherein assessees are directed to act as if
they were in a particular situation.
Integrative Report - Designed to integrate data from sources other than the test itself
into the interpretive report.
- Employ previously collected data (such as medication records or
behavioral observation data) into the test report.
Interpretive Report - Distinguished by its inclusion of numerical or narrative
interpretive statements in the report.
- Some interpretive reports contain relatively little interpretation
and simply call attention to certain high, low, or unusual scores.
Consultative Report - Is written in language appropriate for communication between
assessment professionals, may provide expert opinion
concerning analysis of the data.
Computers Adaptive - A reference to the computer’s ability to tailor the test to the test
Tools taker’s ability or test-taking pattern.
Computer-Assisted - Assistance computers provide to the test user, not the test taker.
Psychological Assessment
Who Are the Parties?
• Test Developer
- Create tests or other methods of assessment.
- Test creators bring a wide array of backgrounds and interests to the test development process.

• Test User
- Psychological tests and assessment methodologies are used by a wide range of professionals,
including clinicians, counselors, school psychologists, human resources personnel, consumer
psychologists, industrial-organizational psychologists, experimental psychologists, and social
psychologists.
- The Standards and other published guidelines from specialty professional organizations have
had much to say in terms of identifying just who is a qualified test user and who should have
access to (and be permitted to purchase) psychological tests and related tools of psychological
assessment.

• Test Taker
- Anyone who is the subject of an assessment or an evaluation can be a test taker or an assessee.

• Society At Large
- Society at large exerts its influence as a party to the assessment enterprise in many ways.
- As society evolves and as the need to measure different psychological variables emerges, test
developers respond by devising new tests.
- Through systematic and replicable means that can produce compelling evidence, the
assessment enterprise responds to what Tyler (1965, p. 3) described as society’s demand for
“some way of organizing or systematizing the many-faceted complexity of individual
differences.”
 • Other Parties
- Organizations, companies, and governmental agencies sponsor the development of tests for
various reasons, such as to certify personnel.
- Companies and services offer test-scoring or interpretation services.
Psychological Autopsy - Defined as a reconstruction of a deceased individual’s
psychological profile on the basis of archival records, artifacts,
and interviews previously conducted with the deceased assessee
or people who knew the person well.
In What Types of Settings Are Assessments Conducted, and Why?
• Educational Settings
- As mandated by law, tests are administered early in school life to help identify children who
may have special needs.

• Clinical Settings
- Tests and many other tools of assessment are widely used in clinical settings such as public,
private, and military hospitals, inpatient and outpatient clinics, private-practice consulting
rooms, schools, and other institutions.
- These tools are used to help screen for or diagnose behavior problems.
- Tests employed in clinical settings may be intelligence tests, personality tests,
neuropsychological tests, or other specialized instruments, depending on the presenting or
suspected problem area.

• Counseling Settings
- Assessment in a counseling context may occur in environments as diverse as schools, prisons,
and governmental or privately owned institutions.
- Regardless of the particular tools used, the ultimate objective of many such assessments is the
improvement of the assessee in terms of adjustment, productivity, or some related variable.

• Geriatric Settings
- Wherever older individuals reside, they may at some point require psychological assessment to
evaluate cognitive, psychological, adaptive, or other functioning.
- At issue in many such assessments is the extent to which assesses are enjoying as good a
quality of life as possible.

• Business and Military Settings

- In business, as in the military, various tools of assessment are used in sundry ways, perhaps
most notably in decision making about the careers of personnel.
- A wide range of achievement, aptitude, interest, motivational, and other tests may be employed
in the decision to hire as well as in related decisions regarding promotions, transfer, job
satisfaction, and eligibility for further training.
- Using tests, interviews, and other tools of assessment, psychologists who specialize in the
marketing and sale of products are involved in taking the pulse of consumers.
- They help corporations predict the public’s receptivity to a new product, a new brand, or a new
advertising or marketing campaign.

• Governmental and Organizational Credentialing

- One of the many applications of measurement is in governmental licensing, certification, or
general credentialing of professionals.

• Academic Research Settings

 - Conducting any sort of research typically entails measurement of some kind, and any
academician who ever hopes to publish research should ideally have a sound knowledge of
measurement principles and tools of assessment.
Achievement Test - Evaluates accomplishment or the degree of learning that has
taken place.
Diagnosis - Defined as a description or conclusion reached on the basis of
evidence and opinion.
- Typically this conclusion is reached through a process of
distinguishing the nature of something and ruling out alternative
conclusions.
Diagnostic Test - A tool of assessment used to help narrow down and identify
areas of deficit to be targeted for intervention.
Informal Evaluation - A typically nonsystematic assessment that leads to the formation
of an opinion or attitude.
How Are Assessments Conducted?
- Responsible test users have obligations before, during, and after a test or any measurement
procedure is administered.

Before:
- Before the test, ethical guidelines dictate that when test users have discretion with regard to the
tests administered, they should select and use only the test or tests that are most appropriate for
the individual being tested.
- Before a test is administered, the test should be stored in a way that reasonably ensures that its
specific contents will not be made known to the test taker in advance.
- Another obligation of the test user before the test’s administration is to ensure that a prepared
and suitably trained person administers the test properly.
- Test users have the responsibility of ensuring that the room in which the test will be conducted
is suitable and conducive to the testing.

During:
- During test administration, and especially in one-on-one or small-group testing, rapport
between the examiner and the examinee is critically important.

After:
- These obligations range from safeguarding the test protocols to conveying the test results in a
clearly understandable fashion.
- If third parties were present during testing or if anything else that might be considered out of
the ordinary happened during testing, it is the test user’s responsibility to make a note of such
events on the report of the testing.
Protocol - Refers to the form, sheet, or booklet on which a test taker’s
responses are entered.
Rapport - Defined as a working relationship between the examiner and the
examinee.
Accommodation - Defined as the adaptation of a test, procedure, or situation, or the
substitution of one test for another, to make the assessment more
suitable for an assessee with exceptional needs.
Alternate Assessment - An evaluative or diagnostic procedure or process that varies
from the usual, customary, or standardized way a measurement
is derived, either by virtue of some special accommodation
 made to the assessee or by means of alternative methods
designed to measure the same variable(s).
Where to Go for Authoritative Information: Reference Sources
• Test Catalogues
- Most test publishers make available catalogues of their offerings, this source of test
information can be tapped by a simple Internet search, telephone call, email, or note.
- Publishers’ catalogues usually contain only a brief description of the test and seldom contain
the kind of detailed technical information that a prospective user might require, although
publishers are increasingly providing more information in online catalogues, presumably
because they are not limited by the space or the cost of printing.

• Test Manuals
- Detailed information concerning the development of a particular test and technical information
relating to it.

• Professional Books
- Books written for an audience of assessment professionals are available to supplement,
reorganize, or enhance the information typically found in the manual of a very widely used
psychological test.
- The book might provide helpful guidelines for planning a pre-test interview with a particular
assessee, or for drawing conclusions from, and making inferences about, the data derived from
the test.
- Books devoted to an in-depth discussion of a particular test can systematically provide students
of assessment, as well as assessment professionals, with the thoughtful insights and actionable
knowledge of more experienced practitioners and test users.

• Reference Volumes
- Provides detailed information for each test listed, including test publisher, test author, test
purpose, intended test population, and test administration time.

• Journal Articles
- Articles in current journals may contain reviews of the test, updated or independent studies of
its psychometric soundness, or examples of how the instrument was used in either research or
an applied context.
- There are also journals that focus more specifically on matters related to testing and
assessment.

• Online Databases
- Contains a wealth of resources and news about tests, testing, and assessment.
- There are abstracts of articles, original articles, and links to other useful websites.
Lai Nerully O. Gaputan
BS Psycholog 4 - YC

CHAPTER 2: HISTORICAL, CULTURAL, AND LEGAL/ETHICAL

CONSIDERATIONS
A Historical Perspective
Antiquity to the Nineteenth Century
- It is believed that tests and testing programs first came into being in China as early as 2200
B.C.E.
- Over its long history, the examination system was at times more rigorous and fairer and at
other times laxer and more corrupt.
- Societal elites typically bent the system so that less privileged members of the society were
either less likely to be able to pass the exams or were prevented outright from taking them.
- During some periods, those who passed the examination were entitled not only to a
government job but also to wear special garb; this entitled them to be accorded special
courtesies by anyone they happened to meet.
- In some dynasties, passing the examinations could result in exemption from taxes. Passing the
examination might even exempt one from government-sponsored interrogation by torture if the
individual was suspected of committing a crime.
- Assessment was also an important activity at the first experimental psychology laboratory,
founded at the University of Leipzig in Germany by Wilhelm Max Wundt (1832–1920), a
medical doctor whose title at the university was professor of philosophy.
➢ Wundt and his students tried to formulate a general description of human abilities with
respect to variables such as reaction time, perception, and attention span.
The Twentieth Century
- Much of the nineteenth-century testing that could be described as psychological in nature
involved the measurement of sensory abilities, reaction time, and the like.
- It was in the early 1900s that the birth of the first formal tests of intelligence came. These were
tests that were useful for reasons readily understandable to anyone who had school-age
children. It all began with a single test designed for use with young Paris pupils.

• Measurement of Intelligence
- Alfred Binet and collaborator Theodore Simon published a 30-item “measuring scale of
intelligence” designed to help identify Paris schoolchildren with intellectual disability.
- In 1939, David Wechsler introduced a test designed to measure adult intelligence.
➢ For Wechsler, intelligence was “the aggregate or global capacity of the individual to
act purposefully, to think rationally, and to deal effectively with his environment”.
➢ Originally christened the Wechsler-Bellevue Intelligence Scale, the test was
subsequently revised and renamed the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS).
- Group intelligence tests came into being in the United States in response to the military’s need
for an efficient method of screening the intellectual ability of World War I recruits.

• Measurement of Personality
- After the war, Robert Woodworth developed a personality test for civilian use that was based
on the Personal Data Sheet, a label to disguise the true purpose of a test. He called it the
Woodworth Psychoneurotic Inventory.
➢ This instrument was the first widely used self-report measure of personality.
 - Various methods were developed to provide measures of personality that did not rely on self-
report.
➢ A projective test is one in which an individual is assumed to “project” onto some
ambiguous stimulus his or her own unique needs, fears, hopes, and motivation.
➢ The ambiguous stimulus might be an inkblot, a drawing, a photograph, or something
else.

• The Academic and Applied Traditions

- In the tradition of Galton, Wundt, and other scholars, researchers at universities throughout the
world use the tools of assessment to help advance knowledge and understanding of human and
animal behavior.
- Yet there is also an applied tradition, one that dates at least back to ancient China and the
examinations developed there to help select applicants for various positions on the basis of
merit.
- Today, society relies on the tools of psychological assessment to help answer important
questions.
Culture - Defined as “the socially transmitted behavior patterns, beliefs,
and products of work of a particular population, community, or
group of people”
- Culture imparts much about what is to be valued or prized as
well as what is to be rejected or despised.
- Culture teaches a point of view about what it means to be born
of one or another gender, race, or ethnic background.
- Culture teaches us something about what we can expect from
other people and what we can expect from ourselves.
Evolving Interest in Culture-Related Issues
- Henry Goddard raised questions about how meaningful such tests are when used with people
from various cultural and language backgrounds.
- Goddard (1913) used interpreters in test administration, employed a bilingual psychologist, and
administered mental tests to selected immigrants who appeared to have intellectual disability to
trained observers.
- Goddard’s research, although leaving much to be desired methodologically, fueled the fires of
an ongoing nature–nurture debate about what intelligence tests actually measure.
➢ On one side were those who viewed intelligence test results as indicative of some
underlying native ability.
➢ On the other side were those who viewed such data as indicative of the extent to which
knowledge and skills had been acquired.
- Culture-specific tests are designed for use with people from one culture but not from another,
soon began to appear on the scene.
- Even though many published tests were purposely designed to be culture-specific, it soon
became apparent that the tests were being administered—improperly—to people from different
cultures. Perhaps not surprisingly, racially, ethnically, socioeconomically, or culturally diverse
test takers tended to score lower as a group than people from the group for whom the test was
developed.
- Today test developers typically take many steps to ensure that a major test developed for
national use is indeed suitable for such use.
➢ Those steps might involve administering a preliminary version of the test to a tryout
sample of test takers from various cultural backgrounds, particularly from those whose
members are likely to be administered the final version of the test.
Some Issues Regarding Culture and Assessment
 • Verbal Communication
- Language, the means by which information is communicated, is a key yet sometimes
overlooked variable in the assessment process.
- Common language is necessary not only for the assessment to proceed but also for the
assessor’s conclusions regarding the assessment to be reasonably accurate.
- The danger of such misunderstanding may increase as infrequently used vocabulary or unusual
idioms are employed in the assessment.
- When an assessment is conducted with the aid of a translator, different challenges may emerge.
Depending upon the translator’s skill and professionalism, subtle nuances of meaning may be
lost in translation, or unintentional hints to the correct or more desirable response may be
conveyed.
- In interviews or other situations in which an evaluation is made on the basis of a spoken
exchange between two parties, a trained examiner may detect through verbal or nonverbal
means that the examinee’s grasp of a language or a dialect is too deficient to proceed.

• Nonverbal Communication and Behavior

- Humans communicate not only through verbal means but also through nonverbal means. Facial
expressions, finger and hand signs, and shifts in one’s position in space may all convey
messages.
- Culture exerts effects over many aspects of nonverbal behavior.

• Standards of Evaluation
- Judgments related to certain psychological traits can also be culturally relative. Whether
specific patterns of behavior are considered to be psychopathological also depends on the
prevailing societal standards.
- Individualist culture (typically associated with the dominant culture in countries such as the
United States and Great Britain) is characterized by value being placed on traits such as self-
reliance, autonomy, independence, uniqueness, and competitiveness.
- A collectivist culture (typically associated with the dominant culture in many countries
throughout Asia, Latin America, and Africa), value is placed on traits such as conformity
cooperation, interdependence, and striving toward group goals.
Tests and Group Membership
-Tests and other evaluative measures administered in vocational, educational, counseling, and
other settings leave little doubt that people differ from one another on an individual basis and
also from group to group on a collective basis.
- General differences among groups of people also extend to psychological attributes such as
measured intelligence. Unfortunately, the mere suggestion that such differences in
psychological variables exist arouses skepticism if not charges of discrimination, bias, or
worse. These reactions are especially true when the observed group differences are deemed
responsible for blocking one or another group from employment or educational opportunities.
Laws - Are rules that individuals must obey for the good of the society
as a whole—or rules thought to be for the good of society as a
whole.
The Concerns of the Public
- Concern about the use of psychological tests first became widespread in the aftermath of
World War I, when various professionals (as well as nonprofessionals) sought to adapt group
tests developed by the military for civilian use in schools and industry.
- The extent of public concern about psychological assessment is reflected in the extensive
involvement of the government in many aspects of the assessment process in recent decades.
 - Assessment has been affected in numerous and important ways by activities of the legislative,
executive, and judicial branches of federal and state governments.
Reverse Discrimination - Defined as the practice of making distinctions in hiring,
promotion, or other selection decisions that systematically tend
to favor racially, ethnically, socioeconomically, or culturally
diverse persons regardless of actual qualifications for positions.
Disparate Treatment - Refers to the consequence of an employer’s hiring or promotion
practice that was intentionally devised to yield some
discriminatory result or outcome.
- Possible motivations for disparate treatment include racial
prejudice and a desire to maintain the status quo.
-
Disparate Impact - Refers to the consequence of an employer’s hiring or promotion
practice that unintentionally yielded a discriminatory result or
outcome.
- Because disparate impact is presumed to occur unintentionally,
it is not viewed as the product of motivation or planning.
Litigation - Rules governing citizens’ behavior stem not only from
legislatures but also from interpretations of existing law in the
form of decisions handed down by courts.
- Can influence our daily lives.
The Concerns of the Profession
• Test-user Qualifications
- As early as 1950 an APA Committee on Ethical Standards for Psychology published a report
called Ethical Standards for the Distribution of Psychological Tests and Diagnostic Aids.
This report defined three levels of tests in terms of the degree to which the test’s use required
knowledge of testing and psychology.
➢ Level A: Tests or aids that can adequately be administered, scored, and interpreted
with the aid of the manual and a general orientation to the kind of institution or
organization in which one is working (for instance, achievement or proficiency tests).
➢ Level B: Tests or aids that require some technical knowledge of test construction and
use and of supporting psychological and educational fields such as statistics, individual
differences, psychology of adjustment, personnel psychology, and guidance (e.g.,
aptitude tests and adjustment inventories applicable to normal populations).
➢ Level C: Tests and aids that require substantial understanding of testing and supporting
psychological fields together with supervised experience in the use of these devices
(for instance, projective tests, individual mental tests).
- Furthermore, there is an ethical mandate to take reasonable steps to prevent the misuse of the
tests and the information they provide. The obligations of professionals to testtakers are set
forth in a document called the Code of Fair Testing Practices in Education.
➢ Jointly authored and/or sponsored by the Joint Committee of Testing Practices (a
coalition of APA, AERA, NCME, the American Association for Measurement and
Evaluation in Counseling and Development, and the American Speech-Language
Hearing Association).
➢ This document presents standards for educational test developers in four areas: (1)
developing/selecting tests, (2) interpreting scores, (3) striving for fairness, and (4)
informing test takers.

• Testing People with Disabilities

 - These challenges may include (1) transforming the test into a form that can be taken by the test
taker, (2) transforming the responses of the test taker so that they are scorable, and (3)
meaningfully interpreting the test data.
- The nature of the transformation of the test into a form ready for administration to the
individual with a disabling condition will, of course, depend on the nature of the disability.

• Computerized Test Administration, Scoring, and Interpretation

- An ever-growing number of psychological tests can be purchased on disc or administered and
scored online.
- In many respects, the relative simplicity, convenience, and range of potential testing activities
that computer technology brings to the testing industry have been a great boon.

• Guidelines with Respect to Certain Populations

- Guidelines are designed to assist professionals in providing informed and developmentally
appropriate services.
- Note that there exists a distinction between APA guidelines and standards. Although standards
must be followed by all psychologists, guidelines are more aspirational in nature (Reed et al.,
2002).
The Rights of Test takers
• The Right of Informed Consent
- Test takers have a right to know why they are being evaluated, how the test data will be used,
and what (if any) information will be released to whom.
- With full knowledge of such information, test takers give their informed consent to be tested.
- For situations in which it is deemed advisable not to obtain fully informed consent to
evaluation, professional discretion is in order.
➢ Test takers might be given a minimum amount of information before the testing.
➢ For example, “This testing is being undertaken as part of an experiment on obedience
to authority.”
➢ A full disclosure and debriefing would be made after the testing.

• The Right to be Informed of Test Findings

- Test takers have a right to be informed, in language they can understand, of the nature of the
findings with respect to a test they have taken.
- They are also entitled to know what recommendations are being made as a consequence of the
test data.
- If the test results, findings, or recommendations made on the basis of test data are voided for
any reason (such as irregularities in the test administration), test takers have a right to know
that as well.

• The Right to Privacy and Confidentiality

- The concept of the privacy right “recognizes the freedom of the individual to pick and choose
for himself the time, circumstances, and particularly the extent to which he wishes to share or
withhold from others his attitudes, beliefs, behavior, and opinions”
- Confidentiality may be distinguished from privilege in that, whereas “confidentiality concerns
matters of communication outside the courtroom, privilege protects clients from disclosure in
judicial proceedings”
- Privilege in the psychologist–client relationship belongs to the client, not the psychologist.

• The Right to the Least Stigmatizing Label

- The Standards advise that the least stigmatizing labels should always be assigned when
reporting test results.
Lai Nerully O. Gaputan
BS Psycholog 4 - YC

CHAPTER 3: A STATISTICS REFRESHER

Measurement - The act of assigning numbers or symbols to characteristics of
things (people, events, whatever) according to rules (Stevens,
1946).
- The rules used in assigning numbers are guidelines for
representing the magnitude (or some other characteristic) of the
object being measured.
Scale - A set of numbers (or other symbols) whose properties model
empirical properties of the objects to which the numbers are
assigned.
Sample Space - Refers to the values of a variable that a variable can take on.
➢ For example, if you collect data on study participants’
gender, the sample space might be {male, female,
nonbinary}.
➢ The sample space for participants’ age in years might be
natural integers.
➢ The sample space for participants’ height in centimeters
might be any positive real number [0,+∞], even though
no one has a height near 0 or much higher than 200 cm.
Discrete Scale - Has a sample space that can be counted.
- In discrete variables, numbers between the sample space
members are not allowed.
➢ For example, a patient cannot have 2.5 previous
hospitalizations.
Continuous Scale - The values can be any real number in the scale’s sample space.
- Continuous scales therefore can have fractions or numbers with
as many decimals as needed.
Error - Refers to the collective influence of all of the factors on a test
score or measurement beyond those specifically measured by the
test or measurement.
- There are many different sources of error in measurement, most
of which have more to do with uncertainty of the measurement
than they do with mistakes.
Nominal Scales - The simplest form of measurement.
- These scales involve classification or categorization based on
one or more distinguishing characteristics, where all things
measured must be placed into mutually exclusive and exhaustive
categories.
Ordinal Scales - Assign people to categories.
- Unlike nominal scales, ordinal scales have categories with a
clear and uncontroversial order.
- The ordinal level of measurement is most frequently used in
psychology.
Interval Scales - Have meaningful distances between numbers.
 - Each unit on the scale is exactly equal to any other unit on the
scale. Because distance has a consistent meaning on interval
scales, it is possible to add and subtract scores, which allows for
calculating means and standard deviations.
Absolute Zero - Indicates the absence of a quantity.
Ratio Scale - Has a true zero point, which indicates the absence of the thing
being measured.
Frequency Distribution - All scores are listed alongside the number of times each score
occurred.
- A frequency distribution is referred to as a simple frequency
distribution to indicate that individual scores have been used and
the data have not been grouped.
Grouped Frequency - Frequency distribution used to summarize data.
Distribution - Replace the actual test scores.
Graph - A diagram or chart composed of lines, points, bars, or other
symbols that describe and illustrate data.
- With a good graph, the place of a single score in relation to a
distribution of test scores can be understood easily.
Histogram - A graph with vertical lines drawn at the true limits of each test
score (or class interval), forming a series of contiguous
rectangles.
- It is customary for the test scores (either the single scores or the
midpoints of the class intervals) to be placed along the graph’s
horizontal axis (also referred to as the abscissa or X-axis) and
for numbers indicative of the frequency of occurrence to be
placed along the graph’s vertical axis (also referred to as the
ordinate or Y-axis).
Bar Graph - Numbers indicative of frequency also appear on the Y-axis, and
reference to some categorization (e.g., yes/no/maybe,
male/female) appears on the X-axis.
- Here the rectangular bars typically are not contiguous.
Measure of Central - A statistic that indicates the average or midmost score between
Tendency the extreme scores in a distribution.

Arithmetic Mean (Mean) - Referred to in everyday language as the “average.”

- The mean takes into account the actual numerical value of every
score.
- Equal to the sum of the observations (or test scores, in this case)
divided by the number of observations.
Median - Defined as the middle score in a distribution, is another
commonly used measure of central tendency.
- To determine the median of a distribution of scores by ordering
the scores in a list by magnitude, in either ascending or
descending order.
➢ If the total number of scores ordered is an odd number,
then the median will be the score that is exactly in the
middle, with one-half of the remaining scores lying
above it and the other half of the remaining scores lying
below it.
 ➢ When the total number of scores ordered is an even
number, then the median can be calculated by
determining the arithmetic mean of the two middle
scores.
Mode - Is the most frequently occurring score in a distribution of scores.
Variability - An indication of how scores in a distribution are scattered or
dispersed.
Measures of Variability - Is the Statistics that describe the amount of variation in a
distribution.
- Some measures of variability include the range, the interquartile
range, the semi-interquartile range, the average deviation, the
standard deviation, and the variance.
Range - A distribution is equal to the difference between the highest and
the lowest scores.
Quartiles - The dividing points between the four quarters in the distribution.
- Quartile refers to a specific point whereas Quarter refers to an
interval.
Semi-Interquartile Range - Which is equal to the interquartile range divided by 2.
Mean Absolute Deviation - Another tool that could be used to describe the amount of
(MAD) variability in a distribution.
Standard Deviation - A measure of variability equal to the square root of the average
squared deviations about the mean.
Variance - Is equal to the arithmetic mean of the squares of the differences
between the scores in a distribution and their mean.
Skewness - An indication of how the measurements in a distribution are
distributed.
- A positive skew is when relatively few of the scores fall at the
high end of the distribution.
➢ Positively skewed examination results may indicate that
the test was too difficult.
- A negative skew when relatively few of the scores fall at the low
end of the distribution.
➢ Negatively skewed examination results may indicate
that the test was too easy.
Kurtosis - Refer to the steepness of a distribution in its center.
- Distributions are generally described as platykurtic (relatively
flat), leptokurtic (relatively peaked), or—somewhere in the
middle— mesokurtic.
- Distributions that have high kurtosis are characterized by a high
peak and “fatter” tails compared to a normal distribution.
- In contrast, lower kurtosis values indicate a distribution with a
rounded peak and thinner tails.
Normal Curve - A bell-shaped, smooth, mathematically defined curve that is
highest at its center.
- From the center it tapers on both sides approaching the X-axis
asymptotically (meaning that it approaches, but never touches,
the axis).
- A normal curve has two tails.
Standard Score - A raw score that has been converted from one scale to another
scale, where the latter scale has some arbitrarily set mean and
standard deviation.
z Scores - Results from the conversion of a raw score into a number
indicating how many standard deviation units the raw score is
below or above the mean of the distribution.
Linear Transformation - A standard score that is obtained through this is one that retains
a direct numerical relationship to the original raw score.
Nonlinear - May be required when the data under consideration are not
Transformation normally distributed yet comparisons with normal distributions
need to be made.
- In a nonlinear transformation, the resulting standard score does
not necessarily have a direct numerical relationship to the
original, raw score.
Normalizing a - Involves “stretching” the skewed curve into the shape of a
Distribution normal curve and creating a corresponding scale of standard
scores, a scale that is technically referred to as a normalized
standard score scale.
Coefficient of Correlation - A number that provides us with an index of the strength of the
(Correlation Coefficient) relationship between two things.
- Expresses a linear relationship between two (and only two)
variables, usually continuous in nature.
- An understanding of the concept of correlation and an ability to
compute a coefficient of correlation is therefore central to the
study of tests and measurement.
Correlation - An expression of the degree and direction of correspondence
between two things.
Pearson r - A statistical tool of choice when the relationship between the
variables is linear and when the two variables being correlated
are continuous (or, they can theoretically take any value).
- Takes into account the relative position of each test score or
measurement with respect to the mean of the distribution.
Spearman’s rho - Frequently used when the sample size is small (fewer than 30
pairs of measurements) and especially when both sets of
measurements are in ordinal (or rank-order) form.
Scatterplot - A simple graphing of the coordinate points for values of the X-
variable (placed along the graph’s horizontal axis) and the Y-
variable (placed along the graph’s vertical axis).
- Are useful because they provide a quick indication of the
direction and magnitude of the relationship, if any, between the
two variables.
- To distinguish positive from negative correlations, note the
direction of the curve. And to estimate the strength of magnitude
of the correlation, note the degree to which the points form a
straight line.
Curvilinearity - Refers to an “eyeball gauge” of how curved a graph is.
Outlier - An extremely atypical point located at a relatively long
distance—an outlying distance—from the rest of the coordinate
points in a scatterplot.
 - Stimulate interpreters of test data to speculate about the reason
for the atypical score.
Meta-analysis - Defined as a family of techniques used to statistically combine
information across studies to produce single estimates of the
data under study.
- A key advantage of meta-analysis over simply reporting a range
of findings is that, in meta-analysis, more weight can be given to
studies that have larger numbers of subjects.
Evidence-based Practice - Defined as professional practice that is based on clinical and
research findings.
Baslote, Gweneth Angelee G.

PSY 98 – YC

CHAPTER 4: OF TEST AND TESTING

Some Assumptions About Psychological Testing and Assessment
Assumption 1: Psychological Traits and States Exist
Trait has been described as "any distinctive, enduring
method in which distinguishes one person from
another" (Guilford, 1959, p. 6)
State a person from another, but they tend to be less
durable (Chaplin et al., 1988). Based on observing
a sample of behavior, an observer applies a trait
term and determines the strength or magnitude of
the trait they believe to be present.
Construct A psychological trait is only a construct for our
purposes—a well-informed, scientific idea created
or constructed to describe or explain behavior.
Constructs are invisible, audible, and tactile, but we
can deduce their existence from their overt
behavior.
Overt Behavior refers to an action that can be seen or the result of
an action that can be seen, including test- or
assessment-related responses.
The definitions of trait and state that we are using also include a description of how one
person differs from another. A trait's or a state term's attributes are relative
Assumption 2: Psychological Traits and • after being acknowledged that there are
States Can Be Quantified and psychological characteristics and states, it
Measured is important to define the precise
characteristics and states that will be
measured and quantified.
• Once the trait, state, or other construct to be
measured has been defined, a test
 developer takes into account the different
kinds of item content that would offer insight
into it. From a range of actions, a test
developer has a vast array of potential
items that are presumptively representative
of the targeted trait. can be written to
determine test takers' strengths in that
characteristic.
• Creating appropriate test items and
appropriate ways to score the test and
interpret the results is necessary for
measuring traits and states using a test.
There are numerous types of psychological
tests, and some of the test taker's
responses are used to calculate a score for
the exam.
Cumulative Scoring • The test score is frequently based on
cumulative scoring and is assumed to
represent the strength of the targeted ability,
trait, or state. A trait is assessed using a
variety of test items when scoring is
cumulative.
• A test "key" is used to translate each
response to a test item into a numerical
value. It is assumed that the sum of the
keyed responses somehow reflects the
magnitude of the trait.
Assumption 3: Test-Related Behavior • The test's goal is to reveal some information
Predicts Non-Test-Related Behavior about the examinee's behavior in other
areas. Patterns of responses to a
personality test, for instance, making
decisions about mental illnesses
 • Some tests use tasks that are exact replicas
of the behaviors the test user is trying to
comprehend. But by their very nature, such
tests only provide a sample of the behavior
that would be displayed in normal
circumstances. Predictions about future
behavior, such as the work performance of
a job applicant, are frequently made using
the behavior sample that has been
obtained. A few forensic In (legal) matters,
psychological tests may be used to postdict
behavior, i.e., to help understand behavior
that has already occurred, rather than to
predict it.
Assumption 4: All Tests Have Limits The codes of ethics of associations of assessment
and Imperfections professionals emphasize numerous times that test
users should be aware of the tests they use and
their limitations.
Assumption 5: Various Sources of Error • Error need not be a deviation, omission, or
Are Part of the Assessment Process other action that goes against expectations
when used in assessment contexts. On the
other hand, error is typically used to
describe something that is greater than
anticipated; it is a part of the measurement
process. Error specifically refers to the
widely held belief that variables other than
those a test attempts to measure will impact
how well you perform on the test. Test
results are frequently the subject of inquiries
regarding the degree to which includes error
in the measurement process.
• Both assesses and assessors could be
sources of error variance. Measuring tests
 could also be a source of error variance.
Some are random or just a matter of
chance.
Assumption 6: Unfair and Biased • Most controversial assumption
Assessment Procedures Can Be • Despite numerous professionals' best
Identified and Reformed efforts, fairness-related Problems and
questions do occasionally surface. The test
is one factor that can cause issues with
fairness. a user who tries to administer a
specific test to individuals whose
backgrounds and experiences differ from
those of the test's intended audience. There
may be some test fairness issues that are
more political than psychometric.
• It is crucial to remember tests are
instruments. And similarly to other, more
well-known tools, they can be used correctly
or incorrectly.
Assumption 7: Testing and Assessment We can easily understand the need for tests,
Offer Powerful Benefits to Society particularly good tests, given the numerous
important decisions that are based on testing and
assessment procedures.
What’s a “Good Test”? A good test would appear to be one that measures
the variables it claims to. Users of tests frequently
discuss the reliability and validity of the tests, which
are two important aspects of psychometric
soundness.
Reliability • The consistency of the measuring device,
the accuracy of the test, and the degree of
measurement error are all factors in the
reliability criterion. The perfectly accurate
measuring device should always produce
the same results, in theory.
 • Avoid using unreliable measurements. We
want to have some assurance that the test
or measuring device we are using is
reliable. In other words, we want to know
that when it measures the same thing under
the same conditions, it always produces the
same numerical measurement.
Validity • If a test actually measures what it claims to
measure, it is deemed valid for that
particular purpose.
• The items that make up a test as a whole
may be the subject of queries regarding its
validity.
Other Considerations • A good test is one that experienced testers
can efficiently administer, score, and
interpret. A useful test is one that provides
results that can be put into practice and
ultimately help the test-takers or society as
a whole.
• A "good test" is one that has sufficient
norms if the goal of the test is to compare
the performance of the test-taker with that
of other test-takers. Norms, also known as
normative data, offer a baseline against
which measurement results can be
compared.
Norms
norm-referenced testing and By analyzing a test taker's score and comparing it
assessment to the scores of a group of test takers, norm-
referenced testing and assessment is a technique
for evaluating test results and a way to interpret
test results.
Norms Norms are the test performance statistics of a
specific group of test takers used as a guide when
analyzing or interpreting individual test results in a
psychometric context.
normative sample The group of individuals whose performance on a
specific test is examined for reference in assessing
the performance of each test taker is known as a
normative sample.
Norming The action of deriving norms is described by the
verb norm as well as related words like norming.
Norming can be changed to refer to a specific kind
of norm derivation.
Race Norming The contentious practice of norming on the basis of
race or ethnicity is known as race norming. Some
government and private organizations once
practiced race norming, which led to the
establishment of various cutoff scores for hiring by
cultural group.
User Norms or Program Norms Norming a test, particularly when a normative
sample that represents the entire country is
involved obtaining a sample, can be an expensive
endeavor. Due to this, some test manuals outline
what alternately referred to as "user norms" or
"program norms," these norms "consist of
descriptive statistics based on a group of test-
takers in a given period of time rather than norms
obtained by formal sampling methods"
Sampling to Develop Norms
standardization or test standardization Standardization, also known as test
standardization, is the process of giving a test to a
sample of test takers who represent the general
population for the purpose of establishing norms.
Understanding sampling is essential for
understanding how norms are created.
Sampling • A test developer has chosen a specific
group as the population for which the test is
intended when creating a test. This group
represents the entire universe. or group of
people who share at least one
distinguishable trait.
 • By giving the test to a sample of the
population—a subset of the total population
considered to be representative of the entire
population—the test developer can obtain a
distribution of test responses. Although the
sample size could be as small as one
person, samples that are closer to the
population size reduce the likelihood of
error due to inadequate sample size
• the method of determining which area of the
universe is Sampling is defined as a sample
that is overall population-representative.
stratified sampling would aid in avoiding sampling bias and ultimately
support the findings' interpretation.
stratified-random sampling If such sampling was unbiased (or, If each
individual in the population had an equal chance of
being chosen for the sample), then It would be
referred to as stratified-random sampling.
Purposive sampling If we choose a sample at random because we think
it's representative of the population, then, we chose
a purposive sample. Purposive sampling is
frequently used when gauging the popularity of a
new product in a single city or market before
assuming how it would perform on a larger scale.
incidental sample or convenience • A sample that is available or convenient for
sample use is known as an incidental sample or
convenience sample. If you've ever been
included in a subject pool for an experiment
involving basic psychology, you may have
participated in incidental sampling.
students.
• Although they are the most readily
available, the students in such subject pools
aren't necessarily the best candidates for
the experiments. Use caution when
extrapolating results from incidental
samples.
Developing norms for a standardized • After obtaining a sample, the test creator
test administers the test in accordance with the
prescribed set of instructions. The creator of
the test also outlines the suggested
environment for administering the test.
• The test developer will compile descriptive
statistics, such as measures of central
 tendency and variability, after all test data
has been gathered and analyzed.
Additionally, it is the test developer's
responsibility to give a detailed explanation
of the standardization. sample on its own.
Types of Norms
Percentiles • A distribution could be split into 100 equal
parts, or percentiles. The score at or below
which x% of scores fall in this distribution is
the xth percentile. The score at or below
which 15% of the distribution's scores fall is
therefore the 15th percentile. The score at
or below which 99% of the scores in the
distribution fall is known as the 99th
percentile.
• an expression of the percentage of people
whose score on a test or measure falls
below a particular raw score.
Percentage Correct refers to the distribution of raw scores, or more
specifically, the product of the number of correctly
answered items multiplied by 100 and the number
of items overall.
Age Norms • Age norms, also referred to as age-
equivalent scores, represent the average
performance of various samples of test-
takers who were at various ages when the
test was given.
• Carefully crafted age norm tables for
physical traits like height are widely
accepted and essentially without
controversy. Regarding age norm tables for
psychological traits like intelligence,
however, this is not the case.
• Increasing sophistication about the
limitations of the mental age concept has
prompted assessment professionals to be
hesitant about describing results in terms of
mental age. The problem is that “mental
age” as a way to report test results is too
broad and too inappropriately generalized
Grade norms • Designed to indicate the average test
performance of testtakers in a given school
grade, grade norms are developed by
administering the test to representative
 samples of children over a range of
consecutive grade levels (such as first
through sixth grades).
• One drawback of grade norms is that they
are useful only with respect to years and
months of schooling completed. They have
little or no applicability to children who are
not yet in school or to children who are out
of school
Developmental norms Both grade norms and age norms are referred to
more generally as developmental norms, a term
applied broadly to norms developed on the basis of
any trait, ability, skill, or other characteristic that is
presumed to develop, deteriorate, or otherwise be
affected by chronological age, school grade, or
stage of life.
National norms are derived from a normative sample that was
nationally representative of the population at the
time the norming study was conducted. In the fields
of psychology and education, for example, national
norms may be obtained by testing large numbers of
people representative of different variables of
interest such as age, gender, racial/ethnic
background, socioeconomic strata, geographical
location (such as North, East, South, West,
Midwest), and different types of communities within
the various parts of the country (such as rural,
urban, suburban).
National anchor norms could provide the tool for such a comparison. Just
as an anchor provides some stability to a vessel, so
national anchor norms provide some stability to test
scores by anchoring them to other test scores
equipercentile method Using the equipercentile method, the equivalency
of scores on different tests is calculated with
reference to corresponding percentile scores
Subgroup norms A normative sample can be segmented by any of
the criteria initially used in selecting subjects for the
sample. What results from such segmentation are
more narrowly defined subgroup norms.
Local norms Typically developed by test users themselves, local
norms provide normative information with respect
to the local population’s performance on some test.
Fixed Reference Group Scoring Systems
fixed reference group scoring system Norms provide a context for interpreting the
meaning of a test score. Another type of aid in
providing a context for interpretation is termed a
fixed reference group scoring system. Here, the
distribution of scores obtained on the test from one
group of testtakers—referred to as the fixed
reference group— is used as the basis for the
calculation of test scores for future administrations
of the test
Norm-Referenced versus Criterion-Referenced Evaluation
criterion We may define a criterion as a standard on which a
judgment or decision may be based.
Criterion-referenced testing and may be defined as a method of evaluation and a
assessment way of deriving meaning from test scores by
evaluating an individual’s score with reference to a
set standard
domain- or content-referenced testing Criterion-referenced testing and assessment goes
and assessment by other names. Because the focus in the criterion-
referenced approach is on how scores relate to a
particular content area or domain, the approach
has also been referred to as domain- or content-
referenced testing and assessment.
Culture and Inference
Culture and Inference • Along with statistical tools designed to help
ensure that prediction and inferences from
measurement are reasonable, there are
other considerations. It is incumbent upon
responsible test users not to lose sight of
culture as a factor in test administration,
scoring, and interpretation.
• It seems appropriate to conclude a chapter
entitled “Of Tests and Testing” with the
introduction of the term culturally informed
assessment and with some guidelines for
accomplishing it
Baslote, Gweneth Angelee G.

PSY 98 – YC

CHAPTER 5: RELIABILITY
reliability coefficient a statistic that quantifies reliability, ranging from 0
(not at all reliable) to 1 (perfectly reliable)
Measurement Error
measurement error refers to the inherent uncertainty associated with
any measurement, even after care has been taken
to minimize preventable mistakes (Taylor, 1997, p.
3).
True Scores versus Construct Scores
True Scores versus Construct Scores • In general, we would like to reduce the
amount of measurement as much as
possible. Ideally, we would like to know the
true score, the measurement of a quantity if
there were no measurement error at all.
• Unfortunately, when measuring something
repeatedly, two influences interfere with
accurate measurement
• Measurement processes that alter what is
measured are termed carryover effects. In
ability tests, practice effects are carryover
effects in which the test itself provides an
opportunity to learn and practice the ability
being measured
• It is unfortunate that the true score has the
name it does. Confusingly, the true score is
not necessarily the truth. By definition, a
true score is tied to the measurement
instrument used.
 • If you are interested in the truth
independent of measurement, you are not
looking for the so-called true score, but
what psychologists call the construct score.
A construct is a theoretical variable we
believe exists, such as depression,
agreeableness, or reading ability.
• Reliable tests give scores that closely
approximate true scores. Valid tests give
scores that closely approximate construct
scores.
The Concept of Reliability
variance A statistic useful in describing sources of test score
variability is the variance (σ2 )—the standard
deviation squared. This statistic is useful because it
can be broken into components.
true variance Variance from true differences
error variance variance from irrelevant, random sources
reliability refers to the proportion of the total variance
attributed to true variance. The greater the
proportion of the total variance attributed to true
variance, the more reliable the test.
Random error consists of unpredictable fluctuations and
inconsistencies of other variables in the
measurement process. Sometimes referred to as
“noise,” this source of error fluctuates from one
testing situation to another with no discernible
pattern that would systematically raise or lower
scores.
systematic errors do not cancel each other out because they
influence test scores in a consistent direction.
Systematic errors either consistently inflate scores
or consistently deflate scores.
bias The technical term for the degree to which a
measure predictably overestimates or
underestimates a quantity.
Sources of Error Variance
Test construction
item sampling or content sampling One source of variance during test construction is
item sampling or content sampling, terms that refer
to variation among items within a test as well as to
variation among items between tests. Consider two
or more tests designed to measure a specific skill,
personality attribute, or body of knowledge.
Test administration • sources of error variance that occur during
test administration may influence the
testtaker’s attention or motivation. The
testtaker’s reactions to those influences are
the source of one kind of error variance.
• Other potential sources of error variance
during test administration are testtaker
variables. Pressing emotional problems,
physical discomfort, lack of sleep, and the
effects of drugs or medication can all be
sources of error variance. Formal learning
experiences, casual life experiences,
therapy, illness, and changes in mood or
mental state are other potential sources of
testtaker-related error variance.
• Examiner-related variables are potential
sources of error variance. The examiner’s
physical appearance and demeanor—even
the presence or absence of an examiner—
are some factors for consideration here.
Test scoring and interpretation • In many tests, the advent of computer
scoring and a growing reliance on objective,
 computer-scorable items have virtually
eliminated error variance caused by scorer
differences.
• Manuals for individual intelligence tests tend
to be explicit about scoring criteria, lest
examinees’ measured intelligence vary as a
function of who is doing the testing and
scoring. In some tests of personality,
examinees are asked to supply open-ended
responses to stimuli such as pictures,
words, sentences, and inkblots, and it is the
examiner who must then quantify or
qualitatively evaluate responses.
• Scorers and scoring systems are potential
sources of error variance. A test may
employ objective-type items amenable to
computer scoring of well-documented
reliability
Other sources of error • Surveys and polls are two tools of
assessment commonly used by researchers
who study public opinion. In the political
arena, for example, researchers trying to
predict who will win an election may sample
opinions from representative voters and
then draw conclusions based on their data.
• Certain types of assessment situations lend
themselves to particular varieties of
systematic and nonsystematic error.
Reliability Estimates
Test-Retest Reliability Estimates In psychometric parlance, this approach to
reliability evaluation is called the test-retest
method, and the result of such an evaluation is an
estimate of test-retest reliability
Test-retest reliability an estimate of reliability obtained by correlating
pairs of scores from the same people on two
 different administrations of the same test. The test-
retest measure is appropriate when evaluating the
reliability of a test that purports to measure
something that is relatively stable over time, such
as a personality trait.
coefficient of stability When the interval between testing is greater than
six months, the estimate of test-retest reliability
Parallel-Forms and Alternate-Forms Reliability Estimates
coefficient of equivalence The degree of the relationship between various
forms of a test can be evaluated by means of an
alternate-forms or parallel-forms coefficient of
reliability
Parallel forms exist when, for each form of the test, the means
and the variances of observed test scores are
equal. In theory, the means of scores obtained on
parallel forms correlate equally with the true score
parallel forms reliability refers to an estimate of the extent to which item
sampling and other errors have affected test scores
on versions of the same test when, for each form of
the test, the means and variances of observed test
scores are equal.
Alternate forms simply different versions of a test that have been
constructed so as to be parallel. Although they do
not meet the requirements for the legitimate
designation “parallel,” alternate forms of a test are
typically designed to be equivalent with respect to
variables such as content and level of difficulty
alternate forms reliability refers to an estimate of the extent to which these
different forms of the same test have been affected
by item sampling error, or other error. Estimating
alternate forms reliability is straightforward:
Calculate the correlation between scores from a
representative sample of individuals who have
taken both tests
internal consistency estimate of An estimate of the reliability of a test can be
reliability or as an estimate of inter-item obtained without developing an alternate form of
consistency the test and without having to administer the test
twice to the same people. Deriving this type of
estimate entails an evaluation of the internal
consistency of the test items.
Split-Half Reliability Estimates
split-half reliability obtained by correlating two pairs of scores obtained
from equivalent halves of a single test administered
once. It is a useful measure of reliability when it is
 impractical or undesirable to assess reliability with
two tests or to administer a test twice (because of
factors such as time or expense)
odd-even reliability Another acceptable way to split a test is to assign
odd-numbered items to one half of the test and
even-numbered items to the other half. This
method yields an estimate of split-half reliability
Spearman–Brown formula • allows a test developer or user to estimate
internal consistency reliability from a
correlation between two halves of a test.
The coefficient was discovered
independently and published in the same
year by Spearman (1910) and Brown
(1910).
• By determining the reliability of one half of a
test, a test developer can use the
Spearman– Brown formula to estimate the
reliability of a whole test
• Usually, but not always, reliability increases
as test length increases. Ideally, the
additional test items are equivalent with
respect to the content and the range of
difficulty of the original items.
• If test developers or users wish to shorten a
test, the Spearman–Brown formula may be
used to estimate the effect of the shortening
on the test’s reliability.
• A Spearman–Brown formula could also be
used to determine the number of items
needed to attain a desired level of reliability.
• Internal consistency estimates of reliability,
such as that obtained by use of the
Spearman– Brown formula, are
inappropriate for measuring the reliability of
heterogeneous tests and speed tests
Other Methods of Estimating Internal Consistency
Inter-item consistency refers to the degree of correlation among all the
items on a scale. A measure of inter-item
consistency is calculated from a single
administration of a single form of a test.
Coefficient alpha • may be thought of as the mean of all
possible split-half correlations, corrected by
the Spearman–Brown formula.
 • Unlike a Pearson r, which may range in
value from −1 to +1, coefficient alpha
typically ranges in value from 0 to 1. The
reason for this range is that, conceptually,
coefficient alpha (much like other
coefficients of reliability) is calculated to
help answer questions about how similar
sets of data are. Here, similarity is gauged,
in essence, on a scale from 0 (absolutely no
similarity) to 1 (perfectly identical).
• Cronbach’s alpha is the most frequently
used measure of internal consistency, but
has several well-known limitations. It
accurately measures internal consistency
under highly specific conditions that are
rarely met in real measures.
• Many statisticians use a measure of
reliability called McDonald’s (1978) omega.
It accurately estimates internal consistency
even when the test loadings are unequal.
Measures of Inter-Scorer Reliability
inter-scorer reliability the degree of agreement or consistency between
two or more scorers (or judges or raters) with
regard to a particular measure. Reference to levels
of inter-scorer reliability for a particular test may be
published in the test’s manual or elsewhere
coefficient of inter-scorer reliability simplest way of determining the degree of
consistency among scorers in the scoring of a test
is to calculate a coefficient of correlation
Using and Interpreting a Coefficient of Reliability
The Purpose of the Reliability • If a specific test of employee performance is
Coefficient designed for use at various times over the
course of the employment period, it would
be reasonable to expect the test to
demonstrate reliability across time. It would
thus be desirable to have an estimate of the
instrument’s test-retest reliability
• Note that the various reliability coefficients
do not all reflect the same sources of error
variance.
The Nature of the Test
The Nature of the Test • Closely related to considerations
concerning the purpose and use of a
 reliability coefficient are those concerning
the nature of the test itself.
• Some tests present special problems
regarding the measurement of their
reliability.
Homogeneity versus heterogeneity of if it is functionally uniform throughout. Tests
test items designed to measure one factor, such as one ability
or one trait, are expected to be homogeneous in
items.
Dynamic versus static characteristics is a trait, state, or ability presumed to be ever-
changing as a function of situational and cognitive
experiences
Restriction or inflation of range • In using and interpreting a coefficient of
reliability, the issue variously referred to as
restriction of range or restriction of variance
(or, conversely, inflation of range or inflation
of variance) is important. If the variance of
either variable in a correlational analysis is
restricted by the sampling procedure used,
then the resulting correlation coefficient
tends to be lower. If the variance of either
variable in a correlational analysis is inflated
by the sampling procedure, then the
resulting correlation coefficient tends to be
higher.
• Also of critical importance is whether the
range of variances employed is appropriate
to the objective of the correlational analysis
power tests When a time limit is long enough to allow testtakers
to attempt all items, and if some items are so
difficult that no testtaker is able to obtain a perfect
score, then the test is a power test.
speed test a speed test generally contains items of uniform
level of difficulty (typically uniformly low) so that,
when given generous time limits, all testtakers
should be able to complete all the test items
correctly
Criterion-referenced tests • A criterion-referenced test is designed to
provide an indication of where a testtaker
stands with respect to some variable or
criterion, such as an educational or a
vocational objective. Unlike norm-
referenced tests, criterion-referenced tests
 tend to contain material that has been
mastered in hierarchical fashion.
• Traditional techniques of estimating
reliability employ measures that take into
account scores on the entire test.
• A measure of reliability, therefore, depends
on the variability of the test scores: how
different the scores are from one another. In
criterion-referenced testing, and particularly
in mastery testing, how different the scores
are from one another is seldom a focus of
interest.
• As individual differences (and the variability)
decrease, a traditional measure of reliability
would also decrease, regardless of the
stability of individual performance.
Therefore, traditional ways of estimating
reliability are not always appropriate for
criterion-referenced tests, though there may
be instances in which traditional estimates
can be adopted.
The True Score Model of Measurement and Alternatives to It
classical test theory (CTT) most widely used and accepted model in the
psychometric literature today—rumors of its demise
have been greatly exaggerated (Zickar &
Broadfoot, 2009). One of the reasons it has
remained the most widely used model has to do
with its simplicity, especially when one considers
the complexity of other proposed models of
measurement
true score exactly how to define this elusive true score has
been a matter of sometimes contentious debate.
For our purposes, we will define true score as a
value that according to CTT genuinely reflects an
individual’s ability (or trait) level as measured by a
particular test
domain sampling theory seek to estimate the extent to which specific
sources of variation under defined conditions are
contributing to the test score. In domain sampling
theory, a test’s reliability is conceived of as an
objective measure of how precisely the test score
assesses the domain from which the test draws a
sample (Thorndike, 1985)
generalizability theory a “universe score” replaces that of a “true score”
(Shavelson et al., 1989). based on the idea that a
person’s test scores vary from testing to testing
because of variables in the testing situation
universe Instead of conceiving of all variability in a person’s
scores as error, Cronbach encouraged test
developers and researchers to describe the details
of the particular test situation or universe leading to
a specific test score
facets This universe is described in terms of its facets,
which include considerations such as the number
of items in the test, the amount of training the test
scorers have had, and the purpose of the test
administration
universe score According to generalizability theory, given the exact
same conditions of all the facets in the universe,
the exact same test score should be obtained. This
test score is the universe score, and it is, as
Cronbach noted, analogous to a true score in the
true score model
generalizability study examines how generalizable scores from a
particular test are if the test is administered in
different situations.
coefficients of generalizability The influence of particular facets on the test score
is represented by coefficients of generalizability.
These coefficients are similar to reliability
coefficients in the true score model.
decision study developers examine the usefulness of test scores
in helping the test user make decisions.
latent-trait theory • Another alternative to the true score model.
• The procedures of IRT provide a way to
model the probability that a person with X
ability will be able to perform at a level of Y.
Stated in terms of personality assessment,
it models the probability that a person with
X amount of a particular personality trait will
exhibit Y amount of that trait on a
personality test designed to measure it.
discrimination In the context of IRT, discrimination signifies the
degree to which an item differentiates among
people with higher or lower levels of the trait, ability,
or whatever it is that is being measured.
dichotomous test items test items or questions that can be answered with
only one of two alternative responses, such as
true–false, yes–no, or correct–incorrect questions
polytomous test items test items or questions with three or more
alternative responses, where only one is scored
correct or scored as being consistent with a
targeted trait or other construct
Rasch model A shorthand reference to these types of models is
“Rasch,” so reference to the Rasch model is a
reference to an IRT model with specific
assumptions about the underlying distribution.
The Standard Error of Measurement
standard error of measurement the tool used to estimate or infer the extent to
which an observed score deviates from a true
score. We may define the standard error of
measurement as the standard deviation of a
theoretically normal distribution of test scores
obtained by one person on equivalent tests
standard error of a score the standard error of measurement is an index of
the extent to which one individual’s scores vary
over tests presumed to be parallel.
confidence interval error of measurement is useful in establishing what
is called a confidence interval: a range or band of
test scores that is likely to contain the true score
The Standard Error of the Difference Between Two Scores
The Standard Error of the Difference • Error related to any of the number of
Between Two Scores possible variables operative in a testing
situation can contribute to a change in a
score achieved on the same test, or a
parallel test, from one administration of the
test to the next
• True differences in the characteristic being
measured can also affect test scores.
These differences may be of great interest,
as in the case of a personnel officer who
must decide which of many applicants to
hire.
• when comparing scores achieved on the
different tests, it is essential that the scores
be converted to the same scale
• The standard error of the difference
between two scores will be larger than the
standard error of measurement for either
 score alone because the former is affected
by measurement error in both scores
• The value obtained by calculating the
standard error of the difference is used in
much the same way as the standard error of
the mean.
Baslote, Gweneth Angelee G.

PSY 98 – YC

CHAPTER 6: VALIDITY
The Concept of Validity
Validity as applied to a test, is a judgment or estimate of
how well a test measures what it purports to
measure in a particular context. More specifically, it
is a judgment based on evidence about the
appropriateness of inferences drawn from test
scores.
inference a logical result or deduction. Characterizations of
the validity of tests and test scores are frequently
phrased in terms such as “acceptable” or “weak.”
Validation the process of gathering and evaluating evidence
about validity. Both the test developer and the test
user may play a role in the validation of a test for a
specific purpose. It is the test developer’s
responsibility to supply validity evidence in the test
manual.
validation studies yield insights regarding a particular population of
(Local validation studies) testtakers as compared to the norming sample
described in a test manual. absolutely necessary
when the test user plans to alter in some way the
format, instructions, language, or content of the
test.
ecological validity refers to a judgment regarding how well a test
measures what it purports to measure at the time
and place that the variable being measured
(typically a behavior, cognition, or emotion) is
actually emitted. In essence, the greater the
ecological validity of a test or other measurement
 procedure, the greater the generalizability of the
measurement results to particular real-life
circumstances
Face Validity
Face Validity • relates more to what a test appears to
measure to the person being tested than to
what the test actually measures. Face
validity is a judgment concerning how
relevant the test items appear to be.
• judgments about face validity are frequently
thought of from the perspective of the
testtaker, not the test user. A test’s lack of
face validity could contribute to a lack of
confidence in the perceived effectiveness of
the test—with a consequential decrease in
the testtaker’s cooperation or motivation to
do their best. In a corporate environment,
lack of face validity may lead to
unwillingness of administrators or managers
to “buy-in” to the use of a particular test.
• a test that lacks face validity may still be
relevant and useful, provided that there is
strong evidence that the test is valid despite
its lack of face validity. However, if the test
is not perceived as relevant and useful by
testtakers, parents, legislators, and others,
then negative consequences may result
Content Validity
Content Validity • describes a judgment of how adequately a
test samples behavior representative of the
universe of behavior that the test was
designed to sample.
 • In the interest of ensuring content validity,
test developers strive to include key
components of the construct targeted for
measurement, and exclude content
irrelevant to the construct targeted for
measurement.
test blueprint a plan regarding the types of information to be
covered by the items, the number of items tapping
each area of coverage, the organization of the
items in the test, and so forth
Culture and the relativity of content • A history test considered valid in one
validity classroom, at one time, and in one place
will not necessarily be considered so in
another classroom, at another time, and in
another place.
• Politics is another factor that may well play
a part in perceptions and judgments
concerning the validity of tests and test
items. In many countries throughout the
world, a response that is keyed incorrect to
a particular test item can lead to
consequences far more dire than a
deduction in points towards the total test
score
Criterion-Related Validity
Criterion-Related Validity a judgment of how adequately a test score can be
used to infer an individual’s most probable standing
on some measure of interest—the measure of
interest being the criterion.
Concurrent validity an index of the degree to which a test score is
related to some criterion measure obtained at the
same time (concurrently)
Predictive validity an index of the degree to which a test score
predicts some criterion measure.
What Is a Criterion?
criterion the standard against which a test or a test score is
evaluated
Characteristics of a criterion • An adequate criterion is relevant, which
mean that it is pertinent or applicable to the
matter at hand.
• An adequate criterion measure must also
be valid for the purpose for which it is being
used.
Criterion contamination • the term applied to a criterion measure that
has been based, at least in part, on
predictor measures.
• When criterion contamination does occur,
the results of the validation study cannot be
taken seriously. There are no methods or
statistics to gauge the extent to which
criterion contamination has taken place, and
there are no methods or statistics to correct
for such contamination
Concurrent Validity
Concurrent Validity • If test scores are obtained at about the
same time as the criterion measures are
obtained, measures of the relationship
between the test scores and the criterion
provide evidence of concurrent validity.
Statements of concurrent validity indicate
the extent to which test scores may be used
to estimate an individual’s present standing
on a criterion.
• Sometimes the concurrent validity of a
particular test (let’s call it Test A) is explored
with respect to another test (we’ll call Test
B)
Predictive Validity
Predictive Validity Measures of the relationship between the test
scores and a criterion measure obtained at a future
time provide an indication of the predictive validity
 of the test; that is, how accurately scores on the
test predict some criterion measure.
base rate the extent to which a particular trait, behavior,
characteristic, or attribute exists in the population
(expressed as a proportion)
hit rate may be defined as the proportion of people a test
accurately identifies as possessing or exhibiting a
particular trait, behavior, characteristic, or attribute
miss rate may be defined as the proportion of people the test
fails to identify as having, or not having, a particular
characteristic or attribute. Here, a miss amounts to
an inaccurate prediction
false positive is a miss wherein the test predicted that the
testtaker did possess the particular characteristic or
attribute being measured when in fact the testtaker
did not.
false negative is a miss wherein the test predicted that the
testtaker did not possess the particular
characteristic or attribute being measured when the
testtaker actually did.
validity coefficient • a correlation coefficient that provides a
measure of the relationship between test
scores and scores on the criterion measure
• The correlation coefficient computed from a
score (or classification) on a
psychodiagnostic test and the criterion
score (or classification) assigned by
psychodiagnosticians is one example of a
validity coefficient.
• Like the reliability coefficient and other
correlational measures, the validity
coefficient is affected by restriction or
inflation of range.
• The problem of restricted range can also
occur through a self-selection process in the
sample employed for the validation study
• , it is the responsibility of test users to read
carefully the description of the validation
study and then to evaluate the suitability of
the test for their specific purposes
• There are no rules for determining the
minimum acceptable size of a validity
coefficient. In fact, Cronbach and Gleser
 (1965) cautioned against the establishment
of such rules.
Incremental validity • defined here as the degree to which an
additional predictor explains something
about the criterion measure that is not
explained by predictors already in use.
• A quantitative estimate of incremental
validity can be obtained using a statistical
procedure called hierarchical regression.
• Incremental validity may be used when
predicting something like academic success
in college. Grade point average (GPA) at
the end of the first year may be used as a
measure of academic success.
Construct validity
Construct validity a judgment about the appropriateness of inferences
drawn from test scores regarding individual
standings on a variable called a construct
construct • an informed, scientific idea developed or
hypothesized to describe or explain
behavior
• are unobservable, presupposed
(underlying) traits that a test developer may
invoke to describe test behavior or criterion
performance.
Evidence of Construct Validity
homogeneity • refers to how uniform a test is in measuring
a single concept. A test developer can
increase test homogeneity in several ways.
• One way a test developer can improve the
homogeneity of a test containing items that
are scored dichotomously (such as a true–
false test) is by eliminating items that do not
show significant correlation coefficients with
total test scores.
• The homogeneity of a test in which items
are scored on a multipoint scale can also be
improved.
• Item-analysis procedures have also been
employed in the quest for test homogeneity.
One item-analysis procedure focuses on the
relationship between testtakers’ scores on
 individual items and their score on the entire
test
• Although test homogeneity is desirable
because it assures us that all the items on
the test tend to be measuring the same
thing, it is not the be-all and end-all of
construct validity
Evidence of changes with age • If a test score purports to be a measure of a
construct that could be expected to change
over time, then the test score, too, should
show the same progressive changes with
age to be considered a valid measure of the
construct.
• Some constructs lend themselves more
readily than others to predictions of change
over time.
Evidence of pretest–posttest changes Evidence that test scores change as a result of
some experience between a pretest and a posttest
can be evidence of construct validity
Evidence from distinct groups • one way of providing evidence for the
(method of contrasted groups) validity of a test is to demonstrate that
scores on the test vary in a predictable way
as a function of membership in some group.
The rationale here is that if a test is a valid
measure of a particular construct, then test
scores from groups of people who would be
presumed to differ with respect to that
construct should have correspondingly
different test scores
• Similar studies are regularly conducted on
commercially available assessment
measures showing that people with
particular diagnoses score differently on
relevant measures.
Convergent evidence • if scores on the test undergoing construct
validation tend to correlate highly in the
predicted direction with scores on older,
more established, and already validated
tests designed to measure the same (or a
similar) construct.
• Convergent evidence for validity may come
not only from correlations with tests
purporting to measure an identical construct
 but also from correlations with measures
purporting to measure related constructs
discriminant evidence A validity coefficient showing little (a statistically
insignificant) relationship between test scores
and/or other variables with which scores on the test
being construct-validated should not theoretically
be correlated provides discriminant evidence of
construct validity (also known as discriminant
validity)
multitrait-multimethod matrix the matrix or table that results from correlating
variables (traits) within and between methods.
Convergent validity the correlation between measures of the same trait
but different methods.
discriminant validity The correlations of different traits via different
methods are near zero, indicating discriminant
validity
method variance Correlations of different traits via the same method
represent method variance, the similarity in scores
due to the use of the same method.
Factor analysis a shorthand term for a class of mathematical
procedures designed to identify factors or specific
variables that are typically attributes,
characteristics, or dimensions on which people may
differ.
Exploratory factor analysis typically entails “estimating, or extracting factors;
deciding how many factors to retain; and rotating
factors to an interpretable orientation”
confirmatory factor analysis researchers test the degree to which a hypothetical
model (which includes factors) fits the actual data
factor loading A term commonly employed in factor analysis is
factor loading, which is “a sort of metaphor. Each
test is thought of as a vehicle carrying a certain
amount of one or more abilities”
Validity, Bias, and Fairness
Test Bias • For psychometricians, bias is a factor
inherent in a test that systematically
prevents accurate, impartial measurement
• When group differences in test scores are
observed it is possible that they differ on the
construct the test measures. It is also
possible that the group differences are
caused, at least in part, by biased
measurement
 • intercept bias occurs when the use of a
predictor results in consistent
underprediction or overprediction of a
specific group’s performance or outcomes.
• Slope bias occurs when a predictor has a
weaker correlation with an outcome for
specific groups.
rating a numerical or verbal judgment (or both) that
places a person or an attribute along a continuum
identified by a scale of numerical or word
descriptors known as a rating scale.
rating error a judgment resulting from the intentional or
unintentional misuse of a rating scale
leniency error also known as a generosity error) is, as its name
implies, an error in rating that arises from the
tendency on the part of the rater to be lenient in
scoring, marking, and/or grading
severity error Movie critics who pan just about everything they
review may be guilty of severity errors.
central tendency error Here the rater, for whatever reason, exhibits a
general and systematic reluctance to giving ratings
at either the positive or the negative extreme.
Consequently, all of this rater’s ratings would tend
to cluster in the middle of the rating continuum.
rankings a procedure that requires the rater to measure
individuals against one another instead of against
an absolute scale
Halo effect describes the fact that, for some raters, some
ratees can do no wrong. More specifically, a halo
effect may also be defined as a tendency to give a
particular ratee a higher rating than the ratee
objectively deserves because of the rater’s failure
to discriminate among conceptually distinct and
potentially independent aspects of a ratee’s
behavior.
Test Fairness
fairness • a psychometric context as the extent to
which a test is used in an impartial, just,
and equitable way.
• Some uses of tests are patently unfair in
the judgment of any reasonable person
• Fairness as applied to tests is a difficult
and complicated subject.
• We would all like to believe that people are
equal in every way and that all people are
capable of rising to the same heights given
equal opportunity
• Another misunderstanding of what
constitutes an unfair or biased test is that it
is unfair to administer to a particular
population a standardized test that did not
include members of that population in the
standardization sample.
• A final source of misunderstanding is the
complex problem of remedying situations
where bias or unfair test usage has been
found to occur.
• If performance differences are found
between identified groups of people on a
valid and reliable test used for selection
purposes, some hard questions may have
to be dealt with if the test is to continue to
be used.
• Our discussion of issues of test fairness
and test bias may seem to have brought us
far afield of the seemingly cut-and-dried,
relatively nonemotional subject of test
validity
ELLIOT, RASHIDA J.
PSY 98 - YC

CHAPTER 7: UTILITY

Test utility The usefulness or practical value of testing to improve

efficiency.

Utility Used to refer to the usefulness or practical value of a

training program or intervention.

Factors That Affect a Test’s Utility

Psychometric soundness The reliability and validity of a test. A test is said to be

psychometrically sound for a particular purpose if reliability
and validity coefficients are acceptably high.

How can an index of utility An index of reliability can tell us something about how
be distinguished from an consistently a test measures what it measures;
index of reliability or validity?
Index of validity can tell us something about whether a test
measures what it purports to measure.

Cost The meaning of “cost” as applied to test utility can extend

far beyond dollars and cents. Briefly, cost in the context of
test utility refers to disadvantages, losses, or expenses in
both economic and noneconomic terms.

Costs can be interpreted in the traditional, economic sense;

that is, relating to expenditures associated with testing or
not testing. If testing is to be conducted, then it may be
necessary to allocate funds to purchase (1) a particular test,
(2) a supply of blank test protocols, and (3) computerized
test processing, scoring, and interpretation from the test
publisher or some independent service.

Benefit Refers to profits, gains, or advantages. We can view

benefits in both economic and noneconomic terms

Utility Analysis

A utility analysis may be broadly defined as a family of techniques that entail a cost–benefit
analysis designed to yield information relevant to a decision about the usefulness and/or
practical value of a tool of assessment.

Utility analysis is not one specific technique used for one specific objective.
Rather, utility analysis is an umbrella term covering various possible methods, each
requiring various kinds of data to be inputted and yielding various kinds of output.

How is a Utility Analysis The specific objective of a utility analysis will dictate what
Conducted? sort of information will be required as well as the specific
methods to be used.

Expectancy Data An expectancy table can provide an indication of the

 likelihood that a test taker will score within some interval of
scores on a criterion measure—an interval that may be
categorized as “passing,” “acceptable,” or “failing.”

Top-down Selection Is a process of awarding available positions to applicants

whereby the highest scorer is awarded the first position, the
next highest scorer, the next position, and so forth until all
positions are filled.

Selection Ratio Is a numerical value that reflects the relationship between

the number of people to be hired and the number of people
available to be hired.

Taylor-Russell tables Provide an estimate of the extent to which inclusion of a

particular test in the selection system will improve selection.
More specifically, the tables provide an estimate of the
percentage of employees hired by the use of a particular
test who will be successful at their jobs, given different
combinations of three variables: the test’s validity, the
selection ratio used, and the base rate.

Naylor-Shine tables Entails obtaining the difference between the means of the
selected and unselected groups to derive an index of what
the test (or some other tool of assessment) is adding to
already established procedures.

Brogden-Cronbach-Gleser Used to calculate the dollar amount of a utility gain resulting

formula from the use of a particular selection instrument under
specified conditions.

Utility Gain Refers to an estimate of the benefit (monetary or otherwise)

of using a particular test or selection method.

Productivity Gain Refers to an estimated increase in work output.

Decision theory and test utility

Most oft-cited application of statistical decision

theory to the field of psychological testing is Cronbach and Gleser’s Psychological Tests
and Personnel Decisions

Relative cut score May be defined as a reference point—in a distribution of

test scores used to divide a set of data into two or more
classifications— that is set based on norm-related
considerations rather than on the relationship of test scores
to a criterion. Because this type of cut score is set with
reference to the performance of a group (or some target
segment of a group), it is also referred to as a
norm-referenced cut score.

Fixed cut score a.k.a A reference point—in a distribution of test scores used to
absolute cut scores divide a set of data into two or more classifications—that is
typically set with reference to a judgment concerning a
minimum level of proficiency required to be included in a
particular classification.
Multiple cut scores The use of two or more cut scores with reference to one
predictor for the purpose of categorizing test takers. So, for
example, your instructor may have multiple cut scores in
place every time an examination is administered, and each
class member will be assigned to one category (e.g., A, B,
C, D, or F) on the basis of scores on that examination

Compensatory Model of An assumption is made that high scores on one attribute

Selection can, in fact, “balance out” or compensate for low scores on
another attribute. According to this model, a person strong
in some areas and weak in others can perform as
successfully in a position as a person with

Multiple Regression The statistical tool that is ideally suited for making such
selection decisions within the framework of a compensatory
model.

Methods for Setting Cut Scores applied to a wide array of tests may be used
Scores (usually in combination with other tools of measurement) to
make various “high-stakes” (read “life-changing”) decisions,
a partial listing of which would include:

● who gets into what college, graduate school, or

professional school;
● who is certified or licensed to practice a particular
occupation or profession;
● who is accepted for employment, promoted, or
moved to some desirable position in a business or
other organization;
● who will advance to the next stage in evaluation of
knowledge or skills;
● who is legally able to drive an automobile;
● who is legally competent to stand trial;
● who is legally competent to make a last will;
● who is considered to be legally intoxicated;
● who is not guilty by reason of insanity;
● which foreign national will earn American citizenship

Angoff method Setting fixed cut scores can be applied to personnel

selection tasks as well as to questions regarding the
presence or absence of a particular trait, attribute, or ability.

Known groups method Also referred to as the method of contrasting groups. It

entails collection of data on the predictor of interest from
groups known to possess, and not to possess, a trait,
attribute, or ability of interest.

IRT-Based Methods

The IRT framework, each item is associated with a particular level of difficulty. In order to
“pass” the test, the test taker must answer items that are deemed to be above some
minimum level of difficulty, which is determined by experts and serves as the cut score.

Item-mapping method Technique that has found application in setting cut scores
 for licensing examinations. It entails the arrangement of
items in a histogram, with each column in the histogram
containing items deemed to be of equivalent value.

Bookmark method An IRT-based method of setting cut scores that is more

typically used in academic applications. Use of this method
begins with the training of experts with regard to the
minimal knowledge, skills, and/or abilities that test takers
should possess in order to “pass.” Subsequent to this
training, the experts are given a book of items, with one
item printed per page, such that items are arranged in an
ascending order of difficulty.

Method of predictive yield A technique for setting cut scores which took into account
the number of positions to be filled, projections regarding
the likelihood of offer acceptance, and the distribution of
applicant scores.

Discriminant analysis These techniques are typically used to shed light on the
relationship between identified variables (such as scores on
a battery of tests) and two (and in some cases more)
naturally occurring groups (such as persons judged to be
successful at a job and persons judged to be unsuccessful
at a job).
ELLIOT, RASHIDA J
PSY 98 - YC

CHAPTER 8: TEST DEVELOPMENT

Test development Is an umbrella term for all that goes into the process of
creating a test

The process of developing a test occurs in five stages:

1. test conceptualization
2. test construction
3. test tryout
4. item analysis
5. test revision

Test construction A stage in the process of test development that entails

writing test items (or rewriting or revising existing items),
as well as formatting items, setting scoring rules, and
otherwise designing and building a test.

Test tryout Once a preliminary form of the test has been developed, it
is administered to a representative sample of test takers
under conditions that simulate the conditions under which
the final version of the test will be administered.

Item analysis The data from the tryout will be collected and test takers'
performance on the test as a whole and on each item will
be analyzed. Statistical procedures are employed to assist
in making judgments about which items are good as they
are, which items need to be revised, and which items
should be discarded. The analysis of the test’s items may
include analyses of item reliability, item validity, and item
discrimination.

Test revision Refers to action taken to modify a test’s content or format

for the purpose of improving the test’s effectiveness as a
tool of measurement.

Pilot work Refers to the preliminary research surrounding the

creation of a prototype of the test. Test items may be pilot
studied (or piloted) to evaluate whether they should be
included in the final form of the instrument.

Pilot work is a necessity when constructing tests or other

measuring instruments for publication and wide
distribution.

Test construction

Scaling Defined as the process of setting rules for assigning

numbers in measurement.

Types of Scale
 ● Age-based scale - the test taker's test performance as a function of age is of
critical interest

● Grade-based scale - test takers test performance as a function of grade is of

critical interest

● Stanine scale - If all raw scores on the test are to be transformed into scores that
can range from 1 to 9

Scaling methods

● A testtaker is presumed to have more or less of the characteristic measured by a

(valid) test as a function of the test score. The higher or lower the score, the more
or less of the characteristic the testtaker presumably possesses.

Rating scales Can be used to record judgments of oneself, others,

experiences, or objects, and they can take several forms

Summative scale Final test score is obtained by summing the ratings across
all the items,

Likert scale Is used extensively in psychology, usually to scale

attitudes. Likert scales are relatively easy to construct.
Each item presents the testtaker with five alternative
responses (sometimes seven), usually on an
agree–disagree or approve–disapprove continuum.

Unidimensional Only one dimension is presumed to underlie the ratings.

Multidimensional More than one dimension is thought to guide the test

taker's responses.

Method of paired Scaling method that produces ordinal data. Test Takers
comparisons are presented with pairs of stimuli (two photographs, two
objects, two statements), which they are asked to
compare.

Comparative scales Entails judgments of a stimulus in comparison with every

other stimulus on the scale.

Categorical scaling Scaling system that relies on sorting. Stimuli are placed
into one of two or more alternative categories that differ
quantitatively with respect to some continuum.

Guttman scale Scaling method that yields ordinal-level measures. Items

on it range sequentially from weaker to stronger
expressions of the attitude, belief, or feeling being
measured.

Scalogram analysis An item-analysis procedure and approach to test

development that involves a graphic mapping of a
testtaker’s responses.

Item pool Is the reservoir or well from which items will or will not be
drawn for the final version of the test.
Item format Variables such as the form, plan, structure, arrangement,
and layout of individual test items.

Selected-response format Require test takers to select a response from a set of

alternative responses.

Three types of selected-response item formats are:

● Multiple-choice
● Matching
● True–false

An item written in a multiple-choice format has three

elements: (1) a stem, (2) a correct alternative or option,
and (3) several incorrect alternatives or options variously
referred to as distractors or foils.

Constructed-response format Require test takers to supply or to create the correct

answer, not merely to select it.

Matching item The test taker is presented with two columns: premises on
the left and responses on the right. The test taker's task is
to determine which response is best associated
with which premise.

Binary choice item A multiple-choice item that contains only two possible
responses

True-false item The most familiar binary-choice item. This type of

selected-response item usually takes the form of a
sentence that requires the test taker to indicate whether
the statement is or is not a fact.

Completion item Requires the examinee to provide a word or phrase that

completes a sentence.

A completion item may also be referred to as a

short-answer item. It is desirable for completion or
short-answer items to be written clearly enough that the
test taker can respond succinctly—that is, with a short
answer.

Essay item As a test item that requires the test taker to respond to a
question by writing a composition, typically one that
demonstrates recall of facts, understanding, analysis,
and/or interpretation.

Item branching Ability to individualize testing through a technique. The

ability of the computer to tailor the content and order
of presentation of test items on the basis of responses to
previous items.

Item bank Ability to store items. Is a relatively large and easily

accessible collection of test questions.
Computerized adaptive Refers to an interactive, computer-
testing (CAT) administered test-taking process wherein items presented
to the test taker are based in part on the test taker’s
performance on previous items.

Floor effect Refers to the diminished utility of an assessment tool for

distinguishing test takers at the low end of the ability, trait,
or other attribute being measured.

Ceiling effect Refers to the diminished utility of an assessment tool for

distinguishing test takers at the high end of the ability,
trait, or other attribute being measured.

Class scoring Also referred to as category scoring. Test taker responses

earn credit toward placement in a particular class or
category with other test takers whose pattern of
responses is presumably similar in some way.

Ipsative scoring A third scoring model departs radically in rationale from

either cumulative or class models. A typical objective in
ipsative scoring is comparing a testtaker’s score on one
scale within a test to another scale within that same test.

Pseudobulbar affect (PBA) A neurological disorder characterized by frequent and

involuntary outbursts of laughing or crying that may or
may not be appropriate to the situation.

Item analysis The different types of statistical scrutiny that the test data
can potentially undergo at this point.

Item reliability index Provides an indication of the internal consistency of a test;

the higher this index, the greater the test’s internal
consistency.

Factor analysis A statistical tool useful in determining whether items on a

test appear to be measuring the same thing(s).

Item validity index Is a statistic designed to provide an indication of the

degree to which a test is measuring what it purports to
measure.

Item discrimination index Is symbolized by a lowercase italic “d” (d). This estimate
of item discrimination, in essence, compares performance
on a particular item with performance in the upper and
lower regions of a distribution of continuous test scores.

Item characteristic curve Is a graphic representation of item difficulty and

discrimination.

Item fairness Refers to the degree, if any, a test item is biased.

Biased test item Is an item that favors one particular group of examinees in
relation to another when differences in group ability are
controlled.
 The calculation of item-validity, item-reliability, and other such quantitative indices
represents one approach to understanding test takers. Another general class of research
methods is referred to as qualitative.

Qualitative methods Are techniques of data generation and analysis that rely
primarily on verbal rather than mathematical or statistical
procedures.

Qualitative item analysis Is a general term for various non-statistical procedures

designed to explore how individual test items work.

‘’Think aloud’’ test A qualitative research tool designed to shed light on the
administration test taker's thought processes during the administration of
a test. On a one-to-one basis with an examiner,
examinees are asked to take a test, thinking aloud as they
respond to each item.

Sensitivity review Is a study of test items, typically conducted during the test
development process, in which items are examined for
fairness to all prospective test takers and for the presence
of offensive language, stereotypes, or situations.

Cross-validation Refers to the revalidation of a test on a sample of test

takers other than those on whom test performance was
originally found to be a valid predictor of some criterion.
We

Validity shrinkage The decrease in item validities that inevitably occurs after
cross-validation of findings

Co-validation May be defined as a test validation process conducted on

two or more tests using the same sample of test takers.

Co-norming Used in conjunction with the creation of norms or the

revision of existing norms.

Anchor protocol A test protocol scored by a highly authoritative scorer that

is designed as a model for scoring and a mechanism for
resolving scoring discrepancies.

Scoring drift A discrepancy between scoring in an anchor protocol and

the scoring of another protocol

Differential item functioning An item functions differently in one group of test takers as
compared to another group of test takers known to have
the same (or similar) level of the underlying trait.

DIF analysis Test developers scrutinize group-by-group item response

curves, looking for what are termed DIF items.

DIF items Items that respondents from different groups at the same
level of the underlying traits have different probabilities of
endorsing as a function of their group membership.
ELLIOT, RASHIDA J.
PSY 98 - YC

CHAPTER 9: INTELLIGENCE AND ITS MEASUREMENT

Perspectives on Intelligence

Interactionism Refers to the complex concept by which heredity and

environment are presumed to interact and influence the
development of one’s intelligence.

Factor-analytic theories The focus is squarely on identifying the ability or groups of

abilities deemed to constitute intelligence.

Information-processing The focus is on identifying the specific mental processes that

theories occur when intelligence is applied to solving a problem.

Factor analysis Is a group of statistical techniques designed to determine the

existence of underlying relationships between sets of
variables, including test scores.

British psychologist Charles Spearman pioneered new techniques to measure

intercorrelations between tests. He found that measures of intelligence tended to
correlate to various degrees with each other. Spearman (1927) formalized these
observations into an influential theory of general intelligence that postulated the existence
of a general intellectual ability factor (denoted by an italic lowercase g) that is partially
tapped by all other mental abilities.

Emotional intelligence The existence of specific brain modules that allow people to
perceive, understand, use, and manage emotions intelligently.

Crystallized intelligence Are dependent on exposure to a particular culture as well as

on formal and informal education (vocabulary, for example).

Fluid intelligence Are nonverbal,relatively culture-free, and independent of

specific instruction.

Simultaneous (or Information is integrated all at one time.

parallel) processing

Successive (or Each bit of information is individually processed in sequence.

sequential) processing

PASS model Acronym for planning, attention, simultaneous, and

successive.

● Planning - refers to strategy development for problem

solving;

● Attention - attention (also referred to as arousal) refers

to receptivity to information;

● Simultaneous and successive - refer to the type of

information processing employed
 Measuring Intelligence

entails sampling an examinee’s performance on different types of tests and tasks as a

function of developmental level. At all developmental levels, the intellectual assessment
process also provides a standardized situation from which the examinee’s approach to the
various tasks can be closely observed.

Sample Items Used to ● Information

Measure Intelligence ● Comprehension
● Similarities
● Arithmetic
● Vocabulary
● Receptive Vocabulary
● Picture Naming
● Digit Span
● Letter-Number Sequencing
● Picture Completion
● Block Design
● Coding
● Symbol Search
● Matrix Reasoning
● Picture Concepts
● Cancellation

Lewis Madison Terman Terman became a prominent figure in the world of

(1877–1956) psychological testing and assessment. Terman and other
leading psychologists were called upon to help the armed
forces develop measures that could be used to quickly screen
thousands of recruits.Terman is perhaps best remembered for
his pioneering innovations in the area of test construction,
particularly with regard to standardization.

Ratio IQ Is the ratio of the test taker's mental age divided by their
chronological age, multiplied by 100 to eliminate decimals.

Deviation IQ Reflects a comparison of the performance of the individual

with the performance of others of the same age in the
standardization sample.

Age scale Different items were grouped by age

Point scale Is a test organized into subtests by category of item, not by

age at which most test takers are presumed capable of
responding in the way that is keyed as correct.

Test composite May be defined as a test score or index derived from the
combination of, and/or a mathematical transformation of, one
or more subtest scores.

Routing test May be defined as a task used to direct or route the examinee
to a particular level of questions. A purpose of the routing test,
then, is to direct an examinee to test items that have a high
probability of being at an optimal level of difficulty. There are
two routing tests on the SB5, each of which may be referred to
by either their activity names (Object Series/Matrices and
 Vocabulary) or their factor-related names (Nonverbal Fluid
Reasoning and Verbal Knowledge).

Teaching items Are designed to illustrate the task required and assure the
examiner that the examinee understands.

Basal level A base-level criterion that must be met for testing on the
subtest to continue.

Ceiling level If and when examinees fail a certain number of items in a row,
a ceiling level is said to have been reached and testing is
discontinued.

Extra test behavior The way the examinee copes with frustration; how the
examinee reacts to items considered easy; the amount of
support the examinee seems to require; the general approach
to the task; how anxious, fatigued, cooperative, distractible, or
compulsive the examinee appears to be—these are the types
of behavioral observations that will supplement formal scores.

Core subtest One that is administered to obtain a composite score.

Supplemental subtest (Also sometimes referred to as an optional subtest) is used for

purposes such as providing additional clinical information or
extending the number of abilities or processes sampled.

Short form Refers to a test that has been abbreviated in length, typically
to reduce the time needed for test administration, scoring, and
interpretation.

Army Alpha Test This test would be administered to Army recruits who could
read. It contained tasks such as general information questions,
analogies, and scrambled sentences to reassemble.

Army Beta Test Designed for administration to foreign-born recruits with poor
knowledge of English or to illiterate recruits (defined as
“someone who could not read a newspaper or write a letter
home”). It contained tasks such as mazes, coding, and picture
completion (wherein the examinee’s task was to draw in the
missing element of the picture).

Screening tool An instrument or procedure used to identify a particular trait or

constellation of traits at a gross or imprecise level. Data
derived from the process of screening may be explored in
more depth by more individualized methods of assessment.

Cognitive style Is a psychological dimension that characterizes the

consistency with which one acquires and processes
information

Convergent thinking Is a deductive reasoning process that entails recall and

consideration of facts as well as a series of logical judgments
to narrow down solutions and eventually arrive at one solution.
Divergent thinking Is a reasoning process in which thought is free to move in
many different directions, making several solutions
possible. Divergent thinking requires flexibility of thought,
originality, and imagination.

Culture loading Is defined as the extent to which a test incorporates the

vocabulary, concepts, traditions, knowledge, and feelings
associated with a particular culture.

Culture-fair intelligence A test or assessment process designed to minimize the

test influence of culture with regard to various aspects of the
evaluation procedures, such as administration instructions,
item content, responses required of test takers, and
interpretations made from the resulting data.

Flynn Effect A shorthand reference to the progressive rise in intelligence

test scores that is expected to occur on a normed test of
intelligence from the date when the test was first normed.
According to Flynn (2000), the exact amount of the rise in IQ
will vary as a function of several factors, such as how
culture-specific the items are and whether the measure used is
one of fluid or crystallized intelligence.
Sohaiden D. Dimas Psychological Assessment:
Chapter 10-12
PSY 98 -YC
CHAPTER 10
Formative Assessment data gathered to monitor student learning so that
students can focus their efforts and instructors
can improve their teaching
Summative Assessment involves the use of data such as exams, papers,
and projects to evaluate student learning at the
end of the learning period. Although critics of
summative assessment exist, most educators
support the notion that credentialing
Requrement For Nclb all children within a state perform at grade-level in
reading and math by the end of 2014.
Common Core State Standards (Ccss) The program that currently sets standards for
learning in English and math (with standards for
more subject areas in development)
The Federal Mandate Definition Of Learning a “severe discrepancy between achievement and
Disability intellectual ability” (Procedures for Evaluating
Specific Learning Disabilities
The Rti Model (Response To Intervention Model) as a multilevel prevention framework applied in
educational settings that is designed to maximize
student achievement through the use of data that
identifies students at risk for poor learning
outcomes combined with evidence-based
intervention and teaching that is adjusted on the
basis of student responsiveness.
Rti Is Multilevel because there are at least three tiers of
intervention (or teaching). The first tier is the
classroom environment wherein all students are
being taught whatever it is that the teacher is
teaching
Multitiered System Of Support (Mtss) provides a broader range of services beyond
academics to support learning and development.
Problem-Solving Model refers to the use of interventions tailored to
students’ individual needs that are selected by a
multidisciplinary team of school professionals.
Integrative Assessment has been used to describe a multidisciplinary
approach to evaluation that assimilates input from
relevant sources.
Dynamic Assessment a dynamic approach to assessment may be used
with test takers of any age. It is an approach to
assessment that departs from reliance on, and can
be contrasted to, fixed (so-called “static”) tests

encompasses an approach to exploring learning

potential that is based on a test-intervention-
retest model.
Zone Of Proximal Development “the distance between the actual developmental
level as determined by individual problem-solving,
 and the level of potential development as
determined through problem-solving under adult
guidance or in collaboration with more capable
peers”
Achievement Tests are designed to measure accomplishment. An
achievement test for a first-grader might have as
its subject matter the English language alphabet,
whereas an achievement test for a college student
might contain questions relating to principles of
psychological assessment.

achievement tests are used to gauge student

progress toward instructional objectives, compare
an individual’s accomplishment to peer.

A test of achievement may be standardized

nationally, regionally, or locally, or it may not be
standardized at all.
“Relatively Defined Learning Experience” may mean something as broad as what was
learned from four years of college, or something
much narrower, such as how to prepare dough for
use in making pizza
Achievement Batteries Tests that cover a number of academic areas are
typically divided into several subtests
Sequential Tests Of Educational Progress (Step) Used in kindergarten through grade 12, the STEP
Battery. battery includes achievement subtests in reading,
vocabulary, mathematics, writing skills, study
skills, science, and social studies, as well as a
behavior inventory, an educational environment
questionnaire, and an activities inventory
Sra California Achievement Tests, span kindergarten through grade 12, whereas
others are grade- or course-specific
Locator Tests Or Routing Test are pretests administered to determine the level
of the actual test most appropriate for
administration.
The Wechsler Individual Achievement Test–Third Designed for use in the schools as well as clinical
Edition (Wiat-Iii) and research settings, this battery contains a total
of 16 subtests, although not every subtest will be
administered to every testtaker.
When The Material Is Read Aloud accuracy and speed are measured.
At The Secondary School Level one popular battery is the Cooperative
Achievement Test.
At The College Level more interested in mandating end-of-major
outcomes assessment in state colleges and
universities.
Placement Another use for achievement tests at the college
level, as well as for adults
The College Level Examination Program (Clep) is based on the premise that knowledge may be
obtained through independent study and sources
other than formal schooling.
The Proficiency Examination Program (Pep) offered by the American College Testing Program
is another service designed to assess achievement
and skills learned outside the classroom.
Adult Basic Learning Examination (Able) a test intended for use with examinees age 17 and
older who have not completed eight years of
formalized schooling.
Curriculum-Based Assessment (CBA) a term used to refer to assessment of information
acquired from teachings at school.
Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM) a type of CBA, is characterized by the use of
standardized measurement procedures to derive
local norms to be used in the evaluation of student
performance on curriculum-based tasks
A. Remote Memory B. Rote Memory C. Memory One type of item that could be used in an
Loss D. Mnemonic Loss achievement test is an item that requires
Difference Of Achievement Test And Aptitude Test aptitude tests tend to focus more on informal
learning or life experiences whereas achievement
tests tend to focus on the learning that has
occurred as a result of relatively structured input.
Prognostic Tests are typically used to make predictions. Some
aptitude tests have been used to measure
readiness to
Readiness Tests “readiness” presumably refers to the physical
factors, personality factors, and other factors that
are judged necessary for a child to be ready to
learn. As the level of education climbs, however,
the term readiness is dropped in favor of the term
aptitude—this despite the fact that readiness is
very much implied at all levels.
In 1999, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder was officially listed under “Otherwise Health
(ADHD) Impaired” in IDEA as a disabling condition that can
qualify a child for special services.
Checklist is a questionnaire on which marks are made to
indicate the presence or absence of a specified
behavior, thought, event, or circumstance.
Rating Scale is quite similar in definition and sometimes even
identical in form to a checklist.

as a form completed by an evaluator (a rater,

judge, or examiner) to make a judgment of relative
standing with regard to a specified variable or list
of variables.
The Apgar Number is a score on a rating scale developed by physician
Virginia Apgar (1909–1974), an obstetrical
anesthesiologist who saw a need for a simple,
 rapid method of evaluating newborn infants and
determining what immediate action, if any, is
necessary.
Apgar Activity, Pulse, Grimace, Appearance, and
Respiration.
Informal Evaluation as a typically nonsystematic, relatively brief, and
“off-the-record” assessment leading to the
formation of an opinion or attitude conducted by
any person, in any way, for any reason, in an
unofficial context that is not subject to the ethics
or other standards of an evaluation by a
professional.
At Risk refers to children who have documented
difficulties in one or more psychological, social, or
academic areas and for whom intervention is or
may be required.
Psychological Tests cognitive, emotional, and social attributes are
gauged by scales that assess the presence or
absence of various developmental achievements
through such means as observation and parental
WPPSI-IV And The SB5 may be used to gauge developmental strengths
and weaknesses by sampling children’s
performance in cognitive, motor, and
social/behavioral content areas.
The Metropolitan Readiness Tests (Sixth Edition; is a test battery that assesses the development of
MRT6) the reading and mathematics skills important in
the early stages of formal school learning.
Scholastic Aptitude Test. an aid to high-school guidance and job placement
counselors; it has value in helping students decide
whether further academics, vocational training, or
some other course of action would be most
advisable.

is actually a number of tests that consist of (1) a

multipart test referred to as the SAT (which
contains measures of reading, writing, and
mathematics) and (2) SAT subject tests.
American College Testing Program was developed at the University of Iowa. This
college entrance examination was an outgrowth
of the Iowa Tests of Educational Development.

Scores on the ACT may be predictive of creativity

as well as academic success
The Graduate Record Examinations (Gre) This long-standing rite of passage for students
seeking admission to graduate school has a
General Test form as well as specific subject tests.
The Miller Analogies Test (Mat) This is a 100-item, multiple-choice analogy test
that draws not only on the examinee’s ability to
perceive relationships but also on general
intelligence, vocabulary, and academic learning.
Medical College Admission Test (Mcat) consists of four sections: Biological and
Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems;
Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological
Systems; Psychological, Social, and Biological
Foundations of Behavior; and Critical Analysis and
Reasoning Skills.
The Seashore Measures Of Musical Talents is a now-classic measure of musical aptitude
administered with the aid of a record (if you can
find a record player) or prerecorded tape.
Evaluative Information is typically applied to tests or test data that are
used to make judgments
Diagnostic Information as used in educational contexts (and related
phrases such as diagnostic purposes) is typically
applied to tests or test data used to pinpoint a
student’s difficulty, usually for remedial purposes.
Diagnostic Test is a tool used to identify areas of deficit to be
targeted for intervention.
The Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests–Third This paper-and-pencil measure of reading
Edition (Wrmt-Iii; Woodcock, 2011) readiness, reading achievement, and reading
difficulties takes between 15 and 45 minutes to
administer the entire battery
The Keymath3-DA is a standardized test that may be administered to
children as young as 4½ and adults as old as 21.

The test comes in two forms, each containing 10

subtests.
The GMADE is a standardized test that can provide useful
diagnostic insights with regard to the
mathematical abilities of children just entering
school to just entering college.
Psychoeducational Test Batteries are test kits that generally contain two types of
tests: those that measure abilities related to
academic success and those that measure
educational achievement in areas such as reading
and arithmetic.
The KABC-II NU was designed for use with testtakers from age 3
through age 18.
The Original K-ABC was designed to measures cognitive abilities
identified by Soviet neuropsychologist Alexander
Luria, an early research collaborator of Lev
Vygotsky who became an extremely influential
theorist in his own right.
Luria’s Proposal: (1) The brainstem primarily regulates alertness
and arousal.

(2) The hindmost portions of the cerebral cortex

(parietal, temporal, and occipital lobes) engage in
“simultaneous integration” of sensory
information such that patterns can be perceived
and raw sensory information can be stored
efficiently as abstract concepts.

(3) The frontal lobes are responsible for

“successive integration” which includes the ability
to sustain attention, inhibit impulses, and direct
planned behavior.
According To The WJ IV Manua the battery may be used with persons as young as
2, and as old as 90 (or older).

yields a multitude of measures including a

measure of general intellectual ability (GIA), a
measure of fluid abilities (Gf), a measure of
crystallized abilities (Gc), and a fluid/ crystallized
composite (Gf-Gc). Using the Achievement,
Cognitive, or Oral Language batteries.
CHC Theory intelligence can be conceived as being comprised
of seven broad abilities, including: crystallized
abilities, visual-spatial thinking, auditory
processing, processing speed, short-term
memory, long term storage and retrieval, and
fluid reasoning.
Performance Task as a work sample designed to elicit representative
knowledge, skills, and values from a particular
domain of study.
Performance Assessment will be defined as an evaluation of performance
tasks according to criteria developed by experts
from the domain of study tapped by those tasks.
Portfolio is synonymous with work sample.
Portfolio Assessment refers to the evaluation of one’s work samples.
Authentic Assessment evaluation of relevant, meaningful tasks that may
be conducted to evaluate learning of academic
subject matter but that demonstrate the student’s
transfer of that study to real-world activities.

thought to increase student interest and the

transfer of knowledge to settings outside the
classroom.
Peer Appraisal One method of obtaining information about an
individual is by asking that individual’s peer group
to make the evaluation.
Nominating Technique a method of peer appraisal in which individuals
are asked to select or nominate other individuals
for various types of activities.
Sociogram The results of a peer appraisal can be graphically
illustrated. One graphic method of organizing such
data
The Study Habits Checklist designed for use with students in grades 9 through
14, consists of 37 items that assess study habits
with respect to note taking, reading material, and
general study practices. In the development of the
test, potential items were presented for screening
to 136 Phi Beta Kappa members at three colleges.
Chapter 11
Personality refers to components of an individual’s makeup
that can elicit positive or negative reactions from
others.

as an individual’s unique constellation of

psychological traits that is relatively stable over
time.
Mcclelland defined personality as “the most adequate
conceptualization of a person’s behavior in all its
detail.”
Menninger defined it as “the individual as a whole, his height
and weight and love and hates and blood pressure
and reflexes; his smiles and hopes and bowed legs
and enlarged tonsils. It means all that anyone is
and that he is trying to become.”
Personality Assessment the measurement and evaluation of psychological
traits, states, values, interests, attitudes,
worldview, acculturation, sense of humor,
cognitive and behavioral styles, and/or related
individual characteristics.
Personality Traits Any distinguishable, relatively enduring way in
which one individual varies from another.
The Word Distinguishable indicates that behaviors labeled with different
trait terms are actually different from one
another.
Personality Type a constellation of traits that is similar in pattern to
one identified category of personality within a
taxonomy of personalities.
A Typology Devised By Carl Jung the basis for the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
John Holland argued that most people can be categorized as
one of the following six personality types: Artistic,
 Enterprising, Investigative, Social, Realistic, or
Conventional
Self-Directed Search Test is a self-administered, self-scored, and self-
interpreted aid used to type people according to
this system and to offer vocational guidance.
Type A Personality characterized by competitiveness, haste,
restlessness, impatience, feelings of being time-
pressured, and strong needs for achievement and
dominance.
Type B Personality has the opposite of the Type A’s traits: mellow or
laid-back. A 52-item self-report inventory called
the Jenkins Activity Survey (JAS; Jenkins et al.,
1979) has been used to type respondents as Type
A or Type B personalities.
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory The personality typology that has attracted the
(Mmpi) most attention from researchers and practitioners
alike is associated with scores on a test
Profile is a narrative description, graph, table, or other
representation of the extent to which a person has
demonstrated certain targeted characteristics as a
result of the administration or application of tools
of assessment.
Personality Profile the targeted characteristics are typically traits,
states, or types.
Personality States is an inferred psychodynamic disposition designed
to convey the dynamic quality of id, ego, and
superego in perpetual conflict.
State —refers to the transitory exhibition of some
personality trait.
Why Assess Personality? aspects of personality could be explored in
identifying determinants of knowledge about
health, in categorizing different types of
commitment in intimate relationships, in
determining peer response to a team’s weakest
link), or even in the service of national defense to
identify those prone to terrorism.
In The Corporate World, Personality Assessment is a key tool of the human resources department,
relied on to aid in hiring, firing, promoting,
transferring, and related decisions.
Self-Report a process wherein information about assessees is
supplied by the assessees themselves.
Self-Concept may be defined as one’s attitudes, beliefs,
opinions, and related thoughts about oneself.
Self-Concept Measure an instrument designed to yield information
relevant to how an individual sees him- or herself
with regard to selected psychological variables.
Self-Concept Differentiation refers to the degree to which a person has
different self-concepts in different roles
People Characterized As Highly Differentiated are likely to perceive themselves quite differently
in various roles.
Another Person As The Referent the best available method for the assessment of
personality, behavior, or both involves reporting
by a third party such as a parent, teacher, peer,
supervisor, spouse, or trained observer.
Leniency Error Or Generosity Error And Severity Generalized biases to rate in a particular direction
Error. are referred to in terms
Error Of Central Tendency A general tendency to rate everyone near the
midpoint of a rating scale
Halo Effect variety of favorable response bias
The Context Of The Evaluation When another person is the referent, an
important factor to consider with regard to ratings
Response Style refers to a tendency to respond to a test item or
interview question in some characteristic manner
regardless of the content of the item or question.
Acquiescent an individual may be more apt to respond yes or
true than no or false on a short-answer test.
Impression Management is a term used to describe the attempt to
manipulate others’ impressions through “the
selective exposure of some information (it may be
false information)
Validity Scale a subscale of a test designed to assist in judgments
regarding how honestly the test taker responded
and whether observed responses were products
of response style, carelessness, deliberate efforts
to deceive, or unintentional misunderstanding.
Scope One dimension of the how of personality
assessment concerns
Locus (Meaning “Place” Or “Site”) Of Control is a person’s perception about the source of things
that happen to him or her.
Internal Locus Of Control people who see themselves as largely responsible
for what happens to them
External Locus Of Control. People who are prone to attribute what happens
to them to external factors (such as fate or the
actions of others)
Atheoretical The single most popular personality test in use
today
Procedures And Item Formats Personality may be assessed by many different
methods, such as face-to-face interviews,
computer-administered tests, behavioral
observation, paper-and pencil tests, evaluation of
case history data, evaluation of portfolio data, and
recording of physiological responses.
Structured Interview. personality may be assessed by means of an
interview, but it may also be assessed
Graphology instructions might be used if the assessor was
attempting to learn something about the assessee
by handwriting analysis
Frame Of Reference may be defined as aspects of the focus of
exploration such as the time frame (the past, the
present, or the future) as well as other contextual
issues that involve people, places, and events.
Perhaps for most measures of personality.
Q-Sort Technique Representative of methodologies that can be
readily applied in the exploration of varied frames
of reference.
Carl Rogers One of the best-known applications of Q-sort
methodology in clinical and counseling settings
was advocated by this personality theorist and
psychotherapist
Semantic Differential is characterized by bipolar adjectives separated by
a seven-point rating scale on which respondents
select one point to indicate their response.
Nomothetic Approach is characterized by efforts to learn how a limited
number of personality traits can be applied to all
people.
Idiographic Approach characterized by efforts to learn about each
individual’s unique constellation of personality
traits, with no attempt to characterize each
person according to any particular set of traits.
Developing Instruments To Assess Personality Tools such as logic, theory, and data reduction
methods (such as factor analysis) are frequently
used in the process of developing personality
tests.
Logic And Reason There is a place for logic and reason in psychology,
at least when it comes to writing items for a
personality test. Logic and reason may dictate
what content is covered by the items
Woodworth Psychoneurotic Inventory contained items designed to elicit self-report of
fears, sleep disorders, and other problems
deemed symptomatic of a pathological condition
referred to then as psychoneuroticism.
Threat Assessment a process of identifying or evaluating entities,
actions, or occurrences, whether natural or man-
made, that have or indicate the potential to harm
life, information, operations and/or property
(Department of Homeland Security, 2008).
Data Reduction Methods represent another class of widely used tool in
contemporary test development.
 include several types of statistical techniques
collectively known as factor analysis or cluster
analysis.
Surface Traits the factor-analyzed results of that rating further
reduced the number of names and terms to 36
The Revised Neo Personality Inventory Is widely used in both clinical applications and a
wide range of research that involves personality
assessment.
The NEO PI-R is a measure of five major dimensions (or
“domains”) of personality and a total of 30
elements or facets that define each domain.

is designed for use with persons 17 years of age

and older and is essentially self-administered.
The Original Version Of The Test Was Called The NEO was an acronym for the first three domains
NEO Personality Inventory measured: Neuroticism, Extraversion, and
Openness.
Neuroticism taps aspects of adjustment and emotional
stability, including how people cope in times of
emotional turmoil.
Extraversion taps aspects of sociability, how proactive people
are in seeking out others, as well as assertiveness
Openness refers to openness to experience as well as active
imagination, aesthetic sensitivity, attentiveness to
inner feelings, preference for variety, intellectual
curiosity, and independence of judgment.
Agreeableness is primarily a dimension of interpersonal
tendencies that include altruism, sympathy
toward others, friendliness, and the belief that
others are similarly inclined.
Conscientiousness is a dimension of personality that has to do with
the active processes of planning, organizing, and
following through.
The Big Five Inventory is made publicly available for noncommercial
purposes to researchers and students. It consists
of only 44 items, which makes it relatively quick to
administer.
The Ten Item Personality Inventory contains only two items for each of the Big 5
dimensions. Educated on matters of test
construction and test validity, you may now be
asking yourself how a test with so few items could
possibly be valid.
Criterion defined as a standard on which a judgment or
decision can be made.
Criterion Group is a reference group of testtakers who share
specific characteristics and whose responses to
test items serve as a standard according to which
 items will be included in or discarded from the
final version of a scale.
Empirical Criterion Keying The process of using criterion groups to develop
test items
The MMPI the product of a collaboration between
psychologist Starke R. Hathaway and
psychiatrist/neurologist John Charnley McKinley
Control Group normal (i.e., nondiagnosed) people who
ostensibly received no such experimental
treatment.
Supplementary Scales is a catch-all phrase for the hundreds of different
MMPI scales that have been developed since the
test’s publication.
The MMPI-2 The most significant difference between the two
tests is the more representative standardization
sample (normal control group) used in the
norming of the MMPI-2.
Jerome Frank focused on what he viewed as this common factor
in psychopathology, which he termed
demoralization
Tellegen Et Al. (2003) Attempted To (1) identify the “core components” of each clinical
scale,

(2) create revised scales to measure these core

components (referred to as “seed scales”), and

(3) derive a final set of Revised Clinical (RC) scales

using the MMPI-2 item pool.
The MMPI-3 the third edition of the Minnesota Multiphasic
Personality Inventory (MMPI-3) is offered
electronically either online through Pearson’s Q-
global or locally through Q-local or in a paper-and-
pencil format for hand-scoring or through a mail-
in scoring service.

is shortened to a 25- to 50-minute administration

requiring a 4.5 grade reading level. It is offered in
three languages: English, Spanish, and Canadian
French.
The MMPI-A-RF uses the same norms as the MMPI-A, but has
reconfigured the scale items to reduce item
overlap and sharpen the theoretical meaning of
the scales.
Mmpi-A contains many supplementary scales for
evaluating aspects of internalizing, externalizing,
and somatic symptoms of distress.
Acculturation is an ongoing process by which an individual’s
thoughts, behaviors, values, worldview, and
identity develop in relation to the general
thinking, behavior, customs, and values of a
particular cultural group.
Values are that which an individual prizes or the ideals an
individual believes in.
Instrumental Values are guiding principles to help one attain some
objective.
Terminal Values are guiding principles and a mode of behavior that
is an endpoint objective.
Identity a set of cognitive and behavioral characteristics by
which individuals define themselves as members
of a particular group.
Identification a process by which an individual assumes a
pattern of behavior characteristic of other people,
and referred to it as one of the “central issues that
ethnic minority groups must deal with”
Worldview is the unique way people interpret and make
sense of their perceptions as a consequence of
their learning experiences, cultural background,
and related variables
Chapter 12
Objective Methods Of Personality Assessment characteristically contain short-answer items for
which the assessee’s task is to select one response
from the two or more provided.
A Response On An Objective Personality Test is scored with reference to either the personality
characteristic(s) being measured or the validity of
the respondent’s pattern of responses.
Projective Hypothesis holds that an individual supplies structure to
unstructured stimuli in a manner consistent with
the individual’s own unique pattern of conscious
and unconscious needs, fears, desires, impulses,
conflicts, and ways of perceiving and responding.
Projective Method a technique of personality assessment in which
some judgment of the assessee’s personality is
made on the basis of performance on a task that
involves supplying some sort of structure to
unstructured or incomplete stimuli.
Projective Tests are indirect methods of personality assessment

were born in the spirit of rebellion against

normative data and through attempts by
personality researchers to break down the study
of personality into the study of specific traits of
varying strengths.
The (Hermann) Rorschach The most famous inkblot test
Hermann Rorschach developed what he called a “form interpretation
test” using inkblots as the forms to be interpreted.
In 1921 he published his monograph on the
technique, Psychodiagnostics.

He provided 28 case studies employing normal

(well, undiagnosed) subjects and people with
various psychiatric diagnoses (including neurosis,
psychosis, and manic-depressive illness) to
illustrate his test.

The Rorschach consists of 10 symmetrical inkblots

printed on separate cards. Five inkblots have only
shades of gray. Two inkblots are black, white, and
red. The remaining three inkblots are
multicolored.
Inquiry After the entire set of cards has been administered
once, a second administration
Test Taker’s Percept perception of an image.
Testing The Limits A third component of the administration
In General, Rorschach Protocols Are Scored Location, Determinants, Content, Popularity, and
According To Several Categories: Form.
Location is the part of the inkblot that was utilized in
forming the percept.
Determinants are the qualities of the inkblot that determine
what the individual perceives, including form,
color, texture, shading, and movement that the
individual attributes to the inkblot.
Content refers to the type of object the individual
perceives in the response.
Popularity refers to the frequency with which a certain
response has been found to correspond with a
particular inkblot or section of an inkblot.
Form is how accurately the individual’s perception
matches or fits the corresponding part of the
inkblot.
John E. Exner Jr. wrote of the advisability of approaching “the
Rorschach problem through a research integration
of the systems”

Exner’s system brought a degree of uniformity to

Rorschach use and thus facilitated “apples to-
apples” (or “bats-to-bats”) comparison of
research studies.
Beginning Of The Twentieth Century One of the earliest uses of pictures as projective
stimuli
The Thematic Apperception Test (Tat) the most widely used of all the picture storytelling
projective tests

originally designed as an aid to eliciting fantasy

material from patients in psychoanalysis
Apperceive defined as to perceive in terms of past
perceptions.
Henry Murray’s Concepts Of Need determinants of behavior arising from within the
individual
Henry Murray’s Concepts Of Press determinants of behavior arising from within the
environment
Henry Murray’s Concepts Of Thema a unit of interaction between needs and press
Implicit Motive a nonconscious influence on behavior typically
acquired on the basis of experience.
Intropunitive aggression turned inward
Extrapunitive outwardly expressed
Inpunitive aggression is evaded so as to avoid or gloss over
the situation
Obstacle Dominance in which the response concentrates on the
frustrating barrier
Ego Defense in which attention is focused on protecting the
frustrated person
Need Persistence in which attention is focused on solving the
frustrating problem
Semistructured Projective techniques that employ words or open-
ended phrases and sentences
Word Association is a task that may be used in personality
assessment in which an assessee verbalizes the
first word that comes to mind in response to a
stimulus word.
Word Association Test as a semi structured, individually administered,
projective technique of personality assessment
that involves the presentation of a list of stimulus
words, to each of which an assessee responds
verbally or in writing with whatever comes
immediately to mind first upon first exposure to
the stimulus word.
The Kent-Rosanoff Free Association Test represented one of the earliest attempts to
develop a standardized test using words as
projective stimuli.
Free Association refers to the technique of having subjects relate all
their thoughts as they are occurring and is most
frequently used in psychoanalysis; the only
structure imposed is provided by the subjects
themselves.
Sentence Completion refers to a task in which the assessee is asked to
finish an incomplete sentence or phrase.
Sentence Completion Test is a semi structured projective technique of
personality assessment that involves the
presentation of a list of words that begin a
sentence and the assessee’s task is to respond by
finishing each sentence with whatever word or
words come to mind.
Sentence Completion Stems may be developed for use in specific types of
settings (such as school or business) or for specific
purposes.
B. F. Skinner a behaviorist whose name has seldom been
uttered in the same sentence as the term
projective test by any contemporary psychologist
Verbal Summator The sounds, packaged as a device.
Auditory Apperception Test he subject’s task was to respond by creating a
story based on three sounds played on a
phonograph record. Other researchers produced
similar tests, one called an auditory sound
association test and the other referred to as an
auditory apperception test.
Figure-Drawing Tests defined as a projective method of personality
assessment whereby the assessee produces a
drawing that is analyzed on the basis of its content
and related variables.
Instructions For Administering The Draw A Person The examinee is given a pencil and a blank sheet
(DAP) Test: of 8½-by-11-inch white paper and told to draw a
person.
The House-Tree-Person Test the testtaker’s task is to draw a picture of a house,
a tree, and a person.
The Kinetic Family Drawing (KFD) this one thought to be of particular value in
learning about the examinee in relation to her or
his family
Bernard Murstein’s (1961) Criticisms: dismissed the assumption that the more
ambiguous the stimuli, the more subjects reveal
about their personality.

the projective stimulus is only one aspect of the

“total stimulus situation.”

asserted that projection on the part of the

assessee does not increase along with increases in
the ambiguity of projective stimuli.
Critics Of Projective Techniques: variables such as uncontrolled variations in
protocol length, inappropriate subject samples,
inadequate control groups, and poor external
criteria as factors contributing to spuriously
increased ratings of validity.
Weiner (2005) Suggested: substituting the terms structured, in place of
objective, and unstructured, in place of projective.
Emphasis In Behavioral Assessment is on “what a person does in situations rather than
on inferences about what attributes [the person]
has more globally”
Who Is The Assessee? The person being assessed may be, for example, a
patient on a closed psychiatric ward, a client
seeking help at a counseling center, or a subject in
an academic experiment
Who Is The Assessor? Depending on the circumstances, the assessor
may be a highly qualified professional or a
technician/assistant trained to conduct a
particular assessment.
What Is Measured In Behavioral Assessment? Perhaps not surprisingly, the behavior or
behaviors targeted for assessment will vary as a
function of the objectives of the assessment.
When Is An Assessment Of Behavior Made? when the problem behavior is most likely to be
elicited.
Frequency Or Event Recording one schedule of assessment
Interval Recording Each time the targeted behavior occurs, it is
recorded. Another schedule of assessment
Intensity gauged by observable and quantifiable events
such as the duration of the behavior
Timeline Followback (TLFB) Methodology designed for use in the context of a clinical
interview for the purpose of assessing alcohol
abuse.
Where Does The Assessment Take Place? anywhere
Why Conduct Behavioral Assessment? ■ to provide behavioral baseline data with which
other behavioral data (accumulated after the
passage of time, after intervention, or after some
other event) may be compared

■ to provide a record of the assessee’s behavioral

strengths and weaknesses across a variety of
situations

■ to pinpoint environmental conditions that are

acting to trigger, maintain, or extinguish certain
behaviors

■ to target specific behavioral patterns for

modification through interventions

■ to create graphic displays useful in stimulating

innovative or more effective treatment
approaches
Behavioral Observation involves watching the activities of targeted clients
or research subjects and, typically, maintaining
some kind of record of those activities.

employs mechanical means, such as a video

recording of an event.
Behavior Rating Scale a preprinted sheet on which the observer notes
the presence or intensity of targeted behaviors,
usually by checking boxes or filling in coded terms.
Broad-Band Instruments designed to measure a wide variety of behaviors
Narrow-Band Instruments which may focus on behaviors related to single,
specific constructs.
Self-Monitoring defined as the act of systematically observing and
recording aspects of one’s own behavior and/or
events related to that behavior. Self-monitoring is
different from self-report.

may be used to record specific thoughts, feelings,

or behaviors.

Is both a tool of assessment and a tool of

intervention
Reactivity refers to the possible changes in an assessee’s
behavior, thinking, or performance that may arise
in response to being observed, assessed, or
evaluated.
Analogue Study is a research investigation in which one or more
variables are similar or analogous to the real
variable that the investigator wishes to examine.
Analogue Behavioral Observation defined as the observation of a person or persons
in an environment designed to increase the
chance that the assessor can observe targeted
behaviors and interactions.
Situational Performance Measure is a procedure that allows for observation and
evaluation of an individual under a standard set of
circumstances.
Leaderless Group Technique is a situational assessment procedure wherein
several people are organized into a group for the
purpose of carrying out a task as an observer
records information related to individual group
members’ initiative, cooperation, leadership, and
related variables.
Role Play acting an improvised or partially improvised part
in a simulated situation, can be used in teaching,
therapy, and assessment.
 can provide a relatively inexpensive and highly
adaptable means of assessing various behavior
“potentials.”
Biofeedback is a generic term that may be defined broadly as a
class of psychophysiological assessment
techniques designed to gauge, display, and record
a continuous monitoring of selected biological
processes such as pulse and blood pressure.
Plethysmograph is a biofeedback instrument that records changes
in the volume of a part of the body arising from
variations in blood supply.
Penile Plethysmograph is also an instrument designed to measure
changes in blood flow, but more specifically blood
flow to the penis.
Phallometric Data the record from a study conducted with a penile
plethysmograph
Lie Detector Or Polygraph the best-known of all psychophysiological
measurement tools
Unobtrusive Measure is a telling physical trace or record.
Issues In Behavioral Assessment Behavior may be objectively observable, but it is
not always easy to observe objectively.
Users Of A Behavior Rating System: must demonstrate an acceptable level of inter-
rater reliability among behavior observers.

A potential source of error in behavioral ratings

may arise when a dissimilarity in two or more of
the observed behaviors
Contrast Effect A behavioral rating may be excessively positive (or
negative) because a prior rating was excessively
negative (or positive).
Composite Judgment minimizing error and improving inter-rater
reliability among behavioral raters
Limitations Of Behavioral Approaches: the equipment costs (some of the electronics can
be expensive) and the cost of training behavioral
assessors
Theodor Reik’s Influential Book Listening With The intrigued clinicians with the possibilities of
Third Ear evaluation and intervention by means of skilled
interviewing, active listening, and artful, depth-
oriented interpretation.
Retchelle Chris E. Dumat-ol
PSY 98 YC
Clinical and Counseling

Overview
Clinical Psychology branch of psychology that
has its primary focus the prevention,
diagnosis,
and treatment of severe abnormal
behavior
Counseling Psychology concerned with the prevention, diagnosis,
and treatment of abnormal behavior but
more on everyday type of concerns and
problems
Premorbid Functioning level of psychological and physical
performance prior to the
development of a disorder, an illness, or a
disability
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual reference source for making clinical
diagnoses for mental disorders
Latest version: DSM-V and DSM-V-TR

▪ Lists all the criteria that have been met

to diagnose each of the disorder listed

▪ Conveys information about how

extreme,
problematic, troubling, odd, or abnormal
the individual’s behavior is likely to be
perceived by others
Incidence rate of new occurrences of a
particular disorder or condition in a
particular population
Prevalence approximate proportion of
individuals in a given population at a
given point in time who have been
diagnosed or otherwise
labeled with a particular disorder or
condition
Biopsychosocial Assessment multidisciplinary approach to assessment
that
includes exploration of relevant biological,
psychological, social, cultural, and
 environmental variables for the purpose
of
evaluating how such variables may have
contributed to the development and
maintenance of a presenting problems
▪ Fatalism – belief that what happens in
life is largely beyond a person’s control

▪ Self-Efficacy – confidence in one’s own

ability to accomplish a task

▪ Social Support – expressions of

understanding, acceptance, empathy,
love, advices, guidance, care, etc.
Interview key tool of biopsychosocial
assessment

guide decisions about what else needs to

be done to assess an individual
Therapeutic Contract – an agreement
between client and therapist setting forth
goals, expectations, and mutual
obligations regarding a course of therapy
Seasoned Interviewers – create a
positive, accepting climate in which to
conduct the interview
Effective interviewer conveys understand Stress Interview – any interview where
to the interviewee verbally or nonverbally, one objective is to place the interviewee
includes attentive posture and facial in a pressured state for some particular
expression, as well as, acknowledging or reason
summarizing what the interviewee is
trying to say
A highly structured interview is one in Hypnotic Interview – interview under
which all the questions asked are hypnosis; may more suggestible to
prepared in advance; it provides leading questions and thus more
uniformity in exploration and evaluation vulnerable to distortion of memories
Cognitive Interview – rapport is
established and the interviewee is
encouraged to use imagery and focused
retrieval to recall information
Collaborative Interview – allows the
interviewee wide latitude to interact with
the interviewer, collaborating on a
common mission of discovery,
clarification, and enlightenment
Types of Responses: MCMI. Level-One – bear a little or no
relationship
to the interviewer’s response
b. Level-Two – communicates a
superficial
awareness of the meaning of a statement
c. Level-Three – interchangeable with the
interviewee’s statement; minimum level of
responding that could help the
interviewee
d. Level-Four and Level-Five – provide
accurate empathy but also go beyond the
statement given
e. Active Listening – power of
understanding
response; foundation of good interviewing
skills for many different types of
interviews
Standard Questions during initial intake 1. Demographic Data
interviews: 2. Referral Question
3. Medical History
4. Present Medical Condition
5. Family Medical History
6. Past Psychological history
7. Past History with medical or
psychological professionals
8. Current psychological conditions
Mental Status Examination a parallel to the general physical
examination conducted by a physician is
special clinical interview conducted by a
clinician for screening of intellectual,
emotional, and neurological deficits

▪ MSE starts the moment the interviewee

enters the room by observing the
appearance of the client and assessing
their orientation
Biographical and related data about an ▪ Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III
assessee may be obtained by (MCMI-III) – Millon et al., 1994, yield
interviewing the client and/or their scores
significant others related to enduring personality features
as
Clinicians and counselors may use well as acute symptoms
different ▪ Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) –
tests that could help in the assessment Beck
 et al., 1996, tapping a specific symptom
or
attitude associated with depression
▪ Center for Epidemiological Studies
Depression Scale (CES-D) – self-report
measure of depressive symptoms
Test Battery group of tests administered together to
gather information about an individual
from a variety of instruments
Standard Battery Battery of tests

Culturally Informed Psychological Assessment

Culturally Informed Psychological keenly perceptive of an responsive to
Assessment issues of acculturation, values, identity,
worldview, language, and other culture-
related variables as they may impact the
evaluation process
Carefully read any existing case history
data which may provide answers to key
questions regarding the assessee’s level
of acculturation and other factors useful
to know about in advance of any formal
assessment
Shifting Cultural Lenses tied to critical thinking and hypothesis
testing, which permits the clinician to test
another hypothesis that the observed
behavior is culture-specific and
arises from long-held family beliefs

Special Applications of Clinical Measures

MacAndrew Alcoholism Scale (MAC) and personality and attitude variables thought
MacAndrew Alcoholism Scale-Revised to underlie alcoholism
Addiction Potential Scale (APS) personality traits thought to underlie drug
or alcohol abuse
Addiction Acknowledgement Scale (AAS) direct acknowledgement of substance
abuse
Addiction Severity Index (ASI) rater assess severity of addiction in 7
problem areas: medical condition,
employment functioning, drug use,
alcohol use, illegal activity,
family/social relations, and psychiatric
functioning
Michigan Alcohol Screening Test (MAST) lifetime alcohol-related problems
Forensic Psychological Assessment theory and application of psychological
evaluation and measurement in a legal
context

▪ In forensic situation, clinician may be

the client of the third party (court) and not
of the assessee
▪ Patient is compelled to undergo
assessment
▪ It is imperative that the assessor rely not
only in the client’s representations but
also on all available documentation
▪ Determination of dangerousness is
ideally made on the basis of multiple data
sources, including interview data, case
history data, and formal testing
▪ When dealing with potentially homicidal
or suicidal assessees, the professional
assessor must have knowledge of the risk
factors associated with such violent acts
▪ The assessor has a legal duty to warn if
ever he/she finds his/her client is about to
do homicide, a duty that overrides the
privileged communication between
psychologist and client
▪ Competence to stand Trial – defendant’s
ability to understand the charges against
him and assist in his own defense
▪ The competency requirement protects
an individual’s right to choose and assist
counsel, the right to act as a witness on
one’s own behalf, and the right to
confront opposing witness
▪ The person will be found to be
incompetent if and only if she is unable to
understand the charges against her and
is unable to assist in her own defense
Emotional Injury term sometimes used synonymously with
mental suffering, pain and suffering, and
emotional harm

▪ Discrimination, harassment,
malpractice,
stalking, and unlawful termination of
employment
Profiling crime-solving process that draws upon
psychological and criminological
expertise applied to the study of crime
scene evidence

▪ Assuming that the perpetrators of serial

crimes leave more than physical evidence
at a crime scene
Custody Evaluation psychological assessment of parents or
guardians and their parental capacity
and/or of children and their parental
needs and preferencesꟷusually
undertaken for the purpose of custody

Child Abuse and Neglect

Abuse refer to the creation of conditions that
give rise to abuse of a child by an adult
Infliction of physical injury or emotional
impairment that is nonaccidental

Creation or allowing the creation of

substantial risk of physical injury or
emotional impairment that is not
accidental

Committing or allowing of sexual offence

to be committed against a child
Neglect failure on the part of adult to be
responsible of child care
Physical signs can be deceiving
especially when they try to convince the
panel it was from an accident, however,
inappropriate clothing for the
season/event, poor hygiene, and lagging
physical development could be physical
manifestations of abuse

-Young sexually abused children could

feel discomfort in their sexual parts and
older children could manifest STDs or
pregnancy

-Emotional and behavioral indicators

could
 include fear of going hone or fear of
adults,
unusual reactions in response to other
children
crying, low self-esteem, social withdrawal,
aggressiveness, etc.

-Tardiness in school, chronic fatigue, and

chronic hunger could be signs as well

Anatomically Detailed Dolls dolls that

accurately represent genitalia used for
observation of children who suffered from
child

Elder Abuse intentional affliction of physical,

emotional, financial, or other harm on
older
individual

Elder Neglect failure to provide elder care

Signs of suicidal ideation 1. Talking about committing suicide

2. Making reference to a plan for

committing suicide

3. One or more past suicide attempts

The Psychological Report

Psychological reports may be as different
as the reasons for undertaking
assessment, in terms of no. of variables
and etc.
Barnum Effect people tend to accept vague
personality descriptions as accurate
descriptions of themselves (Aunt Fanny
Effect)
Elements of Typical Psych Report: a. Demographics
b. Reason for Referral
c. Test Administered
d. Findings
e. Recommendations
f. Summary
Actuarial Assessment/Actuarial Prediction refer to the application of empirically
 demonstrated statistical rules and
probabilities as determining factor in
clinical judgment and actions
Computerized Assessment Computerized applications of clinical
opinionꟷthat is, the application of
clinician’s judgments, opinions, and
expertise to a particular set of data as
processed by the computer surface
Clinical Prediction application of clinician’s own training and
clinical experience as
determining factor in clinical judgment
and actions
Mechanical Prediction application of empirically demonstrated
statistical rules and probabilities to the
computer generation of findings and
recommendations
Retchelle Chris E. Dumat-ol
PSY 98 YC

Neuropsychological Assessment

The Nervous System and Behavior

Neurology focuses on nervous system and its
disorders
Neuropsychology focus on the relationship
between brain functioning and behavior
Neuropsychological Assessment Evaluation of brain and nervous system
functioning as it relates to behavior
Behavioral Neurology a subspecialty within the medical
specialty of neurology that also focuses
on brain-behavior relationships
Neurons nerve cells
Central Nervous System consist of brain and the spinal cord
Peripheral Nervous System consisting of the neurons that convey
messages to and from the rest of the
body
Contralateral Control each of the two cerebral hemisphere
receives sensory information from the
opposite side of the body and also
controls motor responses on the opposite
side of the body
Neurological Damage may take the form of a lesion in the brain
or any other site within CNS or PNS
Lesion pathological alteration of tissue, such
as that which could result from injury or
infection
Focal circumscribed at one site
Diffuse scattered at various site
Brain Damage general reference to any physical or
functional impairment in the CNS
Acalculia inability to perform arithmetic calculations
Acopia inability to copy geometric designs
Agnosia deficit in recognizing sensory stimuli
Agraphia deficit in writing ability
Akinesia deficit in motor movements
Alexia Inability to read
Amnesia Loss of memory
Amusia deficit in ability to produce or appreciate
music
Anomia deficit associated with finding words
to name things
Anopia deficit in sight

Anosmia deficit in sense of smell

Aphasia deficit in communication due to
impaired speech or writing ability
Apraxia voluntary movement disorder in the
absence of paralysis
Ataxia deficit in motor ability and muscular
coordination

Neuropsychological Evaluation
Hard Sign defined as an indicator of definite
neurological deficit
Soft sign indicator that is merely suggestive
of neurological deficits
Objective of the typical
neuropsychological evaluation is to draw
inferences about the
structural and functional characteristics of
a person’s brain by evaluating an
individual’s behavior in defined stimulus-
response situations

o Common to all thorough neuropsych

exams are history taking, MSE, and
administration of tests and procedures
designed to reveal problems of
neuropsychological functioning

o Neuropsychs must also have

knowledge of the possible effects of
various prescription medications taken by
them assessees because such
medication can actually cause certain
neurobehavioral deficits
Elements of Neuropsych Evaluation: 1. History Taking, Case History
2. Interview
3. Neuropsychological Mental Status
Examination
Noninvasive Procedures procedures that do not involve any
intrusion into the examinee’s body
 May test for simple reflexes

Neuropsychological Tests
Pattern Analysis examiner looks beyond performance on
individual tests to study of the pattern of
test scores
Deterioration Quotient (DQ) brain damage have devised various
quotients based on patterns of subtest
scores
One symptom commonly associated with
neuropsychological deficit, regardless of
the site or exact cause of problem, is
inability or lessened ability to think
abstractly

The Proverbs Test, Object Sorting Test,

Color-Form Sorting Test, Wisconsin Card
Sorting Test-64 Card Version
Executive Function organizing, planning, cognitive flexibility,
and inhibition of impulses and related
activities associated with the frontal and
prefrontal lobes of the brain

Towers of Hanoi, Mazes, Clock-Drawing

Tests
Perceptual Test general reference to any of many
instruments and procedures used to
evaluate varied aspects of sensory
functioning
Motor Test reference to any of many instruments and
procedures used to evaluate varied
aspects of one’s ability and mobility
Perceptual-Motor Test any of many instruments and procedures
used to evaluate the integration or
coordination of perceptual
and motor abilities

Bender Visual-Motor Gestalt Test

Fixed Battery group of test pre-modified before the
assessment
Flexible Battery consisting of an assortment of
instruments hand-picked for some
purpose relevant to the unique aspects of
the patient and the presenting problem
Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological class neuropsychological test battery
Battery
Severe Impairment Battery (SIB) designed for use with severely impaired
assessees who might otherwise perform
at or near the floor of existing tests
Other Tools of Neuropsychological fMRI- creates real-time moving images of
Assessment internal functioning
Retchelle Chris E. Dumat-ol
PSY 98 YC

Assessment, Careers, and Business

Career Choice and Career Transition

Measure of Interest
Interest Measure instrument designed to evaluate
testtakers’ likes, dislikes, leisure activities,
curiosities, and involvements in
various pursuits for the purpose of
comparison with groups of members of
various occupations and professions
Strong Interest Inventory – one of the first
measure of interest (G. Stanley Hall,
1907)

▪ Designed to assess children’s interest in

various recreational pursuits

Strong Vocational Interest Blank –

developed by Edward K. Strong Jr.
(1920s)

Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory (SCII)

–developed under the direction of David
P. Campbell (1974)

Self-Directed Search (SDS) – explores

interest within Holland’s Theory “RIASEC”

Minnesota Vocational Interest Inventory –

designed to compare respondents’
interest patterns with those of persons
employed in a variety of nonprofessional
occupations

Measures of Ability and Aptitude

Wonderlic Personnel Test measures mental ability in general tests
 ▪ Includes items that assess spatial skill,
abstract thought, and mathematical skill

▪ Useful in screening individuals for jobs

that require both fluid and crystallized
intellectual abilities
Bennet Mechanical Comprehension Test widely used paper-and-pencil measure of
testtakers’ ability to understand the
relationship between physical forces and
various tools as well as other common
objects
Hand-Tool Dexterity Test requires testtaker to actually take apart,
reassemble or otherwise manipulate
materials, usually in prescribed sequence
and within time limit
General Aptitude Test Battery available for
use by state employment services as well
as other agencies and organizations
▪ Identify aptitudes for occupations
▪ Consists of 12 timed tests that measure
nine aptitudes, which in turn can be
divided into three components
Special Aptitude Test Battery used to selectively measure aptitudes for
a specific line of work

Measures of Personality
Guilford-Zimmerman Temperament
Survey (GZTS) and Edwards Personal
Preference Schedule (EPPS) may be
preferred because the measurement they
yield tend to be better related to the
specific variables under study
NEO PI-R and MBTI most widely used personality test in the
workplace
Integrity Test specifically designed to predict
employee theft, honesty, adherence to
established procedures, and/or potential
for violence
Applicant Potential Inventory (API) can be administered quickly and
efficiently
 White (1984) suggested that
preemployment honesty testing may
induce negative work-
related attitudes
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator used to classify assesses by
psychological type and to shed light on
basic differences in the way human being
take in information and make decisions
Issues about establishing relationship a. How work performance is defined –
between personality and work there is no single metric that can be used
performance: for all occupations
b. What aspect of personality to measure
High Conscientiousness = good work
performance
High Neuroticism = poor work
performance
High Extraversion = good work
performance
Other Measures o Checklist of Adaptive Living Skills
(CALS) – survey the life skills needed to
make a successful transition from school
to work

o Cross-Cultural Adaptability Inventory

(CCAI) – self-administered and self-
scored instrument designed to provide
information on the testtaker’s ability to
adapt to other cultures

Career Transitions Inventory (CTI) –

designed for use with people
contemplating a career change

Screening, Selection, Classification, and Placement

Screening relatively superficial process of
evaluation based on certain minimal
standards, criteria, or requirements
Selection refers to a process whereby each
person evaluated for a position
Classification does not imply acceptance or
rejection but rather a rating,
categorization, or “pigeonholing” with
respect to two or more criteria
Placement disposition, transfer, or assignment to a
group or category that may be made on
the basis of one criterion
Resume information related to one’s work
objectives, qualifications, education, and
experience
Letter of Application attached with resume which lets a job
applicant demonstrate motivation,
businesslike writing skills, and his or her
unique personality
Application Forms biographical sketches that supply
employers with information pertinent to
the acceptability of job candidates,
especially contact information which is
useful for quick screening
Letters of Recommendation unique source of detailed information
about the applicant’s past performance,
the quality of the applicant’s
relationship with peers, and so forth
Interviews whether individual or group in nature,
provide an occasion for the face-to-face
exchange of information

▪ Factors that might affect the outcome of

an employment: backgrounds, attitudes,
motivations, perceptions, expectations,
knowledge about the job, and interview
behavior of both the interviewer and the
interviewee
Portfolio Assessment entails evaluation of an individual’s work
sample for the purpose of some
screening, selection, classification, or
placement decision
Performance Tests requires assesses to
demonstrate certain skills or abilities
under aspecified set of circumstances
▪ To obtain a job-related performance
sample
▪ Minnesota Clerical Test (MCT) –
designed to measure clerical aptitude
▪ Leaderless Group Technique –
commonly used performance test in the
assessment of business leadership ability
▪ In-Basket Technique – used to assess
managerial ability, organizational skills,
and leadership potential
 Assessment Center widely used tool in selection,
classification, and placement
Physical Test measurement that entails evaluation of
one’s somatic health and intactness

▪ Includes Drug Testing

Cognitive Ability, Productivity, and Motivation Measures

Measures of Cognitive Ability

Cognitive-Based Tests are popular tools

of selection because they have been
shown to be valid predictors of future
performance

It is in society’s interest to promote

diversity in employment settings

Developers and users of cognitive tests in

the workplace to place demand for verbal
skills and abilities
Productivity simply as output or value yielded
relative to work effort made

Using techniques such as supervisor

ratings, interviews with employees, and
undercover employees planted in the
workshop, management might determine
what is responsible for the unsatisfactory
performance
Forced Distribution technique Involves distributing predetermined
number or percentage of assessees into
various categories that describe
performance
Critical Incidents Technique involves the supervisor recording positive
and negative employee behaviors
Peer Ratings/Evaluations valuable method of identifying talent
among employees
Motivation Maslow’s Theory argued that there is an
hierarchy of human needs and after one
category is of need is met, people seek to
satisfy the next level
 Alderfer proposed that once need is
satisfied, the organism may try to satisfy it
further and frustrating one need might
channel energy into satisfying a need at
another level

McClelland described induvial with a high

need for achievement as one who prefers
a task that is neither too simple nor
extremely difficult

Intrinsic Motivation – driving force comes

from within individual
Extrinsic Motivation stems from rewards, external factors
Work Preference Inventory scale designed to assess aspects of
intrinsic and extrinsic motivation
Burnout psychological syndrome of emotional
exhaustion, depersonalization, and
reduced personal accomplishment that
can occur among individuals who work
with other people in some capacity

▪ Emotional Exhaustion – inability to give

of oneself emotionally to others

▪ Depersonalization – distancing from

other people and even developing cynical
attitudes toward them

▪ Maslach Burnout Inventory, Third

Edition (MBI) – developed by Christina
Maslach et al., 1996
Job Satisfaction, Organizational Attitude – presumably learned disposition
Commitment, and Organization Culture to react in some characteristic manner to
a particular
Job Satisfaction o A pleasurable or positive emotional
state resulting from the appraisal of one’s
job or job experiences

o Satisfied workers are more productive,

more consistent, in work output, and less
likely to be absent

o Measures: Cognitive Evaluations, Work

 Schedule, Perceived Sources of stress,
various aspects of well-being, and
mismatches between an employee’s
cultural background and the prevailing
organizational culture
Organizational Commitment o Refers to a person’s feelings of loyalty
to and involvement in an organization

o Organizational Commitment
Questionnaire
Organizational Culture o Totality of socially transmitted behavior
patterns characteristic of a particular
organization or company, including: the
structure of the organization and the roles
within it, leadership style, etc.

o Provides a way of coping with internal

and external challenges and demands

Other tools of Assessment for Business Applications

Consumer Psychology branch of social
psychology that deals primarily with the
development, advertising, and marketing
of products and services

Attitudes formed about products,

services, or brand names are frequent
focus of interest in consumer attitude
research
Implicit Attitude nonconscious, automatic association in
memory that produces a disposition to
react in some characteristic manner to a
particular stimulus; “gut feeling”
Survey fixed list of questions administered to
a selected sample of persons for the
purpose of learning about consumer’s
attitudes, beliefs, opinions, and/or
behavior with regard to the targeted
products, services or advertising
Consumer Panel makes up a list of people or families who
have agreed to respond to questionnaires
sent to them
 Diary Panel – must keep detailed records
of their behavior
Semantic Differential Technique defining the meaning and concepts of
relating concepts to one another in
semantic space, the technique entails
graphically placing a pair of bipolar
adjectives on a seven point scale
Motivation Research Methods Typically analyze motives for consumer
behaviors and attitudes
Dimensional Qualitative Research An approach to qualitative research that
seeks to ensure a study is
comprehensive and systematic from
psychological perspective by guiding
study design and proposed question for
discussion on the basis of BASIC ID
(Behavior, Affect, Sensation, Imagery,
Cognition, Interpersonal Relations and
Drugs)
PSY 98 YC

Abnormal
Psychology
Matrix

December 2023
Gweneth Angelee G. Baslote October 03, 2023
BS Psychology 4 - YC Group 5

Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION AND HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

Psychological Dysfunction somebody who is connected

with anxiety or functional disability and a
response that is not customary or
anticipated in the culture.

Phobia a mental illness described by

severe and ongoing phobia of a thing or
circumstance.

The Science of Psychopathology

Psychopathology The academic exploration of mental health

conditions.

Counseling Psychologists usually research and treat

challenges with adjustment and
employment faced by
those who are largely in good health.

Clinical Psychologists typically focus on the more serious mental

health conditions.

Psy.D Prioritize practical clinical training and

reduce or remove emphasis on research
training

Ph.D. Combine training in clinical practice and

research.

Psychiatrists Pursue a specialization in psychiatry

through a 3 to 4-year residency program.

Psychiatric Social Workers Acquire a master's degree in social work

while honing skills in gathering pertinent
information regarding the social and familial
circumstances of individuals dealing with
psychological disorders.

Psychiatric Nurses Possess higher-level qualifications like a

master's or even a doctorate, and focus on
providing care and treatment to patients
with psychological disorders, often within
hospital settings as part of a collaborative
treatment team.

Marriage and Family Therapists and Invest 1-2 years in obtaining a master's degree
Mental Health and secure positions in hospitals or clinics to
Counselors deliver clinical services, typically under the
guidance of a clinician with a doctoral-level of
education.

Scientist-Practitioners Mental health practitioners approach their

clinical work with a scientific mindset.

Clinical Description

Presents This is a conventional and concise method

of signifying the reason for the individual's
visit to the clinic.

Clinical Description depicts the distinctive mix of actions, ideas,

and emotions that make up a particular
illness.

Clinical both refers to the different kinds of issues or

diseases that one would encounter in a
hospital or clinic, to the tasks involved in
evaluation and treatment.

Prevalence the entire population that possesses the

disorder.

Incidence Numerical data regarding the occurrence of

new cases within a specific timeframe.
● Sex Ratio

Course Also known as its natural progression, it

pertains to the evolution of the illness in a
patient.
● Chronic Course
● Episodic Course
● Time-limited Course

Prognosis Expected trajectory of a disorder.

● Acute Onset
● Insidious Onset

Developmental Psychology The examination of alterations in behavior

throughout a period.

Developmental Psychopathology The examination of alterations in atypical

behavior.

Life-span Developmental Investigation of atypical behavior throughout all

Psychopathology ages.

Etiology The exploration of inception, focusing on

the reasons behind the onset of a disorder,
 encompassing biological, psychological,
and social aspects.

Supernatural Model Entities that could range from deities, evil

spirits, and supernatural beings to natural
occurrences like magnetic fields, the moon,
or the stars.

THE SUPERNATURAL TRADITIONS

Nicholas Oresme Proposed that the condition of melancholy

(depression) was the underlying cause of
peculiar behaviors, not demonic influence.

Exorcism A remedy involving the enactment of

diverse religious ceremonies aimed at
purging individuals of malevolent spirits.

Sloth Indicators like deep sadness and lack of

energy, associated by the church with the
sin of acedia.

Mass Hysteria Clearly exhibit the occurrence of emotional

contagion, where one person's emotional
experience appears to influence and
spread to those in their proximity.

Paracelsus A Swiss medical practitioner, born between

1493 and 1541, dismissed the belief in
demonic possession, proposing instead
that lunar and stellar movements
significantly influenced people's
psychological well-being.

Roman Catholic Church Necessitates the utilization of all available

healthcare resources before contemplating
spiritual remedies like exorcism.

The Biological Tradition

Hippocrates A Greek medical practitioner and

acknowledged as the pioneer of modern
Western medicine.
● Hippocratic Corpus – Composed
approximately between 450 and 350
B.C., where they proposed that
mental health disorders could be
treated similarly to other medical
conditions.

Galen A Roman medical practitioner who later

 embraced the concepts of Hippocrates and
his colleagues, elaborating and establishing
a potent and impactful philosophical system
in the biological realm that persisted
substantially into the 19th century.

Humoral Theory of Disorders

humoral theory Possibly the initial instance of linking

psychological disorders to a "chemical
imbalance," a methodology now prevalent.
● Blood - from the heart
● Black bile - from the spleen
● Phlegm - from the brain
● Choler or Yellow bile - from the liver

Treatments A precise quantity of blood was extracted

(Bleeding or Bloodletting) from the body, frequently employing
leeches.

Treatments To prompt regurgitation, as advised in a

(Anatomy of Melancholy) renowned publication on depression from
1621, Robert Burton recommended
consuming tobacco and a partially cooked
cabbage.

The 19th Century

Advanced Syphilis A sexually transmitted infection resulting

from the invasion of a bacterial
microorganism into the brain, leading to
beliefs such as the perception that
everyone is conspiring against you
(persecutory delusion) or that you possess
god-like status (grandiose delusion),
alongside other peculiar behaviors.

Germ Theory Invented by Louis Pasteur in 1870, this

technique aided in pinpointing the particular
bacterial microbe responsible for syphilis.

Electric Shock and Brain Surgery were often used during the 1930s.

Benjamin Franklin Through experimental verification in the 1750s,

he demonstrated that a gentle and moderate
electric shock to the head resulted in a short
convulsion and temporary memory loss
(amnesia) with minimal harm otherwise.

Emil Kraepelin ● one of the founding fathers of

modern
 ● psychiatry.
● He wielded significant influence in
promoting the core tenets of the
biological approach, yet he had
limited involvement in actual
treatment practices.

The Psychological Tradition

Moral Therapy ● Alluded more to emotional or

psychological elements rather than a
set of behavioral guidelines.
● The concept of Moral Therapy as a
structured approach began with the
renowned French psychiatrist
Philippe Pinel and his close
collaborator Jean-Baptiste Pussin.

Benjamin Rush Frequently acknowledged as the initiator of

psychiatry in the United States, he
introduced the concept of moral therapy in
his initial endeavors at Pennsylvania
Hospital.

After the Mid-19th Century

Dorothea Dix ● Recognized as a heroic figure of the

19th century
● tirelessly advocated for reforms in
the care of mental illness.

Franz Mesmer ● Pioneer of hypnosis, a state where

highly receptive individuals
sometimes seem to be in a trance.
● He proposed to his patients that their
issue stemmed from an
imperceptible substance present in
all living beings known as "animal
magnetism," which could experience
blockages.

Jean-Martin Charco ● A notable neurologist who showed

the effectiveness of certain
mesmerism techniques.
● He significantly contributed to
establishing credibility for the
emerging field of hypnosis.

Catharsis The process of releasing emotional content

involves recalling and alleviating
unconscious emotional trauma, thereby
releasing the associated tension, which is
considered therapeutic.
Gweneth Angelee G. Baslote October 03, 2023
BS Psychology 4 - YC Group 5

Chapter 2: CURRENT PARADIGMS IN PSYCHOPATHOLOGY

Paradigm A conceptual framework or methodology is

the foundation upon which a scientist
operates. It consists of fundamental beliefs
and an overarching viewpoint that guides
how to perceive and investigate a subject. It
also dictates the methods for collecting and
analyzing pertinent data, shaping one's
understanding of the subject.

Systemic This stems from the term "system" and

suggests that any specific factor contributing
to psychological disorders should not be
viewed in isolation.

Multidimensional model The physical and behavioral aspects of an

individual, in addition to the cognitive,
emotional, social, and cultural surroundings,
are interconnected. Each element within this
system inevitably influences the others,
creating an intricate interconnected network.

Genetic Contributions to Psychopathology

Genes Extended strands of DNA (deoxyribonucleic

acid) located at different positions on
chromosomes within the cell nucleus.

Gregor Mendel Through his groundbreaking advancements

in genetics, we have understood that our
genetic makeup significantly shapes, if not
entirely determines, physical traits like hair
and eye color, as well as, to some degree,
height and weight.

Huntington’s disease A progressive neurological disorder typically

manifesting in one's early to mid-40s, stems
from a genetic flaw leading to the decline of
the basal ganglia in a specific brain region.
This condition brings about significant
alterations in personality, cognitive abilities,
and notably, motor skills, often resulting in
uncontrollable tremors or abrupt movements
across the body.

Phenylketonuria (PKU) This condition can lead to cognitive

 impairment (formerly known as "mental
retardation"). It is a congenital disorder
caused by the body's inability to metabolize
(break down) phenylalanine, a chemical
compound present in numerous foods.

Polygenic In other words, it is affected by numerous

genes, each exerting a minor impact, and
these effects can also be shaped by
environmental factors.

linkage studies Researchers analyze individuals who

possess both a specific disorder, like bipolar
disorder, and common traits such as eye
color. Since the gene location responsible
for eye color is identifiable, scientists can
endeavor to correlate established gene
locations (for eye color, in this instance) with
potential locations of a gene that contributes
to the disorder.

Diathesis– stress model People inherit predispositions to exhibit

specific characteristics or behaviors, which
can then be triggered in stressful
circumstances.

Gene–environment correlation Certain signs suggest that genetic factors could

model elevate the likelihood of an individual
encountering stressful life occurrences.

Neuroscience and its Contributions to Psychopathology

The Central Nervous System The human nervous system comprises the
central nervous system, which processes all
information received from our sensory
organs and responds accordingly.

Dendrites Contain many receptors that receive

messages in the form of chemical signals
from neighboring nerve cells, which are then
transformed into electrical signals.

Axon transmits these impulses to other neurons.

Synaptic cleft space between the axon of one neuron and

dendrite of another.

Neurotransmitters The bioactive substances released from one

neuron's axon relay signals to the dendrite
receptors of another neuron.
 The Structure of the Brain

Brain stem This is the primal and foundational section of

the brain, present in nearly all animals. This
area manages fundamental automatic
functions like breathing, sleeping, and
coordinated movement.

hindbrain ● Comprises the medulla, pons, and

cerebellum, the hindbrain oversees a
variety of involuntary functions like
respiration, cardiac pulsations
(heartbeat), and digestion.
● The cerebellum manages motor
coordination, and current studies
propose that irregularities in the
cerebellum might be linked to the
psychological condition autism,
although the correlation with motor
coordination remains unclear.

midbrain It aligns movement with sensory input and

houses components of the reticular
activating system, which plays a role in
arousal and stress processes, determining
whether we are awake or asleep.

thalamus and hypothalamus Engaged in overseeing behavior and

emotions on a broad scale, these structures
primarily serve as a bridge between the
forebrain and the lower regions of the brain
stem.

forebrain limbic system

● "Limbic" is derived from a term
meaning "border," reflecting its
location around the periphery of the
brain's core.
● The limbic system, a significant factor
in various psychological disorders,
encompasses key structures like the
hippocampus (resembling a sea
horse), cingulate gyrus (resembling a
girdle), septum (acting as a partition),
and amygdala (resembling an
almond), named after their respective
shapes.

basal ganglia This includes the caudate (tailed) nucleus.

When these structures are damaged, they
 can cause alterations in posture, spasms, or
tremors, suggesting their role in motor
activity control.

cerebral cortex This region holds over 80% of the neurons in

the central nervous system. It grants us our
uniquely human characteristics, enabling us
to envision the future, strategize, reason,
and innovate.
● The left hemisphere seems to be
chiefly responsible for verbal and
other cognitive processes.
● The right hemisphere seems to be
better at perceiving the world around
us and creating images.
➔ The temporal lobe is
associated with recognizing
various sights and sounds and
with long-term memory
storage.
➔ The parietal lobe is associated
with recognizing various
sensations of touch and
monitoring body positioning.
➔ The occipital lobe is associated
with integrating and making
sense of various visual inputs.
➔ The frontal lobe is the most
interesting from the point of
view of psychopathology. The
front (oranterior) of the frontal
lobe is called the prefrontal
cortex, and this is the area
responsible for higher cognitive
functions such as thinking and
reasoning, planning for the
future, as well as long-term
memory.

The Peripheral Nervous System

peripheral nervous system Collaborates with the brain stem to ensure

the body's proper functioning. It comprises
two primary divisions: the somatic nervous
system and the autonomic nervous system.

somatic nervous system Regulates muscle activity, so injury to this

region could hinder our ability to perform any
deliberate movement, such as speaking.
autonomic nervous system Encompasses both the sympathetic and
parasympathetic nervous systems.

sympathetic nervous system Is chiefly accountable for swiftly stimulating

the organs and glands under its influence,
triggering the body's mobilization during
moments of stress or danger.

parasympathetic system To counterbalance the effects of the

sympathetic system. Essentially, as we can't
sustain a constant state of heightened
alertness and readiness, the
parasympathetic nervous system assumes
control after the sympathetic nervous system
has been engaged for a period. It restores
our arousal to a standard level and supports
energy conservation by aiding in the
digestive process.

Behavioral and Cognitive Science

Cognitive science This pertains to the way we gain and

process information, as well as how we store
and eventually recall it, which is one of the
components of memory.

Learned helplessness Martin Seligman and his colleague Steven

Maier, also working with animals, described
this phenomenon, which occurs when rats or
other animals encounter conditions over
which they have no control.

Prepared learning Throughout the course of evolution, we have

developed a heightened readiness to learn
about specific types of objects or situations,
as this knowledge enhances the survival of
the species.

Emotions

emotion Shape our reactions to issues and difficulties

within our surroundings; they assist in
structuring our thoughts and actions, both
overtly and subtly, while directing our
conduct.

Action tendency A predisposition to act in a specific manner

(like attempting to escape), triggered by an
external circumstance (such as a threat) and
an emotional state (like terror), often
accompanied by a distinct physiological
 reaction.

Mood is a more persistent period of affect or

emotionality

Affect which often refers to the valence dimension

n (i.e.,pleasant or positive vs. unpleasant or
negative) of an emotion.

Circumplex model of emotions When considering the level of arousal

(whether it's high or low) alongside an
emotional encounter, we can position any
emotional experience on this
two-dimensional scheme.

Affective style This is occasionally employed to

encapsulate shared traits among an
individual's emotional states.

Fight or flight response the alarm reaction that activates

during potentially life-threatening
emergencies.

Cultural, Social, and Interpersonal Social and interpersonal influences profoundly

Factors affect both
psychological disorders and biology

Life-Span Development Important developmental changes occur at

all points in life.

The principle of equifinality is used in developmental

psychopathology to indicate that we must
consider a number
of paths to a given outcome
Rashida J. Elliot October 03, 2023
BS Psychology 4 - YC Group 5

CHAPTER 3: DIAGNOSIS AND ASSESSMENT

ASSESSING PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS

● The structured assessment and

measurement of psychological,
Clinical assessment biological, and social factors in an
individual who may be displaying
symptoms of a psychological
disorder.

● The process of ascertaining whether

Diagnosis the specific issue affecting the
individual aligns with all the criteria
defining a psychological disorder.

KEY CONCEPTS IN ASSESSMENT

- The initial step in clinical assessment involves gathering extensive information
about various aspects of an individual's functioning to identify the underlying cause
of the issue.

Three Basic Concepts

● Degree to which a measurement is

consistent.

○ Interrater reliability -
engaging in research to
Reliability validate assessment
instruments, guaranteeing
that two or more assessors
will produce consistent
outcomes, and assessing the
durability of assessment
methods across time.

● Whether something measures what

it is designed to measure.

○ Concurrent or Descriptive
Validity - contrasting the
outcomes of an assessment
Validity measure under evaluation
with those of more
established alternatives.

○ Predictive Validity - the

degree to which your
assessment predicts future
events or outcomes
effectively.
 Standardization ● The process through which a
specific set of standards or norms is
established for a technique to
ensure its consistent application
across various measurements.

Clinical Assessment Strategies and Procedures

● Mental Status Exam

○ Thorough physical
examination
Clinical Interview
○ Behavioral observation and
assessment

○ Psychological tests (if

needed)

● The central component of most

clinical practice involves collecting
information about an individual's
The Clinical Interview current and past behaviors,
attitudes, emotions, along with a
comprehensive history of their life
and the specific issue they are
currently facing.

● Structured monitoring of an
individual's actions, which takes
place when one person interacts
with another.

● Five categories:

○ Appearance and Behavior

(overt) - the clinician
observes and takes note of
any visible physical actions,
along with the individual's
clothing, overall appearance,
Mental Status Exam body posture, and facial
expressions.

○ Thought Process - does the

patient make sense when
talking, or are ideas
presented with no apparent
connection?
● Rate or flow of speech
● Talk quickly or slowly
● Continuity of speech
● Content
 ○ Delusions of Persecution -
someone thinks people are
after him and out to get
him all the time.

○ Delusions of Grandeur - an
individual thinks she is
all-powerful in some way.

○ Ideas of Reference -
all actions of others are
somehow connected to the
individual.

○ Hallucinations - perceiving
things that are not actually
present, such as sights or
sounds.

● Mood and affect - assessing mood

and affect is a crucial component of
the mental status examination.

○ Mood - the predominant

feeling state of the individual

○ Affect - the feeling of state

that accompanies what we
say at a given point.

● Intellectual Functioning - clinicians

form a preliminary assessment of an
individual's intellectual abilities by
engaging in conversation,
considering factors like vocabulary
choice, use of abstract concepts,
and metaphors.

● Sensorium - general awareness of

our surroundings, time, and place.

● Comprising carefully crafted and

tested questions designed to reliably
Semi-structured Clinical Interviews extract valuable information in a
consistent manner, ensuring
clinicians cover the most critical
aspects.

● If the patient with psychological

concerns has not undergone a
physical examination within the last
Physical Examination year, a clinician may advise getting
one, with special focus on medical
conditions that can be linked to the
 specific psychological issue.

● Utilizing direct observation to

Behavioral Assessment formally evaluate an individual's
thoughts, emotions, and actions
within particular situations or
contexts.

● Specific behaviors are pinpointed

and closely monitored with the aim
of discerning the factors that appear
to affect them.

The ABCs of Observation

Antecedent - Behavior - Consequence

The objective of gathering this data is to detect any apparent behavior trends and
subsequently create a treatment plan based on these observed patterns.

● Observational Assessment - focused on here and now.

○ Informal Observation - it relies on the observer’s recollection, as well as

interpretation of the events.

○ Formal Observation - involves identifying specific behaviors that are

observable and measurable.

A technique to observe their own behavior

to find patterns

● Behavior Rating Scales - utilized

as assessment instruments prior to
the commencement of treatment
Self-Monitoring and subsequently at intervals
throughout treatment to gauge
alterations in the individual's
behavior.

● Reactivity - a phenomenon that has

the potential to skew observational
data. The mere presence of an
observer might lead individuals to
modify their behavior.

● The tests employed for evaluating

psychological disorders need to
adhere to rigorous criteria. They
must demonstrate reliability,
ensuring that multiple assessors
administering the same test to the
Psychological Testing same individual will arrive at
consistent conclusions regarding the
issue. Additionally, they must exhibit
validity, meaning they accurately
 measure the attributes they claim to
assess

○ Intelligence Test - designed

to determine the structure
and patterns of cognition

○ Neuropsychological Test -
determines the possible
contribution of brain damage
or cognitive dysfunction to
the patient’s condition.

● Include a variety of methods in

which ambiguous stimuli, such as
pictures of people or things, are
presented to people who are asked
to describe what they see.
Projective Testing
○ Rorschach inkblot
○ Comprehensive System
○ Thematic Apperception Test
(TAT)
○ Children’s Apperception Test
(CAT)

● Self-report questionnaires that

assess personal traits.

○ Face Validity - the wording

Personality Inventories of the questions seems to fit
the type of information
desired.

○ Minnesota Multiphasic
Personality Inventory
(MMPI)

Intelligence Testing

Intelligence Test ● Created with the aim of forecasting

which individuals would perform
successfully in an educational
setting.

Stanford-Binet Test ● Predict academic success

Intelligence Quotient ● Test provided a score

● Prediction of the extent to which a

Deviation IQ child's school performance will differ
from the typical performance of
peers of the same age.

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, 4th ● Adults

 edition, or WAIS-IV

Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, ● Children

5th edition, or WISC-V

Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale ● Young children

of Intelligence, 4th edition, or WPPSI-IV

● Which measure vocabulary,

Verbal scales knowledge of facts, short-term
memory, and verbal reasoning skills

● Which assess psychomotor abilities,

Performance scales nonverbal reasoning, and ability to
learn new relationships

Neuropsychological Testing

● Assess aptitudes in domains like

understanding and expressing
language, focus and attentiveness,
memory, motor abilities, perceptual
Neuropsychological Tests skills, and the capacity for learning
and abstract thinking. This is done in
a manner that enables the clinician
to make informed inferences about
an individual's performance and the
potential presence of brain-related
impairments

Bender Visual–Motor Gestalt Test ● The task is for the child to copy what
is drawn on the card.

● Times when no problem is found

False Negatives even though some difficulty is
present.

False Positives ● Times when the test shows a

problem when none exists.

Neuroimaging: Pictures of the Brain

● The capacity to examine the

nervous system and capture
progressively precise images
detailing both the structure and
operation of the brain.

Two categories:
Neuroimaging
● Images of Brain Structure

○ X-ray - exposures of the

brain from different angles
 ○ Computerized Axial
Tomography (CAT) scan or
CT scan - procedure that
reconstructs pictures of
various slices of the brain

○ Magnetic Resonance
Imaging (MRI) - newly
devised methods that offer
higher precision (specificity
and accuracy) than a CT
scan, all without the inherent
risks associated with X-ray
examinations.

● Images of Brain Functioning

○ Positron Emission
Tomography (PET) scan -
we can learn what parts of
the brain are working and
what parts are not

○ Single Photon Emission

Computed Tomography
(SPECT)

○ Functional MRI or fMRI -

enable researchers to
observe the immediate
reaction of the brain to a brief
stimulus, like encountering a
new face.

Psychophysiological Assessment

● Observable alterations in the

Psychophysiology nervous system that mirror
emotional or psychological
occurrences

● Electrodes are positioned directly on

Electroencephalogram (EEG) various locations on the scalp to
capture distinct low-voltage electrical
currents.

● Patterns are documented in reaction

Event-related Potential (ERP) to particular occurrences, like the
exposure to a psychologically
significant stimulus, such as hearing.

● An indicator of sweat gland activity

Electrodermal Responding regulated by the peripheral nervous
system.
 ● Physiological responses, such as
blood pressure measurements, are
Biofeedback conveyed to the patient via meters
or gauges, allowing the patient to
attempt to manage these reactions.

Diagnosing Psychological Disorders

● To ascertain the distinct attributes

Idiographic Strategy related to an individual's personality,
cultural heritage, or specific life
circumstances.

Nomothetic Strategy ● Determine a general class of

problems.

Classification ● Create groupings or classifications

and allocate objects or individuals to
these categories based on their
common characteristics or
relationships.

Taxonomy ● Classification in a scientific context

● When implementing a taxonomic

Nosology system in the context of
psychological, medical, or other
clinical phenomena.

Nomenclature ● Describes the names or labels of the

disorders that make up the nosology

Classification Issues
Categorical and Dimensional Approaches
● Emil Kaepelin - classical or pure categorical approach to classification and the
biological tradition in the study of psychopathology.

● One of the first psychiatrists to classify psychological disorders from a biological

point of view.

○ Dementia Praecox - the decline in brain function that can occur as one
ages (dementia) and starts to develop earlier than expected, often referred
to as "premature" onset.

○ Dimensional Approach - take note of the diverse range of thoughts,

emotions, and actions exhibited by the patient and measure them using a
scale.

○ Prototypical Approach - it delineates specific fundamental attributes of an

entity, enabling you (and others) to categorize it, while also permitting
certain non-essential variances that may not alter its classification.

DSM

The first Diagnostic and Statistical ● Published in 1952 by the American

 Manual (DSM-I) Psychiatric Association

Second edition of Diagnostic and

Statistical Manual ● Published on the year 1968
(DSM-II)

Third Edition of the Diagnostic and

Statistical ● Published on the year 1980
Manual (DSM-III)

Three Changes

● DSM-III aimed to adopt a non-theoretical approach to diagnosis, depending on

precise descriptions of the disorders rather than on psychoanalytic or biological
theories of their origins.

● The precision and thoroughness with which the DSM-III outlined the criteria for
diagnosing a disorder enabled the examination of their reliability and validity.

● DSM-III enabled the assessment of individuals with potential psychological

disorders across five dimensions or axes.

● It permitted the clinician to collect

Multiaxial System information concerning the
individual's functioning across
multiple domains, rather than
restricting the focus solely to the
disorder itself.

○ Axis I. The disorder itself,

such as schizophrenia or
mood disorder, was
represented only on the first
axis.

○ Axis II. What were thought to

be more of personality were
listed on Axis II.

○ Axis III. Consisted of any

physical disorders and
conditions that might be
present.

○ Axis IV. The clinician rated,

in a dimensional fashion, the
amount of psychosocial
stress the person reported.

○ Axis V. And the current level

of adaptive functioning was
indicated on Axis V.

The fourth edition (DSM-IV) ● Published in 1994

 ● The distinction between organically
Change in DSM-IV based disorders and psychologically
based disorders that was present in
the previous edition was eliminated.

● The multiaxial system remained in DSM-IV, with some changes in the five axes.

● Only personality disorders and intellectual disorders were now coded on Axis II.

DSM IV Axes

● Pervasive developmental disorders,

learning disorders, motor skills
Axis I. disorders, and communication
disorders, previously coded on Axis
II, were now all coded on Axis I.

● Only personality disorders and

Axis II. intellectual disability were now
coded on Axis II.

Axis III. ● Consisted of any physical disorders

and conditions that might be
present.

● The new Axis IX is used for

Axis IV. reporting psychosocial and
environmental problems that might
have an impact on the disorder.

● Axis V was essentially unchanged. It

Axis V. indicates the current level of
adaptive functioning.

DSM-IV-TR

● In the year 2000, a committee revised the text explaining the research literature
associated with the DSM-IV diagnostic category and made slight modifications to
certain criteria in order to enhance uniformity.

● Helped clarify many issues related to the diagnosis of psychological disorders.

DSM-5

● Published in 2013

● Divided into three main sections

● First section - introduces the manual and describes how best to use it.

● Second section - presents the disorders themselves

● Third section - includes descriptions of disorders or conditions that need

further research before they can qualify as official diagnoses.
 ● The most significant alteration involves the elimination of the multiaxial system.
The previous axes I, II, and III have now been integrated into the descriptions of
the disorders themselves, and clinicians can make a distinct note for pertinent
psychosocial or contextual factors (previously found on Axis IV) or the level of
disability (formerly on Axis V) linked to the diagnosis.

● The utilization of dimensional axes to assess the seriousness, intensity, frequency,

or duration of specific disorders has been significantly expanded in DSM-5.

● Having been diagnosed with multiple

Comorbidity psychological disorders
simultaneously.
Rashida J. Elliot October 03, 2023
BS Psychology 4 - YC Group 5

CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH METHODS IN PSYCHOPATHOLOGY

Basic Components of a Research Study

Science ● Comes from the latin scire, “to

know”.

Theory ● A set of statements designed to

provide an explanation for a group
of observations.

Hypotheses ● Anticipations regarding the

outcomes that should occur if a
theory is accurate.

● Plan for testing the hypothesis.

○ Dependent variable -
incorporates the elements
you intend to assess in the
Research Design individuals you are
researching.

○ Independent variable -
aspect manipulated or
thought to influence the
change in the DV.

● Internal validity - the independent

variable is causing the dependent
variable to change.
Two forms of Validity
● External validity - refers to how
well the result relates to things
outside the study.

● Hypotheses are essentially informed

conjectures about the world, ideally
Hypothesis based on a review of prior research
related to the topic of interest.

Testability ● Ability to support the hypothesis

Internal and External Validity

● Participants in the experimental

Control group group encounter the independent
variable, whereas those in the
control group do not.

● The procedure of allocating

 Randomization individuals to various research
groups in a manner that ensures
each person has an equal likelihood
of being placed in any of the groups.

● Generate within the controlled

Analogue models environment of the laboratory
conditions that closely resemble (are
analogous to) the phenomenon
being investigated.

● The degree to which findings are

Generalizability applicable to all individuals within a
specific population (e.g., individuals
with a specific disorder).

Types of Research Methods

Case study ● Conducting an in-depth examination

of one or more individuals who
exhibit behavioral and physical
patterns.

● Statistical relationship between two

variables.

○ Positive correlation -
relationship between two
Correlation variables that change
together.

○ Negative correlation -
relationship between two
variables which change in
opposing directions

● Involves the manipulation of an

independent variable and the
observation of its effects.

○ Manipulating variable -
Experiment withdrawing a variable in a
way that would not have
occurred naturally.

○ Clinical trial - treatment of

psychological disorders.

● Individuals who resemble the

Control groups experimental group in all aspects
except that they are not subjected to
the independent variable.

● Behavior changes due to a person's

Placebo effect anticipation of change, rather than
 due to any deliberate manipulation
by an experimenter.

Placebo control groups ● Address the expectation concern.

Double-blind control ● A variant of the placebo control

group procedure.

Genetics and Behavior Across Time and Cultures

● Analyzing the root causes and treatment strategies for an individual's behavioral
issue or disorder necessitates the consideration of various factors.

1. Inherited influences

2. How behavior will change or remain the same over time

3. Effects of culture

Studying Genetics

Genome ● ‘’All the genes of an organism”.

Phenotypes ● Observable characteristics or

behavior of the individual.

Genotypes ● Unique genetic makeup of individual

people.

Endophenotypes ● Genetic mechanisms that ultimately

play a role in the fundamental issues
responsible for the symptoms and
challenges encountered by
individuals with psychological
disorders.

Basic Approaches Used to Assess Gene-Environment

Influences in Psychological Disorders
 ● Genes play a role in rendering
Genetic Influences certain individuals susceptible to
schizophrenia.

● The greater the severity of a

parent's schizophrenia, the higher
the likelihood that their children will
also develop the condition. Your
Family Studies highest probability, approximately
48%, of having schizophrenia is if it
has impacted your identical
(monozygotic) twin, who shares
100% of your genetic information.

● Researchers pinpoint adoptees

exhibiting a specific behavioral
Adoption Studies pattern or psychological disorder
and endeavor to locate first-degree
relatives who were raised in distinct
family environments.

● In the realm of behavioral genetics,

nature provides a unique experiment
that offers researchers the most
Twin Studies direct insight into the influence of
genes in development: identical
(monozygotic) twins (Jansen, Mous,
White, Posthuma, & Polderman,
2015).

Linkage and Association Studies

Association Studies ● Locating specific genes, also uses

genetic markers
 ● Compare markers in a large group
of people with a particular disorder.

● Three of the most reliable genetic

influences that make one
susceptible to schizophrenia include
sections on:

Linkage Studies ○ Chromosome 8

(Neuregulin 1 or NRG1)

○ Chromosome 6
(dystrobrevin-binding
protein 1 or DTNBP1)

○ Chromosome 22
(catecholamine
O-methyltransferase or
COMT)

Prevention Intervention Strategies

● Encompass initiatives aimed at

Health Promotion or Positive reaching entire populations,
Development Strategies including those who may not be at
immediate risk, with the goal of
preventing future issues and
encouraging protective behaviors.

● Concentrate on whole populations

Universal prevention and address particular risk factors
without singling out specific
individuals.

● Targets entire at-risk groups and

Selective prevention devises tailored interventions with
the goal of assisting them in averting
future issues.

● An approach intended for individuals

Indicated prevention who are displaying early indications
of issues but have not yet developed
a psychological disorder.

Cross-Sectional Designs

● A variant of correlation research involves the comparison of individuals of various

ages. Researchers gather a cross-section of the population from different age
groups and assess them based on certain characteristics.

○ Cohort - participants in each age group

○ Cohort effect - confounding of age and experience, is a limitation of the

cross-sectional design.
 ○ Retrospective information - “looking back”

● Instead of examining various groups

of people from various age ranges,
researchers may opt to track a
single group over time and directly
evaluate the changes occurring
Longitudinal Designs within its members.

● Cross-generational effect -
Involves attempting to extend the
study's findings to groups whose
experiences diverge from those of
the participants in the study.

Research Ethics

● Ethics play a crucial role in the research process, and various professional
organizations have outlined ethical guidelines to safeguard the welfare of research
participants.

○ Informed Consent - A research participant's formal consent to participate

in a study after receiving complete information about the research's nature
and the participant's role in it.
Sohaiden D. Dimas

PSY 98 – YC

Chapter 5: Depressive Disorders

Depressive Disorders Their head may reverberate with self-
recrimination.

They may become focused on their flaws and

deficits

Paying attention can be exhausting View things in

a very negative light and they lose hope.

Fatigue, low energy, physical aches, and pains,

and hard to fall asleep.

• Psychomotor Retardation
• Psychomotor Agitation

Major Depressive Disorder - requires five depressive symptoms to be

present for at least 2 weeks.

- Is an episodic disorder, because symptoms tend

to be present for a period of time and the clear.

Major depressive episodes tend to recur—once a

given episode clears, a person is likely to
experience another episode.

The average number of episodes is about four.

Subclinical Depression - Someone who has only three symptoms for 10
days.
Persistent Depressive Disorder (Dysthymia) - Are chronically depressed—more than half of
the time for at least 2 years.

The DSM-IV-TR distinguishes chronic MDD from

dysthymia, but DSM-5 criteria do not make this
distinction. Rather, the DSM-5 combines these
two chronic forms of depression.

- Places emphasis of the chronicity of symptoms.

Epidemiology and Consequences of Depressive Persistent depressive disorder appears to be
Disorders rarer than MDD.

MDD is twice as common among women as

among men. (But in Jewish adults, Jewish men is
more commonly depressed than Jewish Women)

Socioeconomic status also matters—MDD is

three times as common among people who are
impoverished.

The prevalence of depression varies across

cultures.

One possible explanation for the increasing

depression rates lies in the social changes that
have occurred over the past 100 years

• e.g., SUPPORT STRUCTURES: tightly knit

extended families and marital stability, which
were more widespread in the past— are often
absent for people today

The symptoms of depression vary somewhat

across the life span:

Children: often results in somatic complaints,

such as headaches or stomachaches
Adults: depression is often characterized by
distractibility and complaints of memory loss

Both MDD and Persistent Depressive Disorder are

often associated, or comorbid, with other
psychological problems.

Depression is related to the onset and more

severe course of cardiovascular disease.
 People with dysthymia were more likely to
require hospitalization, to attempt suicide, and to
be impaired in their functioning than were
people with MDD
Seasonal Affective Disorder: The Winter Blues A slower metabolism in the winter

It is believed that seasonal affective disorder is

related to changes in the levels of melatonin in
the brain. Melatonin is exquisitely sensitive to
light and dark cycles and is only released during
dark periods.
BIPOLAR DISORDERS
Bipolar I disorder – A single episode of mania

[Bipolar disorders tend to recur]

[Experience four or more episodes]

Bipolar II disorder – At least one major depressive episode and at
least one episode of hypomania
Cyclothymic disorder – A second chronic mood disorder

- Person has frequent but mild symptoms of

depression, alternating with mild symptoms of
mania
Manic Symptoms are the defining feature of each of these disorders. These disorders are labeled
“bipolar” because most people who experience mania will also experience depression during their
lifetime (mania and depression are considered opposite poles)
Mania - is a state of intense elation or irritability
accompanied by other symptoms
Hypomania - Mania involves significant impairment,
hypomania does not.

- hypomania involves a change in functioning that

does not cause serious problems. The person
with hypomania may feel more social, flirtatious,
energized, and productive
Epidemiology and Consequences of Bipolar Bipolar I disorder is much rarer than MDD
Disorders
It is extremely hard to estimate the prevalence of
milder forms of bipolar disorder, because some
of the most commonly used diagnostic interviews
are not reliable.

More than half of those with bipolar spectrum

disorders report onset before age 25

But these conditions are being seen with

increasing frequency among children and
adolescent

Bipolar disorders occur equally often in men and

women, but women experience more episodes of
depression than do men

Bipolar I disorder is among the most severe forms

of mental illnesses.

People with bipolar disorders are unable to work

about 25 percent of the time

People with bipolar disorders are at high risk for a

range of other medical conditions, including
cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, obesity,
and thyroid disease
Subtypes of Depressive Disorders and Bipolar The mood disorders are highly heterogeneous--
Disorders people who have been diagnosed with the same
disorder may show very different symptoms.
 Rapid cycling and Seasonal specifiers refer to the
overall pattern of episodes over time, whereas
other specifiers describe the current episode of
major depression or mania
Etiology of Mood Disorders

Neurobiological Factors in Mood Disorders

1. Genetic Factors The more careful studies of MZ (identical) and DZ

(fraternal) twins yield heritability estimates of 37
percent for MDD.

Bipolar disorder is among the most heritable of

disorders.

Genetic models, however, do not explain the

timing of manic symptoms.

Three neurotransmitters have been studied the

2. Neurotransmitters most in terms of their possible role in mood
disorders.

a. Norepinephrine
b. Dopamine – reward system
c. Serotonin

Researchers initially believed that mood

disorders would be explained by absolute levels
of neurotransmitters in the synaptic cleft that
were either too high or too low. However,
Studies of antidepressants were one source of
contradictory evidence.

It would seem, then, that a simple change in

norepinephrine, dopamine, or serotonin levels is
not a good explanation for why the drugs
alleviate depression.

For decades, researchers studied the metabolites

of neurotransmitters as an index of how much of
a neurotransmitter was being released into the
synaptic cleft. Findings from metabolite studies
were not consistent, suggesting that many
people with depression did not have disturbances
in the absolute levels of neurotransmitters;

researchers began to focus on the idea that

mood disorders might be related to the
 sensitivity of postsynaptic receptors that respond
to the presence of neurotransmitter in the
synaptic cleft.
Dopamine People with depression reacts less when taking
dopamine drugs. This could imply that dopamine
levels are low in depression.

Drugs that increase dopamine levels triggers

manic symptoms. This could imply that this drug
is overly sensitive in bipolar disorders.
Serotonin receptors Lowering serotonin levels by depleting levels of
tryptophan, a major precursor of serotonin.

A person who has insensitive receptors is

expected to experienced depressive symptoms as
levels drop.

Studies show that depleting tryptophan (and so

lowering serotonin levels) causes temporary
depressive symptoms among people with a
history of depression or a family history of
depression.

Current thinking is that people who are

vulnerable to depression may have less sensitive
serotonin receptors, causing them to respond
more dramatically to lower levels of serotonin.
On the case of bipolar disorder, it seems to be
related to diminished sensitivity of the serotonin
receptors since stronger mood reactions to
tryptophan depletion was observed.
Brain-Imaging Studies

Two different types:

1. Structural studies - focus on whether a brain region is smaller or
larger among people with a disorder compared to
control participants.
2. Functional Activation studies - focus on whether there is a change in the
activity of a brain region. Used to gain
information on how people use the cells they
have, inferred based on blood flow to different
areas of the brain
Four primary brain structures that have been 1. Amygdala helps a person to assess how
most studied emotionally important a stimulus is. e.g., when
you see your crush, you feel happy and excited.
 Functional brain activation studies show elevated
activity of the amygdala among people with
MDD.

e.g., when shown negative words or pictures of

sad or angry faces, people with current MDD
have a more intense and sustained reaction in
the amygdala.

These findings suggest that amygdala

hyperreactivity to emotional stimuli in depression
might be part of the vulnerability to depression
rather than just the aftermath of being
depressed.

[SAC, DPC, and the Hippocampus appear to be

particularly important to emotion regulation]

MDD is associated with greater activation of the

subgenual anterior cingulate. This was studied
using deep brain stimulation. Electrodes decrease
activity in this area and thus, reports say that
there was a immediate relief.

Diminished activation of the hippocampus during

exposure to emotional stimuli in people with
depression and of the dorsolateral prefrontal
cortex when asked to regulate their emotions.

One theory is that the overactivity in the

amygdala during depression causes
oversensitivity to emotionally relevant stimuli. At
the same time, systems involved in regulating
emotions are compromised.
The Neuroendocrine System: Cortisol HPA axis (hypothalamic-pituitary-Adrenocortical
Dysregulation axis) the biological system that manages
reactivity to stress, may be overly active during
episodes of MDD.

The HPA axis triggers the release of cortisol, the

main stress hormone.

Various findings link depression to high cortisol

levels.

Cushing’s syndrome – causes over secretion of

cortisol, frequently experience depressive
symptoms.
 Too much cortisol seems to produce depressive
symptoms.

dexamethasone suppresses cortisol secretion

over the course of the night.

For some of those with MDD, dexamethasone

does not suppress cortisol secretion, particularly
among those with psychotic symptoms of
depression

[Poor regulation of the HPA system] Prolonged

high levels of cortisol can cause harm to body
system such as damage to the hippocampus.
MDD and Bipolar disorder occurs possibly
because of poorly regulated cortisol system and
cortisol levels.
Social Factors in Depression: Life Events and The role of stressful life events in triggering
Interpersonal Difficulties episodes of depression is well established.

There is much evidence that stress can cause

major depressive disorder.

People report that they experienced a very

serious life event (that was not caused by
symptoms) in the year before their depression
began

People with depression report that they had

been experiencing long-term chronic stressors
before the depression, such as poverty

Psychological and cognitive vulnerabilities also

appear to be important

The diathesis–stress models

One diathesis may be a lack of social support.

A long line of research has focused on expressed

emotion (EE), defined as a family member’s
critical or hostile comments toward or emotional
overinvolvement with the person with
depression.

High EE strongly predicts relapse in depression.

 depressive symptoms seem to elicit negative
reactions from others.
Psychological Factors in Depression
Neuroticism - a personality trait that involves the tendency to
react to events with greater-thanaverage
negative affect, predicts the onset of depression.
Cognitive Theories - negative thoughts and beliefs, Pessimistic and
self-critical thoughts
Beck’s theory - depression is associated with a negative triad:
negative views of the self, the world, and the
future.

- people with depression acquired negative

schema through experiences such as loss of a
parent, the social rejection of peers, or the
depressive attitude of a parent
Hopelessness Theory - the most important trigger of depression is
hopelessness.

- believed to be triggered by life events that have

important consequences for the person and/or
the person’s self-evaluations
Rumination Theory - tendency to repetitively dwell on sad
experiences and thoughts, or to chew on material
again and again

- The most detrimental form of rumination may

be a tendency to brood or to regretfully ponder
why a sad event happened
Fitting Together the Etiological Factors in A study found that people with this
Depressive Disorders polymorphism were at greater risk for depression
after a stressful life event than those without the
polymorphism

Some people seem to inherit a propensity for a

weaker serotonin system, which is then
expressed as a greater likelihood to experience
depression after a severe stressor

genetic vulnerability could set the stage for

depressive disorder after major negative life
events.
Social and Psychological Factors in Bipolar a. Depression in Bipolar Disorder – negative life
Disorder events, neuroticism, negative cognitive styles,
lack of social support.

b. Predictors of Mania
 b.1 Reward Sensitivity - reflects a disturbance in
the reward system of the brain.

highly responsive to rewards on a selfreport

measure

a particular kind of life event predicts increases in

manic symptoms among people with bipolar I
disorder-- specifically, life events that involve
attaining goals.

c. Sleep Disruption - to disruptions in sleep and

circadian
Psychological Treatment of Depression
1. Interpersonal Psychotherapy - Builds on the idea that depression is closely tied
to interpersonal problems

- The core of the therapy is to examine major

interpersonal problems

- With the goal of helping the person identify his

or her feelings about these issues
2. Cognitive Therapy - Aimed at altering maladaptive thought patterns.

- The therapist tries to help the person with

depression to change his or her opinions about
the self

-the therapist helps the person look for evidence

that contradicts this overgeneralization

– the client is asked to monitor their thoughts

each day and to practice challenging overly
negative thoughts
3. Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) - focuses on relapse prevention after successful
treatment for recurrent episodes of major
depression

- The goal of MBCT is to teach people to

recognize when they start to become depressed
and to try adopting what can be called a
“decentered” perspective, viewing their thoughts
merely as “mental events”

- the person is taught over time to develop a

detached relationship to depressionrelated
thoughts and feelings
4. Behavioral Activation (BA) Therapy - to increase participation in positively reinforcing
activities so as to disrupt the spiral of depression,
withdrawal, and avoidance

- . Findings suggested that the BA component of

CT performs as well as the full package does in
relieving MDD and preventing relapse over a 2-
year follow-up period
5. Behavioral Couples Therapy - researchers work with both members of a
couple to improve communication and
relationship satisfaction.
Psychological Treatment of Bipolar Disorder Medication is a necessary part of treatment but
psychological treatments can supplement
medications to help address social and
psychological problems.
Psychoeducational approaches - typically help people learn about the symptoms
of the disorder, the expected time course of
symptoms, treatment strategies.
Cognitive Therapy - draws on many of the types of techniques that
are used in major depressive disorder
Family-focused Therapy (FFT) - aims to educate the family about the illness,
enhance family communication, and develop
problem-solving skills
Biological Treatment of Mood Disorders
The two major biological treatments:
1. Electroconvulsive Therapy for Depression - entails deliberately inducing a momentary
seizure and unconsciousness by passing a 70- to
130-volt current through the patient’s brain.

- is more powerful than antidepressant

medications for the treatment of depression.
Medications for Depressive Disorders Three major categories of antidepressant drugs:
• Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs)
• Tricyclic antidepressants
• Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)

MAOIs are the least used antidepressants

because of their life-threatening side effects.

SSRIs are the most commonly prescribed

antidepressants because it has fewer side effects.
Research Comparing Treatments for Major Combining psychotherapy and antidepressant
Depressive Disorder medications bolsters the odds of recovery by
more than 10–20 percent
Mood-stabilizing medications - Medications that reduce manic symptoms.
Lithium - a naturally occurring chemical element, was the
first mood stabilizer identified.
 - Typically used in combination with other
medications
Two classes of medications other than lithium: 1. Anticonvulsant (antiseizure) medications
- e.g., Divalproex sodium (Depakote)
- have been found to be related to a small
increase in suicidal ideation

2. Antipsychotic medications - e.g., Olanzapine

(Zyprexa)
Depression and Primary Care • Research has shown that primary care doctors,
because of time pressure, often fail to diagnose
episodes of depression.

• More intensive programs are recommended.

A Final Note on Treatment - antidepressant medications and ECT both
stimulate growth of neurons in the hippocampus.

- one line of research is examining whether

antidepressants alter chemical messengers called
second messengers
Suicidal ideation - refers to thoughts of killing oneself and is much
more common than attempted or completed
suicide.
Suicide - behaviors that are intended to cause death and
actually do so.
Nonsuicidal self-injury - behaviors that are meant to cause immediate
bodily harm but are not intended to cause death
Two key issues in defining NSSI: 1.) The person did not intend to cause death

2.) The behavior is designed to immediately

Epidemiology of Suicide and Suicide Attempts I. Men are four times more likely than women to
kill themselves

II. Women are more likely than men are to make

suicide attempts that do not result in death

III. The suicide rate increases in old age.

Models of Suicide
Psychological disorders
Neurobiological Models - heritability is about 48 percent for suicide
attempts.

- there is a connection between serotonin and

suicide—low levels of serotonin’s major
metabolite, 5-HIAA.
 - Serotonin dysfunction appears particularly
relevant for understanding violent suicide

- abnormal dexamethasone suppression test

response
Social Factors - Economic and social events
Psychological Models - Suicide may have many different meanings. e.g.,
to induce guilt in others, force love from others,
to make amends for wrongs.

- Relate suicide to poor problem solving.

Problem-solving deficits do predict suicide
attempts prospectively.

- Hopelessness if strongly tied to suicidality.

Treating the Associated Psychological Disorder One approach to suicide prevention builds on our
knowledge that most people who kill themselves
are suffering from a psychological disorder.
Medications for mood disorders reduce the risk
of suicidality three- to fourfold

• ECT
• Antidepressants
• Antipsychotic medication
Treating Suicidality Directly ▪ Cognitive behavioral approaches appear to be
the most promising therapies for reducing
suicidality

▪ Hospitalize them as a short-term means of

keeping them safe until they can begin to
consider ways of improving their life
Thomas Szasz - argues that it is impractical and immoral to
prevent suicide. It is impractical because people
who are determined to die will be able to do so.
Suicide Prevention ▪ Programs can be offered to the entire
community, and outcomes can be tracked
carefully
Sohaiden D. Dimas

PSY 98 – YC

Chapter 6: Anxiety Disorders

Anxiety – apprehension over an anticipated problem.
Fear – a rection to immediate danger.
Anxiety disorders – the most common type of psychiatric diagnosis

CLINICAL DESCRIPTIONS OF THE ANXIETY DISORDERS

Specific Phobias - a disproportionate fear caused by a specific

object or situation

- examples: claustrophobia [closed spaces] &

acrophobia [ fear of heights]
Social Anxiety Disorder - a persistent, unrealistically intense fear of social
situations that might involve being scrutinized by,
or even just exposed to, unfamiliar people.

- called S.A.D in DSM-5 because it is more

pervasive and interfere more with normal
activities than other phobias.
 - experiences these symptoms for longer periods
of their life Social anxiety disorder can range in
severity from a relatively few specific fears to a
more generalized host of fears.
Panic Disorder - characterized by frequent panic attacks that are
UNRELATED to specific situations.
Panic attacks – a sudden attack of intense apprehension,
terror, and feelings of impending doom.
Depersonalization – outside of one’s body.
Derealization – world’s not being real.
Agoraphobia - anxiety about situation in which it would be
embarrassing or difficult to escape if anxiety
symptoms occurred. Usually in crowds.

DSM-5 separation of Agoraphobia as a subtype is

in lined with the International Classification of
Diseases (ICD).
Generalized Anxiety Disorder - central feature: Worry.

– DSM-5 criteria require that symptoms must be

present for at least 6 months to qualify for a
diagnosis of GAD.
Comorbidity in Anxiety Disorders More than half of people with one anxiety
disorder meet the criteria for another anxiety
disorder during their life.

It is very common for people with one anxiety

disorder to report subthreshold symptoms
(symptoms that do not meet full diagnostic
criteria) of other anxiety disorders
Gender and Sociocultural Factors in the anxiety
disorders

Gender Several studies suggest that women are at least

twice as likely as men to be diagnosed with an
anxiety disorder.

Possible explanation:
Women may be more likely to report their
symptoms.

Social factors, like gender roles.

Women may also experience different life

circumstances than do men.
Culture The prevalence of anxiety disorders varies across
cultures.

* Kayak-angst – similar to panic disorder in Inuit

people of western Greenland

* Koro – fear that one’s genital will recede [in

Southern and eastern Asia]

* Shenkui – anxiety because of loss of semen

[China, Sri Lanka, and India]
Common Risk Factors across the Anxiety
Disorders
Mowrer’s two-factor model Two steps:

- Through classical conditioning [person learns to

fear a neutral stimulus]

- Through operant conditioning [person gains

relief by avoiding the CS]

Neurobiological Factors: The Fear Circuit and the

Activity of Neurotransmitters
Fear circuit – involved when people are feeling anxious or
fearful.
Amygdala – particularly activated among people with
anxiety disorders.
The medial prefrontal cortex – important in helping to regulate amygdala
activity.

- involved in extinguishing fears as well as

emotion regulation strategies to control
emotions
Personality: Behavioral Inhibition and
Neuroticism
Behavioral inhibition - tendency to become agitated and cry when
faced with novel toys, people or other stimuli.
[For infants]
Neuroticism - a personality trait defined by the tendency to
react to events with greater-than-average
negative effect
Cognitive Factors
Sustained Negative Beliefs about the Future The key issue is not why people think so
negatively but, rather, how these beliefs are
sustained.

One reason these beliefs are sustained is that

people think and act in ways that maintain these
beliefs—to protect against feared consequences,
they engage in safety behaviors.
Perceived Control People who think that they lack control over their
environments.
Attention to Threat People who pay more attention to negative cues
in their environment than do people without
anxiety disorders.
Etiology of Specific Phobias Behavioral Factors: Conditioning of Specific
Phobias
Etiology of Social Anxiety Disorder Behavioral Factors: Conditioning of Social Anxiety
Disorder
Cognitive Factors: Too Much Focus on Negative ➢ People with social anxiety disorders appear to
Self-Evaluations have unrealistically negative beliefs about the
consequences of their social behaviors.

➢ They attend more to how they are doing in

social situations and their own internal
sensations than other people do.

➢ Attention to internal cues rather than external

(social) cues.
Etiology of Panic Disorder
Neurobiological Factors

Locus Coerulues - major source of the neurotransmitter

norepinephrine in the brain, and norepinephrine
plays a major role in triggering sympathetic
nervous system activity.

Monkeys exposed to feared stimuli, such as

snakes, show high activity in the locus coeruleus.
In humans, drugs that increase activity in the
locus coeruleus can trigger panic attacks, and
drugs that decrease activity in the locus
 coeruleus, including clonidine and some
antidepressants, decrease the risk of panic
attacks.
Cognitive Factors in Panic Disorder Cognitive perspectives focus on catastrophic
misinterpretations of somatic changes.

- According to this model, panic attacks develop

when a person interprets bodily sensations as
signs of impending doom.
Anxiety Sensitivity Index - Measures the extent to which people respond
fearfully to their bodily sensations.
Etiology of Agoraphobia Less is known about its etiology however it
appears to be related to genetic vulnerability and
life events.
Cognitive Factors: The Fear-of-Fear Hypothesis Suggests that agoraphobia is driven by negative
thoughts about the consequences of
experiencing anxiety in public.
Etiology of Generalized Anxiety Disorder Tends to co-occur with other anxiety disorders
and with depression.

Deficits in the functioning of the GABA system

appear to be involved in GAD.
Cognitive Factors: Why Do People Worry? Worrying is actually reinforcing because it
distracts people from more powerful negative
emotions and images. Indeed, worrying actually
decreases psychophysiological signs of arousal.
Thus, by worrying, people with GAD may be
avoiding unpleasant emotions that would be
more powerful than worry. But because of this
avoidance, their underlying anxiety about these
images does not extinguish.
Treatments of the Anxiety Disorders Systematic desensitization – first widely used
exposure treatment where client is first taught
relaxation skills. However, now, researchers
documented that exposure works even without
relaxation component.

CBT

Behavioral view of exposure: extinguishing the

fear response

Cognitive view of exposure: correct their

mistaken beliefs that they are unable to cope
with the stimulus.
Psychological Treatments of Specific Anxiety
Disorders
Psychological Treatment of Phobias In vivo exposure, which is more effective thatn
systematic desensitization.
Psychological Treatment of Social Anxiety Exposure
Disorder Stop using safety behaviors.
Psychological Treatment of Panic Disorder Psychodynamic treatment that involves 24
sessions.

Panic Control Therapy (PCT) – one wellvalidated

cognitive behavioral treatment approach.

- In PCT, the therapist uses exposure

techniques—that is, he or she persuades the
client to deliberately elicit the bodily sensations
associated with panic.
Psychological Treatment of Agoraphobia Exposure technique
Psychological Treatment of Generalized Anxiety Relaxation technique – to promote calmness.
Disorder
Cognitive therapy
Medications That Reduce Anxiety Sedatives, minor tranquilizers, or anxiolytics -
drugs that reduce anxiety.

Two common types of medications:

1.) BENZODIAZEPINES
2.) ANTIDEPRESSANTS [e.g., SNRIs]

Key problem: Most people relapse once they stop

taking medications. Psychological treatments are
typically considered the preferred treatment of
most anxiety disorders.
Combining Medications with Psychological For most anxiety disorders, adding anxiolytics to
Treatment psychotherapy is NOT BENEFICIAL except for
S.A.D.

D-cycloserine (DCS) – one that enhances learning.

Retchelle Chris E. Dumat-ol
PSY 98 YC

OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE RELATED AND TRAUMA-RELATED DISORDERS

- defined by repetitive thoughts and behaviors
that are so extreme that they interfere with
everyday life.
- the trauma-related disorders include
posttraumatic stress disorder and acute
stress disorder, two conditions that are
triggered by exposure to severely traumatic
events.

OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE and RELATED Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), Body

DISORDERS dysmorphic disorder, and hoarding disorder -
a quality of repetitive thought as well as
irresistible urges to engage repetitively in
some behavior or mental act.

Clinical Descriptions and Epidemiology of the Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) ● Obsession – intrusive and recurring

thoughts, images that are persistent
and uncontrollable.

Foci for obsessions include: fear of

contamination, sexual or aggressive
impulses, body problems, religion, and
symmetry or order.

● Compulsion – repetitive, clearly

excessive behaviors or mental acts to
reduce anxiety caused by obsessive
thoughts or to prevent some calamity
from occurring.

Common reported compulsions include the

following:
● Pursuing cleanliness and orderliness,
sometimes through elaborate rituals
● Performing repetitive, magically
protective acts, such as counting or
touching a body part
● Repetitive checking to ensure that
certain acts are carried out (e.g doors
locked, gas burner, faucet turned off)
● OCD tends to begin either before age
10 or else in late adolescence/early
 adulthood.
● The disorder is slightly more common
among women than men
● OCD is a chronic disorder

Body Dysmorphic Disorder ● People that are preoccupied with one or

more imagined or exaggerated defects in
their appearance.
● They perceive themselves as ugly or
monstrous in their appearance.
● Like with OCD, people with BDD find it very
hard to stop thinking about their concerns and
are compelled to engage in certain behaviors.
● BDD occurs slightly more often in women
than in men.
○ Women: skin, breasts, and legs
○ Men: height, penis size, or body hair

Common compulsive behaviors include: ● Checking their appearance in the

mirror
● comparing their appearance to that of
other people
● asking others for reassurance about
their appearance
● using strategies to change their
appearance or camouflage
disliked body areas
● Social and cultural factors surely
play a role in how people
decide whether they are attractive.
● BDD typically begins in late
adolescence.

Hoarding Disorder ● People with hoarding disorder are

extremely attached to their
possessions and are very resistant to
efforts to get rid of them.
● Hoarding is more common among
men than among women.

Consequences of hoarding: ● Respiratory condition

● Poor hygiene
● Poor physical health
● Poverty

NOTE: Hoarding was not recognized as a

diagnosis until the DSM-5. In the DSM-IV-TR,
hoarding is described as a symptom that can
accompany OCD.
Etiology of the Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders

Three closely related areas of the brain are 1.) Orbitofrontal cortex
unusually active in people with OCD: 2.) Caudate nucleus
3.) Anterior cingulate

Etiology of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder ● Can be hereditary

○Ranging from 30-50%Cognitive
models:
● Persistent intrusive thoughts deficit
in yedasentience ○ Yedasentience-
subjective feeling of knowing
● Behavioral models:
○ operant conditioning of compulsions
○ compulsions are reinforced because
they reduce anxiety
○ mistrust in memory
○ feeling a lack of confidence about
their memories
○ thought suppression

● 2 factors:
1. people with OCD tend to believe
that thinking about
something can make it more likely to
occur
2. People with OCD are also likely to
describe especially
deep feelings of responsibility for what
occurs

Etiology of Body Dysmorphic Disorder ● Cognitive models:

○ able to accurately see and process their
physical
features
○ focus on details more than on the whole
○ spend a lot of time focusing on their
appearance

Etiology of Hoarding Disorder ● Cognitive behavioral model:

○ hoarding is related to poor organizational
abilities,
unusual beliefs about possessions, and
avoidance
behaviors.
○ Difficulties with attention and categorizing
objects.
○ Avoidance behavior
Treatment of the Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders

Medication Antidepressant - commonly used medications

for obsessive-compulsive and related
disorders.
● clomipramine - most commonly prescribed
antidepressant for OCD
● “Selective” serotonin reuptake inhibitors
(SSRIs)- newer class of antidepressants that
have fewer side effects
○ appear to be effective in the treatment of
OCD and BDD There are no randomized
controlled trials of medications for hoarding
disorder
● findings of one study indicated that patients
with hoarding disorder demonstrated as much
of a response to the SSRI paroxetine (Paxil)
as did those with OCD). Although these
findings are promising, there is a need for
randomized controlled trials of medications
for hoarding disorder.

Psychological Treatment Exposure and response prevention (ERP)

- most widely used psychological treatment

For Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - people expose themselves to situations that

elicit the compulsive act and then refrain from
performing the compulsive ritual

Reason behind this approach:

1.) Not performing the ritual exposes the
person to the full force of the anxiety
provoked by the stimulus.
2.) Not performing the ritual exposes the
person to the full force of the anxiety
provoked by the stimulus.

For Body Dysmorphic Disorder -provide exposure to the most feared

activities

● clients might be asked to interact with

people who could be critical of their
looks
● For response prevention, clients are
asked to avoid the activities they use
to reassure themselves about their
appearance, such as looking in
mirrors and other reflective surfaces.
 Cognitive behavioral Treatment (CBT) –
● Several trials have shown that
cognitive behavioral treatment (CBT)
produces a major decrease in body
dysmorphic symptoms compared to
control conditions.

For Hoarding Disorder ● focuses on the most feared situation

for people with hoarding disorder
● getting rid of their objects

● halting the rituals that they engage in

to reduce their anxiety (counting or
sorting their possessions)

Therapy cannot begin to address the

hoarding symptoms until the person
develops insight. To facilitate,
motivational strategies are used:

● help the person consider reasons to

change
● schedule sessions to work on
“decluttering.”

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Acute Stress Disorder

-are diagnosed only when a person has experienced a traumatic event.

Clinical Description and Epidemiology of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Acute Stress
Disorder

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) - development of characteristic symptoms

following exposure to one or more traumatic
events
- development of varying characteristics
symptoms (e.g. fear-based emotional and
behavioral, anhedonic or dysphoric mood and
negative cognitions, arousal and
reactive-externalizing) following exposure to
one or more traumatic events

In the DSM-5, the symptoms for PTSD are

grouped into four major categories:
● Intrusively re experiencing the
traumatic event
● Avoidance of stimuli associated with
the event.
 ● Other signs of mood and cognitive
change after the trauma.
● Symptoms of increased arousal and
reactivity.

Diagnosis of these disorders are considered

only in the context of serious traumas.
- the person must have experienced
or witnessed an event that involved
actual or threatened death, serious
injury, or sexual violation.

Women are twice as likely to develop PTSD

than in men.

Difference of DSM-5 and DSM-IV-TR criteria ● The criteria where a person

of PTSD experiences intense emotion at the
time of the trauma is removed in the
DSM-5.
● DSM-IV-TR criteria has been criticized
for being broad.
● Experience of difficulty concentrating,
sleep, diminished interest must begin
after the trauma in the DSM 5.

Acute stress Disorder (ASD) ● diagnosed when symptoms occur

between 3 days and 1 month after a
trauma.
● symptoms of ASD are fairly similar to
those of PTSD, but the duration is
shorter.
● ASD does predict a higher risk of
developing PTSD within 2 years

Two (2) major concerns:

1.) Some criticized its diagnosis because it

could stigmatize short-term reactions to
serious traumas.
2.) Most people who go on to meet diagnostic
criteria for PTSD do not experience ASD in
the first month after the trauma.

Etiology of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Nature of the Trauma: Severity and the Type ● The severity of the trauma
of Trauma Matter influences whether or not a person will
 develop PTSD.
● Among people who have been
exposed to traumas, those exposed to
the most severe traumas seem most
likely to develop PTSD.
○ World War II,
○ 9/11 terrorist attack

Traumas caused by humans are more

likely to cause PTSD than are natural
disasters.

● For example, rapes, combat

experience, abuse, and assault all are
associated with higher risk than are
natural disasters.

Neurobiological Factors: Hippocampus and ● PTSD appears to be related to greater

Hormones activation of the amygdala and
diminished activation of the medial
prefrontal cortex.
○ regions that are integrally
involved in learning and
extinguishing fears

● PTSD appears uniquely related to the

function of the hippocampus.
○ Hippocampus- role in memory,
particularly for memories
related to emotions

Coping Dissociation
● feeling removed from one’s body or
emotions or being unable to
remember the event.
● people who try to suppress memories
of the trauma
● Dissociation and memory suppression
may keep theperson from confronting
memories of the trauma.
● Having better intellectual ability
● - Ability to make sense of horrifying
events, allowing more friends and
family members to help with that
process, helps people avoid
symptoms after traumatic events.

Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Acute Stress Disorder

Medications ● SSRIs = antidepressant

Psychological Treatment of Posttraumatic ● The goal of treatment is to extinguish the

Stress Disorder fear response, particularly the
overgeneralized.
● The focus of exposure treatment is on
memories and reminders of the original
trauma.
● The person is being encouraged to confront
the trauma to gain mastery and extinguish the
anxiety.
● Imaginal exposure - The person
deliberately remembers the event.
● These treatments were found to be more
effective in treating PTSD than medications.

Psychological Treatment of Acute Stress Is it possible to prevent the development of

Disorder PTSD by offering treatment to people who
have developed acute stress disorder (ASD)?

- Short-term (five or six session) cognitive

behavioral approaches that include exposure
appear to do so.
Retchelle Chris E. Dumat-ol
PSY 98 YC

Dissociative Disorders and Somatic Symptom-related Disorders

-In early versions of the DSM, these disorders

and the anxiety disorders were all classified
together as neuroses, because anxiety was
considered the predominant cause of these
symptoms.

- Starting with DSM-III, in which classification

is based on observable symptoms instead of
presumed etiology, the diagnostic category of
neurosis was abandoned, and somatic
symptom-related disorders (formerly called
somatoform disorders) and dissociative
disorders became diagnostic categories
separate from each other and from the
anxiety disorders.

-In the dissociative disorders, the person

experiences disruptions of consciousness he
or she loses track of self-awareness, memory,
and identity.

-In the somatic symptom-related

disorders, the person complains of bodily
symptoms that suggest a physical defect or
dysfunction, sometimes dramatic in nature.

Dissociative Disorders The DSM-5 includes three major dissociative

disorders:
aspects of cognition or experience being
inaccessible consciously.
-Dissociation involves the failure of
consciousness to perform its usual role of
integrating our cognitions, emotions,
motivations, and other aspects of experience
in our awareness.
-Some mild dissociative states are very
common—in one example of a loss of
self-awareness, a preoccupied person may
miss a turn on the road home when thinking
about problems.
-Dissociative disorders are thought to result
from extremely high levels of dissociation.
Both psychodynamic and behavioral theorists
consider pathological dissociation to be an
 avoidance response that protects the person
from consciously experiencing stressful
events.

Dissociation and Memory -Dissociative disorders raise fundamental

questions about how memory works under
stress.
-Psychodynamic theory suggests that in
dissociative
disorders, traumatic events are repressed.
-In this model, memories are forgotten
(i.e.,dissociated) because they are so
aversive.
-Memory for emotionally relevant stimuli is
enhanced by stress, while memory for neutral
stimuli is impaired
-People under stress tend to focus on the
central features of the threatening situation
and to stop paying attention to peripheral
features
-Some theorists believe that severe
dissociation could interfere with memory. That
is, in the face of severe trauma, memories
may be stored in such a way that they are not
accessible to awareness later when the
person has returned to a more normal state

Dissociative Amnesia ● dissociative amnesia is unable to recall

important personal information, usually
information about some traumatic experience.
● The information is not permanently lost, but
it cannot be retrieved during the episode of
amnesia, which may last for as short a period
as several hours or as long as several years.
● In a more severe subtype of amnesia called
fugue (from the Latin fugere, “to flee”), the
memory loss is more extensive.
● The person may even succeed in
establishing a fairly complex social life. More
often, however, the new life does not
crystallize to this extent, and the fugue is of
relatively brief duration, consisting for the
most part of limited but apparently purposeful
travel, during which social contacts are
minimal or absent.
● As in other forms of amnesia, recovery is
usually complete, although it takes varying
amounts of time; after recovery, people are
fully able to remember the details of their life
and experiences, except for those events that
 took place during the fugue.
● The pattern of memory deficits in
dissociative amnesia highlights an important
distinction. Typically, dissociative disorders
involve deficits in explicit memory but not
implicit memory.

Depersonalization/Derealization Disorder In depersonalization/derealization disorder,

the person’s perception of the self or
surroundings is disconcertingly and
disruptively altered. The altered perceptions
are usually triggered by stress.

Dissociative Identity Disorder According to the DSM-5, a diagnosis of

dissociative identity disorder (DID) requires
that a person have at least two separate
personalities, or alters—different modes of
being, thinking, feeling, and acting that exist
independently of one another and that
emerge at different times.

Epidemiology of DID ● There were no identified reports of

DID or dissociative amnesia before
1800
● Reports of DID were relatively
frequent between 1890 and 1920, with
77 case reports appearing in the
literature during that time
● After 1920, reports of DID declined
until the 1970s, when they increased
markedly, not only in the United States
but also in countries such as Japan
● In the 1990s, prevalence estimates
were obtained in formal studies of 1.3
percent in Winnipeg, Canada and 0.4
percent in Sivas, Turkey
● DSM-III, which was published in 1980,
defined the diagnosis of DID for the
first time
● The case of Eve White, popularized in
the book The Three Faces of Eve as
well as a movie, provided a highly
detailed report of DID.

Etiology of DID There are two major theories of DID: the

posttraumatic model
and the sociocognitive model.
 ● both theories actually suggest that severe
physical or sexual abuse during childhood
sets the stage for DID.
● The posttraumatic model proposes that
some people are particularly likely to use
dissociation to cope with trauma, and this is
seen as a key factor in causing people to
develop alters after trauma
● The other theory, the sociocognitive model,
considers DID to be the result of learning to
enact social roles. According to this model,
alters appear in response to suggestions by
therapists, exposure to media reports of DID,
or other cultural influences
● A leading advocate of the idea that DID is
basically a role-play suggests that people
with histories of trauma may be particularly
likely to have a rich fantasy life, to have
had considerable practice at imagining they
are other people,
and to have a deep desire to please others

Treatment of DID ● an empathic and gentle stance, with the

goal of helping the client function as one
wholly integrated person. The goal of
treatment should be to convince the person
that splitting into different personalities is no
longer necessary to deal with traumas.
● people with DID are hospitalized to help
them avoid self-harm and to begin the
treatment in a more intensive fashion.
● Psychodynamic treatment is probably used
more for DID and the other dissociative
disorders than for any other psychological
disorders. The goal of this treatment is to
overcome repressions as DID is believed to
arise from traumatic events that the person is
trying to block from consciousness.
LAI NERULLY O. GAPUTAN BLOCK YC
BS PSYCHOLOGY – 4
CHAPTER 9: SCHIZOPHRENIA
Schizophrenia - Comes from the combination of the Greek words for “split”
(skhizein) and “mind” (phren),
- Reflected Bleuler’s belief that underlying all the unusual
behaviors shown by people with this disorder was an
associative splitting of the basic functions of personality.
- Characterized by disturbances in thought, emotion, behavior -
disordered thinking.
- Withdraw from other people and from everyday reality.
- Schizophrenia sometimes begins in childhood, but it usually
appears in late adolescence or early adulthood, and usually
somewhat earlier in men than in women. People with
schizophrenia typically have a number of acute episodes of
their symptoms and less severe but still debilitating symptoms
between episodes.
Schizophrenia has a profound impact on an individual's life, encompassing their thoughts,
emotions, and actions. This can create difficulties in maintaining employment, living
autonomously, and forming meaningful connections with others.
Tragically, individuals with schizophrenia face a significantly elevated risk of suicide, being 12
times more likely to die from suicide compared to the general population. Additionally, research
by Saha, Chant, and McGrath in 2007 indicates a heightened risk of mortality from various other
causes for individuals with schizophrenia.

Positive Symptoms - Comprise excesses and distortions, such as hallucinations and

delusions.
- For the most part, acute episodes of schizophrenia are
characterized by positive symptoms.
1. Delusions - beliefs that are contrary to reality and firmly
held in spite of disconfirming evidence, are common
positive symptoms of schizophrenia.
• Thought Insertion - a person may believe that
thoughts that are not his or her own have been
placed in his or her mind by an external source.
• Thought Broadcasting - a person may believe
that his or her thoughts are broadcast or
transmitted, so that others know what he or she is
thinking.
• Grandiose Delusions - an exaggerated sense of
his or her own importance, power, knowledge, or
identity.
• Ideas of Reference - incorporating unimportant
events within a delusional framework and reading
 personal significance into the trivial activities of
others.
2. Hallucinations - sensory experiences in the absence of
any relevant stimulation from the environment.
- They are more often auditory than visual.
- 74 percent of one sample of people with schizophrenia
reported having auditory hallucination.
Negative Symptoms - Consist of behavioral deficits; they include avolition,
(Experience and asociality, anhedonia, blunted affect, and alogia.
Expression) 1. Avolition - refers to a lack of motivation and a seeming
absence of interest in or an inability to persist in what are
usually routine activities, including work or school,
hobbies, or social activities.
2. Asociality - severe impairments in social relationships.
3. Anhedonia - loss of interest in or a reported lessening of
the experience of pleasure.
Types of pleasure experiences:
• Consummatory Pleasure
➢ Refers to the amount of pleasure
experienced in-the-moment or in the
presence of something pleasurable.
➢ For example, the amount of pleasure you
experience as you are eating a good meal
is consummatory pleasure.
• Anticipatory Pleasure
➢ Refers to the amount of expected or
anticipated pleasure from future events or
activities.
➢ For example, the amount of pleasure you
expect to receive after graduating from
college is anticipatory pleasure.
➢ People with schizophrenia appear to have a
deficit in anticipatory pleasure but not
consummatory pleasure.
4. Blunted Affect - lack of outward expression of emotion.
- A person with this symptom may stare vacantly, the muscles
of the face motionless, the eyes lifeless.
5. Alogia - refers to a significant reduction in the amount of
speech.
- Simply put, people with this symptom do not talk much.
- A person may answer a question with one or two words and
will not be likely to elaborate on an answer with additional
detail.
Although we have just described five different negative symptoms, research suggests these
symptoms can be understood more simply as representing two domains.
Disorganized Symptoms - Also know as formal thought disorder.
- This symptom includes disorganized speech and disorganized
behavior.
1. Disorganized Speech
 ➢ Refers to problems in organizing ideas and in
speaking so that a listener can understand.
➢ Speech may also be disorganized by what are
called loose associations, or derailment, in which
case the person may be more successful in
communicating with a listener but has difficulty
sticking to one topic.
2. Disorganized Behavior
➢ They may go into inexplicable bouts of agitation,
dress in unusual clothes, act in a childlike or silly
manner, hoard food, or collect garbage.
➢ They seem to lose the ability to organize their
behavior and make it conform to community
standards.
➢ They also have difficulty performing the tasks of
everyday living.
Movement Symptoms One other symptom of schizophrenia does not fit neatly into the
categories we have just presented, but it is a part of the DSM criteria.
1. Catatonia
➢ Several motor abnormalities.
➢ People with this symptom may gesture repeatedly,
using peculiar and sometimes complex sequences of
finger, hand, and arm movements, which often seem to
be purposeful.
➢ Some people manifest an unusual increase in their
overall level of activity, including much excitement,
wild flailing of the limbs, and great expenditure of
energy similar to that seen in mania.
2. Catatonic Immobility
➢ People adopt unusual postures and maintain them for
very long periods of time.
➢ Catatonia can also involve waxy flexibility—another
person can move the patient’s limbs into positions that
the patient will then maintain for long periods of time.

The rest of the 6 months can have these symptoms happening before or after that active phase.
This rule helps in not labeling people with a brief episode of symptoms as having schizophrenia.
 The new rules (DSM-5) also got rid of different types of schizophrenia like paranoid,
disorganized, catatonic, and undifferentiated. They removed them because they weren't very useful
for diagnosing or treating schizophrenia. These subtypes often overlapped, and knowing the
subtype didn't really help doctors understand or treat the illness better.

Schizophrenia is now part of a group of disorders in DSM-5 called "Schizophrenia Spectrum

and other Psychotic Disorders." There are several other disorders in this group as well, which are
listed in Table 9.2.

Two Brief Psychotic - symptoms of schizophreniform disorder are the same as those
Disorders: of schizophrenia but last only from 1 to 6 months.
1. Schizophreniform
Disorder
2. Brief Psychotic - lasts from 1 day to 1 month and is often brought on by
Disorder extreme stress, such as bereavement.
These two disorders had one change in DSM-5: the symptoms must include hallucinations,
delusions, or disorganized speech.

- Schizoaffective disorder involves symptoms of both schizophrenia and mood disorders.

Delusional disorder involves delusions but no other symptoms of schizophrenia, and the
delusions are less bizarre than those in schizophrenia.
- A new category called attenuated psychosis syndrome was added to the DSM-5 Section
III as a condition requiring further study; there are arguments for and against adding this
new disorder.
Etiology of Schizophrenia
- The strong evidence supporting the genetic transmission of schizophrenia includes family
and twin studies pointing to a genetic link. Adoption studies reveal a significant connection
between having a parent with schizophrenia and the likelihood of developing the disorder,
often in early adulthood. Familial high-risk studies follow the offspring of a parent with
schizophrenia to explore childhood problems as potential predictors of the disorder's onset.
Association studies identify specific genes like DTNBP1, NGR1, COMT, and BDNF as
linked to schizophrenia. Additionally, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) reveal
rare genetic mutations known as copy number variations (CNVs) associated with
schizophrenia.
- The genetic predisposition to develop schizophrenia may involve neurotransmitters.
- Dopamine Theory - schizophrenia is related to excess activity of the neurotransmitter
dopamine is based principally on the knowledge that drugs effective in treating
schizophrenia reduce dopamine activity.
 - It appears that increased sensitivity of dopamine receptors in the brain is related to the
positive symptoms of schizophrenia. The negative symptoms may be due to dopamine
underactivity in the prefrontal cortex. Other neurotransmitters, such as serotonin,
glutamate, and GABA, are also involved.
- In some individuals with schizophrenia, brain scans reveal enlarged ventricles and
irregularities in key brain regions such as the prefrontal and temporal cortex. These
structural anomalies may stem from factors like maternal viral infections during early
pregnancy or birth complications. The interplay of brain development during adolescence,
stress, and the HPA axis sheds light on the onset of symptoms usually seen during late
adolescence, even if underlying brain disruptions originated during gestation. Notably,
cannabis use during adolescence is associated with an increased schizophrenia risk,
particularly for those genetically predisposed to the disorder.
- Schizophrenia is often diagnosed in individuals from lower socioeconomic backgrounds,
especially in urban areas, likely due to the disorder's negative impact on social status.
Family dynamics with high expressed emotion and increased life stress play a significant
role in relapses. Looking back at childhood, studies have uncovered pre-existing issues
before schizophrenia onset, though they weren't aimed at predicting the disorder, making
interpretation challenging. Clinical studies focusing on individuals with mild symptoms
have identified young people at an elevated risk of developing schizophrenia spectrum
disorders.
Treatment
- Treatments often include a combination of short-term hospital stays (during the acute
phases of the illness), medication, and psychosocial treatment. A problem with any kind of
treatment for schizophrenia is that some people with schizophrenia lack insight into their
impaired condition and refuse any treatment at all
- Antipsychotic drugs, especially the phenothiazines, have been widely used to treat
schizophrenia since the 1950s. These first-generation drugs are some- what effective, but
they can also produce serious side effects. Second-generation antipsychotic drugs, such as
clozapine and risperidone, are equally as effective as first-generation drugs, and they have
their own set of side effects.
Psychological - Neglecting the psychological and social dimensions of
Treatments schizophrenia undermines support efforts for individuals and
their families dealing with the illness. The recommended
treatment approach for schizophrenia, outlined by the
schizophrenia Patient Outcomes Research Team (PORT),
emphasizes a combination of medications and psychosocial
interventions.
- In a significant study conducted in China involving over 1200
individuals, a combination of medication and comprehensive
psychosocial interventions, including family therapy,
cognitive behavior therapy, psychoeducation, and skills
training, demonstrated notably positive effects. Both groups,
one receiving only medication and the other the combined
treatment, showed similar reductions in schizophrenia
symptoms. However, those who received the combined
treatment exhibited lower rates of relapse and treatment
discontinuation, along with marked improvements in their
overall functioning (Guo, Zhai, Liu, et al., 2010).
Social Skills Training - Designed to teach people with schizophrenia how to
successfully manage a wide variety of interpersonal
 situations—discussing their medications with their
psychiatrist, ordering meals in a restaurant, filling out job
applications, interviewing for jobs, saying no to drug dealers
on the street, and reading bus schedules.
Family Therapy - aimed at reducing high levels of expressed emotion has been
shown to be valuable in preventing relapse.
Training individuals with schizophrenia in social skills and utilizing different forms of cognitive
behavioral therapies have proven effective in helping them navigate the inherent challenges of
family and community life. Moreover, recent advancements in cognitive behavioral therapy aimed
at reshaping the thought processes of those with schizophrenia are displaying positive potential.
Cognitive remediation therapies specifically target enhancements in cognitive abilities,
contributing to a holistic approach in treating schizophrenia (utilizing Cognitive Behavior
Therapy, Psychoeducation, Case Management, and Residential Treatment).
LAI NERULLY O. GAPUTAN BLOCK YC
BS PSYCHOLOGY – 4

CHAPTER 10: SUBSTANCE USE DISORDERS

Addiction - typically refers to a more severe substance use disorder that is
characterized by having more symptoms, tolerance, and
withdrawal, by using more of the substance than intended, by
trying unsuccessfully to stop, by having physical or
psychological problems made worse by the drug, and by
experiencing problems at work or with friends.
Tolerance - is indicated by either:
1. larger doses of the substance being needed to produce the
desired effect.
2. the effects of the drug becoming markedly less if the
usual amount is taken.

Withdrawal - Refers to the negative physical and psychological effects that

develop when a person stops taking the substance or reduces
the amount.
- Effects of abrupt withdrawal of alcohol:
• Depressed
• Weak
• Anxious
• Restless
• Unable to sleep
• Muscle tremors (fingers, face eyelids, lips, tongue)
• Blood pressure (high)
 • Temperature (high)
Alcohol Use Disorder - A person who has been drinking heavily for a number of
years may experience delirium tremens (DTs).
Polydrug Abuse - Abusing more than one drug at a time.
Short-term Effects of Alcohol: Long-term Effects of Alcohol:
• Reduced tension (from the stimulation • Malnutrition
of GABA receptors) • Amnestic syndrome (severe memory loss)
• Increases level of Serotonin and • Cirrhosis of the Liver (a disease in which
Dopamine (pleasurable effects some liver cells become engorged with fat
*sheesh) and protein, impeding their function; some
• Slowed thinking cells die)
• Memory loss • Heart failure
• Erectile Dysfunction
• Hypertension
• Stroke
• Capillary hemorrhages
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome - It is a condition where the growth of the fetus is slowed, and
(FAS) cranial, facial, and limb anomalies can be produced.
Tobacco Use Disorder
Nicotine - Is the addicting agent of tobacco.
- The neural pathways that become activated stimulate the
dopamine neurons in the mesolimbic area that seem to be
involved in producing the reinforcing effects of most drugs.
Secondhand Smoke - The smoke coming from the burning end of a cigarette.
- Contains higher concentrations of ammonia, carbon
monoxide, nicotine, and tar than does the smoke actually
inhaled by the smoker.
Marijuana - Consists of the dried and crushed leaves and flowering tops
of the hemp plant, Cannabis Sativa.
- Physical Effects of Marijuana:
• Bloodshot and itchy eyes
• Dry mouth and throat
• Increased appetite
• Reduced pressure within the eye
• Raised Blood pressure
- Psychological Effects of Marijuana:
• Rapid shifts in emotion
• Dull attention
• Fragmented thoughts
• Impaired memory
• Hallucinations (heavy doses)
Hashish - Much stronger than marijuana.
- Is produced by removing and drying the resin exudate of the
tops of cannabis plants.
Opiates - The opiates include opium and its derivatives morphine,
heroin, and codeine.
 - They are considered sedatives, but in the DSM-5, opiate use
disorder will likely be in a category distinct from
sedative/hypnotic/anxiolytic use disorder.
- Psychological and Physical effects of Opiates:
• Euphoria
• Drowsiness
• Lack of coordination
• A feeling of “rush”
• A feeling of warm
• Worries and fears
• Great self-confidence (4-6 hours)
Opium - A reddish-brown heavy-scented addictive drug prepared from
the juice of the opium poppy, used as a narcotic and in
medicine as an analgesic.
Morphine - Named after Morpheus, the Greek god of dreams, was
separated from raw opium.
- This bitter-tasting powder proved to be a powerful sedative
and pain reliever.
- Before its addictive properties were noted, it was commonly
used in medicines.
Heroin - A highly addictive analgesic drug derived from morphine,
often used illicitly as a narcotic producing euphoria.
Hydrocodone - Is most often combined with other drugs, such as
acetaminophen (the active agent in Tylenol), to create
prescription pain medicines such as Vicodin, Zydone, or
Lortab.
Oxycodone - Is found in medicines such as Percodan, Tylox, and
OxyContin (one of the most commonly abused drugs
containing oxycodone)
Stimulants
Stimulants - Act on the brain and the sympathetic nervous system to
increase alertness and motor activity.
Amphetamines - Produce their effects by causing the release of norepinephrine
and dopamine and blocking the reuptake of these
neurotransmitters.
Methamphetamine - Can be taken orally or intravenously.
(Abuse of an - It can also be taken intranasally (i.e., by snorting).
Amphetamine) - In a clear crystal form, the drug is often referred to as “crystal
meth” or “ice”.
Cocaine - Cocaine was first extracted from the leaves of the coca shrub
and has been used since then as a local anesthetic.
- Cocaine is a vasoconstrictor, causing the blood vessels to
narrow.
- Psychological and Physical effects of Cocaine:
• Reducing pain
• Blocks the reuptake of dopamine
• Increase sexual desire
• Produce feelings of self-confidence
• Chills
 • Nausea
• Insomnia
• Paranoid feelings
• Hallucinations
Crack (a new form of - Comes in a rock-crystal form that is then heated, melted, and
cocaine smoked.
Hallucinogens, Ecstasy, and PCP
LSD - Manufactured by Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann in 1938
- A synthetic crystalline compound, lysergic acid diethylamide,
that is a potent hallucinogenic drug.
- The term psychedelic, from the Greek words for “soul” and
“to make manifest,” was applied to emphasize the
subjectively experienced expansion of consciousness reported
by users of LSD and often referred to by them as a “trip.”
- LSD can alter a person’s sense of time (it seems to go
slowly).
- A person using LSD may have sharp mood swings but can
also experience an expanded consciousness such that he or
she seems to appreciate sights and sounds like never before.
Hallucinogens - Refers to the main effects of such drugs, hallucinations.
- Unlike the hallucinations in schizophrenia, however, these are
usually recognized by the person as being caused by the drug.
Flashbacks (Hallucinogen - Visual recurrences of psychedelic experiences after the
Persisting Perception physiological effects of the drug have worn off.
Disorder, or HPPD) - They occur in some people who have used LSD, most
frequently in times of stress, illness, or fatigue.
Mescaline - An alkaloid and the active ingredient of peyote, was isolated
in 1896 from small, disklike growths of the top of the peyote
cactus.
- Effects are thought to be due to stimulating serotonin
receptors
- The drug has been used for centuries in the religious rites of
Native American people living in the U.S. Southwest and
northern Mexico
Psilocybin - A crystalline powder that Hofmann isolated from the
mushroom Psilocybe mexicana in 1958.
Ecstasy - Contains compounds from both the hallucinogen and
amphetamine families, but its effects are sufficiently different
from either that some have suggested putting it in its own
category, called the “entactogens”
- Became illegal in 1985.
- Made from MDMA (methylenedioxymethamphetamine)
- Contributes in the release and the subsequent reuptake of
serotonin.
- Enhances intimacy and insight, improves interpersonal
relationships, elevates mood and self-confidence, and
promotes aesthetic awareness.
 - Also cause muscle tension, rapid eye movements, jaw
clenching, nausea, faintness, chills or sweating, anxiety,
depression, depersonalization, and confusion.
PCP (Phencyclidine) - Often called angel dust.
- Developed as a tranquilizer for horses and other large
animals, it generally causes serious negative reactions,
including severe paranoia and violence.
- PCP affects multiple neurotransmitters in the brain, and
chronic use is associated with a variety of neuropsychological
deficits.
Etiology of Substance Use Disorders
- A number of etiological factors have been proposed to account for alcohol and drug
dependence, and some have more support than others.
- Genetic factors play a role in alcohol dependence and perhaps also nicotine dependence.
The ability to tolerate alcohol and metabolize nicotine may be what is heritable. Genes that
are important for the operation of the dopamine system may be an important factor in
explaining how genes influence substance dependence.
- Several studies show how genes interact with the environment for smoking and alcohol
problems.
- The most-studied neurobiological factors are brain systems associated with dopamine
pathways—the major reward pathways in the brain. The incentive-sensitization theory
describes brain pathways involved in liking drugs and wanting (i.e., craving) drugs.
- Psychological factors have also been evaluated, and there is support for the idea that
tension reduction plays a role, but only under certain circumstances, such as when
distractions are present.
- Expectancies about the effects of drugs, such as reducing tension, increasing aggression,
and increasing sexual prowess, have been shown to predict drug and alcohol use.
Expectancies about the effects of drugs are also powerful; the greater the perceived risk of
a drug, the less likely it will be used.
- Studies of personality factors also help us understand why some people may be more prone
to abuse drugs and alcohol.
- Sociocultural factors play a role, including the culture, availability of a substance, family
factors, social settings and networks, and advertising. There is support for both a social
influence model and a social selection model.
Treatment of Substance Use Disorders
Inpatient Hospital - First step in treatment for substance use disorders is called
Treatment detoxification.
- Inpatient treatment is probably necessary for people with few
sources of social support who are living in environments that
encourage the abuse of alcohol, especially people with
serious psychological problems in addition to their alcohol
problems.
Alcoholics Anonymous - The largest and most widely known self-help group in the
world.
- Founded in 1935 by two recovering alcoholics.
- The group provides emotional support, understanding, and
close counseling as well as a social network. Members are
urged to call on one another around the clock when they need
companionship and encouragement not to relapse.
Couples Therapy - Behaviorally oriented marital or couples therapy has been
found to achieve some reductions in problem drinking, even a
year after treatment has stopped, as well as some
improvement in couples’ distress generally
Cognitive and Behavioral - Contingency management therapy is a cognitive behavior
Treatments treatment for alcohol and drug use disorders that involves
teaching people and those close to them to reinforce
behaviors inconsistent with drinking—for example, taking the
drug Antabuse (discussed later in the chapter) and avoiding
situations that were associated with drinking in the past.
➢ It is based on the belief that environmental
contingencies can play an important role in
encouraging or discouraging drinking.
➢ This therapy also includes teaching job-hunting and
social skills, as well as assertiveness training for
refusing drinks.
- Relapse prevention is another cognitive behavioral treatment
that has been effective with alcohol and drug use disorders.
➢ The goal is to help people avoid relapsing back into
drinking or drug use once they have stopped.
Motivational - Intervention contains two parts:
Interventions 1. A comprehensive assessment that included the Timeline
Follow Back (TLFB) interview, which carefully assesses
drinking in the past 3 months, and
2. A brief motivational treatment that included
individualized feedback about a person’s drinking in
relation to community and national averages, education
about the effects of alcohol, and tips for reducing harm
and moderating drinking.
- Results from the study showed that the TLFB alone decreased
drinking behavior, but that the combination of the TLFB and
motivational intervention was associated with a longer-lasting
reduction in drinking behavior, up to 1 year after the
interview and intervention.
Moderation in Drinking - Controlled drinking was introduced into the domain of
alcohol treatment by Mark and Linda Sobell (Sobell &
Sobell, 1993).
➢ It refers to a pattern of alcohol consumption that is
moderate, avoiding the extremes of total abstinence
and inebriation.
➢ Findings of one well-known treatment program
suggested that people with less severe alcohol
problems can learn to control their drinking and
improve other aspects of their lives as well.
- The Sobells’ current approach to teaching moderation to
people with alcohol use disorder is called guided self-change.
➢ The basic assumption is that people have more
potential control over their immoderate drinking than
they typically believe and that heightened awareness
of the costs of drinking to excess as well as of the
 benefits of abstaining or cutting down can be of
material help.
➢ For example, getting the person to delay 20 minutes
before taking a second or third drink can help him or
her reflect on the costs versus the benefits of drinking
to excess.
Medications - Antabuse, a drug that discourages drinking by causing violent
vomiting if alcohol is ingested.
➢ This drug blocks the activity of endorphins that are
stimulated by alcohol, thus reducing the craving for it.
➢ Evidence is mixed regarding whether this drug is
more effective than a placebo in reducing drinking
when it is the only treatment. But it does appear to
add to overall treatment effectiveness when combined
with cognitive behavioral therapy.
- Acamprosate, which has been in regular use in Europe for
nearly 20 years under the brand name Campral.
➢ Researchers believe that it impacts the glutamate and
GABA neurotransmitter systems and thereby reduces
the cravings associated with withdrawal.
Treatments for Smoking
Psychological - Consists of a physician telling the person to stop smoking.
Treatments - There is some evidence that a physician’s advice can get
some people to stop smoking, at least for a while, especially
when the person also chews nicotine gum.
- Scheduled smoking, another treatment approach.
➢ The strategy is to reduce nicotine intake gradually
over a period of a few weeks by getting smokers to
agree to increase the time between cigarettes.
➢ The cigarettes would have to be smoked on a schedule
provided by the treatment team, not when the smoker
feels an intense craving.
Nicotine Replacement - Nicotine may be supplied in gum, patches, inhalers, or
Treatments and electronic cigarettes.
Medications - The idea is to help smokers endure the nicotine withdrawal
that accompanies any effort to stop smoking.
Treatment of Drug Use Disorders
Detoxification - Central to the treatment of people who use illegal drugs.
- Withdrawal from drugs itself.
- Heroin withdrawal reactions range from relatively mild bouts
of anxiety, nausea, and restlessness for several days to more
severe and frightening bouts of delirium and panic.
- Detoxification is the first way in which therapists try to help a
person dependent on a drug, and it may be the easiest part of
the rehabilitation process.
- Enabling the drug user to function without drugs after
detoxification is extremely difficult—typically, both therapist
and client experience more disappointment and sadness than
success in this process.
Psychological - Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) was found to be
Treatments somewhat effective as in improving a person’s family, social,
and general psychological functioning.
➢ People receiving CBT learned how to avoid high-risk
situations (e.g., being around people using cocaine),
recognize the lure of the drug for them, and develop
alternatives to using cocaine (e.g., recreational
activities with nonusers).
- Motivational Interviewing or Enhancement Therapy has also
shown great promise.
➢ Involves a combination of CBT techniques and
techniques associated with helping clients generate
solutions that work for themselves.
- Self-help residential homes are another psychological
approach to treating heroin and other types of drug abuse and
dependence.
Drug Replacement - Two widely used programs for heroin use disorder involve
Treatments and 1. Heroin Substitutes, drugs chemically similar to heroin
Medications that can replace the body’s craving for it.
➢ Includes methadone, levomethadyl acetate, and
bupreophine, synthetic narcotics designed to take the
place of heroin.
➢ This conversion occurs because these synthetic
narcotics are cross-dependent with heroin; that is, by
acting on the same central nervous system receptors,
they become a substitute for the original dependency.
2. Opiate Antagonists, drugs that prevent the user from
experiencing the heroin high.
➢ Treatment with the opiate antagonists involves a
drug called naltrexone.
➢ First, people are gradually weaned from heroin.
Then they receive increasing dosages of
naltrexone, which prevents them from
experiencing any high should they later take
heroin.
➢ This drug works because it has great affinity for
the receptors to which opiates usually bind; their
molecules occupy the receptors without
stimulating them. This leaves heroin molecules
with no place to go, and therefore heroin does not
have its usual effect on the user.
Prevention of Substance Use Disorders
• Peer-pressure Resistance Training
➢ Students learn about the nature of peer pressure and ways to say no. Overall,
programs based on peer-pressure resistance training appear to be effective in
reducing the onset and level of tobacco use, as well as illegal drug use, in young
people.
• Correction of Beliefs and Expectations
➢ Many young people believe that cigarette smoking is more prevalent (and by
implication, more okay) than it actually is. Changing beliefs about the prevalence of
 smoking has been shown to be an effective strategy, perhaps because young people
are so sensitive to what others their age do and believe. Establishing that it is not
standard behavior to smoke cigarettes (or drink alcohol or use marijuana) appears to
be significantly more effective than resistance training.
• Inoculation Against Mass Media Messages
➢ Some prevention programs try to counter the positive images of smokers that have
been put forward in the media. Sophisticated mass media campaigns, similar to the
ones that have made tobacco a profitable consumer product, can be successful in
discouraging smoking.
➢ The truth campaign, instituted by the American Legacy Foundation, developed
websites (www.thetruth.com and www.fairenough.com) and radio and television
ads to tell youth about the health and social consequences of smoking and the ways
in which the tobacco industry targets them so that they can make informed choices
about whether to smoke. This campaign has been well received among young
people, and one study found that awareness of an agreement with the truth
messages were associated with less smoking among teens.
• Peer Leadership
➢ Most smoking and other drug prevention programs involve peers of recognized
status, which adds to the impact of the messages being conveyed.
Retchelle Chris E. Dumat-ol
PSY 98 YC

EATING DISORDERS
Anorexia Nervosa Appeared in the DSM for the 1st time in
1980 (as a subcategory of
childhood/adolescence disorders.

3 Features required for diagnosis:

✓ Restriction of behaviors that promote
healthy body weight
✓ Intense fear of gaining weight and being
fat.
✓ Distorted body image or sense of body
shape

2 types of Anorexia Nervosa 1.) Restricting type - severely

limiting food intake

2.) Binge-eating/purging type -

Binge-eating and purging

Physical Consequences of Anorexia ● Blood pressure often falls, heart rate

Nervosa slows, kidney and gastrointestinal
problems develop, bone mass
declines
● Levels of electrolytes (potassium &
sodium) are altered

Bulimia Nervosa ● Greek word meaning “Ox hunger”

● Rapid consumption of a large
amount of food, FOLLOWED BY,
compensatory behavior
● Typically begins in late adolescence
or early adulthood
● Suicide rates are higher among
people with bulimia nervosa than in
the general population

Two Characteristics of “Binge” 1.) eating an excessive amount of

food

2.) feeling of losing control over

eating (can’t stop)

Binges typically occur in secret;

triggered by stress.

They are usually ashamed of their

binges and try to conceal them.

KEY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A.N & B.N Weight loss.

Subtypes of Bulimia Nervosa ● Purging type

 ● Non Purging type

Physical Consequences of Bulimia Nervosa ● Menstrual irregularities,

amenorrhea
● Potassium Depletion

Binge Eating Disorder ● Recurrent binges

● Lack of control during the
bingeing episode
● distress about bingeing
● Most often, people with binge
eating disorder are obese
● A person with a BMI greater
than 30 is considered obese
● More prevalent than A.N &
B.N.

Risk Factors ● Childhood Obesity

● Critical comments regarding
being overweight
● Weight-loss attempts in
childhood
● Low-self concept

Physical Consequences of Bulimia Nervosa Diabetes, cardiovascular problems,

insomnia, and joint/muscle problems

ETIOLOGY OF EATING DISORDERS

Genetic Factors ● Both A.N & B.N run in families.
● Twin studies of eating disorders also
suggest a genetic influence
● Nonshared/unique environmental
factors also contribute to the
development of eating disorders
● Dissatisfaction with body, binge
eating, strong desire to be thin are
heritable.

Neurobiological Factors ● The hypothalamus is a key brain

center for regulating hunger and
eating
● Cortisol regulated by hypothalamus
is abnormal in peeps with anorexia.
[Because of self- starvation]
● Starvation among people with
Anorexia may increase the levels of
endogenous opioids.
● Endogenous opioids play a role in
bulimia.
● low levels of serotonin metabolites
among people with anorexia,
indicating an underactive serotonin
 system
● Neurotransmitter dopamine is also
found to be related with eating
disorder

Cognitive Behavioral Factors ● Focus on understanding the

thoughts, feelings, and behaviors
that contribute to these disorders

Anorexia Nervosa
- emphasize fear of fatness and body-image
disturbance as the motivating factors that
powerfully reinforce weight loss.
- Behaviors that achieve or maintain
thinness are negatively reinforced by the
reduction of anxiety about becoming fat.
- Another important factor is criticism from
peers and parents about being overweight.
- The purging after an episode is motivated
by the fear of weight gain.

Bulimia Nervosa and Binge Eating Disorder

- The increased consumption of restrained
eaters is especially pronounced when their
self-image is threatened
- when given false feedback indicating that
their weight is high, they respond with
increases in negative emotion and
increased food consumption
- Their eating pattern is more extreme than
the behavior in the studies of restrained
eaters.
- Using stroop task and dot probe test,
people with anorexia and bulimia focus their
attention on food-related words or images
- remember food words better when they
are full but not when they are hungry
- pay attention to and better remember
images depicting other people’s body size
more than images depicting emotion

Sociocultural Factors ● Social standards stressing the

importance of thinness play a role in
the development of these disorders
● Women who either are actually
overweight or fear being fat are also
dissatisfied with their bodies.
Exposure to media portrayals of
unrealistically thin models can
influence reports of body
dissatisfaction.
● The sociocultural ideal of thinness is
a likely vehicle through which people
learn to fear being or even feeling
 fat.
● Obese people are viewed by others
as less smart and are stereotyped
as lonely, shy, and greedy

Gender Influences ● the objectification of women’s

bodies.
● women’s bodies are often viewed
through a sexual lens; in effect,
women are defined by their bodies
while men are esteemed for their
accomplishments.
● this had led some women to
“self-objectify,” which means that
they see their own bodies through
the eyes of others.
● women likely experience body
shame when they observe a
mismatch between their ideal self
and the cultural (objectified) view of
women
● self-objectification and body shame
are associated with disordered
eating

Do eating disorders and weight concerns go Yes, for women, but men tends to be more
away as women get older? cautious with their body as they age

Cross-Cultural Studies ● One feature of eating disorders that

may be heavily influenced by
Western ideals of beauty and
thinness is body image
● Bulimia nervosa appears to be more
common in industrialized societies

Ethnic Differences ● anorexia was eight times greater in

white women than in women of color
● White women and Hispanic women
reported
● greater body dissatisfaction than
African American women
● The emphasis on thinness and
dieting has spread beyond white
women of upper and middle
socioeconomic status to women of
lower socioeconomic status

OTHER FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO THE ETIOLOGY OF EATING DISORDERS

Personality Influences ● Eating disorders themselves can
affect personality.
● Researchers have collected
retrospective reports of personality
 before the onset of an eating
disorder
● Prospective studies examine
personality characteristics before an
eating disorder is present,
● Additional research has taken a
closer look at the link between
perfectionism and anorexia
● A multinational study found that
people with anorexia scored higher
on self- and other- oriented types of
perfectionism than people without
anorexia.

Characteristics of Families ● Studies have yielded variable

results, which may be because of
the different methods used to collect
data.
● E.g., Self-reports of people claimed
that there is a family conflict,
however, parents do not indicate
high levels of family problems.
● Family characteristics may
contribute to the risk for developing
an eating disorder; however, eating
disorders also likely have an impact
on family functioning.
● Observational measure >>
self-reports alone

Child Abuse and Eating Disorders ● Childhood sexual abuse are higher
among people with eating disorders
● Research has also found higher
rates of childhood physical abuse
among people with eating disorders.

Treatment of Eating Disorders

Hospitalization is frequently required to treat people with anorexia so that their ingestion of food can
be gradually increased and carefully monitored

Medications Antidepressants
- are also used in treating Bulimia Nervosa
since it is comorbid with depression.

Medications have not been very successful

in improving weight or other core features of
Anorexia

Psychological Treatment of Anorexia Operant conditioning behavior therapy

Nervosa programs
Therapy for anorexia is generally believed Successful in short term, but not in long-
to be a two-tiered process term

Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT)

Also involved in treatment of anorexia

Family therapy
- the principal form of psychological
treatment for anorexia.
- anorexia is cast as an interpersonal issue
rather than individual

Family therapy holds lunch sessions (3): 1.) Changing the patient role of the person
with anorexia
2.) Redefining the eating problem as an
interpersonal problem
3.) Preventing the parents from using their
child’s anorexia as a means of avoiding
conflict

Psychological Treatment of Bulimia Nervosa Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT)

- is the best-validated and most current
standard for the treatment of bulimia
- CBT alone is more effective than any
available drug treatment

Exposure and Ritual Prevention (ERP)

- Added to boost the treatment effects of
CBT
- involves discouraging the person from
purging after eating foods that usually elicit
an urge to vomit

Self-Help CBT
- people receive self-help books on topics
like perfectionism, body image, negative
thinking, and food and health.

Interpersonal therapy (IPT)

- fared well in comparisons with CBT,
though it did not produce results as quickly

Family Therapy
- is also effective for bulimia

Psychological Treatment of Binge Eating Cognitive Behavior Therapy

Disorder eating eating
- been shown to be effective for binge
disorder
- targets binges as well as restrained by
emphasizing self-monitoring, self- control,
and problem solving as regards eating.
- gains last up to 1year after treatment
Interpersonal therapy (IPT)
- is equally effective as CBT and guided
 self- help CBT for binge eating disorder
Difference of CBT & IPT vs Behavioral
Weight- loss programs
CBT & IPT
– reduce binge eating (not necessarily
weight)
Behavioral weight-loss programs
– may promote weight loss but do not curb
binge eating.
Therapist-led group CBT had the greatest
reduction in binge eating at 6-month and
12- month follow-ups

Preventive Interventions for Eating 3 different types of preventive

Disorders interventions

1. Psychoeducational approaches
- educating children and adolescents about
eating disorders.
2. Deemphasizing sociocultural
influences
- helping children and adolescents resist or
reject sociocultural pressures to be thin.
3. Risk factor approach
- Identifying people with known risk factors
for developing eating disorders and
intervening to alter these factors.
 Retchelle Dumat-ol
PSY 98 - YC
SEXUAL DISORDERS
Sexual Norms and Behavior ● Concept of inhibition and excess as a
cause of sexual problems.
● Technology has changed sexual
experiences.
● Culture influences and beliefs about
sexuality.

Gender and Sexuality ● Men report more engagement in

sexual thought and behavior than do
women.
● Women tend to be more ashamed of
any flaws in their appearance than do
men, and this shame can interfere
with sexual satisfaction.
● Women are much more likely to report
symptoms of sexual dysfunction than
are men, but men are much more
likely to meet diagnostic criteria for
paraphilic disorder.

The Sexual Response Cycle 1. Desire Phase

Kaplan’s four (4) phases in the human 2. Excitement Phase
sexual response cycle: 3. Orgasm Phase
4. Resolution Phase

Clinical Descriptions of Sexual Dysfunctions

DSM-5 divides sexual dysfunctions into three 1.) Sexual desire arousal and interest
categories: 2.) Orgasmic disorders
3.) Sexual pain disorders

A diagnosis of sexual dysfunction is not made

if the problem is believed to be due entirely to
a medical illness.

Clinical diagnoses are not made unless a

person experiences distress or impairment
from symptoms; distress or impairment were
not assessed in the Laumann survey.

Changes of criteria from DSM-IV-TR to 1. DSM-5 criteria for sexual dysfunctions

DSM-5: include clear guidelines regarding relationship
distress.
2. Second, to address criticisms that the
DSM- IV-TR criteria for sexual dysfunctions
were too vague regarding duration, DSM-5
 includes duration criteria for each diagnosis
of sexual dysfunction.

Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder Sexual fantasies and desires, as judged by

the clinician, are deficient or absent for at
least 6 months.

Erectile Disorder ● Inability to attain an erection.

● Inability to maintainan erection for
completio of sexual activity.
● Marked decrease in erectile rigidity
interferes.

Important: the singleness of Female sexual

interest/arousal disorder in DSM-5 as they
are seen to often overlap.

Orgasmic Disorder ● Marked delay, infrequency, or

absence of orgasm.
● Markedly reduced intensity of
orgasmic sensation.

For women: Female orgasmic

disorder.

For men: Premature ejaculation,

delayed
ejaculation disorder.

Sexual Pain Disorder ● Defined by persistent or recurrent

pain during intercourse.

Etiology of Sexual Dysfunctions

BIOLOGICAL FACTORS ● A first step in making a diagnosis of

sexual dysfunction is to rule out
medical diseases as the cause.
● The DSM-5 includes separate
diagnoses for sexual dysfunctions that
are caused by medical illnesses.
Some have criticized this division in
the diagnoses because sexual
dysfunctions often have some
biological and some psychological
contributions.

PSYCHOSOCIAL FACTORS ● Some sexual dysfunctions can be

traced to rape, childhood sexual
abuse, or other degrading encounters.
 Sexual abuse during childhood is
associated with diminished arousal
and desire, and, among men, with
double the rate of premature
ejaculation.
● Poor communication can contribute to
sexual dysfunction.
● Depression and anxiety increase the
risk of sexual dysfunction.
● Negative cognitions, such as worries
about pregnancy or AIDS, negative
attitudes about sex, or concerns about
the partner, interfere with sexual
functioning.
● Men may worry about their erection;
women can suffer from intrusive
thoughts about their attractiveness.
● Social and cultural surroundings.

Treatments of Sexual Dysfunctions

The multifaceted nature of sexual dysfunctions often requires the use of a combination of
techniques.

Anxiety Reduction ● Gradual and systematic exposure to

anxiety- provoking aspects of the
sexual situation.
● Systematic desensitization and in vivo
(real- life) desensitization have been
employed with some success.
● Simple psychoeducation programs
about sexuality also do a great deal to
reduce anxiety.

Directed Masturbation Devised by LoPiccolo and Lobitz (1972) to

enhance women’s comfort with and
enjoyment of their sexuality.

Procedures to Change Attitudes and ● Encouraged to focus on the pleasant

Thoughts sensations that accompany even
incipient sexual arousal.
● Designed to challenge the
self-demanding, perfectionistic
thoughts.

Skills and Communication Training Encouraging partners to communicate their

likes and dislikes to each other has been
shown to be helpful for a range of sexual
 dysfunctions.

Couples Therapy Troubled couples usually need training in

nonsexual communication skills.

The Paraphilic Disorders ● Defined by recurrent sexual attraction

to unusual objects or sexual activities
lasting at least 6 months.
● There is a deviation (para) in what the
person is attracted to (philia).
● The person who cross-dresses for
sexual gratification and accepts the
behavior won’t meet diagnostic
criteria. In contrast, the person who
feels guilty and ashamed because he
or she has internalized stigma about
this behavior is diagnosable.
● Most people with a paraphilic disorder
meet criteria for other paraphilic
disorders.

Fetishistic Disorder ● Defined by a reliance on an inanimate

object or a nongenital part of the body
for sexual arousal.
● Has recurrent and intense sexual
urges toward these fetishes, and the
presence of the fetish is strongly
preferred or even necessary for
sexual arousal.
● Common fetishes: Clothing, leather,
articles related to feet.
● The DSM-5 includes a reliance on
nonsexual body parts for sexual
arousal under the diagnosis of
fetishistic disorder.
● The person with fetishistic disorder
feels a compulsive attraction to the
object; the attraction is experienced
as involuntary and irresistible.

Pedophilic Disorder and Incest ● Diagnosed when adult derive sexual

gratification through sexual contact
with prepubertal or pubescent
children;
● When they experience recurrent,
intense, and distressing desires for
sexual contact with prepubertal or
 pubescent children.

Incest- refers to sexual relations between

close relatives for whom marriage is
forbidden.

● People with pedophilic disorder can

be straight or gay, though most are
heterosexual.
● Psychologically, men with pedophilic
disorder demonstrate elevated
impulsivity and psychopathy
compared to the general population.
● These men often meet criteria for
comorbid conduct disorder and
substance abuse, and molestations.

Voyeuristic Disorder ● Involves an intense and recurrent

desire to obtain sexual gratification by
watching unsuspecting others in a
state of undress or having sexual
relations.
● The element of risk seems important,
for the voyeur is excited by the
anticipation of how the woman would
react if she knew he was watching.

Exhibitionistic Disorder ● is a recurrent, intense desire to obtain

sexual gratification by exposing one’s
genitals to an unwilling stranger,
sometimes a child.
● The urge to expose seems
overwhelming and virtually
uncontrollable to the exhibitionist and
is apparently triggered by anxiety and
restlessness as well as by sexual
arousal.

Frotteuristic Disorder ● Involves the sexually oriented

touching of an unsuspecting person.
● The frotteur may rub his penis against
a woman’s thighs or buttocks or fondle
her breasts or genitals.

Sexual Sadism Disorder is defined by an intense and recurrent

desire to obtain or increase sexual
gratification by inflicting pain or
psychological suffering (such as
humiliation) on another.
Sexual Masochism Disorder is defined by an intense and recurrent
desire to obtain or increase sexual
gratification through being subjected
to pain or humiliation.
● As sadomasochistic practices have become more common and more openly practiced,
there has been some debate about whether these diagnoses should be retained in
DSM-5.
● There is also some concern that the diagnosis of sexual sadism disorder is rarely applied
in clinical settings.
●
ETIOLOGY OF THE PARAPHILIC DISORDERS

NEUROBIOLOGICAL FACTORS There has been speculation that androgens

play a role. Androgens regulate sexual
desire, and sexual desire appears to be
atypically high among people with paraphilic
disorders.

PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS ● Some behavioral theorists view the

cause of paraphilic disorders, as
classical conditioning that by chance
has linked sexual arousal with
unusual or inappropriate stimuli.
● For example, a young man may
masturbate to images of women
dressed in black leather boots.
According to this theory, repetitions of
these experiences make boots
sexually arousing.
● From an operant conditioning
perspective, these disorders are
considered an outcome of inadequate
social skills.
● The childhood histories of people with
paraphilic disorders reveal that often
they were exposed to physical abuse,
sexual abuse, and poor parent–child
relationships.
● Some research suggests that alcohol
and negative affect are often the
immediate triggers of incidents of
pedophilic disorder, voyeuristic
disorder, and exhibitionistic disorder.

TREATMENTS OF SEXUAL DYSFUNCTIONS

Strategies to Enhance Motivation • Sex offenders often lack motivation to
change their illegal behavior.

1. Empathize with the offender’s reluctance

to admit that he is an offender and to seek
treatment.
2. Point out that treatment might help him
control his behavior better.
3. Emphasize the negative consequences of
refusing treatment.
4. Explain that the psychophysiological
assessment of the patient’s sexual arousal
will make it harder to deny sexual proclivities
to the authorities.

Cognitive Behavioral Treatment ● Aversion therapy

a person with a boot fetish would be
given a shock on the hands or a drug that
produces nausea when looking at a boot.
● Covert sensitization
whereby the person imagines
situations he finds inappropriately arousing
and also imagines feeling sick or ashamed for
feeling and acting this way.

In general, cognitive and behavioral

approaches have become more sophisticated
and broader in scope since the 1960s.

Biological Treatment ● Hormonal agents that reduce

androgens
● SSRI Antidepressants
● Many ethical issues are raised about
the indefinite use of hormonal agents.
Gweneth Angelee G. Baslote October 03, 2023
BS Psychology 4 - YC Group 5

Chapter 13: Disorders of Childhood

Externalizing disorders characterized by more outward-directed

behaviors, such as aggressiveness,
noncompliance.

Internalizing disorders characterized by more inward-focused

experiences

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity ● The child who is constantly in

Disorder motion—tapping fingers, jiggling
legs, poking others for no apparent
reason, talking out of turn, and
fidgeting.
● When such problems are severe and
persistent enough, these children
may meet the criteria for diagnosis

3 specifiers which symptoms 1. Predominantly inattentive

predominate - Children whose problems are primarily
those of poor attention
2. Predominantly hyperactive-impulsive
- Children whose problems are primarily
those of poor attention.
3. Combined
- children who have both sets of problems

Etiology of ADHD Dopamine

(Genetic Factors) - found to be correlated with ADHD
- DRD4, a dopamine receptor gene
- DAT1, a dopamine transporter gene

Etiology of ADHD ● Perinatal and Prenatal Factors

(Neurobiological Factors) ● Environmental Toxins

Etiology of ADHD ● The parent–child relationship

(Psychological Factors in ADHD) interacts with neurobiological factors
● Parent’s own history of ADHD

Treatment of ADHD Methylphenidate, Ritalin, Concerta, and

(Stimulant Medications) Strattera have been prescribed for ADHD.

Treatment of ADHD The best designed randomized controlled

(Multimodal Treatment of Children trial of treatments for ADHD
with ADHD)
Treatment of ADHD ● Parent training and changes in
(Psychological Treatment) classroom management
● School Interventions

CONDUCT DISORDER

Conduct Disorder ● behaviors that violate the basic

rights of others and violate major
societal norms. (E.g., aggression,
cruelty, damaging property, lying,
and stealing)
● go beyond the mischief and pranks
common among children and
adolescent

Distinguishing ODD from Conduct Oppositional Defiant disorder

disorder ● is diagnosed if a child does not meet
criteria for conduct disorder.
● Not extreme physical
aggressiveness but more on losing
temper, arguing with adults,
vindictive etc.

Distinguishing ODD from ADHD Oppositional Defiant disorder

● is not thought to arise from
attentional deficits or sheer
impulsiveness
● Children with ODD are more
deliberate in their unruly behavior
than children with ADHD.

Two Different courses of Conduct Life-course-persistent pattern

Problems ● Continuing to commit serious
transgressions into adulthood.
Adolescence-limited
● have typical, nonproblematic
adulthoods.

Etiology of Conduct Disorder ● The evidence for genetic influences

(Genetic Factors) in conduct disorder is mixed,
● Aggressive behavior is clearly
heritable
● Delinquent behavior is not.
● The time when antisocial and
aggressive behavior problems begin
is related to heritability
● Children who were both maltreated
and had low MAOA activity were
more likely to develop conduct
disorder
Etiology of Conduct Disorder ● Neuropsychological deficits
(Neuropsychological Factors and the ● Autonomic nervous system
Autonomic Nervous System) abnormalities are associated with
antisocial behavior in adolescents

Etiology of Conduct Disorder ● Information processing theory

(Psychological Factors)

Etiology of Conduct Disorder 1. Acceptance/rejection by peers

(Peer Influences) 2. Affiliation with deviant peers

Etiology of Conduct Disorder Poverty and urban living are associated

(Sociocultural Factors) with higher levels of delinquency

Treatment of Conduct Disorder ● Family Checkup (FCU) treatment

(Family Interventions) ● Parent Management training (PMT)

Treatment of Conduct Disorder ● delivering intensive and

(Multisystemic Treatment) comprehensive therapy services in
the community, targeting the
adolescent, family, school.
● strategies used are varied,
incorporating behavioral, cognitive,
family-systems, and
case-management techniques

DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY IN CHILDREN

AND ADOLESCENTS

Depression ● Depressed mood, inability to

experience pleasure, fatigue,
concentration problem
● Children and adolescents show
more guilt than adults

Etiology of Depression in Childhood ● A child with a depressed parent has

and four times the risk of developing
Adolescence depression
● Other interpersonal factors:
➔ Negative interactions w/
parents
➔ Impaired relationships w/
siblings, friends
● Cognitive distortions and negative
attributional styles are associated
with depression
● Attributions:
➔ Stable (things will always be
bad)
➔ Internal (it is my fault that
things are bad)
 ➔ Global (all aspects of life are
bad)

Treatment of Childhood and ● Prozac

Adolescent ● CBT
Depression

Two Types of Preventive 1. Selective prevention programs

Interventions 2. Universal programs

Anxiety children need not regard their fear as

excessive or unreasonable

Separation Anxiety disorder constant worry that some harm will befall
their parents or themselves when they are
away from their parents

Social Anxiety disorder ● Children will play only with family

members or familiar peers, avoiding
strangers both young and old
● Selective mutism
➔ Extremely shy children may
refuse to speak at all in
unfamiliar social
circumstances

Posttraumatic stress disorder Children who are exposed to traumas may

(PTSD) experience this disorder

Obsessive compulsive disorder is also found among children and

adolescents, with prevalence estimates
ranging from less than 1 to 4 percent

Etiology of Anxiety Disorders in ● Genetics plays a role in anxiety

Childhood among children, but genes do their
and Adolescence work via the environment
● Parenting practices play a small role
in childhood anxiety e.g., parental
control and overprotectiveness,
more than parental rejection,
● In adolescence, peer relationships
are important.

Treatment of Anxiety in Childhood ● The major focus of these treatments

and is on exposure to the feared object.
Adolescence ● Coping Cat
● OCD Treatment: combination of CBT
and sertraline
● PTSD Treatment: Cognitive
behavioral treatments
 LEARNING DISABILITIES

Learning disability a condition in which a person shows a

problem that is not due to intellectual
disability or deficient educational
opportunities

Clinical Descriptions “learning disabilities” is used by most

mental health professionals to group
together three categories of disorders
● Specific learning disorders
● Communication disorders
● Motor disorders

Etiology of Learning Disabilities difficulty comprehending words, reading,

(Dyslexia) and even spelling.

Etiology of Learning Disabilities difficulty comprehending mathematics,

(Dyscalculia) understanding numbers, quantities,

Etiology of Dyslexia ● evidence suggest that heritability of

reading problems varies depending
on parental education.
● the core deficits in dyslexia include
problems in language processing
● Phonological awareness
● Persistently poor readers (PPR)
● Accuracy improved (AI)
● Nonimpaired readers (NI)

Etiology of Dyscalculia ● evidence of some genetic influence

on individual variations in math skills
● areas of the parietal lobe are less
active during tasks requiring
mathematics (e.g., intraparietal
sulcus)

Treatment of Learning Disabilities ● Traditional linguistic approaches

● Phonics instruction
● Fast ForWord

INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY

Diagnosis and Assessment of Three criteria:

Intellectual • deficits in intellectual functioning
Disability • deficits in adaptive behavior
• an onset during development

Etiology of Intellectual Disability ● Trisomy 21

(Genetic or Chromosomal ● Fragile X syndrome
Abnormalities)
Etiology of Intellectual Disability Phenylketonuria (PKU)
(Recessive-Gene Diseases)

Etiology of Intellectual Disability ● Rubella

(Infectious Diseases) ● Cytomegalovirus
● Toxoplasmosis
● HIV
● Syphilis

Etiology of Intellectual Disability ● Mercury (eating affected fish)

(Environmental Hazards) ● Lead (lead-based paints, smog)

Treatment of Intellectual Disability Medical care is provided, and trained,

(Residential Treatment) live-in supervisors and aides help with
residents’ special needs around the clock.

Treatment of Intellectual Disability ● Operant conditioning principles

(Behavioral Treatments) ● Applied behavior analysis

Treatment of Intellectual Disability Self-instructional training

(Cognitive Treatments)

Treatment of Intellectual Disability The visual and auditory components of

(Computer-Assisted Instruction) computers can help to maintain the
attention of distractible students

AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER

Social and Emotional Disturbances ● Children w/ ASD have profound

problems w/ the social world
● May rarely approach others and may
look through or past people or turn
their backs on them

Joint attention interactions that require two people to pay

attention to each other are impaired in
children w/ autism

Communication Deficits ● Babbling is less frequent in infants

w/ ASD
● Echolalia – child echoes, usually
with remarkable fidelity, what he or
she has heart another person says.
● Pronoun reversal – children refer
themselves as “he”, “she”, or “you”

Repetitive and Ritualistic Acts ● Can become extremely upset over

changes in their daily routines and
surroundings
● May also display stereotypical
 behavior, peculiar ritualistic hand
movements, and other rhythmic
movements

Comorbidity and ASD ● Comorbid with learning disorders

● Comorbid with anxiety

Prevalence of Autism Spectrum ● Prevalence of Autism Spectrum

Disorder Disorder ASD begins in early
childhood and can be evident in the
first months of life.
● ASD is found in all socioeconomic,
ethnic, and racial groups

Prognosis for Autism Spectrum ● Children with higher IQs who learn to
Disorder speak before age 6 have the best
outcomes
● IQs over 70 predicted more
strengths and fewer weaknesses in
adaptive functioning as they grew
older

Etiology of Autism Spectrum ● CNVs found that a deletion on

Disorder chromosome 16 was associated with
(Genetic Factors) ASD
- deletion represents a genetic
flaw—it was not supposed to be
deleted.
● Other GWAS studies have identified
SNPs between two genes on
chromosome 5

Etiology of Autism Spectrum ● The brains are larger than the brains
Disorder of adults and children WITHOUT
(Neurobiological Factors) ASD
● Brain growth in ASD appears to slow
abnormally in later childhood.

Treatment of Autism Spectrum Ivan lovaas

Disorder - conducted an intensive operant
(Behavioral Treatment) conditioning–based program of
behavioral treatment with young (under
4 years old)

Treatment of Autism Spectrum ● Haloperidol

Disorder ● Fenfluramine
(Drug Treatment) ● Naltrexone
Rashida J. Elliot October 03, 2023
BS Psychology 4 - YC Group 5

CHAPTER 14: LATE LIFE AND NEUROCOGNITIVE DISORDERS

● The social problems of aging may be

especially severe for women.

● Gerontologists typically categorize

Aging: Issues and Methods individuals aged 65 and older into
three distinct groups: the young-old,
encompassing those aged 65 to 74;
the old-old, covering individuals aged
75 to 84; and the oldest-old,
comprising those who are 85 years of
age or older.

● Psychologists who work with the

elderly should make it a priority to
scrutinize their preconceived notions
and biases about the later stages of
life.

● Common myths include:

○ the idea that we will become
doddering and befuddled.

○ We worry that we will be

unhappy, cope poorly with
troubles, and become focused
on our poor health.
Myths about Late Life
○ We worry that we will become
lonely and that our sex lives
will become unsatisfying.

○ Elderly people are lonely.

● Individuals aged 60 and above tend

to experience fewer negative
emotions compared to younger
individuals.

● Elderlies are actually more skilled at

regulating their emotions.

● Individuals in their later years are not

any more prone to meeting the
 criteria for somatic symptom
disorders than younger individuals.

● As we grow older, our focus tends to

shift from actively seeking new social
Social Selectivity interactions to nurturing a select few
social relationships that hold
significant importance to us.

● The quality and depth of sleep

deteriorate, leading to a point where,
at the age of 65, approximately 25
percent of individuals report
The Problems Experienced in Late Life
experiencing insomnia.

● One of the main difficulties is that the

chronic health problems of older
people seldom diminish.

● The prescribing of multiple drugs to a

person.
○ Further complicating the
picture is the fact that most
Polypharmacy
psychoactive drugs are tested
on younger people—this then
causes a negative impact to
elderly as they experience
more side effects than those
young ones.

● Age effects - are the consequences

of being a certain chronological age.

● Cohort effects - are the

consequences of growing up during a
particular time period with its unique
challenges and opportunities.

● Time-of-measurement effects
Research Methods in the Study of Aging
● Two major research designs are used
to assess developmental change:

○ Cross-sectional design
○ Longitudinal design

● Selective mortality - When people

are no longer available for follow-up
because of death.
 ● According to DSM criteria, a
Psychological Disorders in Late Life psychological disorder should not be
diagnosed if the symptoms can be
attributed to a medical condition or
the side effects of medication.

● The prevalence estimates for

psychological disorders defy
stereotypes of unhappiness and
anxiety in late life.
Estimating the Prevalence of Psychological
Disorders in Late Life
● The findings suggest that individuals
aged 65 and older exhibit the lowest
overall prevalence of mental
disorders across all age groups.

● Late onset is rare for schizophrenia

but more common for alcohol
dependence.

● Methodologically, older adults may be

more uncomfortable acknowledging
and discussing mental health or drug
use problems compared to younger
people.

Methodological Issues in Estimating the ● Their generation is at a higher risk of

Prevalence of Psychopathology experiencing substance abuse issues
in later life compared to earlier
generations.

● These three methodological

concerns, which are response biases,
cohort effects, and selective mortality,
may provide insights into why there
are relatively low rates of
psychological disorders in older age.

● Cognitive disorders result in more

hospital admissions and inpatient
Neurocognitive Disorders in Late Life days than any other health condition
among the elderly population.

● Deterioration of cognitive abilities to

the point that functioning becomes
impaired.

● As the dementia progresses, a parent

Dementia
is unable to remember the name of a
daughter or son and later may not
 even recall that he or she has
children.

● The course of dementia may be

progressive, static, or remitting,
depending on the cause.

● The DSM-5 distinguishes between

mild and major neurocognitive
disorder based on whether symptoms
interfere with the ability to live
independently.

Note: We use the terms dementia (rather

than major neurocognitive disorder) and mild
cognitive impairment (rather than mild
neurocognitive disorder)

Four Types of Dementia:

1. Alzheimer’s Disease

● The brain tissue irreversibly deteriorates.

● People with Alzheimer’s disease have more plaques and neurofibrillary tangles.

● Role of heritability (genes) > environmental factors.

● Lifestyle variables play a role in Alzheimer's.

Cognitive reserve - Cognitive activity seems to protect against the expression of underlying
neurobiological disease.

2. Frontotemporal Dementia

● Caused by a loss of neurons in frontal and temporal regions of the brain.

● Unlike Alzheimer’s disease, memory is not severely impaired in FTD.

● Functional impairment: empathy, executive function, inhibit behavior, compulsive behavior,

and changes in personality.

3. Vascular Dementia

● Diagnosed when dementia is a consequence of cerebrovascular disease.

4. Dementia with Lewy Bodies

● Often extremely sensitive to the physical side effects of antipsychotic medications.

● Often experience intense dreams accompanied by levels of movement and vocalizing.

● Encephalitis
 ● Meningitis
Dementias Caused by Disease and Injury ● Treponema pallidum

● HIV
● Brain tumors

Prevention and Treatment of Dementia

[There is no cure for Dementia]

● Much more is known about

treatments for Alzheimer’s disease
than for the other forms of dementia.
Medications
● Cholinesterase inhibitors – most
common.

● Antidepressants

● Supportive psychotherapy

Psychological and Lifestyle Treatments ● Exercise

● Behavioral approaches

● The term implies being off-track or

deviating from the usual state.

● Described as a clouded state of

consciousness.

Delirium ● Perceptual disturbances are frequent

in delirium.

● People mistake the unfamiliar for the

familiar; for example, they may state
that they are at home instead of in a
hospital.

● Delirium is often misdiagnosed when

a person has dementia.

● Delirium is caused by medical

conditions.
Etiology of Delirium
● Several causes of delirium have been
identified.

● Complete recovery from delirium is

Treatment of Delirium possible if the underlying cause is
treated promptly and effectively.
Sohaiden D. Dimas

PSY 98 – YC

Chapter 15: Personality Disorders

Personality Disorders • defined by problems with forming a stably
positive sense of self and with sustaining close
and constructive relationships

• defined by the extreme, inflexible, and

maladaptive ways in which these traits are
expressed

• experience difficulties with their identity and

their relationships in multiple domains of life…for
years.
The DSM-5 Approach to Classification 1.) Odd or eccentric behavior (Cluster A)
Three clusters
2.) Dramatic, emotional, erratic behavior (Cluster
B)

3.) Anxious or fearful behavior (Cluster C)

Diagnostic Reliability • Before DSM-III, the diagnosis of personality
disorders was very unreliable.

• Most personality disorder have good reliability

except for schizoid personality disorder.

• One issue in assessing personality disorders is

whether people can accurately describe their
own personalities

• Having more than one perspective on

personality disorders is important

• Some peoples with a personality disorder did

not receive the same diagnosis when they were
interviewed two years later. o Many of P.D. may
not be as enduring as the DSM asserts.
Comorbidity More than 50 percent of people diagnosed with a
personality disorder meets the diagnostic criteria
for another personality disorder.

[Traditional] DSM system might not be ideal for

classifying personality disorders because:

(1) lack of test-retest stability

 (2) Potential for gender bias

(3) High rates of comorbidity

Alternative DSM-5 Model for Personality • Reducing the number of personality
Disorders disorders

• Incorporating personality trait

dimensions

• Diagnosing personality disorders on the

basis of extreme scores on personality
trait dimensions

Key strengths of personality traits: • Those who qualify for a given P.D. r can vary a
good deal from one another in the nature of their
personality traits and the severity of their
condition.

• Personality trait ratings tend to be more stable

over time

• Related to many aspects of psychological

adjustment and even physical outcomes
ODD/ECCENTRIC CLUSTER - suspicious of others, hostile and react angrily to
Paranoid Personality Disorder perceived insults

- They expect to be mistreated or exploited and

thus are secretive and continually on the lookout
for signs of trickery
Difference from Paranoid Schizophrenia: ▪ Hallucinations are not present
▪ Less impairment in social & occupational
function
▪ Cognitive disorganization is not present
Difference from Delusional disorder: ▪ Full-blown delusions are not present
Could co-occur with: ▪ Schizotypal personality disorders
▪ Borderline personality disorders
▪ Avoidant personality disorders
Schizoid Personality Disorder - Do not desire or enjoy social relationships

- Appear dull, bland, and aloof

- no warm, tender feelings for other people

- indifferent to praise, criticism, and sentiments

Comorbidity: *Schizotypal P.D
*Avoidant P.D
* Paranoid personality disorders
Schizotypal Personality Disorder - defined by unusual and eccentric thoughts and
behavior (psychoticism), interpersonal
detachment, and suspiciousness

- might have odd beliefs or magical thinking

- might have recurrent illusions and might talk to

themselves or wear dirty, disheveled clothing.
Comorbidity: *Avoidant personality disorder
Etiology of the Personality Disorders in the - A personality disorder appears to be highly
Odd/Eccentric Cluster heritable

- PPD and Schizoid P.D. = little is known by

researchers

- Schizotypal P.D. = More is known by researchers

▪ Schizotypal personality disorder appears to

overlap with the genetic vulnerability for
schizophrenia

▪ Have enlarged ventricles and less temporal lobe

gray matter
DRAMATIC/ERRATIC CLUSTER - characterized by symptoms that range from
highly inconsistent behavior to inflated self-
esteem, exaggerated emotional displays, and
rule-breaking behavior

- MORE IS KNOWN in this cluster than other

clusters.
Antisocial Personality Disorder and Psychopathy - Breaking laws is an important component of
A.P.D. and Psychopathy
 - Difference: Antisocial personality disorder is
included in the DSM, Psychopathy is not.
Antisocial Personality Disorder: Clinical - Involves a pervasive pattern of disregard for the
Description rights of others.
- Aggressive, impulsive, and callous traits

- History of truancy, running away, frequent lying,

theft, arson.

- Show Irresponsible behavior and little regard for

truth and remorse for their misdeeds

Psychopathy: Clinical Description - Psychopathic people have no sense of shame,

and their seemingly positive feelings for others
are merely an act

- Superficially charming and use that charm to

manipulate others for personal gain

- Their lack of anxiety might make it impossible

for them to learn from their mistakes

- Requirement that a person develop symptoms

before age 15
Etiology of Antisocial Personality Disorder and Two issues that make findings hard to integrate:
Psychopathy 1.) Research has been conducted on persons
diagnosed in different ways.

2.) Most research on APD and psychopathy has

been conducted on persons who have been
convicted as criminals
Genetic Factors - Higher-than-normal prevalence of antisocial
behavior in adopted children of biological parents
with APD and substance abuse

- Heritability appears to be higher when

aggressive forms of antisocial behavior are
studied
 - Genetic risk for APD, psychopathy, conduct
disorder, and substance abuse appear to be
related
Social Factors: Family Environment and Poverty - High negativity, low warmth, and parental
inconsistency predict antisocial behavior

- Poverty and exposure to violence, predict

antisocial behavior in children
FEARLESSNESS - They seem immune to the anxiety or pangs of
conscience that keep most of us from breaking
the law, lying, or injuring others

- Might not learn to avoid certain behaviors

because they are unresponsive to punishments
for their antisocial behavior.

- Deficits in developing conditioned fear

responses.

- Less responsive to fear-eliciting stimuli

- Their skin conductance is less reactive when

they are confronted with or anticipate an
aversive stimulus

- Fail to show classical conditioning to aversive

stimuli at a very basic level
IMPULSIVITY - Lack of response to threats when pursuing
potential rewards

- Psychopaths did not quit pursuing reward even

though they were being punished.

- Psychopaths did not quit pursuing reward even

though they were being punished.

DEFICITS IN EMPATHY DRIVING

UNRESPONSIVENESS TO OTHER’S VICTIMIZATION
Empathy

– critical agent of socialization

BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDER - BPD is very common in clinical settings, very
hard to treat, and associated with suicidality.
Clinical Description of Borderline Personality Core features: Impulsivity and Instability
Disorder
 - Characterized by more abrupt, large, and
unexpected changes in negative moods than was
major depressive disorder

- Overly sensitive to small signs of emotions in

others

- Often have not developed a clear and coherent

sense of self

- They cannot bear to be alone, have fears of

abandonment, demand attention

- Experience chronic feelings of depression and

emptiness

- Experience transient psychotic and dissociative

symptoms
Comorbid with: ✓ PTSD
✓ Mood Disorders
✓ Substance-related disorders
✓ Eating Disorders
✓ Schizotypal Personality disorders
Etiology of Borderline Personality Disorder

Neurobiological Factors • Genes account for more than 60 percent of the

variance in the development
• Lower serotonin function
• Biological factors may contribute to the
emotional dysregulation
• Increased activation of the Amygdala
• Low levels of activity and structural changes in
the Prefrontal cortex

Social Factors: Childhood Abuse • A history of parental separation, verbal abuse,

and emotional abuse during childhood
• People who dissociated after child abuse were
more likely to develop symptoms of BPD
HISTRIONIC PERSONALITY DISORDER • Overly dramatic and attention-seeking behavior
• Use their physical appearance, such as unusual
clothes, makeup, or hair color, to draw attention
to themselves.
• They are thought to be emotionally shallow
Etiology of Histrionic Personality Disorder • Emotional display and seductiveness are
encouraged by parental seductiveness, {esp
father toward his daughter}.
 • Raised in a family environment where parents
talked about sex as something dirty yet behaved
as though it was exciting and desirable.
NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY DISORDER • A grandiose view of their abilities and are
preoccupied with fantasies of great success
• Require almost constant attention and
excessive admiration
• Interpersonal relationships are disturbed by
their lack of empathy, arrogance and feelings of
envy
• Extremely sensitive to criticism and become
enraged when not admired.
Etiology of Narcissistic Personality Disorder

Self-Psychology Model • Heinz Kohut, established “self-psychology” in

his two books: (1) The Analysis of the Self (1971)
and (2) The Restoration of the Self (1977)

• NPD projects remarkable self-importance,

selfabsorption, and fantasies of limitless success
on the surface

• These mask a very fragile self-esteem and they

strive to bolster their sense of self-worth through
unending quests for respect from others.

• Heinz Kohut hypothesized two parenting

dimensions: (1) Emotional coldness and (2)
Overemphasis on the child’s achievements

Social-Cognitive Model • Carolyn Morf and Frederick Rhodewalt

• Two Basic ideas: o (1) people with this disorder

have fragile self-esteem o (2) interpersonal
interactions are important to them for bolstering
selfesteem, rather than for gaining closeness or
warmth

• Presence of cognitive biases that help maintain

grandiose beliefs about their self

• Their sense of self depends on winning, not on

gaining closeness.
ANXIOUS/FEARFUL CLUSTER
AVOIDANT PERSONALITY DISORDER • So fearful of criticism, rejection, and
disapproval that they will avoid jobs or
relationships to protect themselves from
negative feedback.
 • Restrained because of an extreme fear of
saying something foolish, being embarrassed,
blushing, or showing other signs of anxiety
Comorbidities ✓ Major depression
✓ Borderline Personality disorder
✓ Schizotypal Personality disorder
✓ Alcohol Abuse
DEPENDENT PERSONALITY DISORDER • an overreliance on others and a lack of self-
confidence.

• have an intense need to be taken care of

• They subordinate their own needs to ensure

that they do not break up the protective
relationships they have established

• See themselves as weak

• may result from an overprotective and

authoritarian parenting style that prevents the
development of feelings of self-efficacy

• Might be related to attachment problems

Co-occur with: ✓ Borderline P.D.
✓ Schizoid P.D.
✓ Histrionic P.D.
✓ Schizotypal P.D.
✓ Avoidant P.D.
✓ Mood disorders
✓ Anxiety disorders
✓ Bulimia
OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE PERSONALITY • a perfectionist, preoccupied with details, rules,
DISORDERS and schedules
• pay so much attention to detail that they fail to
finish projects
• are more oriented toward work than pleasure
• they demand that everything be done the right
way—their way. “Control Freaks”
Comorbidity • Avoidant Personality Disorder
TREATMENT OF PERSONALITY DISORDERS Many people with personality disorders enter
treatment for a condition other than their
personality disorder
General Approaches to the Treatment of • Clients recover from personality disorders
Personality Disorders within about 15 months of treatment o Issue: it
does not include a control group, yet, it is
 essential to remember that P.D. seem to
dissipate over time naturally.

• Psychodynamic therapists - aim to alter the

patient’s present-day views of the childhood
problems assumed to underlie the personality
disorder.

• Cognitive therapy - Each disorder is analyzed in

terms of negative cognitive beliefs that could
help explain the pattern of symptoms
Treatment of Schizotypal Personality Disorder,
Avoidant Personality Disorder, and Psychopathy
Schizotypal - Draw on the connections with schizophrenia
- Antipsychotic drugs
- Antidepressant drugs
Avoidant Personality Disorder - Same treatments with social anxiety disorder
- Antidepressant medications
- Cognitive behavioral treatment, social skills
training
Psychopathy - Psychoanalytic psychotherapy
- Cognitive behavioral techniques
Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorders Note: Since these clients find it inordinately
difficult to trust others, therapists find it
challenging to develop and maintain the
therapeutic relationship.

- Antidepressants
- Mood stabilizer lithium
Dialectical Behavior Therapy of Borderline
Personality Disorder

Marsha Linehan - introduced “dialectical behavior therapy (DBT)

- combining client-centered empathy and

acceptance with cognitive behavioral problem
solving, emotionregulation techniques, and social
skills training

The term Dialectical is used in two main ways:

o In one sense; accepting people as they are and
yet helping them change

o In the other sense; patient’s realization of

splitting the world to bad and good is
unnecessary, instead, one can achieve a synthesis
 of these apparent opposites. [See them as all bad
and all good]
Cognitive Behavioral of DBT involves 4 stages o First stage, dangerously impulsive behaviors are
addressed, with the goal of promoting greater
control.

o Second stage, the focus is on learning to

modulate the extreme emotionality

o Third stage, focuses on improving relationships

and self-esteem.

o Fourth stage, promote connectedness and

happiness
Mentalization-Based Therapy of Borderline
Personality Disorder
Mentalization-based therapy - a form of psychodynamic treatment that was
developed for BPD

- claims that people with BPD fail to engage in

mentalization

- The therapist’s goal is to foster a more active,

thoughtful approach to relationships and feelings

• Psychodynamic treatment and DBT both led to

lower depression and anxiety scores

• Psychodynamic therapy appeared more

effective than DBT in reducing anger
Schema-Focused Cognitive Therapy of Borderline - focus on how early childhood antecedents and
Personality Disorder parenting shape current cognitive patterns.

- the therapist and the patient identify the

maladaptive assumptions (schema) that a client
holds about relationships from his or her early
experiences

- can require 3 years

• Schema-focused therapy led to more reduction

of symptoms than did psychodynamic therapy
Lai Nerully O. Gaputan

BS Psychology - 4

CHAPTER 16: ETHICAL AND LEGAL ISSUES

CHAPTER 16.1
Criminal Commitment - A procedure that confines a person in a mental hospital either for
determination of competency to stand trial or after acquittal by reason
of insanity.
- People with mental illness who have broken the law or who are
alleged to have done so are subject to this.
Civil Commitment - A set of procedures by which a person who is deemed mentally ill
and dangerous but who has not broken a law can be deprived of
liberty and placed in a psychiatric hospital.
Insanity - Refers to a disordered mind, and a disordered mind may be regarded
as unable to formulate and carry out a criminal purpose (Morse,
1992).
- A disordered mind cannot be a guilty mind, and only a guilty mind
can engender culpable actions.
Although the insanity defense was developed to protect people’s rights, in practice, it often results in a greater
denial of liberties than they would otherwise experience.
Insanity Defense - Legal argument that a defendant should not be held responsible for
an illegal act if it is attributable to mental illness or intellectual
disability that interferes with rationality or that results from some
other excusing circumstance, such as not knowing right from wrong.
Mental illness and crime do not go hand in hand. A person can be diagnosed as mentally ill and be held
responsible for a crime.
Landmark Cases and Laws - Several court rulings and established principles bear on the problems
of legal responsibility and mental illness.
- A landmark case is a court case that is studied because it has historical
and legal significance. The most significant cases are those that have
had a lasting effect on the application of a certain law, often
concerning your individual rights and liberties.
Irresistible Impulse - Was formulated in 1834 in a case in Ohio.
 - If a pathological impulse or uncontrollable drive compelled the
person to commit the criminal act, an insanity defense is legitimate.
- As a result of mental disease, a defendant was unable to control their
impulses at the time of the offense, which led to a criminal
act/criminal conduct.
M’Naghten Rule - Was formulated in the aftermath of a murder trial in England in 1843.
- The defendant, Daniel M’Naghten, had set out to kill the British
prime minister, Sir Robert Peel, but had mistaken Peel’s secretary for
Peel. M’Naghten claimed that he had been instructed to kill Lord Peel
by the “voice of God.”
- The person did not know the nature and quality of the criminal act in
which he or she engaged, or, if the person did know it, the person did
not know what he or she was doing was wrong.
- a defendant either did not understand what they did or failed to
distinguish right from wrong because of a "disease of the mind." Most
jurisdictions that switched to this rule switched the burden of proving
insanity from the prosecutor to the defense.
American Law Institute - ln 1962 the American Law Institute (ALI) proposed its own
Guidelines guidelines, which were intended to be more specific and informative
to lay jurors than were other tests.
1. A person is not responsible for criminal conduct if at the time of
such conduct as a result of mental disease or defect he lacks
substantial capacity either to appreciate the criminality
(wrongfulness) of his conduct or conform his conduct to the
requirements of law.
➢ The first ALI guideline combines the M’Naghten rule and
the concept of irresistible impulse. The phrase
“substantial capacity” in the first guideline is designed to
limit an insanity defense to those with the most serious
mental disorders.

2. The terms “mental disease or defect” do not include an

abnormality manifested only by repeated criminal or otherwise
antisocial conduct.
 ➢ The second guideline concerns those who are repeatedly
in trouble with the law; repetitive criminal behavior and
psychopathy are not evidence for insanity.
Insanity Defense Reform Act - Enacted by the Congress on October 1984.
- Enacted as a response in addressing the insanity defense for the
first time at the federal level.
- A trial case in March 1981 wherein John Hinckley Jr. was found
not guilty by reason of insanity (NGRI) for his assassination
attempt against President Ronald Reagan. The court received a
flood of mail from citizens outraged that a would-be assassin of
a U.S. president had not been held criminally responsible and had
only been committed to an indefinite stay in a mental hospital
until deemed mentally healthy enough for release.
- The public often believe that a person is “getting away” with a
crime when found not guilty by reason of insanity and that he or
she will be released from the hospital in short order. In reality,
many people who are committed to a mental hospital stay there
longer than they would have stayed in prison had they been given
a sentence.
1. It eliminates the irresistible-impulse component of the ALI
rules. This volitional and behavioral aspect of the ALI
guidelines had been strongly criticized because one could
regard any criminal act as arising from an inability to stay
within the limits of the law.
2. It changes the ALI’s “lacks substantial capacity . . . to
appreciate” to “unable to appreciate.” This alteration in the
cognitive component of the law is intended to tighten the
grounds for an insanity defense by making the criterion for
impaired judgment more stringent.
3. The act also stipulates that the mental disease or defect must
be “severe,” the intent being to exclude insanity defenses on
the basis of disorders such as antisocial personality disorder.
Also abolished by the act were defenses relying on
“diminished capacity” or “diminished responsibility,” based
 on such mitigating circumstances as extreme passion or
“temporary insanity.” Again, the purpose was to make it
harder to mount an insanity defense.
4. It shifts the burden of proof from the prosecution to the
defense. Instead of the prosecution’s having to prove that the
person was sane beyond a reasonable doubt at the time of the
crime (the most stringent criterion, consistent with the
constitutional requirement that people are considered
innocent until proved guilty), the defense must prove that the
defendant was not sane and must do so with “clear and
convincing evidence” (a less stringent but still demanding
standard of proof). Table 16.2 shows the different standards
of proof used in U.S. courts. The heavier burden now placed
on the defense is, like the other provisions, designed to make
it more difficult to relieve a defendant of moral and legal
responsibility.
5. The person may remain committed longer than the ordinary
sentence. A person is released only when no longer dangerous
and no longer mentally ill.

Guilty but Mentally Ill - GBMI verdict allows the usual sentence to be imposed but also
allows for the person to be treated for mental illness during
incarceration, though treatment is not guaranteed.
- If the person is still considered to be dangerous or mentally ill
after serving the imposed prison sentence, he or she may be
committed to a mental hospital under civil law proceedings.
- South Carolina Supreme Court found that South Carolina’s
GBMI statute did provide some benefit because it mandated that
convicted people with mental illness receive mental health
evaluations before being placed in the general prison population.
 - People receiving a GBMI verdict often spend more time
incarcerated than if they had been found guilty.
There are 2 insanity pleas - There is no dispute over whether the person actually committed
available in the state and federal the crime—both sides agree that the person committed the crime.
courts in the US. - At the time of the incident, the defense attorney argues that the
1. Not Guilty by Reason of person should not be held responsible for and thus should be
Insanity (NGRI) acquitted of the crime.
- A successful NGRI plea means the person is not held responsible
for the crime due to his or her mental illness.
- People acquitted with the NGRI plea are committed indefinitely
to a forensic hospital.
Forensic Hospitals - Looks very much like a regular hospital except that the perimeter
of the grounds is secured with gates, barbed wires, or electric
fences.
- Doors to the different units may be locked, and bars may be
placed on windows on the lower floors.
- Patients do not stay in jail cells, however, but in either individual
or shared rooms. Security professionals are on hand to keep
patients safe.
2. Guilty but Mentally Ill - Allows an accused person to be found legally guilty of a crime—
(GBMI) thus maximizing the chances of incarceration—but also allows
for psychiatric judgment on how to deal with the convicted person
if he or she is considered to have been mentally ill when the act
was committed.
- A seriously ill person can be held morally and legally responsible
for a crime but can then, in theory, be committed to a prison
hospital or other suitable facility for psychiatric treatment rather
than to a regular prison for punishment.
- People judged GBMI are usually put in the general prison
population, where they may or may not receive treatment.
Eleven states allow for some or all of the GBMI provisions; four states have both NGRI and GBMI available.
Four states—Idaho, Montana, Kansas, and Utah—do not allow for any insanity defense. The remaining states
have some version of NGRI available.
 Competency to Stand Trial
- The insanity defense concerns the accused person’s mental state at the time of the crime.
- An important consideration before deciding what kind of defense to adopt is whether the accused
person is competent to stand trial at all.
- Competency to stand trial must be decided before it can be determined whether a person is responsible
for the crime of which he or she is accused.
- Legal Standard for being competent to stand trial (1960 U.S Supreme Court):
➢ The Supreme Court determined that an individual must be able to rationally understand the
trial proceedings and consult with their lawyer to be considered mentally competent for trial.
- If, after examination, the person is deemed too mentally ill to participate meaningfully in a trial, the
trial is delayed, and the accused person is placed in a hospital with the hope that means of restoring
adequate mental functioning can be found.
- Bail is automatically denied, even if it would be routinely granted had the question of incompetency
not been raised.
- A violation of due process is made if the court fails to order a hearing when there is evidence that
raises a reasonable doubt about competency to stand trial, or if it convicts a legally incompetent
defendant.
- The court has to consider evidence such as irrational behavior as well as any medical or psychological
data that might bear on the defendant’s competency.
- Being deemed mentally ill does not necessarily mean that the person is incompetent to stand trial; a
person with schizophrenia, for example, may still understand legal proceedings and be able to assist
in his or her defense.
- Medication has had an impact on the competency issue.
➢ The concept of “synthetic sanity” (Schwitzgebel & Schwitzgebel, 1980) has been used to
argue that if a drug, such as Zyprexa, temporarily produces a bit of rationality in an otherwise
incompetent defendant, the trial may proceed.
 ➢ On the other hand, the individual rights of the defendant should be protected against forced
medication, because there is no guarantee that such treatment would render the person
competent to stand trial, and there is a chance that it might cause harm.
➢ Courts now require safeguards against the involuntary use of medications to ensure that the
defendant’s civil rights are protected, even when a drug might restore legal competency to
stand trial.
In Absentia (“not present”) - A centuries-old principle of English common law.
- Refers to the person’s mental state, not his or her physical
presence.
Eighth Amendment - Prohibits cruel and unusual punishment.
The Supreme Court left open the question of what constitutes intellectual disability, however, leaving it up to
the states to decide how to remain within the requirements of the Eighth Amendment. Since then, each individual
state has developed its own definition of intellectual disability.

CHAPTER 16.2
Civil Commitment - The government has a long-established right as well as an
obligation to protect us both from ourselves—the parens patriae,
“power of the state”—and from others—the police power of the
state.
A person can be committed to a psychiatric hospital against his or her will if a judgment is made that he or
she is:
1. mentally ill and;
2. a danger to self
Formal (or judicial) - By order of a court.
Commitment - Any responsible citizen—usually the police, a relative, or a
friend—can request it.

The person has the right to object to these attempts to “certify” him or her,
and a court hearing can be scheduled to allow the person to present evidence
against commitment.
Informal (Emergency) - Can be accomplished without initially involving the courts.
Commitment ➢ If a hospital administrative board believes that a
voluntary patient requesting discharge is too mentally ill
 and dangerous to be released, it is able to detain the
patient with a temporary, informal commitment order.
- 2PC, or two physicians’ certificate
➢ most common informal commitment procedure.
➢ Two physicians, not necessarily psychiatrists, can sign a
certificate that allows a person to be incarcerated for
some period of time, ranging from 24 hours to as long as
20 days.
Preventive Detention and - Only about 3 percent of the violence in the United States is
Problems in the Prediction of clearly linked to mental illness (Swanson et al. 1990).
Dangerousness
The MacArthur Violence Risk - A large prospective study of violent behavior among persons
Assessment Study recently discharged from psychiatric hospitals.
- Found that people with mental illness who were not substance
abusers were no more likely to engage in violence than are
people without mental illness who were not substance abusers.
- Another analysis from the MacArthur study found that people
with mental illness reported more violent thoughts while in the
hospital compared to people not in the hospital.
The Prediction of • If a person has been repeatedly violent in the recent past, it is
Dangerousness reasonable to predict that he or she will be violent in the near future
unless there have been major changes in the person’s attitudes or
environment.
• If violence is in the person’s distant past, and if it was a single but
very serious act, and if that person has been incarcerated for a period
of time, then violence can be expected on release if there is reason
to believe that the person’s predetention personality and physical
abilities have not changed and if the person is going to return to the
same environment in which he or she was previously violent.
• Even with no history of violence, violence can be predicted if the
person is judged to be on the brink of a violent act, for example, if
the person is pointing a loaded gun at an occupied building.
Violence among people with mental illness is often associated with medication noncompliance.
Outpatient Commitment - One way of increasing medication compliance.
 - It is an arrangement whereby a patient is allowed to leave the
hospital but must live in a halfway house or other supervised
setting and report to a mental health agency frequently.
Least Restrictive Alternative - Is to be provided when treating people with mental disorders and
protecting them from harming themselves and others.
- Mental health professionals have to provide the treatment that
restricts the patient’s liberty to the least possible degree while
remaining workable.
- It is unconstitutional to confine a person with mental illness who
is nondangerous and who is capable of living on his or her own
or with the help of willing and responsible family or friends.
Right to Treatment - The protection of people confined by civil commitment, at least
to the extent that the state cannot simply put them away without
meeting minimal standards of care.
- A committed person’s status must be periodically reviewed, for
the grounds on which the person was committed cannot be
assumed to continue in effect forever.
Right to Refuse Treatment - Many people with mental illness have no insight into their
condition, they believe they do not need any treatment and thus
subject themselves and their loved ones to sometimes desperate
and frightening situations by refusing medication or other
modes of therapy, most of which involve hospitalization.
The side effects of most antipsychotic drugs are often aversive and are
sometimes harmful and irreversible in the long run.
Deinstitutionalization - Discharging as many patients as possible from mental hospitals
and discouraging admissions.
- Jails and prisons have become the new “hospitals” for people
with mental illness in the twenty-first century.
➢ Police officers are now called on to do the work of
mental health professionals.
➢ They are often the first to come in contact with a person
with mental illness and can make decisions as to whether
a person should be taken to a hospital or jail.
 CHAPTER 16.3
Ethical Dilemmas in Therapy - Legal constraints are important, for laws are one of society’s
and Research strongest means of encouraging all of us to behave in certain
ways.
- Ethics statements are designed to provide an ideal, to review
moral issues of right and wrong that may or may not be reflected
in the law.
- These ethics guidelines describe what therapists and researchers
should do with their patients, clients, and research participants.
Ethical Restraints on Research - Ordinary citizens who participate in experiments must be
protected from unnecessary harm, risk, humiliation, and
invasion of privacy.
The Nuremberg Trials - Conducted by the Allies following the war.
- Brought barbarisms to light and meted out severe punishment
(including the death penalty) to some of the soldiers, physicians,
and Nazi officials who had engaged in or contributed to such
actions, even when they claimed that they had merely been
following orders.
- The Nuremberg Code was then formulated in 1947 in response
to the Nazi war-crime trials.
Informed Consent - The investigator must provide enough information to enable
people to decide whether they want to be in a study.
- Researchers must describe the study clearly, including any risks
involved.
- Researchers should disclose even minor risks that could occur
from a study, including emotional distress from answering
personal questions or side effects from drugs.
- Although most people with mental illness said they understood
the benefits and side effects of their drugs, only a quarter of
them could actually demonstrate such understanding when
queried specifically.
➢ The authors concluded that simply reading information
to hospitalized patients—especially the more severely ill
ones—is no guarantee that they fully comprehend;
 therefore, informed consent cannot be said to have been
obtained.
➢ Instead of simply allowing a guardian or family member
to make the decision for the patient, the commission
proposed that a health professional who has nothing to
do with the particular study make a judgment on whether
a given patient can give informed consent.
➢ The commission also recommended that if a guardian is
allowed to give consent on behalf of a patient judged
incompetent to do so, the guardian’s own ability to give
consent should also be evaluated.
- Having a mental disorder does not necessarily mean that a
person cannot give informed consent.
➢ It is important to examine each person individually for
ability to give informed consent, rather than assuming
that a person is unable to do so by virtue of being
hospitalized for schizophrenia or Alzheimer’s disease.
Confidentiality - Nothing will be revealed to a third party except for other
professionals and those intimately involved in the treatment,
such as a nurse or medical secretary.
Privileged Communication - It is communication between parties in a confidential
relationship that is protected by law.
- The recipient of such a communication cannot legally be
compelled to disclose it as a witness.
- The right of privileged communication is a major exception to
the access courts have to evidence in judicial proceedings.
- The privilege applies to such relationships as those between
husband and wife, physician and patient, pastor and penitent,
attorney and client, and psychologist and patient.
➢ The legal expression is that the patient or client “holds
the privilege,” which means that only he or she may
release the other person to disclose confidential
information in a legal proceeding.
- Limits to a client’s right of privileged communication:
• The client has accused the therapist of malpractice. In
such a case, the therapist can divulge information about
the therapy in order to defend himself or herself in any
legal action initiated by the client.
• The client is less than 16 years old and the therapist has
reason to believe that the child has been a victim of a
crime such as child abuse. In fact, the psychologist is
required to report to the police or to a child welfare
agency within 36 hours any suspicion he or she has that
the child client has been physically abused, including
any suspicion of sexual molestation.
• The client initiated therapy in hopes of evading the law
for having committed a crime or for planning to do so.
• The therapist judges that the client is a danger to self or
others and disclosure of information is necessary to
ward off such danger.
INDUSTRIAL/
ORGANIZATIONAL
PSYCHOLOGY: MATRIX

PREPARED BY:
DIMAS, SOHAIDEN D.
BASLOTE, GWENETH
GAPUTAN, LAI
ELLIOT, RASHIDA
DUMAT-OL, RETCHELLE
Sohaiden D. Dimas

PSY 98 – YC

I/O Chapters 1-3

Chapter 1
Industrial-Organizational Psychology Applies the principles of psychology to the
workplace.

Purpose: “to enhance the dignity and

performance of human beings, and the
organizations they work in, by advancing the
science and knowledge of human behavior”
(Rucci, 2008).
I/O Psychology Examines factors that affect the people in an
organization.

• Focus almost exclusively on issues involving the

people in an organization.

• Relies extensively on research, quantitative

methods, and testing techniques.

• Use empirical data and statistics.

• Reliance on the scientist-practitioner model.

Business Fields Broader aspects of running an organization such
as marketing channels, transportation networks,
and cost accounting.
Industrial Approach (the “I” in I/O psychology) Determining the competencies needed to
perform a job.

Staffing the organization with employees who

have those competencies.

Increasing those competencies through training.

Organizational Approach (the “O” in I/O Creates an organizational structure and culture
psychology) that will motivate employees to perform well.

Give them the necessary information to do their

jobs.

Provide working conditions that are safe and

result in an enjoyable and satisfying work/life
environment
Personnel Psychology Concentrates on the selection and evaluation of
employees.
 Analyzing jobs, recruiting applicants, selecting
employees, determining salary levels, training
employees, and evaluating employee
performance.
Organizational Psychology Investigates the behavior of employees within
the context of an organization.

Concerned with the issues of leadership, job

satisfaction, employee motivation, organizational
communication, conflict management,
organizational change, and group processes
within an organization.

Often conduct surveys of employee attitudes to

get ideas about what employees believe are an
organization’s strengths and weaknesses.
Human Factors/Ergonomics Concentrating on the interaction between
humans and machines.

Workplace design, human machine interaction,

ergonomics, and physical fatigue and stress.

Frequently work with engineers and other

technical professionals to make the workplace
safer and more efficient.

Draw a map, designing the most comfortable

chair, and investigating the optimal work
schedule.
BRIEF HISTORY OF I/O PSYCHOLOGY
Walter Dill Scott (1903 Wrote “The Theory of Advertising”: Psychology
was first applied to business.

1911: Increasing Human Efficiency in Business

Hugo Münsterberg (1910) ‘Psychology and Industrial Efficiency: first
published in English in 1913.
Industrial Psychology Seldom used prior to World War I.

Common terms: economic psychology, business

psychology, and employment psychology.
World War I First big impact: large number of soldiers who
had to be assigned to various units.

I/O psychologists were employed to test recruits

and then place them in appropriate positions.
Army Alpha Intelligence test used by the army for soldiers
who can read.

▪ More intelligent recruits were assigned to

officer training.
Army Beta Intelligence test used by the army for soldiers
who cannot read.

▪ Less intelligent to the infantry.

John Watson Developed perceptual and motor tests for
potential pilots.

• Served as a major in the U.S. Army in World

War I
Henry Gantt Responsible for increasing the efficiency with
which cargo ships were built, repaired, and
loaded
Thomas A. Edison Understood the importance of selecting the right
employees.

1920: 163-item knowledge test that he

administered to over 900 applicants.

Test and passing score were so difficult that only

5% of the applicants passed!
Frank Gilbreth and Lillian Moller Gilbreth Improve productivity and reduce fatigue by
studying the motions used by workers.
Frank Gilbreth Began his career as a contractor and became
famous for developing improvements in
bricklaying that reduced the number of motions
needed to lay a brick from 18 to 4½
Lillian Moller Gilbreth More educated - received her Ph.D. from Brown
University (1915).

o 1935: became a professor of management and

engineering at Purdue University, the first
woman to hold such a position.

o Cheaper by the Dozen

▪ Had 12 children, and the efficiency methods

they used to raise their children while having
busy careers were the inspiration for the book
and the movie.
1930s Expanded its scope; involved primarily in
personnel issues such as the selection and
placement of employees.
Hawthorne Studies Conducted at the Hawthorne plant of the
Western Electric Company in the Chicago area.

o Interpersonal interactions between managers

and employees played a tremendous role in
employee behavior.

Initially designed to investigate such issues as the

effects of lighting levels, work schedules, wages,
temperature, and rest breaks on employee
performance
Hawthorne Effect Employees change their behavior due solely to
the fact that they are receiving attention or are
being observed

▪ Increase their focus on human relations in the

workplace and to explore the effects of employee
attitudes.
1970s Understanding of many organizational
psychology issues that involved employee
satisfaction and motivation
B. F. Skinner’s (1971) ‘Beyond Freedom and Dignity’: increased use of
behavior-modification techniques in
organizations.
1980s and 1990s
Four Major Changes (1) Increased use of fairly sophisticated statistical
techniques and methods of analysis.

(2) Application of cognitive psychology to

industry.

(3) Effects of work on family life and leisure

activities (employee stress).

(4) Developing methods to select employees.

• Cognitive ability tests, personality tests,

biodata, and structured interviews.
2000s Rapid advances in technology.

o Tests and surveys are now administered on the

Internet.

o Employers recruit and screen applicants online.

o Job seekers use such social media outlets as

Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook to find jobs.
 o Employees are being trained using e-learning
and distance education.

o Managers are holding meetings in cyberspace.

EMPLOYMENT OF I/O PSYCHOLOGISTS
Colleges and Universities Typically teach and conduct research.

Some work as administrators (e.g., deans,

provosts, vice presidents).
Consulting Firms Help a wide variety of organizations become
more productive by helping them:

o Select a high quality and diverse workforce.

o Designing systems that will motivate employees

while treating them fairly.

o Training employees.

o Ensuring that organizations treat applicants and

employees in a legal and ethical manner.
Private Sector Work for a single company such as IBM,
Microsoft, and FedEx, whereas consultants work
with many companies.
Public Sector Work for a local, state, or federal government
agency.
RESEARCH IN I/O PSYCHOLOGY I. Why Conduct
Research?
(1) Answering Questions and Making Decisions Saves organizations money (increased employee
satisfaction, increased productivity, and fewer
accidents, employment interview)
(2) Research and Everyday Life Understanding research helps you to critically
listen and analyze results of these studies to
make more intelligent decisions.
(3) Common Sense Is Often Wrong o Eg. common sense that the world was flat and
that a person sailing toward the horizon would
fall off the Earth.
Considerations in Conducting Research
A. Ideas, Hypotheses, and Theories First step: decide what to research.
Hypothesis Educated prediction about the answer to a
question.
Theory A systematic set of assumptions regarding the
cause and nature of behavior.

This is where we based our hypothesis/prediction

B. Literature Reviews Second step: search the literature for similar
research.
Four Types of Periodicals
(1) Journals Consist of articles written by researchers directly
reporting the results of a study.

Difficult to read (and boring) but are the best

source of unbiased and accurate information.
(2) Bridge Publications Designed to “bridge the gap” between academia
and the applied world.

Usually written by professors but not as formal or

statistically complex as articles in journals
(3) Trade Magazines Contain articles usually written by professional
writers who have developed expertise in a given
field.

Do not cover all the research on a topic and can

be somewhat biased.

Seldom directly reporting the methods and

results of new research
(4) Magazines An unscientific collection of articles about a wide
range of topics.

Good sources of ideas but terrible sources to use

in support of a scientific hypothesis.

Often written by professional writers who do not

have training in the topic and thus little expertise.
Internet Prone to inaccurate information
Little Albert Two texts indicated little Albert was conditioned
to fear a rabbit rather than a rat, many texts
incorrectly included such postconditioning stimuli
as a teddy bear, a white furry glove, a fur pelt, a
cat.

Albert’s aunt and three texts described how

Watson removed little Albert’s fear of the rat,
although no such reconditioning was actually
done
Kitty Genovese story Most textbooks as well as an early newspaper
article mention the 38 witnesses who saw the
attack yet did nothing to help.
 No evidence that there were 38 eyewitnesses,
but there is evidence that at least two of the
witnesses took action and called the police.
C. The Location of the Study Third step: decide whether to conduct the study
in the laboratory or in the field.
(1) Laboratory Research Disadvantage: external validity or generalizability.
• Advantage: can control many variables that are
not of interest
: External Validity/Generalizability: : The extent to which research results can be
expected to hold true outside the specific setting
in which they were obtained.
(2) Field Research Research conducted in a natural setting.

o Disadvantages:

o Internal Validity: loses in control of extraneous

variables that are not of interest to the
researcher.

o Informed Consent: ethical dilemma, require

that subjects participate in studies of their own
free will. ▪ Can not only be difficult to obtain but
change the way people behave.

o Institutional Review Boards: A committee

designated to ensure the ethical treatment of
research subjects. ▪ Pay close attention to
confidentiality.
D. Research Method • Fourth step: type of research method to use.
Experiments Cause-and-effect relationships.
o Independent variable is manipulated by the
experimenter.
Independent variable caused the change in the
dependent variable.
Two Characteristics Manipulation of one or more independent
variables.

▪ Random assignment of subjects to experimental

and control conditions.
Manipulation The alteration of a variable by an experimenter in
expectation that the alteration will result in a
change in the dependent variable.
Independent Variable The manipulated variable in an experiment.
Dependent Variable The measure of behavior that is expected to
change as a result of changes in the independent
variable.
Quasi-experiments Experimenter either does not manipulate the
independent variable or in which subjects are not
randomly assigned to conditions.

o Often used to evaluate the results of a new

program implemented by an organization.
Archival research Use of previously collected data or records to
answer a research question. o Advantage: Not
being obtrusive or expensive. o Disadvantage:
Records in files are not always accurate and are
not always kept up-to-date, date may never
recorder
Surveys Ask people their opinion.

o Variety of Methods: mail, personal interviews,

phone, email, and the Internet.

o Well-designed Survey Questions: easy to

understand; use simple language, do not ask
about hypothetical situations, and keep the
questions relatively short.
Meta-analysis Statistical method of reaching conclusions based
on previous research.

o Prior to meta-analysis - read all of the available

research and then make a rather subjective
conclusion based on the articles.

o Researcher goes through each article,

determines the effect size for each article, and
then finds a statistical average of effect sizes
across all articles.
Effect size A statistic that indicates the amount of change
caused by an experimental manipulation.
Mean Effect Size A statistic that is the average of the effect sizes
for all studies included
Correlation coefficients (r) Used as the effect size. ▪ Resulting from
performing a correlation, that indicates the
magnitude and direction of a relationship.
Difference score (d) Used as the effect size.

▪ Indicates how many standard deviations

separate the mean score for the experimental
group from the control group.

Looking at the difference between two groups. ▪

less than .40: considered as small
 between .40 and .80: moderate.
▪ higher than .80: large.
▪ .44: average effect size for an organizational
intervention.
Practical significance Extent to which the results of a study have actual
impact on human behavior.
E. Subject Samples Fifth step: decide regarding the size, composition,
and method of selecting the subjects.
Random Sample Every member of the relevant population had an
equal chance of being chosen to participate in
the study
Convenience Sample Nonrandom research sample that is used because
it is easily available.
Random Assignment Unbiased assignment of subjects in a research
sample to the various experimental and control
conditions
F. Running the Study Sixth step: run the study and collect data.

All instructions to the subjects be stated in a

standardized fashion and at a level that is
understandable.
Debriefed Informing the subject in an experiment about the
purpose of the study in which he or she was a
participant and providing any other relevant
information.
G. Statistical Analysis Seventh step: results are statistically analyzed.
Significance levels Statistical significance

Indicate only the level of confidence we can place

on a result being the product of chance and
nothing about the strength of the results.
Effect Sizes Practical significance of a study
Correlation To determine the relationship between two
variables.
Intervening Variable Third variable that can often explain the
relationship between two other variables.
Correlation Coefficient Result of correlational analysis.

o Range from 1 to 1: the further the coefficient is

from zero, the greater the relationship between
two variables.

o (+) and (-) signs: Direction of the correlation

o Positive (+) Correlation: Values of one variable

increase, so do the values of a second variable.
 o Negative (-) Correlation: Values of one variable
increase, the values of a second variable
decrease.
ETHICS IN INDUSTRIAL/ORGANIZATIONAL
PSYCHOLOGY
Ethical Dilemmas Ambiguous situations that require a personal
judgment of what is right or wrong because there
are no rules, policies, or laws guiding such
decisions.
Two Types of Ethical Dilemmas High level of uncertainty as to what is right or
o Type A Dilemma wrong, there appears to be no best solution, and
there are both positive and negative
consequences to a decision. ▪ Ex. using animals
for clinical trials.
Type B Dilemma Also called rationalizing dilemmas: “rationalize”
they are right because “everyone else does it.”

Individuals know what is right but choose the

solution that is most advantageous to
themselves.

Ex. cheating on a test.

Chapter 2: Job Analysis and Evaluation
JOB ANALYSIS (Work Analysis) Gathering and analyzing information about the
work an employee performs, the conditions
under which the work is performed, and the
worker characteristics needed to perform the
work.

Foundation for almost all human resources

activities.
IMPORTANCE OF JOB ANALYSIS
I. Writing Job Descriptions
Job Description Written result of a job analysis.

A brief, two- to five-page summary of the tasks

and job requirements.
II. Employee Selection Clear understanding of the tasks to be performed
and the competencies needed.

Select tests or develop interview questions that

will determine whether a particular applicant
possesses the necessary knowledge, skills, and
abilities.
III. Training Job analyses yield lists of job activities that can be
used to create training programs.
IV. Person power Planning Determine worker mobility within an
organization.

o To what other jobs can they expect to

eventually be promoted and become successful
Peter Principle Promoting employees until they eventually reach
their highest level of incompetence.

Continue to rise up the ladder until you reach the

point where you can no longer perform well.
V. Performance Appraisal Construction of a performance appraisal
instrument.

o Excellent source of employee training and

counseling.
VI. Job Classification Enable to classify jobs into groups based on
similarities in requirements and duties.

o Useful for determining pay levels, transfers,

and promotions.
VII. Job Evaluation Used to determine the worth of a job.
VIII. Job Design Used to determine the optimal way in which a
job should be performed.

o Wasted and unsafe motions can be eliminated.

o Resulting in higher productivity and reduced
numbers of job injuries.
IX. Compliance with Legal Guidelines Employment decision must be based on job-
related information.

o Legally acceptable way to directly determine

job relatedness is by job analysis.
Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection HR principles designed to ensure compliance with
Procedures (UGESP, 1978) federal standards—contain several direct
references to the necessity of job analysis.
Principles for the Validation and Use of Personnel A document that provides guidance from
Selection Procedures (SIOP, 2003) professionals in the field of I/O psychology
regarding the employee selection process.
Griggs v. Duke Power (1971) Employment decisions were based in part upon
applicants’ possession of a high school diploma.

Not established the job relatedness of the high

school diploma requirement.
Organizational Analysis Job analysts often become aware of certain
problems within an organization. o Lapses in
organizational communication -correct problems
and help an organization function better.
Job Analysis Interview Obtaining information about a job by talking to a
person performing it.
WRITING A GOOD JOB DESCRIPTION Duties can always be added to a job description.

The phrase “and performs other job-related

duties as assigned” should be included.
Eight Sections
(1) Job Title Describes the nature of the job, its power and
status level, and the competencies needed to
perform the job.

Aids in employee selection and recruitment.

o Determine whether their skills and experience

match those required for the job.

o Affect perceptions of the status and worth of a

job
David Faloona (industrial psychologist) Started a new job at Washington National
Insurance in Chicago as psychometric technician.

Changed to “personnel assistant”

(2) Brief Summary Only a paragraph in length but should briefly
describe the nature and purpose of the job.

Used in help-wanted advertisements, internal job

postings, and company brochures.
(3) Work Activities Lists the tasks and activities.

Organized into categories to make the job

description easy to read and understand.
(4) Tools and Equipment Used Lists all the tools and equipment used to perform
the work activities.

o Used primarily for employee selection and

training.
(5) Job Context Describes the environment in which the
employee works.

o Mentions stress level, work schedule, physical

demands, level of responsibility, temperature,
number of coworkers, degree of danger and
others.

o Important to those individuals with disability to

determine if they are capable to perform the job.
(6) Work Performance Outline standards of performance.
 o Brief description of how an employee’s
performance is evaluated and what work
standards are expected.
(7) Compensation Information • Contain information on the salary grade,
whether the position is exempt, and the
compensable factors used to determine salary.

• Salary Grade

o A cluster of jobs of similar worth.

(8) Job Competencies (Job Specifications) Refers to the knowledge, skills, and abilities
needed to successfully perform a job.

• Competencies section should be divided into

two subsections:
o Employee must have at the time of hiring.

o KSAOs that can be obtained after being hired

PREPARING FOR A JOB ANALYSIS
I. Who Will Conduct the Analysis? • Trained individual in the Human Resources
department.

o Can also be job incumbents, supervisors, or

outside consultants.
Job Incumbents & Supervisors Need to be released from other duties.
Consultants Good choice as they are well trained and have
extensive experience.

Drawback: expensive (charge between $100 and

$500 per hour).
College Interns Tend to have job analysis training and experience
and can be employed for a relatively small cost.
II. How Often Should a Job Description Be Should be updated if a job changes significantly.
Updated? o High-tech jobs – probably often.
o Package handling - not change substantially for
20 years.
Job Crafting Employees unofficially change their job duties to
better fit their interests and skills.

▪ Add tasks they want to perform and to remove

tasks that they don’t want to perform
III. Which Employees Should Participate? Few people in each job – all employees
participate.
 Many people perform the same job (e.g.,
teachers at a university, assemblers in a factory),
every person need not participate
Committee-Based Job Analysis Group of subject-matter experts meet to
generate the tasks performed, the conditions
under which they are performed, and the KSAOs
needed to perform them.

Knowledgeable about the job and include job

incumbents, supervisors, customers, and upper-
level management.
Field-Based Job Analysis Job analyst individually interviews/observes a
number of incumbents out in the field.
Random Sampling Should be selected in as random a way as
practical yet still be representative.

o Employee differences in gender, race, job

performance level, experience, job enjoyment,
and personality can at times result in slightly
different job analysis outcomes.
IV. What Types of Information Should Be • Concerns the level of specificity. o Should the
Obtained? job analysis break a job down into very minute,
specific behaviors or should the job be analyzed
at a more general level.

• Issue of formal versus informal requirements. o

Secretary - typing letters or filing memos
(formal), making coffee or picking up the boss’s
children from school (informal).
CONDUCTING A JOB ANALYSIS Goal: identify the tasks performed in a job, the
conditions under which the tasks are performed,
and the KSAOs needed to perform.
Step 1: Identify Tasks Performed Identify the major job dimensions and the tasks
performed for each dimension, the tools and
equipment used to perform the tasks, and the
conditions under which the tasks are performed.
Gathering Existing Information Gather existing job descriptions, task inventories,
and training manuals.

▪ From the organization with which you are

working, other organizations, trade publications,
and journal articles.
Interviewing Subject-Matter Experts Common job analysis technique.

Asking the employee to describe what she does

from the moment she first enters the parking lot
at work to the moment she arrives back home.
Subject-Matter Experts (SMEs) Sources such as supervisors and incumbents who
are knowledgeable about a job.
Two Main Forms ▪ Individual Interview - Job analyst interviews
only one employee at a time.

▪ Group interview (SME conference) - a larger

number of employees are interviewed together.
Committee-Based Approach A committee of SMEs meets to brainstorm the
major duties involved.

Identifies the tasks (work-related activities) that

must be completed.

Results are then summarized in job descriptions.

Ammerman Technique A job analysis method in which a group of job
experts identifies the objectives and standards to
be met by the ideal worker.
Observations Job analyst watches job incumbents perform
their jobs.

Advantage: see the worker do her job and thus

obtain information that the worker may have
forgotten to mention during the interview.

Disadvantage: very obtrusive, observing someone

without their knowing is difficult.
Job Participation Job analyst performs the job being analyzed.

Advantage: easier to understand every aspect of

a job once you have done it yourself.

Disadvantage: limited to certain occupations that

involve quick training and minimal consequences
from an error.
Step 2: Write Task Statements Used in the task inventory.

o A questionnaire containing a list of tasks each

of which the job incumbent rates on a series of
scales such as importance and time spent.

Must contain an action (what is done) and an

object (to which the action is done).

o Where the task is done, how it is done, why it is

done, and when it is done
“Bogus Tasks” Few tasks not part of a job be placed into the task
inventory.
Step 3: Rate Task Statements Conduct a task analysis.

The process of identifying the tasks for which

employees need to be trained.

Using a group of SMEs to rate each task

statement on the frequency and the importance
or criticality of the task.

Tasks are not included in the job description -

average frequency rating is 0.5 or below.

Tasks are not included in the final task inventory -

either an average rating of 0.5 or less on either
the frequency (F) or importance (I) scales or an
average combined rating (CR) of less than 2
Step 4: Determine Essential KSAOs (Job • Commonly referred to as competencies.
Specifications)
• Link KSAOs to tasks

o A group of SMEs brainstorm the KSAOs needed

to perform each task.

o Another group of SMEs is given the list and

asked to rate the extent to which each of the
KSAOs is essential.

o KSAOs with an average score of .5 or less are

eliminated.
Knowledge A body of information needed to perform a task.

Need to hold the gun properly and allow for such

external conditions as the target distance and
wind conditions.
Skill The proficiency to perform a learned task.

A police officer accurately shooting a gun.

Ability The basic capacity for performing a wide range of
tasks, acquiring a knowledge, or developing a
skill.

Have the hand strength, steadiness, and vision

necessary to hold the gun, pull the trigger, and
aim properly.
Other characteristics Personality, willingness, interest, and tangible
factors like licenses, experience, and degrees.
Competency Modeling When competencies are tied to an organization’s
strategic initiatives and plans rather than to
specific tasks
Step 5: Selecting Tests to Tap KSAO Determine the best methods to tap the KSAOs
needed at the time of hire.
o Interviews, work samples, ability tests,
personality tests, reference checks, integrity
tests, biodata, and assessment centers.
USING OTHER JOB ANALYSIS METHODS
I. Methods Providing General Information About
Worker Activities
(1) Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ) Structured instrument developed at Purdue
University by McCormick, Jeanneret, and
Mecham.

Contains 194 items organized into six main

dimensions.

▪ Information input, mental processes, work

output, relationships with other persons, job
context, and other job-related variables such as
work schedule, pay, and responsibility.

Advantage: inexpensive and takes relatively little

time to use.

Disadvantage: suggest that incumbents have

education levels between grades 10 and 12 but
found out that it is written at the college
graduate level

Designed to cover all jobs but limited to 194

questions and six dimensions, it has not proven
very sensitive
(2) Job Structure Profile (JSP) Revised version of the PAQ was developed by
Patrick and Moore (1985).

Designed to be used more by the job analyst than

by the job incumbent.

Changes in item content and style, new items to

increase the discriminatory power of the
intellectual and decision-making dimensions.
(3) Job Elements Inventory (JEI) Developed by Cornelius and Hakel as an
alternative to the PAQ.
 Contains 153 items and has a readability level
appropriate for an employee with only a tenth-
grade education
(4) Functional Job Analysis (FJA) Initially designed by Sidney Fine (1955) as a
method that could be used by the federal
government to analyze and compare thousands
of jobs.

Rates the extent to which a job incumbent is

involved with functions in the categories of data,
people, and things.

Small group of subject matter experts meets to

identify the key functions of a job (what gets
done) as well as the tasks performed.

Assign a percentage of time the incumbent

spends on three functions: data (information and
ideas), people (clients, customers, and
coworkers), and things (machines, tools, and
equipment).

Analyst is given 100 points to allot to the three

functions.

▪ Usually assigned in multiples of 5, with each

function receiving a minimum of 5 points
II. Methods Providing Information About Tools
and Equipment
(1) Job Components Inventory (JCI) Developed by Banks, Jackson, Stafford, and Warr
(1983) for use in England.

More than 400 questions covering five major

categories.

o (1) tools and equipment, (2) perceptual and

physical requirements, (3) mathematical
requirements, (4) communication requirements,
and (5) decision making and responsibility.
III. Methods Providing Information About the
Work Environment
(1) AET (Arbeitswissenschaftliches Means ergonomic job analysis procedure.
Erhebungsverfahren zur Tätigkeitsanalyse)
Developed in Germany by Rohmert and Landau
with 216-item.
 Primarily concerned with the relationship
between the worker and work objects.
IV. Methods Providing Information About The job analysis system used by the federal
Competencies (1) Occupational Information government that has replaced the Dictionary of
Network (O*NET) Occupational Titles (DOT).

o Includes information about the occupation

(generalized work activities, work context,
organizational context) and the worker
characteristics (ability, work style, occupational
values and interests, knowledge, skills,
education).

o Information about such economic factors as

labor demand, labor supply, salaries, and
occupational trends.
(2) Critical Incident Technique (CIT) Developed by John Flanagan that uses written
reports of good and bad employee behavior.

o Disadvantage: emphasis on the difference

between excellent and poor performance ignores
routine duties.
(3) Job Components Inventory (JCI) Provides information about the perceptual,
physical, mathematical, communication, decision
making, and responsibility skills needed to
perform the job.
(4) Threshold Traits Analysis (TTA) A 33-item questionnaire developed by Lopez that
identifies traits necessary to successfully perform
a job. o Cover five trait categories: physical,
mental, learned, motivational, and social

o Advantage: short and reliable and can correctly

identify important traits.

o Disadvantage: it is not available commercially

(5) Fleishman Job Analysis Survey (F-JAS) Requires incumbents or job analysts to view a
series of abilities and to rate the level of ability
needed to perform the job.

o Advantages
▪ Easy to use by incumbents or trained analysts,
demonstrates acceptable levels of reliability, and
is supported by years of research.
▪ Advantages over TTA are that it is more
detailed, is commercially available, is available in
several languages, and can be completed online.
(6) Job Adaptability Inventory (JAI) 132-item inventory developed by Pulakos, Arad,
Donovan, and Plamondon (2000).

Taps the extent to which a job incumbent needs

to adapt to situations on the job.
(7) Personality-Related Position Requirements Developed by Raymark, Schmit, and Guion (1997)
Form (PPRF) to identify the personality types needed to
perform job related tasks.

Consists of 107 items tapping 12 personality

dimensions that fall under the “Big 5” personality
dimensions.
(8) Performance Improvements Characteristics Similar to the PPRF, the 48 questions help
(PIC) determine which of the seven main personality
traits are needed to perform a given job.
EVALUATION OF METHODS 1. The PAQ is seen as the most standardized
technique and the CIT the least standardized.

2. The CIT takes the least amount of job analyst

training and task analysis the most.

3. The PAQ is the least costly method and the CIT

the most.

4. The PAQ takes the least amount of time to

complete and task analysis the most.

5. Task analysis has the highest-quality results

and TTA the lowest.

6. Task analysis reports are the longest and

job elements reports the shortest.

7. The CIT has been rated the most useful and the
PAQ the least.

8. Task analysis gives the best overall job picture

and the PAQ the worst
JOB EVALUATION The process of determining the monetary worth
of a job.
I. Determining Internal Pay Equity Comparing jobs within an organization.
Step 1: Determining Compensable Job Factors o Compensable Job Factors
▪ Factors that differentiate the relative worth of
jobs.
• Level of responsibility
• Physical demands
• Mental demands
 • Education requirements
• Training and experience requirements
• Working conditions
Step 2: Determining the Levels for Each Eg. Education - high school diploma, associate’s
Compensable Factor degree, bachelor’s degree.
Step 3: Determining the Factor Weights Weights must be assigned to each factor.
Wage Trend Line Determine jobs with underpaid or overpaid
salary.

A line that represents the ideal relationship

between the number of points that a job has
been assigned and the salary range for that job.
II. Determining External Pay Equity Comparing the job to the external market (other
organizations).

o Important if an organization is to attract and

retain employees.
Salary Surveys A questionnaire sent to other organizations to
see how much they are paying their employees in
positions similar to those in the organization
sending the survey.
Market Position Decide where it wants to be in relation to the
compensation policies of other organizations.
Direct Compensation The amount of money paid to an employee (does
not count benefits, time off, and so forth).
Determining Sex and Race Equity Pay audits should also be conducted to ensure
that employees are not paid differently on the
basis of gender or race
Two Types of Audits That Should Be Conducted: o One that looks at pay rates of employees within
Equal Pay for Equal Work positions with identical duties.
Comparable Worth Jobs requiring the same level of skill and
responsibility should be paid the same regardless
of supply and demand.
Conducting a Sex and Race Equity Study Conducting a salary equity analysis for an
organization is to place jobs into the Pay Analysis
Groups
Two types of statistical analyses are typically : For smaller PAGs.
used: o Fisher’s exact test
Regression At least 30 employees in the PAG and at least 5
employees in each sex or race group.
HR Equator or COMPARE Software used for statistical analysis.
Chapter 3: Legal Issues in Employee Selection
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission A branch of the Department of Labor charged
(EEOC) with investigating and prosecuting complaints of
employment discrimination.
RESOLVING THE COMPLAINT INTERNALLY
I. Forms of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Method of resolving conflict internally.
A. Grievance system Employee files a complaint with the organization
and a person or committee within the
organization makes a decision regarding the
complaint
B. Mediation Neutral third party is asked to help the two
parties reach an agreement.

o Not choosing which side is correct unlike

arbitration.
C. Arbitration • Neutral third party is asked to choose which
side is correct
Binding arbitration Neither party is allowed to appeal the decision
Nonbinding arbitration Either party may appeal the decision to the court.
FILING A DISCRIMINATION CHARGE State agency is used; violation involves a state
law.

Federal agency (usually the EEOC); violations of

federal law.

o EEOC complaint must be filed within 180 days

of the discriminatory act.
o Within 300 days if the complainant has already
filed a complaint with a state agency
OUTCOMES OF AN EEOC INVESTIGATION
I. Charge Does Not Have Merit Complainant accepts the decision: process ends.

Does not accept the decision: issued a “right to

sue” letter.

o Private attorney and file the case himself.

II. Charge Has Merit EEOC believes has merits.

o Try to work out a settlement between the

claimant and employer without taking the case to
court.

▪ Offering a job or promotion, payment of back

wages, and the payment of compensatory or
punitive damages.

o Settlement cannot be reached.

Goes to a federal district court, with the EEOC

representing the person filing the complaint.

If either side does not agree with the appeals

court decision.
Case Law When the district court makes a decision, the
decision becomes case law.

Judicial interpretation of a law and is important

because it establishes a precedent for future
cases.
DETERMINING WHETHER AN EMPLOYMENT Determining the legality of an employment
DECISION IS LEGAL practice.

Decide whether the practice directly refers to a

member of a protected class.
Protected Class Any group of people for whom protective
legislation has been passed.
Race Four races - African American, White, Asian
American, and Native American Indian.
Fifth Amendment Mandates that the federal government may not
deny a person equal protection under the law.

May not intentionally discriminate or allow

intentional discrimination to take place.
Fourteenth Amendments Mandates that no state may deny a person equal
protection under the law.

May not intentionally discriminate or allow

intentional discrimination to take place.
Civil Rights Acts of 1964 (known as Title VII) and Extended the scope of the Fifth and Fourteenth
1991 Amendments to the private sector and to local
governments.

▪ Fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any

individual or otherwise to discriminate against
any individual with respect to his compensation,
terms, conditions, or privileges of employment.

▪ Limit, segregate, or classify his employees.

Do not require that the employment practice

discriminate intentionally to be deemed as
potentially illegal

Determined through statistical analysis of

selection rates and by the presence or absence of
adverse impact.
II. Color Protects individuals against discrimination based
specifically on variations in skin color.
 1989 case of Walker v. Secretary of the Treasury ▪
Illegally fired a lighter-skinned African American
employee.
III. Sex Protected under Civil Rights Acts and Equal Pay
Act of 1963.

Intentional discrimination against either women

or men is illegal.

Included in the definition of sex are sexual

stereotypes.

Illegal to not hire a female applicant because she

looks or dresses too masculine.
IV. National Origin Protected under the Civil Rights Acts.

Most common complaints is about “English only”

or “understandable English” speaking
requirements. o Language requirements are legal
if they are job related.

Limited to communication during “company

time”.

EEOC and the Delano Regional Medical Center

▪ Hospital forbid Filipino employees from
speaking Tagalog.
V. Religion Also protected under the Civil Rights Acts.

Illegal to use an individual’s religion as a factor in

an employment decision.

Require organizations to make accommodations

for religious beliefs.
Days of Worship Religions forbid their members from working on
particular days.

Seventh-day Adventists and Orthodox Jews -

cannot work from sundown Friday to sundown
Saturday.

Greek Orthodox Church - cannot work on Sunday.

Worship Practices Require members to pray at certain times - Salat
ritual prayer five times daily.
 Fasting requirements - Islam must refrain from
food and drink during the 30-day period of
Ramadan (affect work performance).

Cannot celebrate birthdays or nonreligious

holidays (Jehovah’s Witnesses) – lack of
participation viewed as attitude problems.
Religious Attire Sikh males - required to wear turbans and
religious bracelet on their right wrists.

Religious apparel creates the potential of danger,

banning such apparel is legal (bracelet getting
caught in a piece of machinery).
VI. Age Forbid an employer or union from discriminating
against an individual over the age of 40.

Reason: reducing costs by firing older workers

with higher salaries and replacing them with
lower-paid younger workers.

o Requirements:
(1) in the specified age bracket
(2) discharged or demoted
(3) performing the job adequately
(4) replaced by a younger worker
VII. Disability
Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973 Discrimination against people with disabilities by
the federal government or by federal contractors
is forbidden.

At least 7% of a contractor’s employees should be

individuals with disabilities.
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Discrimination against the disabled by any other
employer with 15 or more employees is
forbidden.
ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA) Signed into law by President George W. Bush in
2008.

Organizations with 15 or more employees to

make “reasonable accommodation for the
physically and mentally disabled, unless to do so
would impose an undue hardship”

▪ Major life activities - walking, hearing, and

speaking, operation of major bodily functions.
 ▪ People who were once disabled but no longer
are.

▪ Don’t have a disability but are regarded or

treated as if they do - facial scarring or severe
burns.
VIII. Pregnancy
• Pregnancy Discrimination Act A 1978 federal law protecting the rights of
pregnant women.

Pregnant women may receive better treatment

than other persons with disabilities.
IX. Military Veteran Status
Vietnam-Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance A 1974 federal law that mandates that federal
Act (VEVRAA) government contractors and subcontractors take
affirmative action to employ and promote
Vietnam era veterans.
Jobs for Veterans Act A law passed in 2002 that increased the coverage
of VEVRAA to include disabled veterans, veterans
who have recently left the service, and veterans
who participated in a U.S. military operation for
which an Armed Forces Service Medal was
awarded
Bona Fide Occupational Qualification (BFOQ) A selection requirement that is necessary for the
performance of job-related duties and for which
there is no substitute.
Adverse Impact An employment practice that results in members
of a protected class being negatively affected at a
higher rate than members of the majority class.

College degree; lead to a lower percentage of

African American applicants being hired
compared with White applicants
Two Standards to Determine Adverse Impact Tells us that selection rate differences would not
Statistical Significance have occurred by chance.

Standard deviation test, chi-square, and Fisher’s

exact test.
Practical Significance Percentages rather than raw numbers.

25 of 50 male applicants are hired, the hiring

percentage is 50% - females must be at least
four-fifths (80%) of 50%. Thus, .50 .80 .40, (10:4)
Four-Fifths Rule - When the selection ratio for one group (e.g.,
females) is less than 80% (four-fifths) of the
selection ratio for another group (e.g., males),
adverse impact is said to exist.
CAN THE EMPLOYER PROVE THAT THE
REQUIREMENT IS JOB RELATED?
I. Job Related The extent to which a test or measure taps a
knowledge, skill, ability, behavior, or other
characteristic needed to successfully perform a
job.
Valid Testing Procedures Adverse impact may still be legal as long as the
test is job related (valid) and as long as find other
tests that might be just as valid but have less
adverse impact.

▪ Uses a cognitive ability test to select employees

– it predicts performance on the job.
Exceptions Has long-standing policy of promoting employees
o Bona Fide Seniority System with the greatest seniority or laying off
employees with the least seniority can continue
to do so.
National Security Legal for an employer to discriminate against a
member of a particular national origin or other
protected class when it is in the best interest of
the nation’s security.

Ex. Russians prohibited from working in any

defense-related industry
Veteran’s Preference Rights Most civil service jobs provide extra points on
tests for veterans of the armed forces.

Get five points added to their exam score.

TYPES OF HARASSMENT
I. Quid Pro Quo Granting of sexual favors is tied to such
employment decisions as promotions and salary
increases.

Single incident is enough to constitute sexual

harassment.
II. Hostile Environment A pattern of unwanted conduct related to gender
that interferes with an individual’s work
performance.

▪ Comments, unwanted sexual or romantic

advances, or the display of demeaning posters,
signs, or cartoons.
Pattern of Behavior Pattern of behavior rather than an isolated
incident.
 Coworker continually makes unwanted romantic
or sexual overtures or repeatedly makes
inappropriate remarks.
Based on Gender Must be due to the sex of the employee.

▪ Female officers as “babes” or “honey” - based

on gender and demeaning to the female officers.

▪ If a male makes sexual comments or improperly

touches another male
Negative to the Reasonable Person Any pattern of behavior based on gender that
causes an employee discomfort might constitute
sexual harassment.
ORGANIZATIONAL LIABILITY FOR SEXUAL
HARASSMENT
Quid Pro Quo Harassment organization will always be liable.
Hostile Environment Cases can avoid liability.

“Exercised reasonable care to prevent and

correct promptly any sexually harassing
behavior”.
Preventing Sexual Harassment Well-conceived policy regarding sexual
harassment.

Communicated and enforced that policy.

Must explain the types of harassment.

List of the names of the company officials to

whom an employee should report.
Correcting Sexually Harassing Behavior Organization investigatesthe complaint quickly
and then promptly take any necessary action.
▪ Physically separating the two parties or
limiting the amount of contact between them.

Accused and the accuser must be given due

process.

Results of the investigation must be

communicated in writing to both parties.

Severity of the punishment must match the

severity of the violation.
FAMILY MEDICAL LEAVE ACT Entitles eligible employees (both male and
female) to a minimum of 12 weeks of unpaid
leave each year.
 Births, adoptions, or placement for foster care.

To care for a child, parent, or spouse with a

serious health condition.

For employee’s own serious health condition that

makes him or her unable to perform the job.

President George W. Bush signed the National

Defense Authorization Act (2008)

Provide 26 weeks of unpaid leave for a spouse,

son, daughter, parent, or next of kin to care for a
member of the military.

Organization must:
1. Continue the employees’ health-care
coverage.

2. Return to same or an equivalent position.

Employee must provide a doctor’s certification

and give 30 days’ notice if the leave is
foreseeable.
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION A set of procedures designed to; eliminate
unlawful discrimination among applicants,
remedy the results of such prior discrimination,
and prevent such discrimination in the future.
I. Reasons for Affirmative Action Plans
• Involuntary: Government Regulation Requires federal contractors and subcontractors
o Presidential Executive Order 11246 with more than 50 employees to submit an
annual EEO-1 Report and requires federal
contractors and subcontractors with at least one
federal contract in excess of $50,000 to have
formal affirmative action plans.

Involve analyses of all major job groups.

Indicate which job groups have

underrepresentations.

Goals and plans for overcoming such

underrepresentations.
Involuntary: Court Order Court finds a public agency guilty of not hiring or
promoting enough members of a protected class.

Order the agency to begin an affirmative action

program.
Voluntary: Consent Decree Discrimination complaint has been filed with a
court, a public agency can “voluntarily” agree to
an affirmative action plan
Voluntary: Desire to Be a Good Citizen Develop affirmative action and diversity
programs out of a desire to be good citizens.
II. Affirmative Action Strategies
Monitoring Hiring and Promotion Statistics Monitor their hiring, placement, and promotion
rates for men and women and minorities and
nonminorities.
Intentional Recruitment of Minority Applicants Target underrepresented groups for more
extensive recruitment.
Identification and Removal of Employment Identify and remove practices that might
Practices Working Against Minority Applicants discourage minority applicants from applying to
and Employees an organization, being promoted within an
organization, or remaining with an organization.
Preferential Hiring and Promotion of Minorities Most controversial and misunderstood.

Minority applicants will be given preference over

an equally qualified nonminority applicant.
PRIVACY ISSUES
Fourth Amendment The amendment to the U.S. Constitution that
protects against unreasonable search or seizure.

Has been ruled to cover such privacy issues as

drug testing, locker and office searches,
psychological testing, and electronic surveillance.
Drug-Free Workplace Act Requires federal contractors to maintain a drug-
free workplace.
I. Drug Testing Drug testing of current employees by a public
agency must be based on “reasonable suspicion”
and with “just cause”.

o “Tips” that employees are using drug.

o Accidents or discipline problems.
o Actual observation of drug usage.
o Physical symptoms of being under the
influence.
II. Office and Locker Searches Allowed under the law as long as they are
reasonable and with cause.

Allowing to place their own locks on lockers:

removes the right of the organization to search
the locker.
III. Psychological Tests Illegal if its questions unnecessarily invade the
privacy of an applicant.
 Applicant’s level of emotional stability,
interpersonal style, addiction potential,
dependability, and socialization.
IV. Surveillance Prevent and tracked unproductive behavior and
potential legal problems or theft of trade secrets.

Video surveillance is not an invasion of privacy

video surveillance is not an invasion of privacy.

Can monitor their employees’ email or search

their computer files.

o Should tell employees that they are being

monitored and at the time of hire, get new
employees to sign consent forms agreeing to be
monitored
Lai Nerully O. Gaputan
BS Psychology 4 – YC

CHAPTER 4: PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL

Why Do We Appraise Employees?
Administrative - Many administrative decisions that affect employees are
Decisions based, at least in part, on their job performance.
- Most large organizations use job performance as the basis
for many negative and positive actions.
Union Contract - Will often specify that job performance is the basis for
particular administrative decisions, such as pay raises.
Employee - One of the major roles of supervisors is to provide
Development and information to their subordinates about what is expected on
Feedback the job and how well they are meeting those expectations.
- Employees need to know when they are performing well so
that they will continue to do so, as well as when they are not
so that they can change what they are doing.
Research - Many of the activities of practicing I/O psychologists
concern the improvement of employee job performance.
- The efforts of I/O psychologists can be directed toward
designing better equipment, hiring better people, motivating
employees, and training employees.
- Job performance data can serve as the criterion against
which such activities are evaluated.
- A common design for such a study involves comparing
employee performance before and after the implementation
of a new program designed to enhance it.
Performance Criteria
Criterion - A standard against which you can judge the performance of
anything, including a person.
- It allows you to distinguish good from bad performance.
- Trying to assess performance without criteria is like helping
a friend find a lost object when the friend will not tell you
what it is.
Theoretical Criterion - The definition of what good performance is rather than how
it is measured.
- In research terminology, the theoretical criterion is a
theoretical construct.
- It is the idea of what good performance is.
Actual Criterion - The way in which the theoretical criterion is assessed or
operationalized.
- It is the performance appraisal technique that is used, such
as counting a salesperson’s sales.
Criterion -Refers to that part of the actual criterion that reflects
Contamination something other than what it was designed to measure.
- Contamination can arise from biases in the criterion and
from unreliability.
- Biases are common when people’s judgments and opinions
are used as the actual criterion.
Criterion Deficiency - The actual criterion does not adequately cover the entire
theoretical criterion.
- In other words, the actual criterion is an incomplete
representation of what we are trying to assess.
Criterion Relevance - The extent to which the actual criterion assesses the
theoretical criterion it is designed to measure, or its construct
validity.
- The closer the correspondence between the actual and
theoretical criteria, the greater the relevance of the actual
criterion.
Two ways to deal with complex nature of critera:

• Composite Criterion
- An approach that involves combining individual criteria into a single score.
- If employees receive a number to represent performance on each of four dimensions, a
composite would be the average of the four dimension scores for each employee.

• Multidimensional Approach
- Does not combine the individual criterion measures.
Dynamic Criterion - Refers to the variability of performance over time although
it is the performance and not the standard that changes.
Contextual - Consists of extra voluntary things employees do to benefit
performance their coworkers and organizations, such as volunteering to
carry out extra tasks or helping coworkers.
Methods For Assessing Job Performance
Objective Measures - Are counts of various behaviors (e.g., number of days absent
from work) or of the results of job behaviors (e.g., total
monthly sales).
Subjective Measures - Are ratings by people who should be knowledgeable about
the person’s job performance.
- Usually supervisors provide job performance ratings of their
subordinates.
Objective Measures:
Subjective Measures of Job Performance:

• Graphic Rating Forms

- Most popular type of subjective measure.
- Used to assess individuals on several dimensions of performance.
- Focuses on characteristics or traits of the person or the person’s performance.

• Behavior-Focused Rating Forms

- Concentrate on behaviors that the person has done or could be expected to do.
- The rater’s job is to indicate which behaviors are characteristic of the person being
rated.
- The way in which the form is scored is dependent on the particular type of form.
➢ Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scale (BARS) - a rating scale in which the
response choices are defined in behavioral terms.
➢ Mixed Standard Scale (MSS) - provides the rater with a list of behaviors that
vary in their effectiveness.
➢ Behavior Observation Scale (BOS) - contains items that are based on critical
incidents, making it somewhat like an MSS.
Stereotype - A belief about characteristics of the members of a group.
Prototype - A model of some characteristic or type of person.
Halo Error - Occurs when a rater gives an individual the same rating
across all rating dimensions, despite differences in
performance across dimensions.
Distributional Errors - Occurs when a rater tends to rate everyone the same.
Leniency Errors - Occurs when the rater rates everyone at the favorable end of
the performance scale.
Severity Errors - Occurs when the rater rates everyone at the unfavorable end
of the performance scale.
Central Tendency - Errors occur when a rater rates everyone in the middle of the
performance scale.
Rater Error Training - Familiarize raters with rater errors and to teach them to
(RET) avoid these rating patterns.
Frame of Reference - Attempts to provide a common understanding of the rating
Training task.
- Raters are given specific examples of behavior that would
represent various levels of performance for each dimension
to be rated.
- Results with this kind of training have thus far proven to be
promising in increasing rating accuracy and providing the
rater with a more accurate understanding of the criteria for
good performance
Lai Nerully O. Gaputan
BS Psychology 4 – YC

CHAPTER 5: ASSESSMENT METHODS FOR SELECTION AND

PLACEMENT
- During World War I, the U.S. Army became one of the first organizations to use large-
scale testing of people to determine their job assignments (placement).
- After the war, large organizations saw the potential value of assessing job applicants
for selection and other employment decisions, and the use of testing and other
techniques became commonplace.
Psychological Test - Consists of a standard set of items or tasks that a person
completes under controlled conditions.
- Most involve paper-and-pencil tasks, such as answering
questions or solving problems, although some involve
manipulation of physical objects to assess such
characteristics as manual dexterity and eye-hand
coordination.
- Psychological tests can be used to assess ability, interests,
knowledge, personality, and skill.
Biographical - Forms ask about relevant prior experiences, such as level of
Information education and work experience.
- Some forms can be quite detailed, asking not only about
objective facts but about opinions and subjective reactions as
well.
Interview - A meeting between the job applicant and someone at the
employing organization who will have input into the hiring
decision.
- This can be done face to face or via technology such as a
telephone or webcam.
Work Sample - A test that asks a person to perform a simulated job.
- The person is given the necessary materials and tools and
must perform a particular task, such as assembling a motor,
under controlled conditions.
Assessment Center - A series of exercises, including simulated job tasks, that
measure how well a person can perform a job.
- It is commonly used to assess potential for a management or
other white-collar job.
KSAOs (knowledge, - Needed for a job.
skill, ability, and other ➢ Knowledge - refers to what the person knows about
personal characteristics) a job, such as legal knowledge for an attorney.
➢ Skill – something that a person is able to do, such as
program a computer or type.
 ➢ Ability – capability to learn something, such as the
ability to learn to play a musical instrument or to
speak a foreign language.
➢ Other personal characteristics - every other human
attribute not covered by the first three. Included are
interests, personality, physical characteristics (such
as height or eye color), and prior experience relevant
for the job.
Group Test - Can be administered to several people at once.
- The test itself can be in a printed form (e.g., a booklet), or it
can be displayed on a computer screen.
Individual Test - One that a test administrator gives to a single test taker at a
time rather than to a group of individuals.
- This is necessary because either the administrator has to
score the items as the test proceeds or an apparatus is
involved that only one person can use at a time.
- The test administrator sets the pace of the individual items.
Closed-Ended Test - The test taker must choose one from several possible
responses, as in a multiple-choice test.
- Usually preferred because of its greater ease in scoring.
Open-Ended Test - Is like an essay exam.
- The test taker must generate a response rather than choosing
a correct response.
- The open-ended test is more appropriate for some
characteristics.
Paper-and-Pencil Test - On a piece of paper or other printed (or electronic) medium,
and the responses are made in written form, often with a
pencil.
Performance Test - Involves the manipulation of apparatuses, equipment,
materials, or tools.
- Perhaps the most widely used performance test is a typing
test.
- With this sort of performance test, the test taker
demonstrates his or her typing ability on an actual keyboard
under standardized conditions.
- This tests the typing ability itself rather than typing
knowledge, which could be assessed with a paper-and-pencil
test of knowledge about typing.
Power Test - Gives the test taker almost unlimited time to complete the
test.
Speed Test - Has a strict time limit.
- It is designed so that almost no one can finish all items in the
allotted time.
Ability or Aptitude - A person’s capacity to do or learn to do a particular task.
Cognitive Ability - Intelligence or IQ test of general cognitive ability.
Tests
Psychomotor Ability - Assess such things as ability to manipulate objects and use
Tests tools.
- They involve both the coordination between senses and
movement (e.g., eye-hand coordination) and the accuracy of
movements.
- People are scored on their ability to perform motor tasks,
such as putting pegs in holes or using simple tools to
manipulate objects.
Achievement Test - Also called knowledge and skill test.
- Designed to assess a person’s present level of proficiency.
- A knowledge test assesses what the person knows, and a
skill test assesses what a person is able to do.
Personality Trait - The predisposition or tendency to behave in a particular way
across different situations.
- Can be important because certain classes of behavior can be
relevant for job performance and other behaviors in
organizations.
Personality Tests - Useful tools for assessing personality traits.
- Some personality tests are designed to assess a single
personality trait; personality inventories assess multiple
dimensions and are sometimes used to provide profiles of
individuals across several personality traits.
Emotional - A characteristic that falls between a personality trait and a
Intelligence (EI) cognitive ability.
- The ability people have to control and recognize emotions in
themselves and in others.
Integrity Test - Designed to predict whether or not an employee will engage
in counterproductive or dishonest behavior on the job.
- The behaviors these tests are designed to predict include
cheating, sabotage, theft, and unethical behavior.
- They also are sometimes used to predict absence and
turnover.
Overt Integrity Test - Assesses a person’s attitudes and prior behavior.
- It asks the person to indicate agreement or disagreement
with statements concerning honesty and moral behavior.
Personality Integrity - Assesses personality characteristics that have been found to
Test predict counterproductive behavior.
- Whereas the overt integrity tests are obvious assessments of
honesty and integrity, the personality tests are hidden in their
purpose.
Vocational Interest - Matches either the interests or the personality of the test
Test taker to those of people in a variety of different occupations
and occupational categories.
Empirical - Developed by administering a large number of potential
Biographical items to a group of employees in a particular job.
Inventory
 - Those items that are related to job performance are retained
for the scale.
Rational Biographical - Developed by beginning with an analysis of KSAO
Inventory requirements and then devising items that reflect those
KSAOs.
Unstructured - The interviewer asks whatever questions come to mind.
Interview - It can be much like a conversation between the interviewer
and interviewee in which the nature of the interaction
between the two people determines in large part what is
discussed.
Structured Interview - The interviewer has a preplanned series of questions that are
asked of every person who is interviewed.
- This makes the interview relatively standard, although the
interaction between the two people can still affect what gets
discussed.
Work Sample - An assessment device that requires a person to demonstrate
how well he or she can perform the tasks involved in a job
under standardized conditions.
- It is a type of simulation in which a person does a job or part
of a job under testing conditions rather than actual job
conditions.
Assessment Center - Measures how well a person is able to perform some of the
tasks of a specific job.
- It consists of several exercises that are designed to simulate
various job tasks.
- Most assessment centers are designed to assess management
skills, but they are used for nonmanagement jobs as well.
In-basket Exercise - Asks the assessee to pretend that it is the first day of a new
job and he or she has found a series of items in his or her in-
basket.
- Items include e-mails, letters, memos, and phone messages.
- The assessee’s task is to deal with each item in an
appropriate manner, deciding what action, if any, to take by
making notes on each item.
Computer adaptive - A flexible computerized approach to item administration
testing (CAT) where items given to a test taker are chosen based on prior
correct or incorrect responses.
Lai Nerully O. Gaputan
BS Psychology 4 – YC

CHAPTER 6: SELECTING EMPLOYEES

The Planning of Human Resource Needs
- Human resource plans must include both a consideration of the organization’s needs
for people and the supply of possible people to hire.
- The supply of people to hire in the labor market can be estimated in a variety of ways.
- Organizations can keep track of the number of people who apply for various positions.
- In addition, government agencies provide information about the number of available
workers in different job categories.
Recruiting Applicants
- A challenge for many organizations is getting people to apply for available positions.
- To be able to hire good people, an organization must have a large pool of job
applicants from which to choose.
- For some jobs, it may be relatively easy to recruit applicants because there are many
available people who are easily attracted.
- For jobs in which there is an undersupply of people, an organization must expend
considerable effort to attract the right people to fill its job vacancies.
- The choice of sources depends on the ease with which organizations can recruit
applicants.
- Some organizations find that they get enough walk-in applicants to cover the jobs that
they have, so more time-consuming methods are unnecessary.
- Technology has impacted recruitment in significant ways, with the web becoming the
initial point of contract for applicants who first learn of the job online and who often
complete an initial application for a job online.
Selecting Employees
- The purpose of employee selection is to hire people who are likely to be successful on
the job, as organizational performance is dependent on having employees who perform
their jobs well.
- Perhaps the approach used most often by organizations is to have a manager interview
the applicants and decide subjectively which one to hire.
Criterion - The definition of good employee performance.
- Although it may seem obvious that we hire the person who
is expected to be the best performer, it is not easy to define
what we mean by good performance.
Predictor - Is anything assessed in job applicants that relates to the
criterion.
Validation Study - A research study that attempts to show that the predictor
relates to the criterion.
Concurrent - Both the criterion and the predictor scores are collected from
Validation Study a sample of participants at more or less the same point in
time.
Predictive Validity - The predictors are measured before the criterion.
Study
Validity - Validities of selection devices are generalizable or
Generalization transportable from job to job and organization to
organization.
Multiple Hurdles - Sets a passing score for each predictor.
- If an applicant achieves that score, then the hurdle is passed.
Regression Approach - Uses the score from each predictor in an equation to provide
a numerical estimate or forecast of the criterion.
Getting Applicants To Accept And Keep Jobs Offered
- Installing the most accurate selection system possible is of little value if the applicants
who are identified as potentially good employees will not take the job that is offered.
- It is important for the recruitment process to be a positive one and for the prospective
employee to feel he or she has been treated fairly.
- Salary and compensation offers should be comparable to those of other organizations
for similar jobs in the same area
Cafeteria Benefits - Employees are allowed to choose their benefits from a long
Program list of possibilities, such as different types of insurance
policies.
Realistic Job Preview - Used to give job applicants accurate information about the
(RJP) job and the organization.
- It is most typically accomplished with a brochure or
videotaped presentation.
- A good RJP provides an accurate view of
- both the favorable and the unfavorable aspects of a job so
that a person who accepts a
- job will do so with accurate and realistic expectations.
The Utility of Scientific Selection
Baserate - The percentage of applicants who would be successful on
the job if all of them were hired.
- For some jobs, most applicants would be capable of
performing well, making the baserate close to 100%.
- For other jobs, relatively few applicants would be
successful, making the baserate close to 0%.
- A baserate of 50% results in the maximum utility because it
offers the most room for improvement in accuracy of
forecasting.
Selection Ratio - The proportion of job applicants that an organization must
hire.
- It is calculated as the number of positions to fill divided by
the number of applicants.
Legal Issues
Protected Classes - Certain groups of people have been the target of
protection under the law.
Uniform Guidelines - Originally intended to apply to government agencies, the
on Employee Selection guidelines were eventually adopted as acceptable legal
Procedures (1978, practices for all organizations.
August 25) - The guidelines define several important concepts for
selection and provide a procedure by which organizations
can conduct legal selection.
- They provide more than just a statement of legal
requirements.
- They outline the proper way to develop a valid employee
selection system, which provides an additional advantage to
an organization that follows them.
Adverse Impact - Refers to the impact of a given selection practice on a
protected class.
- It is usually defined in terms of selection ratios of the
protected class and a comparison group (e.g., White males).
Adverse impact occurs when the four-fifths rule is violated,
meaning that the selection ratio for the protected class is less
than 80%, or four-fifths, of that of the comparison group
Reasonable - An organization must make allowances that are feasible to
Accommodation enable a person with a disability to perform the job.
- A minor and reasonable accommodation would be to
provide a ramp so the person can access the building without
much difficulty and having to climb the stairs.
- Providing help in doing nonessential functions for a job can
be another reasonable accommodation.
Affirmative Action - Consists of a variety of practices that organizations use to
increase the number of protected class members in targeted
jobs.
- Its purpose is to address the lingering effects of past
discrimination in hiring by allowing certain groups to catch
up in acquiring jobs that were at one time unavailable to
them.
RASHIDA J. ELLIOT PSY 98 - YC
CHAPTER 7: TRAINING

Training is one of the major human resource activities of both large and small
organizations in both the private and the public (government) sectors throughout
the world. It is a necessary activity for both new and experienced employees. New
employees must learn how to do their jobs, whereas experienced employees must
learn to keep up with job changes and how to improve their performance.

Five steps are required ● The first step of a training program is to

for effective conduct a needs assessment study in order to
organizational training determine who needs training and what kind of
programs training is needed.

● The second step is to set objectives so that it

will be clear what the training should
accomplish.

● The third step is to design the training

program.

● The fourth step is to deliver the training to

those employees designated by the needs
assessment.

● The final step is to evaluate the training to be

certain that it reached its objectives.

If the training was ineffective, the process should

continue until an effective program is achieved. Each
step should be based on the one that precedes it.

Needs Assessment Is conducted to determine which employees need

training and what the content of their training should
be.

According to Goldstein (1993), needs assessment

should focus on three levels: organization, job, and
person.

● The organization level is concerned with the

objectives of the organization and how they are
addressed by the performance of employees.

● The job level is concerned with the nature of

tasks involved in each job.

● The person level is concerned with how well

job applicants or present employees are able to
do job tasks.
Objective One of the most important steps in developing a
training program is setting objectives.Part of this step
is to define the criteria for training success. The
objectives of training are based on criteria and should
include a statement of what a
trainee should be able to do or know after training.

Transfer of training The expectation that employees will apply what they
have learned on the job. Transfer is affected by a
number of factors in both the job environment and the
training itself, and there is no guarantee that training
will always transfer

Trainee Characteristics ● Individual differences among people in both

ability and motivation are important factors in
learning

● Not everyone has the same ability to learn a

given task, and training needs to recognize
these differences.

● A good strategy for training is to give each

individual trainee the amount of training
necessary for him or her to reach the training
criterion. This can mean that some people get
more training than others.

● People who do not wish to learn are not likely to

get much benefit from a training program. One
of the most important factors that must be
considered is how to motivate employees to do
their best in a training situation. This can be
done by giving external rewards for successful
completion (e.g., promotion) or by making the
training interesting to the trainees.

Design Factors That ● Feedback - an important component of

Affect Transfer of learning. Without some sort of feedback, it is
Training doubtful that learning can occur at all. Feedback
should be built into the training as appropriate
so that the trainee can tell if he or she is
learning the correct material.

● General Principles - mean that training should

teach why something is done as well as how it
should be done. Many training programs
include a section on principles behind the
material being taught.

● Identical Elements - A training program that

 has good transfer of training capability should
include identical elements, which means that
the responses in the training situation are
identical to those in the job situation.

● Overlearning - refers to giving the trainee

practice beyond that necessary to reach a
criterion for success in training. The idea is that
a person first learns the material and then
continues to overlearn it. Through overlearning,
the person consolidates the new knowledge or
skill so that he or she can use what has been
learned with little thought.

○ Automaticity - A task can be done

smoothly without the person having to
mentally monitor or pay attention to how
he or she is performing. This results in
much more effective performance and
should be the goal for much
organizational training

● Sequencing of Training Sessions - There are

two aspects of sequencing training sessions:
part versus whole and massed versus
spaced

○ Part training - refers to breaking a task

into components, which are learned one
at a time.

○ Whole training - occurs when the entire

task is taught at one time rather than
breaking it into individual components.

○ Massed training - means that the training

sessions are long in duration and take
place over a relatively short period of
time.

○ Spaced training - means that training

sessions are relatively short and are
spread out over time

Work Environment It is not uncommon for direct supervisors of lower-level

employees to tell their subordinates that the new
procedures or skills learned in training are not to be
used in their departments.

Training Methods
 Many different methods for training are available. Because each has its
advantages and limitations, there is no one best way to train, and all of them can
be effective in the right situation (Callahan, Kiker, & Cross, 2003). Different
individuals may do well with different approaches. The best training programs are
flexible and can adapt to the demands of what and who are being trained. There
are eight different training methods that are frequently used in organizational
training. These methods can be used in combination because a good training
program may need to take advantage of the strengths of different methods for
different aspects of training.

Electronic Learning or Is the latest trend in both organizational training and

E-learning university education. It involves the use of electronic
tools to provide training, and several of the training
methods discussed here can be done electronically.
Some forms of E-learning merely make use of a
computer or technology to deliver training originally
developed for another medium, such a
web-broadcasting a lecture so people can watch
it remotely on their computers or televisions.

Several potential ● First, it can give the learner a great deal of

advantages of E-learning control over the training experience by being
that make it attractive to able to determine where and when the training
organizations. is delivered and, with some methods, the order
of the material.

● Second, technology allows for rapid

 development and modification of training
materials as they are needed. A training module
written in PowerPoint can be put together and
e-mailed to employees or posted on a website
in a very short time.

● Third, E-learning can be

combined with other, more traditional methods,
producing blended learning. For example, a
classroom lecture can be coupled with some
E-learning exercises.

● Finally, E-learning can be easily customized to

meet individual employee needs. For example,
a training program might include assessments
that determine when the learner has mastered
the material and is ready to move to the next
topic.

Mentoring Is a special kind of work relationship between two

employees where the more experienced offers
advice/coaching, counseling, and friendship and
serves as a role model (Baranik, Roling, & Eby, 2010).
Furthermore, although most mentor situations involve
employees of different organizational levels and often
a mentor is the protégés supervisor, mentors can also
be peers who are at the same level but are just more
experienced

Executive Coaching High-level executives and managers, especially in

private companies, are sometimes paired with a
consultant who can serve as an executive coach to
help him or her improve job performance. Was
originally designed to assist high-level managers with
performance problems, but it has evolved to become a
means of helping even well-performing managers
enhance their management skills.,

Delivery of a Training Even the most well-designed training program will be

Program ineffective unless it is properly delivered. In most
organizations, specialists who are skilled in training
deliver the program. They may or may not be experts
in the content of the training or in training design.
Content is the responsibility of SMEs who know the
particular topics that the training will cover. I/O
psychologists and people from several other fields are
experts at program design.

Evaluation of a Training An evaluation is a piece of research to see whether

Program or not the program had its intended effects. This is
 important because many training programs are
ineffective. For example, Morrow, Jarrett, and Rupinski
(1997) evaluated the utility of 18 training programs in
an organization and found that 5 cost more than
they returned in improved performance on the job.
Carrying out a training evaluation requires five steps
(Figure 7.5).

Criteria are the standards used for comparison that

allow you to determine if training has been effective.
Once criteria have been selected, a design for the
study and the measures used to assess the criteria
can be selected (steps 2 and 3). Step 4 is collecting
the data for the study. Step 5 is analyzing
the data and reaching conclusions about the
effectiveness of the training program

Set Criteria Training criteria serve as the standard by which

training can be evaluated. When the criterion is
specific, such as a reduction of 10%, it is relatively
easy to evaluate the effectiveness of the training
program. Training criteria are classified into two
levels—training level and performance level—both of
which are important in evaluating training.

● Training-level criteria - are concerned with

what people are able to do at the end of training
in the training environment itself rather than on
the job.

● Performance-level criteria - are concerned

with the person’s performance on the job rather
than in the training setting. In other words,
performance criteria are concerned with transfer
of training.

Thus training level is concerned with what the person

learned, whereas performance level is concerned with
the effects of the training on the job itself.

Reactions Criteria Refer to how much each trainee liked the training and
 how much the trainee believed he or she got out of it.
It is assessed with a questionnaire given to each
trainee at the end of the training session.

Learning Criteria Refer to what the person learned in training—what the

trainee is able to demonstrate behaviorally in terms of
knowledge and skills acquired in training. It might be
assessed with an examination given at the end of
training.

Behavior Criteria Concern the trainee’s behaviors on the job that might
have been due to training. This type of criterion looks
at whether or not the person is doing the things he or
she was taught.

Results Criteria Deal with whether the training had its intended effect.
Did the training reduce costs or increase productivity?
This final type of criterion serves as the bottom line for
the effectiveness of a training program.

Choose design A design is the structure of a study that specifies how

data are collected, whether it is a study of training or
some other phenomenon. With a training evaluation,
the type of criterion sets limits on the designs that can
be used.

Types of design ● The pretest-posttest design assesses trainees

before and after training.

● The control group design compares trainees

with a group of employees who have not
received the training.

Each design has its advantages and limitations in

evaluating a training program

Pretest-posttest Design Is intended to provide information about how much the

trainees gained from the training. It can be used to
assess the amount learned in the training itself or the
amount of change in behavior back on the job. To
conduct a study with this design, the measures of
interest are assessed before the training begins
(pretest) and again after it has been completed
(posttest).
Control Group A control group design compares employees who
have received training to equivalent employees who
have not been trained. Figure 7.7 illustrates the
structure of this design. To conduct a control group
study, a group of employees is selected for the study.
Half are
assigned at random to the trained group, and the other
half are the controls who receive no training.This
design is more difficult to use in an organization
because it is not always possible to assign employees
at random to the two groups.

Choose Measures of the The criterion of interest determines to a great extent

Criteria what sorts of measures can be used to assess it.
Reactions criteria require the use of a questionnaire
that trainees can complete to give their reactions. The
specific design of the questionnaire must be decided.
There are many ways to ask people their reactions to
training. For example, questions can ask how much
the trainee learned or if the training was enjoyable.

Collect Data Differences between the trained and untrained

employees might then be caused by department
differences on the criteria of interest.The best possible
design should always be planned. Every researcher
knows that the plan might not be carried out without
problems. This means that modifications might have to
be made during the study. A good researcher is able to
deal effectively with problems that occur during the
 data collection step of the study. If this step is
conducted properly, it will be possible to draw
conclusions about the effectiveness of the training
program.

Analyze and Interpret The data from evaluation studies are analyzed with
Data inferential statistics. With a pretest posttest design, the
statistics indicate how much the trainees changed from
the pretest to the posttest. With a control group study,
the statistics show how much difference, if any, exists
between the trained and untrained employees. In both
cases, the statistic used could be as simple as a t-test.

CHAPTER 8: THEORIES OF EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION

Motivation Is generally defined as an internal state that induces a

person to engage in particular behaviors. From one
perspective, it has to do with the direction, intensity,
and persistence of behavior over time.

● Direction refers to the choice of specific

behaviors from a large number of possible
behaviors.

● Intensity refers to the amount of effort a person

expends at doing a task.

● Persistence refers to the continuing

engagement in a behavior over time.

From another perspective, motivation is concerned

with the desire to acquire or achieve some goal. That
is, motivation derives from a person’s wants, needs, or
desires.

Work Motivation Theories Work motivation theories are most typically concerned
with the reasons, other than ability, that some people
perform their jobs better than others. Depending on
the situation, these theories can predict people’s
choice of task behavior, their effort, or their persistence

Need Theories According to need theories, people are motivated to

acquire certain categories of things, such as food or
recognition.

Need Hierarchy Theory Classifies all human needs into a small number of
categories, and it presumes that people’s behavior is
directed toward fulfilling their needs. Maslow’s need
hierarchy theory (Maslow, 1943) states that fulfillment
of human needs is necessary for both physical and
 psychological health. Human needs are arranged in a
hierarchy that includes physical, social, and
psychological needs.

Two-factor Theory Herzberg’s (1968) two-factor theory states that

motivation comes from the nature of the job itself, not
from external rewards or job conditions. The human
needs that work addresses are divided into two
categories—those deriving from the animal nature of
human beings, such as the physiological needs, and
those relating to the higher-level, uniquely human
ability for psychological growth.

● Job aspects relevant to the animal needs are

called hygiene factors and include pay,
supervision, coworkers, and organizational
policies. Job aspects relevant to growth needs
are called motivator factors and include
achievement, recognition, responsibility, and the
nature of the work itself.

Reinforcement Theory Describes how rewards or reinforcements can affect

behavior. The theory does not deal with internal states
such as motivation, so in a sense it is a non
motivational theory. It explains behavior as a function
of prior reward experiences or “reinforcement history.”
Behavior is seen as a response to the environment

Expectancy Theory Attempts to explain how rewards lead to behavior by

focusing on internal cognitive states that lead to
motivation. Reinforcement theory states that
reinforcement will lead to behavior; expectancy theory
explains when and why this will occur.

● Expectancy is the subjective probability that a

person has about his or her ability to perform a
behavior. It is similar to self esteem or
self-confidence in that a person believes he or
she can perform the job at a particular level

● Subjective probability means that people can

vary in the certainty of their beliefs. A subjective
probability of zero means that the person is
certain that he or she is incapable of performing
successfully

● Instrumentality is the subjective probability

that a given behavior will result in a particular
reward. For any given situation, there can be
more than one reward or outcome for a
 behavior.

Self-Efficacy Theory States that motivation and performance are

determined in part by how effective people believe
they can be (Bandura, 1982). In other words, people
with
high self-efficacy believe they are capable of
accomplishing tasks and will be motivated to put forth
effort. People with low self-efficacy do not believe they
are capable of accomplishing tasks and will not be
motivated to put forth effort.

Justice Theories Focus on norms for fair treatment of employees by

their organizations. The underlying assumption of
these theories is that people value fairness and that
they are motivated to maintain fairness in relationships
between themselves and organizations.

● Equity theory - states that people are

motivated to achieve a condition
of fairness or equity in their dealings with other
people and with organizations.

● Outcomes are the rewards or everything of

personal value that an employee gets from
working for an organization, including pay,
fringe benefits, good treatment, enjoyment,
and status. Inputs are the contributions made
by the employee to the organization.

● Distributive justice is similar to equity and

concerns the fairness with which rewards are
found among people. Procedural justice is
concerned with the fairness of the reward
distribution process as opposed to the results of
that distribution

Goal-Setting Theory The theory of motivation that has been the most useful
for I/O psychologists is goal setting theory (Locke &
Latham, 1990). The basic idea of this theory is that
people’s behavior is motivated by their internal
intentions, objectives, or goals—the terms are used
here interchangeably. Goals are quite “proximal”
constructs, for they can be tied quite closely to specific
behaviors.
Control Theory Builds upon goal-setting theory by focusing on how
feedback affects motivation to maintain effort toward
goals. As shown in Figure 8.3, the process explained
by the theory begins with a goal that the person is
intending to accomplish. The goal might be assigned
by a supervisor or chosen by the individual, but the
theory says that the person must believe the goal is
attainable and accept it

Action Theory Is a comprehensive German theory of work behavior

that describes a process linking goals and intentions to
behaviors (Frese & Zapf, 1994). This theory proposes
that work motivation theories should focus mainly on
goal-oriented or volitional (voluntary) behaviors called
actions.

CHAPTER 9: FEELINGS ABOUT WORK: JOB

ATTITUDES AND EMOTIONS

Job Satisfaction Is an attitudinal variable that reflects how people feel

 about their jobs overall, as well as various aspects of
the jobs. In simple terms, job satisfaction is the extent
to which people like their jobs; job dissatisfaction is the
extent to which they dislike them.

There have been two approaches to the study of job

satisfaction—the global approach and the facet
approach. The global approach treats job satisfaction
as a single, overall feeling toward the job.

Hofstede (2001) assessed four important cultural values in 50 countries. Although

individuals differed on values within each country, there were mean differences
that relate to important variables in the workplace. The culture values are:

1. Individualism/collectivism - Individualism is the extent to which people

see themselves as autonomous and focus on their own interests and needs
rather than those of others. Collectivism is the opposite, where people see
themselves as interconnected to others with a focus on the groups to which
they belong.

2. Masculinity - Masculinity reflects the extent to which organizations focus

on achievement and job performance as opposed to the health and
well-being of employees.

3. Power distance - Is the tolerance people have for power and status
differences among levels of an organization and society. Countries with
high power distance tend to produce managers who demand obedience
from subordinates.

4. Uncertainty avoidance - Reflects the level of comfort in situations that are

unpredictable. In organizations, people can maintain predictability by
adhering to formal procedures and rules; thus in countries high on this
dimension, organizations tend to be very rule oriented.

The Assessment of Job Satisfaction

Job satisfaction is almost always assessed by asking people how they feel about
their jobs, either by questionnaire or by interview. Most of the time questionnaires
are used because they are very easy to administer and require relatively little time
and effort on the part of the researcher. They can also be done anonymously,
which allows employees to be more candid in expressing their attitudes.

Job Descriptive Index Job Descriptive Index (JDI) (P. C. Smith, Kendall, &
(JDI) Hulin, 1969) has been the most popular with
researchers. It is also the most thoroughly and
carefully validated. This scale assesses five facets:
● Work
● Pay
● Promotion opportunities
● Supervision
 ● Coworkers

Minnesota Satisfaction This scale comes in two forms, a 100-item long

Questionnaire (MSQ) version and a 20-item short version. Both versions
have items that ask about 20 facets of job satisfaction,
but facet scores are computed only for the long form.
The short form is used to assess either global
satisfaction or intrinsic and extrinsic satisfaction.

● Intrinsic satisfaction refers to the nature of the

job tasks themselves and how people feel about
the work they do.

● Extrinsic satisfaction concerns other aspects

of the work situation, such as fringe benefits
and pay. Both types of satisfaction are the
combination of several facets.

Job in General Scale It contains 18 items that are adjectives or short

(JIG) phrases about the job in general. Three of the items
are shown in Table 9.5. The scale has good reliability
and correlates well with other scales of overall job
satisfaction.
Antecedents of Job
Satisfaction

Environmental Antecedents of Job Satisfaction

Job characteristics refer to the content and nature of job tasks themselves.
There are only a few characteristics studied as contributors to job satisfaction.
Five are part of Hackman and Oldham’s (1976) influential job characteristics
theory

● Skill variety: The number of different skills necessary to do a job;

● Task identity: Whether or not an employee does an entire job or a piece of
a job;
● Task significance: The impact a job has on other people;
● Autonomy: The freedom employees have to do their jobs as they see fit;
and
● Task feedback: The extent to which it is obvious to employees that they
are doing their jobs correctly.

Negative affectivity (NA) is the tendency for an individual to experience

negative
 emotions, such as anxiety or depression, across a
wide variety of situations. Watson, Pennebaker, and
Folger (1986) extended the NA idea to the workplace,
hypothesizing that high NA individuals would likely be
dissatisfied because they tend to view all aspects of
their world in a negative way.

Locus of control refers to whether or not people believe they are in

control of reinforcements in life. People who believe
that they control reinforcements are termed internals.
People who believe that fate, luck, or powerful others
control reinforcements are termed externals. Internals
have been found to be more satisfied with their jobs
than externals

Gender Most studies that have compared men and women in

their global job satisfaction have found few differences.
Meta-analytic studies involving multiple samples and
thousands of employees have failed to find gender
differences (Witt & Nye, 1992).

Age The workforces in many countries have been getting

older because of both the changing demographic
makeup of the population (there are more elderly
people) and legislation that has made age
discrimination illegal.

Cultural and Ethnic Another trend in the composition of the workforce in

Differences the United States and other countries is that it is
becoming increasingly multicultural. In addition, large
organizations frequently have facilities in multiple
countries and employ people from those countries.

Person-Job Fit The person-job fit approach states that job satisfaction
will occur when there is a good match between the
person and the job. There are many ways that people
and jobs fit, however, including the correspondence
between task demands and personal abilities.

Growth need strength This characteristic refers to a person’s desire for the
(GNS) satisfaction of higher-order needs, such as autonomy
and achievement.
Job Satisfaction and Job
Performance

Job Satisfaction and Quitting the job, or turnover, has been tied to job
Turnover satisfaction. Many studies have shown that dissatisfied
employees are more likely than satisfied employees to
quit their jobs (Blau, 2007). Correlations between job
satisfaction and turnover have been interpreted as
indicating the effects of satisfaction on behavior.

Job Satisfaction and Conventional wisdom suggests that absence from

Absence work is the by-product of employee job dissatisfaction.
People who dislike their jobs will be more likely to
avoid work than people who like their jobs. Several
meta-analyses have looked at this question, and they
show that the connection between job satisfaction and
absence is inconsistent and usually quite small.

Health and Well-Being I/O psychologists have been concerned that job
dissatisfaction might be an important factor in
employee health and well-being. Correlational studies
show that job satisfaction relates to a variety of
health-related variables.

Job and Life Satisfaction Another important issue concerns the contribution of
job satisfaction to overall life satisfaction—how
satisfied a person is with his or her life circumstances.
Life satisfaction is considered to be an indicator of
overall happiness or emotional well-being. Studies of
life satisfaction have found that it correlates with job
satisfaction.

Spillover hypothesis Suggests that satisfaction (or dissatisfaction) in one

area of life affects or spills over to another. Thus
problems and dissatisfaction at home can affect
satisfaction with work, whereas problems and
dissatisfaction at work can affect satisfaction with
home.

Compensation Says that dissatisfaction in one area of life will be

hypothesis compensated for in another. A person with a
dissatisfying job will seek satisfaction in other aspects
of life.
Segmentation hypothesis States that people compartmentalize their lives and
that satisfaction in one area of life has no relation to
satisfaction in another

Organizational Is another popular attitudinal variable in the work

commitment domain. It is strongly related to job satisfaction, but it is
distinctly different in focusing on the attachment of the
individual to the organization rather than on whether
an individual likes or dislikes the job.

The original global perspective is based on the work of

Mowday, Steers, and Porter (1979), which considers
organizational commitment to be a global feeling that
involves three things:

1. An acceptance of the organization’s goals

2. A willingness to work hard for the organization
3. The desire to stay with the organization

Subsequently a three-component commitment

perspective was developed (Meyer, Allen, & Smith,
1993). The three components of commitment are:

● Affective - occurs when the employee wishes

to remain with the organization because of an
emotional attachment.

● Continuance - exists when a person must

remain with the organization because he or she
needs the benefits and salary or cannot find
another acceptable job.

● Normative - comes from the values of the

employee. The person believes that he or she
owes it to the organization to remain out of a
sense that this is the right thing to do.
Assessment of Four items from the most popular scale, developed by
Organizational Mowday et al. (1979), are shown in Table 9.8. The
Commitment items tap the three aspects of
commitment—acceptance of goals, willingness to work
hard, and intention to stay with the organization. All
three components relate strongly to one another, and
combined they indicate global commitment.

Emotions at Work For most people, the job is an important component of

life, providing not only resources (pay and fringe
benefits) to acquire the necessities of life but a sense
 of purpose and social contact as well. It is inevitable
that people will react emotionally to workplace events
and situations. Accomplishment of a major work
project will likely result in positive feelings, such as
pride and joy, whereas a heated argument with a
supervisor will certainly induce feelings of anger and
annoyance.

Emotional state Is the immediate experience of a particular emotion,

such as anger or fear, that is generally in response to
a situation, such as being yelled at by your supervisor.

Mood Is a longer term state that is less specific, with a

positive or a negative direction (a good mood or a bad
mood) rather than specific feelings such as joy or
sadness (Fisher, 2000). Both emotion states and
moods are important to study in the workplace.

Causes and Brief and Weiss (2002) discussed how things that are
Consequences of stressful and aversive at work (including punishments)
Emotions at Work can produce negative emotion states and moods. This
might include the need to juggle conflicting demands
(e.g., having a child become ill the day of an important
meeting at work), too much time pressure, and unfair
treatment. They also discussed things that can induce
positive emotions, which can be stimulated by the
positive moods of coworkers and supervisors. In
particular, rewards at work can induce positive
emotion—for example, a bonus or raise, as well as
less tangible rewards such as recognition by
supervisors.

Emotional Labor Many companies have emotion display rules requiring

the expression of positive emotions such as smiling at
customers and appearing to be enjoying work
(Diefendorff, Richard, & Croyle, 2006), even if
customers are not being particularly nice. The required
expression of certain emotions at work is called
emotional labor, recognizing that it can take effort for
employees to maintain the appearance of positive
feelings.

Surface acting, or pretending to be happy when

experiencing the opposite emotion, leads to emotional
dissonance, which is stressful and has been
associated with negative effects (Zapf, 2002). On the
other hand, deep acting, or making yourself feel
positive emotions that are displayed to others, can
have positive effects on well-being.
Gweneth Angelee G. Baslote

BS Psychology 4 – YC

CHAPTER 10: Productive and Counterproductive Employee Behavior

Productive Behavior: Task • For an organization to achieve its purposes,
Performance individual employees must perform their jobs at
some reasonable level of proficiency.
• People can perform their jobs well only if they have
both the necessary ability and the necessary
motivation. Organizational practices and job
conditions can enhance these personal
characteristics or serve as constraints that interfere
with job performance.
Ability and Task Performance • Most selection efforts by I/O psychologists focus on
identifying the necessary abilities and skills for
specific jobs and finding people who have them.
• It has been well established that various measures
of ability relate to job performance. As might be
expected, the nature of the job determines the mix
of specific abilities necessary.
Motivation and Task • Motivation is an individual characteristic, but it can
Performance arise from both within the worker and
environmental conditions.
• Attempts to enhance motivation have been
concerned primarily with the structure of jobs, with
incentive systems, or with the design of technology,
all of which are discussed in this chapter.
Personal Characteristics and • Several employee characteristics are relevant to
Task Performance job performance and may affect ability to do the
job.
 • Cognitive ability (mathematical and verbal
reasoning) has been found to predict job
performance over a wide variety of jobs.
The “Big Five” and Task • Big Five: extraversion, emotional stability,
Performance agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness
to experience
• Several meta-analyses have summarized relations
between each of the five dimensions and task
performance. Studies concluded that personality is
associated with job performance, with
conscientiousness being the best predictor.
Locus of Control and • Locus of control concerns people’s beliefs about
Performance their ability to control reinforcements in their
environment.
• Internals performed better in developing important
job skills, whereas externals performed better on
the routine clerical tasks that were highly
structured. Blau’s study suggests that relations
between personality and job performance can
depend on the particular dimension of
performance.
Age and Performance • Many people assume that job performance
declines with age.
• Ng and Feldman (2008) conducted a meta-analysis
of 280 studies relating age to task performance, as
well as other performance-related variables. Rather
than finding that job task performance declines with
age, their study found little to no relationship.
Environmental Conditions and • The job environment can affect task performance in
Task Performance many ways.
• the environment can be structured to facilitate
performance by making it easier for individuals to
accomplish their jobs, or it can contain constraints
 that interfere with performance. One study showed
that something as simple as allowing employees to
listen to music over stereo headsets improves task
performance, apparently by reducing tension
Job Characteristics and Task • One of the most influential theories that relate the
Performance nature of jobs to performance is Hackman and
Oldham’s (1976, 1980) job characteristics theory.
• This theory states that features of jobs induce
psychological states that lead to satisfaction,
motivation, and task performance. The job
features, or core characteristics, lead to three
psychological states.
• The levels of the core characteristics determine
how motivating a job is likely to be. Hackman and
Oldham (1976) noted that the Motivation
Potential Score (MPS) of a job can be calculated
by combining scores on the core characteristics.
• There is one last piece of the theory: the moderator
effect of growth need strength (GNS).
• Studies that used employee self-reports as
measures of the core characteristics have
supported their relation with motivation and
performance, as well as the moderating effect of
GNS. Research using other methods has been
more equivocal.
Incentive Systems and • A possible way of increasing task performance, at
Performance least performance quantity, is incentive systems
that reward employees for each unit of work
performed (piece-rate systems).
• Although incentive systems can increase
productivity, they have not been universally
successful. Yukl and Latham (1975), for example,
found that a piece-rate system increased the
 productivity of only two of three groups with which it
was implemented.
• In order for an incentive system to be effective,
three elements must be in place:
➢ First, the employees must have the ability to
increase productivity.
➢ Second, employees must want the
incentives.
➢ Finally, an incentive system will not work if
there are physical or psychological
constraints on performance.
Design of Technology • The Hawthorne studies showed that social factors
can be more important than the physical
environment in job performance.
• The field of human factors (also called
ergonomics or engineering psychology) is
concerned with the interface between people and
the physical environment, including tools,
equipment, and technology.
• The influence of the field can be found in the
design of everything from automobiles and
consumer appliances to military aircraft and
nuclear power plants.
Displays and Controls • The major focus of human factors is on the
interaction between people and tools, machines, or
technology. Two major areas of concern are the
presentation of information to the person and the
manipulation of tools or machines by the person.
• With machines, information can be provided in a
visual display.
• The manipulation of the machine by the person,
often in response to information provided by a
display, is accomplished through controls. The
 design of the best control is also determined by the
particular purpose and situation.
• There are a number of important design
considerations pertaining to controls.
• vital controls that can produce important
consequences should be recognizable by touch.
This is not important for the volume control on a car
radio, but it is vital for the landing gear on an
airplane.
• controls should provide appropriate feedback so
that the person knows that the function has been
accomplished. With an on/off switch, the person
might hear a click and feel a tactile sensation
indicating that the switch has been activated or
deactivated.
Computer-Human Interaction • These principles of displays and controls have
been available for many years, so there is not
much need to conduct research on them today.
• Computer-human interaction is the interplay of
people with computers and associated
technologies that have led to tremendous changes
in the workplace for both blue- and white-collar
work. A major issue for computer-human interaction
is communication between human and machine
• In order for people to communicate effectively with
computers, they must develop a conceptual
understanding or mental model of how the
computer operates. Frese (1987) noted that
efficient use of computers by people can arise by
focusing on two essential elements: training people
and appropriate system design.
 • Attention to system design is essential because
many existing systems are poorly designed and
inefficient.
• Although this was not always the case, today’s
electronic devices such as smart phones are
designed with the user in mind. Information is
displayed on a touch screen that makes it easy to
interact with the device.
• tensive computer training. So far, we have
discussed the interaction of individual people with
technology, but technology can also be used to
facilitate collaboration among employees working
together. Computer-supported cooperative work
or CSCW is the study of how technology can be
used to help people work together on tasks.
• The principles of human factors can be used to
design tools and equipment so that people can
perform their tasks more easily and efficiently.
• From a human factors perspective, the goal is to
design technology that will be helpful to people.
However, technology can come with a price, and
not all effects are positive. The introduction of
computers in manufacturing has changed jobs but
not always for the better
Organizational Constraints • Organizational constraints are aspects of the work
environment that interfere with or prevent good
task performance.
• organizational constraints have a detrimental effect
on job performance, preventing employees from
adequately using their skills to perform job tasks.
H. J. Klein and Kim (1998) found that salespeople’s
reports of constraints were correlated with their
objective sales performance. Individuals who
 scored highest on constraints sold the least
amount. Tesluk and Mathieu (1999) reported
similar findings for the performance of road
maintenance and construction crews.
ORGANIZATIONAL • Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) is
CITIZENSHIP BEHAVIOR behavior that goes beyond the core task
(OCB) requirements of the job (tasks listed in a job
description) and is typically beneficial to the
organization.
• Organ and Konovsky (1989) divided OCB into two
categories of behaviors: those that are specifically
required and those that are not. Altruism is helping
another employee or supervisor with a problem,
even though it is not required.
• Compliance is doing what needs to be done and
following rules, such as coming to work on time
and not wasting time. OCB can be an important
aspect of an employee’s behavior that contributes
to overall organizational effectiveness.
• A meta-analysis of OCB studies suggested that
OCB is most likely when employees are satisfied
with their jobs, have high levels of affective
commitment, feel they are treated fairly, and have
good relations with their supervisors.
• different types of OCB are related to different
variables; for example, OCBI correlates with the
individual’s concern for others, whereas OCBO
correlates with employees’ perceived equity, and
both correlate with job satisfaction. Similarly,
organizational commitment has been linked to both
types of OCB, with it being more strongly related to
OCBO than OCBI in the United States.
 • Although OCB is often thought of as altruistic acts
that individuals do for selfless reasons, recent
research suggests that in at least some instances,
OCB can be a strategy for getting ahead at work.
Hui, Lam, and Law (2000), in a study conducted in
a multinational bank among tellers, assessed levels
of OCB in employees before and after receiving a
promotion. In addition, before promotion
employees were asked if they believed engaging in
OCB would improve chances of promotion
COUNTERPRODUCTIVE • On any given day in almost any large organization,
WORK BEHAVIOR: some people will come to work late, some people
WITHDRAWAL will miss the entire workday, and some people will
quit the job permanently.
• All of these withdrawal behaviors involve
employees not being at work when scheduled or
needed, either temporarily (absence and lateness)
or permanently (turnover). In their meta-analysis,
Mitra et al. (1992) found that absence and turnover
are moderately correlated with one another
Absence • employees not showing up for work when
scheduled, can be a major problem for
organizations
• The major approach to understanding why absence
occurs has focused on withdrawal as a response to
dissatisfying jobs and job conditions. Absence and
job satisfaction are related, but research has found
quite small correlations between them.
• Although it seems obvious that absence might
arise from an employee being ill or being
unmotivated to go to work, family responsibilities
can be another major factor. Having primary
responsibility for child care predicted absence with
 a correlation considerably higher than that typically
found with job satisfaction.
• They found that the two types of absence had
different correlates. Absence due to illness, but not
due to other circumstances, was related to job
satisfaction and gender.
• absence can be caused by the absence culture of
a work group or organization.
• absence culture and absence policies are the two
biggest factors in absence. Although job
satisfaction has been the focus of most absence
research, it seems that its potential effects are
overshadowed by culture and policies
Lateness • For many jobs, employees are on fixed work
schedules, but often employees will fail to get to
work on time.
• Lateness, like absence, can have many causes.
Koslowsky (2000) noted that although attitudes,
such as job dissatisfaction, have been linked to
lateness, other important causes are commuting
distance and ease and work-family conflict.
• Foust, Elicker, and Levy (2006) argued that
attitudes about lateness itself are more important
determinants of lateness behavior than other, more
general job attitudes. They developed a lateness
attitude scale that asked about both one’s own
behavior (feeling guilty for being late) and
coworkers’ behavior (being let down when
coworkers are late).
Turnover • The quitting of employees is called turnover. The
percentage of the workforce that quits in a given
period of time is called the turnover rate.
• Poor performers will quit for several reasons.
 • Serious difficulties can arise from this approach to
creating turnover and can produce more problems
than it solves. It can affect employees who are not
the intended target.
• The second issue that determines the costs of
turnover to organizations concerns the expense
involved in replacing people who have quit
• Job satisfaction has been a central variable in the
research on turnover. It shows that job satisfaction
leads to intention to quit, which leads to turnover.
• There is good support for the propositions in this
model. First, job satisfaction and intention of
quitting correlate with one another, which is
consistent with the idea that satisfaction leads to
intention.
• likelihood of turnover increased from the time of
hiring until about 2 years on the job, after which it
declined.
• Although many employees quit their jobs because
they are unhappy with them, there are other
reasons for turnover. First, a person might quit for
health reasons.
• Some of these reasons go beyond the workplace,
but organizations can do a great deal to address
some of these causes of turnover. An organization
can create a safer work environment to reduce
injuries and can encourage healthy behavior to
reduce illness
COUNTERPRODUCTIVE • Counterproductive work behavior or CWB (often
WORK BEHAVIOR: called desk rage in the popular media) refers to
AGGRESSION, SABOTAGE, behaviors that harm the organization and other
AND THEFT people at work, such as coworkers, supervisors,
and customers.
• Sabotage and theft have been recognized as major
problems for organizations. Sabotage, the
destruction of property or intentional withholding of
performance, results in both direct costs from the
damage to property and indirect costs from the loss
of productivity while property needed for work is
being repaired.
• Employee theft has been estimated to cost U.S.
businesses billions of dollars per year (Greenberg,
2002). In a national survey of retailers, employees
were found to be responsible for more theft than
shoplifters.
• Bennett and Robinson (2000) conducted an
anonymous mail survey of Toledo, Ohio, residents
chosen at random from the telephone book.
• It begins with stressful job conditions, such as
organizational constraints (as discussed earlier in
this chapter), or injustice. For example, on the day
he assaulted his coworkers, Thomas McIlvane had
lost the final appeal of his dismissal from the post
office.
• Beliefs about control determine in part whether
individuals choose constructive or destructive
responses. An employee who believes that
constructive efforts can be effective is likely to
attempt them.
• The illegal nature of many counterproductive
behaviors has made research difficult to conduct
with other than anonymous surveys.
• Unfortunately, almost all studies of CWB have been
conducted in North America, so little is known
about CWB in countries that are culturally
dissimilar to Canada and the United States. One
 exception is a study of CWB conducted in Turkey
that showed similar relationships of stressful job
conditions and job satisfaction with CWB
Labor Unrest and Strikes • Another area in which counterproductive behavior
occurs as a response to anger or unfair treatment
is in labor-management disputes.
• Labor unrest and strikes can occur for many
reasons. Often these actions are accompanied by
frustration on the part of employees who believe
that they are not treated fairly.
 CHAPTER 11: Occupational Health Psychology
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY • Physical work conditions tend to have
direct physical effects on people.
• Accidents are events that occur at
work that cause immediate injury,
such as getting a hand caught in a
machine or cutting a finger with a
knife. As we will see, accidents are a
major problem in the workplace that
have tremendous costs for both
employees and organizations.
• five common exposures that can
produce injury and illness at work:
Infectious disease, Loud noise,
Repetitive actions or lifting Toxic
substances, Workplace violence
• Often exposure is the result of unsafe
behavior or poor workplace design
that places an employee in a position
to be harmed but could have been
avoided.
Accidents and Safety • Accidents are the fifth leading cause
of death among Americans after heart
disease, cancer, stroke, and
respiratory disease.
• motor vehicles were the leading
cause, accounting for 3%.
Agriculture/fishing/forestry/hunting
and mining are the most dangerous,
whereas education/health service and
sales are the safest.
• Preventing accidents has been a
major concern because of both
 employee and organization costs.
Taken together, both fatal and
nonfatal accidents are expensive,
costing an estimated $140 billion
annually in the United States alone,
much of which is paid by employers
and their insurance companies.
• A major difficulty in preventing
workplace accidents is getting the
cooperation of employees in using the
appropriate safety equipment and
engaging in safe behaviors.
• Safety climate is the shared
perception by employees of an
organization that safe procedures,
practices, and behaviors are
encouraged and rewarded by
managers (Zohar, 2010). Climate is
reflected in both the policies of the
organization and the practices
relevant to safety, such as the use of
safety equipment.
• Safety climate is the shared
perception by employees of an
organization that safe procedures,
practices, and behaviors are
encouraged and rewarded by
managers (Zohar, 2010). Climate is
reflected in both the policies of the
organization and the practices
relevant to safety, such as the use of
safety equipment.
 • Accidents can also be affected by the
balance in emphasis between
productivity and safety.
• Stress both on and off the job can be
another important factor. For example,
Savery and Wooden (1994) surveyed
Australian workers from 61 different
organizations.
• Finally, individual differences are also
a factor in accidents and injuries.
Christian, Bradley, Wallace, and
Burke (2009) conducted a meta-
analysis that summarized studies
relating personality to workplace
accidents
• Goals can be an effective means of
improving not only job performance
Infectious Disease Exposure • Employees who must deal with the
public (e.g., hairstylist, police officer,
sales clerk, and teacher) may be
exposed to infectious disease,
although most such cases result in
relatively minor illnesses, such as a
cold or flu. A protocol has been
adopted globally that all health care
workers comply with: The Universal
Precautions is a set of safety
procedures designed to help health
care professionals avoid contact with
patient bodily fluids.
• Unfortunately large numbers of health
care workers fail to follow Universal
Precautions even though research
 shows that these procedures are
highly effective.
Loud Noise • Loud noise occurs at many jobs,
particularly those involving heavy
equipment or machinery.
• The intensity of noise is measured in
decibel (dB) units. The decibel scale
is a logarithmic scale, meaning that
the relation between decibel level and
sound intensity is not linear.
• Exposure to extremely loud noises,
such as explosions, can severely
damage a person’s sense of hearing,
sometimes permanently. Noise of this
magnitude is painful, and most people
avoid places where such noises
occur.
• Because of the potential for hearing
damage, many countries have laws
governing the legal levels of noise to
which an employee can be exposed.
• Besides hearing damage, there is
evidence suggestive of a link between
noise exposure at work and
cardiovascular disease. Melamed,
Fried, and Froom (2001) showed that
exposure to noise relates to level of
blood pressure for individuals in
complex, but not simple, jobs.
Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs) • Many jobs require physical actions of
various body parts that can become
injured. Repetitive actions can result
in repetitive strain injuries, in which
 the body parts involved can become
inflamed and sometimes permanently
damaged.
• As noted by Faucett (2005), MSDs
are related to both the biomechanics
of job tasks and employee
psychological factors.
• Jobs vary in both their incidence of
MSD and where in the body
incumbents tend to experience injury.
For example, urban transit workers
who drive buses or trains are most at
risk for back or neck pain.
• Workers who do a lot of keyboard
work or typing are at risk for carpal
tunnel syndrome, which is a wrist
injury that causes pain, numbness,
and weakness in the fingers and
hands.
• MSDs can be reduced with relatively
inexpensive strategies
• A second strategy is to allow
employees to take frequent rest
breaks.
Harmful Substance Exposure • The exposure of employees to
harmful and toxic substances has
been given more and more attention
as research has shown how such
substances can affect health.
• Employees in many jobs can be
exposed to harmful substances, often
in unexpected places. Employees in
chemical plants and exterminators
 and farmworkers who use insecticides
can expect to be exposed.
• Another issue concerns allergy to
various substances, most commonly
dust, mold, and pollen. This has
become an increasing problem in the
United States, where buildings are
completely sealed and the same air is
recirculated, allowing the
concentration of allergens to increase.
• Organizations that expose their
employees to harmful substances run
the risk of lawsuits by employees who
become ill or develop a disability.
Workplace Violence • When you mention workplace
violence, many people think of the
U.S. Postal Service, as the term
“going postal” has become part of our
vocabulary
• There are four types of workplace
violence depending on the
relationship between the perpetrator
and the workplace (Merchant &
Lundell, 2001). Type 1 is violence by
individuals with no business
relationship with the organization,
such as someone committing a
robbery.
• For most occupations, fatal assaults
are extremely rare, with employees
being safer at work than almost
anywhere else they can be. However,
 there are a few occupations for which
homicide is a more significant risk.
• Of course, nonfatal assault is a far
more common occupational hazard,
especially for those who work with the
public.
• There are a number of job and
organizational factors that can
contribute to being a target of physical
violence. Some have to do with the
nature of the work itself and how
employees are exposed to potentially
violent situations.
WORK SCHEDULES Whereas most employed people work
standard schedules of approximately 8
daylight hours per day during weekdays, the
use of nonstandard schedules involving
longer work shifts, nights, and weekends has
become commonplace.
Night Shifts • Many organizations, such as hospitals
and police departments, run 24 hours
per day, requiring the use of two or
three shifts of workers to cover the
entire day. A typical three-shift
sequence is:
➢ 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
➢ 4 p.m. to 12 a.m.
➢ 12 a.m. to 8 a.m.
• The major health problem with
working night shifts is that the typical
sleep/waking cycle is disturbed.
Associated with this cycle are the
circadian rhythms of physiological
 changes that occur throughout the
day.
• The most obvious health problem in
working night shifts is sleep
disturbance—either being unable to
fall asleep or having a poor quality of
sleep.
• Sleep disturbance is not the only
health problem that has been
associated with nightshift work.
• In addition to health problems, shift
work can cause social problems.
Having to work nights and sleep days
can isolate a person from family and
friends.
Long Shifts • The typical full-time work shift is 8
hours.
• One important difficulty with the long
workday is fatigue (Bendak, 2003). A
10- to 12-hour day can be quite tiring
if the work is mentally or physically
demanding.
• It is not only long shifts, however, that
can have detrimental effects on
people. The number of hours worked
per week can expose employees to
higher work demands and other
stressful things at work
Flexible Work Schedules • Fixed daily work schedules are still
the norm, but many employees have
flexible schedules, known as
flextime, that allow them to
 determine, at least in part, the hours
of the day that they work.
• From the organization’s perspective,
an advantage of a flexible work
schedule is that it allows employees
to take care of personal business on
their own time rather than on work
time. Thus an employee could have a
doctor’s visit in the morning and begin
the shift late
OCCUPATIONAL STRESS Everyone has experienced stress at one
time or another.
The Occupational Stress Process • A job stressor is a condition or
situation at work that requires an
adaptive response on the part of the
employee
• A job strain is a negative reaction by
an employee to a stressor, such as
anger, anxiety, or a physical symptom
such as a headache. Jex and Beehr
(1991) categorize strains into:
➢ Psychological reactions
➢ Physical reactions
➢ Behavioral reactions
• Models of the occupational stress
process presume that job stressors
lead to job strains. It is generally
recognized, however, that the process
is not automatic and that the
employee’s perception and appraisal
of the stressor are essential parts of
the process.
 • job stressors (step 1) are objective
conditions or situations in the work
environment. For example, there
might be a fire at work.
Job Stressors There are many things in the work
environment that can be stressful.
Role Ambiguity and Role Conflict • Role ambiguity is the extent to which
employees are uncertain about what
their job functions and responsibilities
are.
• Role conflict arises when people
experience incompatible demands
either at work (intrarole) or between
work and nonwork (extrarole).
• Extrarole conflict occurs between
demands from work and nonwork
domains. Such conflict commonly
occurs when employees have children
and the needs of children conflict with
the demands of the job.
• The research on role ambiguity and
role conflict has focused primarily on
psychological strains. The results of
S. E. Jackson and Schuler’s (1985)
meta-analysis showed that high levels
of both role stressors are associated
with low levels of job satisfaction and
high levels of anxiety/tension and
intention to quit the job.
• Most of the research on role stressors
has used self-report scales completed
by employees. This means that in the
 five-step model, role stressors were
assessed at the level of appraisal
Workload • Workload concerns the work demands
that the job places on an employee,
and it can be of two types:
quantitative and qualitative.
Quantitative workload is the amount
of work that a person has
• Qualitative workload is the difficulty
of work relative to a person’s
capabilities. A heavy qualitative
workload means that the employee
cannot easily do job tasks because
they are difficult for him or her.
• Research has found that workload
relates to all three types of strains—
psychological, physical, and
behavioral (Jex & Beehr, 1991). This
research has involved a variety of
methodologies that allow us to draw
more definitive conclusions about the
possible outcomes of this stressor.
• Questionnaire studies have shown
that employee reports of their
workloads correlate with a variety of
strains.
Social Stressors • When asked to relate the most
stressful incidents that happened
recently at work, employees
frequently mention those that involve
relationships with people. Stressful
incidents concerning other people are
considered social stressors.
 • Interpersonal conflicts occur when
people get into arguments and
disputes with others.
• Whereas interpersonal conflict
assumes a two-way interaction
among two or more people, some
social stressors are mainly
unidirectional, with one or more
individual targets being mistreated in
some way by one or more actors.
Such stressors can range from rather
mild forms of incivility to more
intense forms of verbal abuse and
aggression.
• incivility consists of low intensity
verbal acts of rudeness and
insensitivity that are not always clearly
intended to harm someone else.
• Bullying is a repeated pattern of
abusive behavior directed toward
someone over time. Although it is
often thought that bullying involves a
single actor who might single out one
or more individuals as targets,
bullying in the workplace can involve
multiple actors targeting a single
person, sometimes termed mobbing.
Organizational Politics Organizational politics is the perception by
employees that coworkers and supervisors
engage in self-serving behavior in which they
put their own interests above those of the
organization and other people.
Control • Control is the extent to which
employees are able to make
decisions about their work.
• Control is an extremely important
component of the occupational stress
process. It is also a component of job
characteristics theory. Studies have
found that employee perceptions of
control are associated with all three
categories of strain, although results
are most consistent with
psychological strain.
• The control studies summarized in
Spector’s (1986) meta-analysis
concern employee perceptions about
how much control they have at work.
In most of these studies, control and
strains were assessed with
questionnaires given to employees.
• Studies of objective or actual control
help solve the problem of inferring the
effects of control on strains because
they do not rely on employee reports
about control.
Machine Pacing • One area in which objective control
has been studied is machine-paced
work, which means that a machine
controls when the worker must make
a response.
• The effects of machine pacing and
other work conditions were studied for
years by a research group at the
University of Stockholm in Sweden. A
 major focus of this research is to
understand how human physiology is
affected by job stressors, such as
machine pacing.
• The University of Stockholm research
has shown that both control and
workload affect physiological
responses. In a series of studies,
these researchers assessed the level
of employees’ hormones by analyzing
urine samples at home and at work.
• In addition to physiological reactions,
machine pacing has been associated
with psychological strains and health
symptoms.
The Demand/Control Model • states that the effects of job stressors
are a complex interplay of demands
and employee control.
• Research support for the
demand/control model has been
mixed, with only some studies finding
the hypothesized effect (Hausser,
Mojzisch, Niesel, & Schulz-Hardt,
2010). ¨ At least some of the reason
for the inconsistent results may
concern the measures of demands
and control, which have differed
across studies.
Alcohol as a Coping Mechanism • Employees can engage in a variety of
behaviors to cope with workplace
stressors.
• The use of alcohol to cope with
stressors can be affected by both
 individual and organizational factors.
For example, M. Wang and
colleagues studied alcohol use among
employees in China.
• Although the moderate use of alcohol
likely has little or no effect on
organizations, heavy drinking can be
a significant problem. Drinking at work
can create obvious problems, as
workplace intoxication can reduce job
performance and increase the risk of
accidents and injuries on the job.
WORK-FAMILY CONFLICT • a form of extrarole conflict in which
the demands of work interfere with
those of the family— for example,
having to spend time at work leaves
insufficient time for home (Baltes &
Heydens-Gahir, 2003)—or the
demands of the family interfere with
those of work— for example, having
to take a sick child to the doctor might
require a person to be absent from
work.
• There are several factors that
contribute to the experience of work-
family conflict. On the organization
side, having to work many hours
• Work-family conflict can have a
number of negative effects on both
men and women. In their meta-
analysis of work-family conflict
studies, T. D. Allen, Herst, Bruck, and
Sutton (2000) found a mean
 correlation of −.23 with job
satisfaction.
• Although having both parent and work
roles can have detrimental effects,
particularly for women who usually
assume the major responsibility for
children, dual roles can have positive
effects as well
• Organizations that are concerned with
work-family conflict have taken steps
to help their employees. Two of the
most frequently used approaches are
flexible work schedules and on-site
child care in the workplace.
BURNOUT • a distressed psychological state that
an employee might experience after
being on the job for a period of time.
• Burnout is assessed with scales
administered to employees. The most
popular scale, the Maslach Burnout
Inventory (MBI) (Maslach, 1998),
measures three components of
burnout:
➢ Emotional exhaustion
➢ Depersonalization
➢ Reduced personal
accomplishment.
• Emotional exhaustion is the feeling
of tiredness and fatigue at work.
Depersonalization is the
development of a cynical and callous
feeling toward others. Reduced
personal accomplishment is the
 feeling that the employee is not
accomplishing anything worthwhile at
work.
• Feelings of burnout have been found
to correlate with many job stressor
and job strain variables and might be
considered a type of strain.
• As we have seen in many other areas
of I/O psychology, research in the
burnout domain has been dominated
by self-report survey methods.
 CHAPTER 12: Work Groups and Work Teams
WORK GROUPS VERSUS WORK TEAMS A work group is a collection of two or more
people who interact with one another and
share some interrelated task goals.
work team • A work team is a type of work group,
but a team has three specific
properties (M. A. West, Borrill, &
Unsworth, 1998):
1. The actions of individuals must be
interdependent and coordinated.
2. Each member must have a particular,
specified role.
3. There must be common task goals and
objectives.
• The distinction between a group and a
team is an important one. All teams
are groups, but not all groups are
teams. A group consists of people
who work together but can do their
jobs without one another. A team is a
group of people who cannot do their
jobs, at least not effectively, without
the other members of their team. For
the remainder of this chapter, all
group principles will apply to teams,
but team concepts don’t necessarily
apply to groups
Virtual Teams • These virtual teams communicate via
e-mail, instant messaging, telephone,
web cameras, and other technologies.
• Comparisons of face-to-face with
virtual groups suggest that the former
often function more effectively. A
 meta-analysis of 52 studies that
compared face-to-face with virtual
groups shows that the virtual groups
have worse task performance, take
more time to complete tasks, and
have lower group-member satisfaction
IMPORTANT GROUP AND TEAM There are four important group and two
CONCEPTS important team concepts that underlie much
group and team behavior.
Roles • The concept of role implies that not
everyone in a group or team has the
same function or purpose.
• Groups vary considerably in the
extent to which roles are specialized
among members. In a surgical team,
for example, the training and
credentials are such that little overlap
in roles can occur among the
surgeon, nurse, and anesthesiologist
Formal roles are specified by the organization and are part
of the formal job description.
Informal roles • arise from group interaction rather
than from the formal rules and
specifications of organizations.
• An example of an informal role in a
work group is that of greeting card
sender. It is common in a work group
for employees to send cards to one
another during special occasions,
such as birthdays or weddings.
Norms • Norms are unwritten rules of behavior
accepted by members of a work
group
 • Work group norms can have a bigger
impact on member behavior than
supervisors or organizational
practices. In the Coch and French
(1948) study, production was
restricted, even though a piece-rate
system was in place.
Group Cohesiveness • Group cohesiveness is the sum of
forces attracting group members and
keeping the group together.
• Cohesive groups strongly enforce
their norms, and work groups might
adopt norms for high or low
productivity. For this reason,
correlations between cohesiveness
and job performance have been
somewhat inconsistent across
studies.
Team Conflict • When people work in teams, they
must coordinate their actions in order
to accomplish task goals.
• Cooperative conflict in teams has
been shown to relate positively to
team performance and competitive
conflict has been shown to relate
negatively
cooperative conflict is one in which individuals openly share
diverging views, respect one another’s
opinions, and focus on finding a solution that
is acceptable to team members.
competitive conflict on the other hand, is one in which team
members promote their own points of view,
 have little regard for others’ opinions, and try
to get their own position adopted.
Process Loss • Much of the time and effort of work
group members is devoted to
accomplishing organizational
objectives through the performance of
individuals.
• Groups vary tremendously in the
amount of time they devote to
maintenance activities. Some groups
have problems with norm violators
and interpersonal conflicts that can
consume a great deal of time and
energy.
Team Commitment • Team commitment is the strength of
an individual’s involvement in a team
and consists of the acceptance of
team goals, willingness to work hard
for the team, and desire to remain in
the team
• Team commitment seems much like
group cohesiveness, but it is a
broader construct. Whereas
cohesiveness is only the attraction of
the individuals to the group,
commitment also involves acceptance
of team goals and willingness to work
hard for the team.
Team Mental Model • A team mental model refers to the
shared understanding among team
members of the task, team,
equipment, and situation.
 • In order for a team to perform
effectively, there must be a sufficiently
shared team mental model. Teams in
which the mental model is inadequate
will fail to coordinate, will be
inefficient, and will be likely to make
errors.
GROUP AND TEAM PERFORMANCE There is a widespread belief that group
performance is superior to individual
performance for many tasks.
Performance in the Presence of Others • One of the earliest known research
findings concerning groups in
psychology is that task performance is
affected by the presence of others.
• The most widely accepted explanation
for these results was put forth by
Zajonc (1965), who noticed that the
type of task determined if
performance is enhanced or inhibited
by the presence of others. He
suggested that the presence of others
increases physiological arousal, which
has effects on task performance.
social facilitation Performance is improved (the social
facilitation effect) by other-induced arousal
when the task is simple or well learned, such
as bicycle riding.
social inhibition On the other hand, performance is decreased
(the social inhibition effect) by other-induced
arousal when the task is complex or new to
the individual, such as solving a complex
mathematics problem.
Group Versus Individual Performance on • When researchers compare
Additive Tasks individuals to groups on task
performance, they are usually
concerned with an additive task. The
noninteracting individuals are referred
to as a nominal group. Their output
reflects the output of a given number
of individuals.
• Research dating back to the 19th
century has consistently shown that
nominal groups do as well as and
usually better than interacting groups
• There are at least two explanations
for the group effect on additive task
performance. The first explanation is
the possibility of process loss.
• A second and more likely explanation
is a phenomenon called social
loafing—people do not put forth as
much effort in a group as they would if
they were working alone, and the
larger the group, the less effort each
person exerts.
Brainstorming • Brainstorming is a group technique
that is supposed to result in improved
performance with this type of task. A
group is given instructions to generate
ideas without being critical or
judgmental in any way.
• Unfortunately, research has failed to
find that the performance of
interacting groups that brainstorm is
superior to that of nominal groups.
 Rather than inspiring one another,
group members often inhibit one
another.
• Electronic brainstorming has been
shown to enhance performance in an
idea generation task with the use of
computers. Individuals are asked to
enter ideas into a computer rather
than writing them down.
• Gallupe, Cooper, Grise, and
Bastianutti (1994) conducted a study
that showed how ´ electronic
brainstorming produces better
performance in part because people
do not have to wait their turn for
others to speak.
• Paulus (2000) argued that the basic
idea that group members inspire one
another may be correct but that group
process gets in the way. He has
shown that exposure to the ideas of
others can help people generate more
ideas.
Group Problem Solving So far we’ve shown that for additive tasks
and brainstorming, nominal groups do better
than interacting groups.
Group Decision Making • Groups within organizations
frequently make decisions ranging
from those that are relatively
unimportant to those that significantly
affect the lives and well-being of
thousands.
 • Evaluating the quality of a decision is
not always an easy or straightforward
undertaking. Often the evaluation
depends on the values of the person
doing the determination and the
criterion chosen for comparison.
• We review two areas of group
decisions in this section. First is the
issue of whether groups take more
risks or are more conservative in their
decisions than individuals.
Group Polarization • group decisions often differ from the
decisions of individuals, but whether
they are riskier or more conservative
depends on the nature of the
decision.
• The typical risky-decision study asks
individuals and groups to choose one
option from a series of options that
vary in risk. For example, a decision
task might involve deciding the
acceptable odds of survival for
undergoing elective surgery.
• If the majority make a conservative
choice, the group is likely to shift its
decision in a conservative direction.
This deviation from the group mean is
called group polarization, meaning
that the group is more extreme (closer
to one pole or the other) than the
mean of its individuals.
• One likely explanation is that the
members who hold the minority view
 will likely conform to the majority,
especially if one member’s choice is
far from the choices of the other group
members.
Groupthink • High-level decision-making groups in
corporations and governments
typically are comprised of experts who
should be able to make good
decisions. Groupthink is a
phenomenon that can occur when
groups make decisions that individual
members know are poor ones
• According to Janis (1972), groupthink
is likely to occur in highly cohesive
groups with strong leaders when the
social pressures to maintain
conformity and harmony in the group
take precedence over sound decision
making.
• Janis (1972) offered several
suggestions for avoiding groupthink.
Two major themes appear throughout
these suggestions.
• few good tests of its propositions exist
and that those that do exist support
only part of the theory.
Team Innovation • Organizations today find themselves
in a rapidly changing and competitive
world that requires them to adapt and
change.
• Teams innovate out of necessity, from
both internal factors (organizational
constraints and workload) and
 external factors (turbulent
environment). A turbulent and
challenging environment is the case
for high-tech companies that produce
products in rapidly advancing fields.
• Teams vary in their orientation to
innovation. Those teams that take
time to critically discuss how they do
things and how they can do them
better are the best innovators
Team KSAOs • An important issue for organizations
that use teams to accomplish
important work is whether or not there
are special team KSAOs that
determine whether a person is a good
team member and, perhaps more
importantly, whether the levels of
team KSAOs among members relate
to team performance.
GROUP DIVERSITY • Demographic shifts have resulted in
increasing numbers of minorities and
women in the workplace, not only in
North America but in much of the rest
of the industrialized world
• diversity can have both positive and
negative effects but that results
across studies are inconsistent. Some
of the reasons are that different types
of diversity have been investigated in
different studies and that diversity can
have different effects depending on
the task.
 • Organizational context is also
important for diversity. Van der Vegt
and Janssen (2003) found no relation
of either cognitive or demographic
diversity with performance in teams
from a Dutch company.
INTERVENTIONS WITH WORK GROUPS IN Most organizations consist of a network of
ORGANIZATIONS interrelated work groups.
Autonomous Work Teams • In the traditional factory, the assembly
of a product is broken down into many
small operations.
• The details of how autonomous work
teams operate vary from organization
to organization. One such system,
described by Hackman and Oldham
(1980), was implemented by the
Butler Corporation when it opened a
new grain dryer plant.
• Research has shown that
autonomous work teams can benefit
employees and organizations. Job
satisfaction is sometimes higher with
autonomous work teams than more
traditional approaches
Quality circles • are groups of employees who meet
periodically to discuss problems and
propose solutions relevant to their
jobs.
• In theory, quality circles have benefits
for both employees and organizations.
They allow individual employees to
enjoy greater participation, which
many find stimulating and enjoyable.
 • Too little research has been done on
quality circles to draw any firm
conclusions about their effects on
employees or organizations.
• The quality circle idea has been
adapted to focus on employee health
rather than job performance. The
German health circle or
Gesundheitszirkel is an intervention in
which groups of employees discuss
ways to improve health and well-
being.
Team Building • Team building refers to any of a
number of activities designed to
enhance the functioning of work
groups or teams.
• There is no one particular way in
which team building is done, but three
factors characterize team-building
efforts. First, team building is a
planned activity—that is, it consists of
one or more exercises or experiences
that are designed to accomplish a
particular objective.
• Team building often involves team
members discussing problems and
coming up with solutions. The role of
the team trainer is to facilitate the
discussion by getting team members
talking to one another.
• The trainer’s job is to get people to
raise issues, identify problems, and
discuss possible solutions.
• Studies have shown that team
building can have positive effects on
teams and team members. C. Klein
and colleagues conducted a
comprehensive meta-analysis to
summarize the results of 20 team-
building studies.
 HUMAN
DEVELOPMENTAL
PSYCHOLOGY
BASLOTE, GWENETH ANGELEE
DIMAS, SOHAIDEN
ELLIOT, RASHIDA
GAPUTAN, LAI NERULLY
 Sohaiden D. Dimas
PSY 98 - YC
Chapter 1: The Study of Human Development
Human development the multidisciplinary study of how people change
and how they remain the same over time.
Nature and Nurture The degree to which genetic or hereditary
influences (nature) and experiential or
environmental influences (nurture) determine
the kind of person you are.

o For example: you will see that some individuals

inherit a disease that leads to intellectual
disability if they eat dairy products. However, if
their environment contains no dairy products,
they develop normal intelligence.
Continuity and Discontinuity Concerns whether a particular developmental
phenomenon represents a smooth progression
throughout the life span (continuity) or a series of
abrupt shifts (discontinuity).

o For example, your face may look nearly

identical in “selfies” taken on successive days
(continuity) but change dramatically in photos
taken years apart (discontinuity).
Universal and Context-Specific Development Concerns whether there is one path of
development or several.
One fundamental developmental process According to this view, differences in
development are simply variations on the same
fundamental process in much the same way cars
as different as a Chevrolet, a Honda, and a Lexus
are all products of fundamentally the same
manufacturing process
Differences among people are not simply Human development is inextricably intertwined
variations on a theme. with the context within which it occurs. A
person’s development is a product of complex
interaction with the environment, and that
interaction is not fundamentally the same in all
environments.

As is the case for the nature–nurture and

continuity–discontinuity issues, the result is a
blend; individual development reflects both
universal and context-specific influences. For
example, the order of development of physical
skills in infancy is essentially the same in all
cultures. But how those skills are focused or
encouraged in daily life differs.
Basic Forces in Human Development: The
Biopsychosocial Framework
Biological forces (Genetics and Health) include all genetic and health-related factors that
affect development.

Prenatal development, brain maturation,

puberty, and physical aging may occur to you as
outcomes of biological forces
Psychological forces (Known by Our Behavior) include all internal perceptual, cognitive,
emotional, and personality factors that affect
development.

most often to describe the characteristics of a

person
Sociocultural forces (Race, Ethnicity, and Culture) include interpersonal, societal, cultural, and
ethnic factors that affect development.
Life-cycle forces (Timing is Everything) reflect differences in how the same event affects
people of different ages.
Biopsychosocial Framework One useful way to organize the biological,
psychological, and sociocultural forces on human
development.
Neuroscience The study of the brain and the nervous system,
especially in terms of brain– behavior
relationships.

Are being applied to especially those involving

memory, reasoning, and emotion.
Theory an organized set of ideas that explains
development
Psychodynamic Theory Hold that development is largely determined by
how well people resolve conflicts they face at
different ages.
Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory it is determined by the interaction of an internal
maturational plan and external societal demands.
Learning Theory concentrates on how learning influences a
person’s behavior. Emphasizes the role of
experience, whether a person’s behavior is
rewarded or punished, and if people learn from
watching others around them.
Operant conditioning the consequences of a behavior determine
whether a behavior is repeated in the future.
Reinforcement a consequence that increases the likelihood of
the behavior that it follows.
Punishment a consequence that decreases the likelihood of
the behavior that it follows.
Social Learning Theory by simply watching those around them
Social cognitive theory [ is “cognitive” because he believes people actively
try to understand what goes on in their world;
the theory is “social” because, along with
 reinforcement and punishment, what other
people do is an important source of information
about the world.
Self-efficacy people’s beliefs about their own abilities and
talents.
Cognitive-Developmental Theory Focus on thought processes and a person
constructing knowledge actively.
Piaget’s Theory Focus on how children construct knowledge and
how their constructions change over time.

Information-Processing Theory draw heavily on how computers work to explain

how thinking develops through childhood,
adolescence, and adulthood.

proposes that human cognition consists of

mental hardware and mental software.
Mental Hardware cognitive structures including different memories
where information is stored
Mental Software Cognitive processes that enable people to
complete specific tasks.
Vygotsky’s Theory emphasize that children’s thinking is influenced
by the sociocultural context in which they grow
up
The Ecological and Systems Approach Human development is inseparable from the
environmental contexts in which a person
develops.
Bronfenbrenner’s Theory the developing person is embedded in a series of
complex and interactive systems.
Microsystem people and objects in an individual’s immediate
environment.
Mesosystem connections across microsystems because what
happens in one microsystem is likely to influence
others.
Exosystem social settings that a person may not experience
firsthand but that still influence development.
Macrosystem – the cultures and subcultures in which the
microsystem, mesosystem, and exosystem are
embedded.
Competence-Environmental Press Theory people adapt most effectively when their
competence, or abilities, match the
environmental press, or the demands put on
them by the environment.
Life-Span Perspective, Selective Optimization Most of the theories of human development pay
with Compensation, and Life-Course Perspective little attention to the adult years of the life span
(Except Erikson). However, modern perspectives
emphasize the importance of viewing human
development as a lifelong process.
Life-span perspective human development is multiply determined and
cannot be understood within the scope of a
single framework.
Paul Baltes and colleagues identify four key o Multidirectionality
features of the life-span perspective: o Plasticity
o Historical context
o Multiple causation
Selective optimization with compensation (SOC) the three processes form a system of behavioral
model action that generates and regulates development
and aging.
Elective selection when people reduce their involvement to fewer
domains as a result of new demands or tasks
Loss-based selection when real or anticipated losses in personal or
environmental resources cause people to reduce
their involvement.
Life-Course Perspective describes the ways in which various generations
experience the biological, psychological, and
sociocultural forces of development in their
respective historical contexts.
Correlational Observe variables as they exist in the world and
determine their relations
Experimental Manipulate independent variable and determine
effect on dependent variable
Longitudinal One group of people is tested repeatedly as they
develop
Cross- sectional People of different ages are tested at the same
time
Sequential Multiple groups of people are tested over time,
based on either multiple longitudinal or cross-
sectional designs.
Chapter 2: Biological Foundations: Heredity, Prenatal Development, and Birth
Chromosomes Threadlike structures in the nuclei of cells that
contain genetic material
Autosomes First 22 pairs of chromosomes.
Sex Chromosomes – 23rd pair of chromosomes; these determine the
sex of the child.
DNA molecule composed of four nucleotide bases that
is the biochemical basis of heredity.
Gene group of nucleotide bases that provides a specific
set of biochemical instructions
Genotype Person’s hereditary makeup.
Phenotype physical, behavioral, and psychological features.
Alleles variations of genes.
Homozygous When the alleles in a pair of chromosomes are
the same.
Heterozygous when the alleles in a pair of chromosomes differ
from each other.
Dominant form of an allele whose chemical instructions are
followed.
Recessive Allele whose instructions are ignored in the
presence of a dominant allele.
Incomplete dominance situation in which one allele does not dominate
another completely.
Sickle-cell trait disorder that shows signs of mild anemia when
seriously deprived of oxygen
Phenylketonuria (PKU) inherited disorder in which the infant lacks a liver
enzyme
Huntington’s disease progressive and fatal type of dementia caused by
dominant alleles.
Behavioral genetics deals with inheritance of behavioral and
psychological traits.
Polygenic inheritance when phenotypes are the result of the combined
activity of many separate genes
Monozygotic twins result of a single fertilized egg splitting to form
two new individuals: identical twins
Dizygotic twins result of two separate eggs fertilized by two
sperm: fraternal twins.
Heritability coefficient a measure of the extent to which a trait or
characteristic is inherited.
Niche-picking deliberately seeking environments that fit one’s
heredity.
Nonshared environmental influences forces within a family that make siblings different
from one another.
Prenatal development the many changes that turn a fertilize egg into a
newborn human
Zygote fertilized egg, created when a sperm cell
penetrates an egg.
In vitro fertilization sperm and egg are mixed in a petri dish to create
a zygote
Preimplantation genetic screening (PGS) used to test the heredity of an egg fertilized with
assisted reproductive technology, typically to
determine the presence of genetic disorders.
Eugenics efforts to improve the human species by letting
only people whose characteristics are valued by a
society mate and pass along their genes.
Implantation the zygote burrows into the uterine wall and
establishes connections with the woman’s blood
vessels.
Germ disc small cluster of cells near the center of the zygote
that eventually develop into the baby.
Placenta structure through which nutrients and wastes are
exchanged between the mother and the
developing child.
Embryo term given to zygote once it is completely
embedded in the uterine wall.
Ectoderm outer layer of the embryo, which becomes the
hair, outer layer of skin, and nervous system.
Mesoderm middle layer of the embryo, which becomes the
muscles, bones, and circulatory system
Endoderm inner layer of the embryo, which becomes the
lungs and digestive system.
Amnion inner sac in which the developing child rests
Amniotic fluid fluid that surrounds the fetus
Umbilical ford structures containing veins and arteries that
connects the developing child to the placenta.
Cephalocaudal principle a principle of physical growth that states that
structures nearest the head develop first.
Proximodistal principle principle of physical growth that states that
structures nearest the center of the body develop
first.
Period of the fetus longest period of the prenatal development.
Cerebral cortex wrinkled surface of the brain that regulates many
functions that are distinctly human
Vernix substance that protects the fetus’s skin during
development.
Age of viability a fetus can survive outside the womb because
most of its bodily systems function adequately;
typically at 7 months after conception
Spina bifida disorder in which the embryo’s neural tube does
not close properly.
Teratogen an agent that causes abnormal prenatal
development
Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) affecting babies whose mothers consumed large
amounts of alcohol while pregnant
Ultrasound uses soundwaves
Amniocentesis uses a syringe to withdraw a sample of amniotic
fluid
Chorionic villus sampling (CVS) involves taking a sample of tissue from the
placenta.
Non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) analyzes genetic material released from the
placenta that circulates in a pregnant.
Fetal therapy concerned with treating prenatal problems
before birth.
Crowning appearance of the top of the baby’s head during
labor.
Hypoxia a birth complications in which umbilical blood
flow is disrupted and the infant does not receive
adequate oxygen.
Cesarean section (C-section) surgical removal.
Preterm or premature born before the 36th week after conception.
Low birth weight weigh less than 2,500 grams
Very low birth weight weigh less than 1,500 grams.
Extremely low birth weight weigh less than 1,000 grams
Infant mortality number of infants out of 1,000 births who die
before their first birthday.
Chapter 3: Tools for Exploring the World
Reflexes unlearned responses triggered by specific
stimulation.
Autonomic baby’s ability to control body functions such as
breathing and temperature regulation.
Motor the baby’s ability to control body movements and
activity level.
State baby’s ability to maintain a state.
Social baby’s ability to interact with people
Irregular or rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep An infant’s eyes dart rapidly beneath the eyelids
while the body is active.
Regular or nonREM sleep Sleep in which heart rate, breathing, and brain
activity are steady.
Temperament consistent style or pattern of behavior
Surgency/extroversion the extent to which a child is generally happy,
active, and vocal
Negative the extent to which a child is angry, fearful
Effortful control extent to which a child can focus attention, is not
readily distracted
Malnourished being small for one’s age because of inadequate
nutrition.
Neuron Basic cellular unit of the brain and nervous
system that specializes in receiving and
transmitting information
Cell body Center of the neuron that keeps the neuron alive
Dendrite End of the neuron that receives information; it
looks like a tree with many branches.
Axon Tubelike structure that emerges from the cell
body and transmits information to other
neurons.
Terminal buttons Small knobs at the end of the axon that release
neurotransmitters.
Neurotransmitters Chemicals released by the terminal buttons that
allow neurons to communicate with each other.
Cerebral cortex Wrinkled surface of the brain that regulates many
functions that are distinctly human.
Hemispheres Right and left halves of the cortex
Corpus callosum Thick bundle of neurons that connects the two
hemispheres
Frontal Cortex Brain region that regulates personality and
goaldirected behavior
Myelin Fatty sheath that wraps around neurons and
enables them to transmit information more
rapidly.
Synaptic pruning Gradual reduction in the number of synapses,
beginning in infancy and continuing until early
adolescence
Electroencephalography The study of brain waves recorded from
electrodes that are placed on the scalp
functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) Methods of studying brain activity by using
magnetic fields to track blood flow in the brain
Experience-expectant growth process by which the wiring of the brain is
organized by experiences that are common to
most humans
Experience-dependent growth process by which an individual’s unique
experiences over a lifetime affect brain structures
and organization
Motor skills Coordinated movements of the muscles and
limbs
Locomote To move around in the world.
Fine motor skills Motor skills associated with grasping, holding,
and manipulating objects.
Toddling Early, unsteady form of walking done by infants.
Toddler Young children who have just learned to walk.
Dynamic systems theory Theory that views motor development as
involving many distinct skills that are organized
and reorganized over time to meet specific
needs.
GALATHEA
PHYGMALION
GOLEM
Differentiation distinguishing and mastering individual motions.
Integration Linking individuals motions into a coherent,
coordinated whole.
Perception process by which the brain receives, selects,
modifies, and organizes incoming nerve impulses
that are the result of physical stimulation
Visual acuity smallest pattern that one can distinguish reliably
Cones specialized neurons in the back of the eye that
sense color.
Visual cliff Glass-covered platform that appears to have a
“shallow” and a “deep” side; used to study
infants’ depth perception
Kinetic cues Cues to depth perception in which motion is used
to estimate depth.
Visual expansion Kinetic cue to depth perception that is based on
the fact that an object fills an ever-greater
proportion of the retina as it moves closer
Motion paraliax Kinetic cue to depth perception based on the fact
that nearby moving objects move across our
visual field faster than do distant objects.
Binocular disparity Way of inferring depth based on differences in
the retinal images in the left and right eyes.
Pictorial cues Cues to depth perception that are used to convey
depth in drawings and paintings.
Linear perspective A cue to depth perception based on the fact that
parallel lines come together at a single point in
the distance.
Texture gradient Perceptual cue to depth based on the fact that
the texture of objects changes from distinct for
nearby objects to finer and less distinct for
distant objects.
Intersensory redundancy Infant’s sensory systems are attuned to
information presented simultaneously to
different sensory modes.
Chapter 4: The Emergence of Thought and Language
Schemes mental structures that organize information and
regulate behavior.
Schemes in infants based on actions
Schemes in preschoolers functional or conceptual relationships, not action.
Schemes in older children and adolescents functional or conceptual relationships, and
abstract properties.
Assimilation occurs when new experiences are readily
incorporated into existing schemes.
Accommodation occurs when schemes are modified based on
experience.
Equilibration the process by which children reorganize their
schemes to return to a state of equilibrium when
disequilibrium occurs
Period of Development
Sensorimotor period Infancy (0-2 years)
Preoperational period Preschool and early elementary school years (2-7
years)
Concrete operational period Middle and late elementary school years (7-11
years)
Formal Operational period Adolescence and adulthood 911 years and up)
Object permanence understanding, acquired in infancy, that objects
exist independently of oneself.
Egocentrism Difficulty in seeing the world from another’s
point of view; typical of children in the
preoperational period.

Child believes that all people see the world as he

or she does.
Animism phenomenon of crediting inanimate objects with
life and lifelike properties such as feelings
Centration narrowly focused thought that characterizes
preoperational youngsters.

Child focuses on one aspect of a problem or

situation but ignores other relevant aspects
Core knowledge hypothesis infants are born with rudimentary knowledge of
the world, which is elaborated based on
experiences.
Teleological explanations children’s belief that living things, including their
parts and their actions, exist for a purpose.
Essentialism children’s belief that all living things have an
essence that can’t be seen but gives a living thing
its identity
Attention processes that determine which information will
be processed further by an individual.
Orienting response an individual views a strong or unfamiliar
stimulus, and changes in heart rate and
brainwave activity occur.
Habituation Act of becoming unresponsive to a stimulus that
is presented repeatedly.
Hippocampus (in memory) plays role in storing information in memory,
develops rapidly during the first year.
Prefrontal cortex (in memory) responsible for retrieving these stored memories,
develops more slowly
Autobiographical memory memories of the significant events and
experiences of one’s own life.
One-to-one principle There must be one and only one number name
for each object that is counted.
Stable-order principle Number names must be counted in the same
order.
Cardinality principle The last number name differs from the previous
ones in a counting sequence by denoting the
number of objects
Intersubjectivity mutual, shared understanding among
participants in an activity
Guided participation children’s involvement in structured activities
with others who are more skilled, typically
producing cognitive growth.
Zone of proximal development difference between what children can do with
assistance and what they can do alone
Scaffolding a style in which teachers gauge the amount of
assistance they offer to match the learner’s
needs.
Private speech a child’s comments that are not intended for
others but are designed to help regulate the
child’s own behavior
Infant-directed speech speech that adults use with infants that is slow
and has exaggerated changes in pitch and
volume; it helps children master language.
Cooing early vowel like sounds that babies produce.
Babbling speechlike sounds that consist of vowel–
consonant combinations; common at about 6
months.
Fast Mapping a child’s connections between words and
referents that are made so quickly that he or she
cannot consider all possible meanings of the
word.
Phonological Memory ability to remember speech sounds briefly; an
important skill in acquiring vocabulary.
Referential Style vocabularies are dominated by names of objects,
persons, or actions.
Expressive Style vocabularies include many social phrases that are
used like one word.
Telegraphic speech speech used by young children that contains only
the words necessary to convey a message
Grammatical morphemes words or endings of words that make a sentence
grammatical
Overregularization grammatical usage that results from applying
rules to words that are exceptions to the rule
How Do Children Acquire Grammar?
The Behaviorist Answer Sounds, words, grammar, and communication are
learned through imitation and reinforcement.
The Linguistic Answer children are born with neural circuits in the brain
that allow them to infer the grammar of the
language that they hear. Grammar itself is not
built into the child’s nervous system, but
 processes that guide the learning of grammar
are.
The Cognitive Answer children learn grammar through powerful
cognitive skills that help them rapidly detect
regularities in their environment.

It’s as if children establish a huge spreadsheet

that has the speech, they’ve heard in one column
and the context in which they heard it in a
second column.
The Social-Interaction Answer This approach is eclectic, drawing on each of the
views we’ve considered.
RASHIDA J. ELLIOT PSY 98 YC

Chapter 5: Entering the Social World: Socioemotional Development in

Infancy and Early Childhood

Beginnings: Trust and Attachment

Erikson’s Stages of Early Psychosocial Development

Basic trust vs. Erikson argued that trust in oneself and others is the foundation of
Mistrust human development. Newborns leave the warmth and security of
the uterus for an unfamiliar world. When parents respond to their
infant’s needs consistently, the infant comes to trust and feel
secure in the world. With a proper balance of trust and mistrust,
infants can acquire hope, an openness to new experience
tempered by wariness that discomfort or danger may arise.

Autonomy vs. Between 1 and 3 years of age, children gradually learn that they
Shame and Doubt can control their own. children strive for autonomy, for
independence from others. However, autonomy is counteracted by
doubt that the child can handle demanding situations and by
shame that may result from failure. A blend of autonomy, shame,
and doubt gives rise to will, the knowledge that within limits,
youngsters can act on their world intentionally.

Initiative vs. Guilt Most 3- and 4-year-olds take some responsibility for themselves
(e.g., by dressing themselves). Youngsters start to explore the
environment on their own, ask numerous questions about the
world, and imagine possibilities for themselves. This initiative is
moderated by guilt as children realize that their initiative may place
them in conflict with others; they cannot pursue their ambitions
with abandon. Purpose is achieved with a balance between
individual initiative and a willingness to cooperate with others.

The Growth of Attachment

According to evolutionary psychology, many

human behaviors represent successful adaptation to the environment. That is, over
human history, some behaviors have made it more likely that people will pass on their
genes to following generations. For example, we take it for granted that most people enjoy
being with other people. But evolutionary psychologists argue that our “social nature” is a
product of evolution: For early humans, being part of a group offered protection from
predators and made it easier to locate food.

Applied to child development, evolutionary psychology highlights the adaptive value

of children’s behavior at different points in development (Bjorklund & Jordan, 2013). For
 example, think about the time and energy parents invest in child rearing.

Steps Toward Attachment

According to Bowlby, children who form an attachment to an adult—that is, an

enduring socioemotional relationship—are more likely to survive. This person is usually
the mother but need not be; the key is a strong emotional relationship with a responsive,
caring person. Attachments can form with fathers, grandparents, or someone else.
Bowlby described four phases in the growth of attachment:

Preattachment (birth During prenatal development and soon after birth, infants rapidly
to 6–8 weeks) learn to recognize their mothers by smell and sound, which sets
the stage for forging an attachment relationship (Hofer, 2006).The
infant’s behaviors and the responses they evoke in adults create
an interactive system that is the first step in forming attachment
relationships.

Attachment in the During these months, babies begin to behave differently in the
making (6–8 weeks presence of familiar caregivers and unfamiliar adults. Babies are
to 6–8 months). gradually identifying the primary caregiver as the person they can
depend on when they’re anxious or distressed.

True attachment By approximately 7 or 8 months, most infants have singled out the
(6–8 months to 18 attachment figure—usually the mother—as a special individual.
months) The attachment figure is now the infant’s stable socioemotional
base. The behavior suggests that the infant trusts his mother
and indicates that the attachment relationship is established. In
addition, this behavior reflects important cognitive growth: It
means that the infant has a mental representation of the mother,
an understanding that she will be there to meet the infant’s needs
(Lewis, 1997).

Reciprocal Infants’ growing cognitive and language skills and their

relationships (18 accumulated experience with their primary caregivers make
months on). infants better able to act as partners in the attachment
relationship. In addition, they cope with separation more effectively
because they can anticipate that parents will return

Forms of Attachment

Attachment takes different forms, and environmental factors help determine the quality of
attachment between infants and caregivers. Mary Ainsworth (1978, 1993) pioneered the
study of attachment relationships using a procedure known as the Strange Situation.
Secure attachment The baby may or may not cry when the mother leaves, but when
she returns, the baby wants to be with her, and if the baby is
crying, he or she stops.

Avoidant attachment The baby is not upset when the mother leaves and, when she
returns, may ignore her by looking or turning away. Infants with an
avoidant attachment look as if they’re saying, “You left me again. I
always have to take care of myself!”

Resistant attachment he baby is upset when the mother leaves, and the baby
remains upset or even angry when she returns and is difficult to
console. These babies seem to be telling the mother, “Why do you
do this? I need you desperately, and yet you just leave me without
warning. I get so angry when you’re like this.’’

Disorganized The baby seems confused when the mother leaves and when she
(disoriented) returns, seems not to understand what’s happening. The baby
attachment often behaves in contradictory ways, such as nearing the mother
when she returns but not looking at her, as if wondering, “What’s
happening? I want you to be here, but you left and now you’re
back. I don’t get what’s going on!”

Infants with secure attachment relationships tend to report, as adolescents and young
adults, that they depend on their parents for care and support. In contrast, infants with
insecure attachment relationships often report, as adolescents and young adults, being
angry with their parents or deny being close to them (Bretherton, 2010). However,
consistency is far from perfect. Stressful life events—the death of a parent, divorce, a
life-threatening illness, poverty—help to determine stability and change in attachment.
Stressful life events are associated with insecure attachments during adolescence and
young adulthood.

Consequences of Attachment

Erikson and other theorists (e.g., Waters & Cummings, 2000) believe that infant–parent
attachment, the first social relationship, lays the foundation for all of the infant’s later social
relationships.Two factors contribute to the benefits for children of a secure attachment
relationship:
 ● First, secure attachment evidently leads infants to see the world positively and to
trust other humans, characteristics that lead to more skilled social interactions later
in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood.

● Second, parents who establish secure attachments with infants tend to provide
warm, supportive, and skilled parenting throughout their child’s development.

Thus, continuous exposure to high-quality parenting promotes secure attachment in

infancy and positive social relationships in childhood and adolescence. These accounts
are not mutually exclusive: A successful first relationship and continued warm parenting
likely work together to foster children’s development. Infants with insecure attachments
are not doomed, but this initial misstep can interfere with their social development

What Determines Quality of Attachment?

The most important is the interaction between parents and their babies. A secure
attachment is most likely when parents respond to infants predictably and appropriately.
This behavior seems to instill in infants the trust and confidence that are the hallmarks of
secure attachment. Infants develop an internal working model, a set of expectations about
parents’ availability and responsiveness, generally and in times of stress. When parents
are dependable and caring, babies come to trust them, knowing they can be relied
on for comfort. In contrast, when parents respond slowly, intermittently, or angrily, infants
come to see social relationships as inconsistent and often frustrating.

When the caregiver is responsive to the infant (a sociocultural force), a secure attachment
forms in which the infant trusts caregivers and knows that they can be relied on in
stressful situations (a psychological force).

Emerging Emotions

The Function of Emotions

According to the functional approach, emotions are useful because they help people adapt
to their environment. Thus, according to the functional approach to human emotion, most
emotions developed over the course of human history to meet unique life challenges and
help humans to survive.

Experiencing and Expressing Emotions

Basic Emotions Are experienced by people worldwide, and each consists of three
elements: a subjective feeling, a physiological change, and an
overt behavior (Izard, 2007).

Development of Basic Emotions

Approximately 8 to 9 months of age, infants are thought to experience all basic emotions.
An important change occurs at about 2 to 3 months of age. At this age, social smiles first
appear; infants smile when they see another human face. Sometimes social smiling is
accompanied by cooing. Anger is one of the first negative emotions to emerge from
generalized distress, typically between 4 and 6 months. Infants will become angry, for
example, if a favorite food or toy is taken away.

Like anger, fear emerges later in the first year. At about 6 months, infants become wary in
the presence of an unfamiliar adult, a reaction known as stranger wariness.
 How wary an infant feels around strangers depends on several factors.

● First, infants tend to be less fearful of strangers when the environment is familiar
and more fearful when it is not.

● Second, a baby’s anxiety depends on the stranger’s behavior

Wariness of strangers is adaptive because it emerges at the same time children begin
to master creeping and crawling. However, as youngsters learn to interpret facial
expressions and recognize when a person is friendly, their wariness of strangers declines.

Parents likely play an important role in helping children to identify disgusting stimuli:
Mothers respond quite vigorously to disgust-eliciting stimuli when in the presence of their
children. A child’s early sensitivity to disgust is useful because many of the cues that elicit
disgust are also signals of potential illness: Disgusting stimuli such as feces, vomit, and
maggots can all transmit disease.

Emergence of In addition to basic emotions such as joy and anger, people feel
Complex Emotions complex emotions such as pride, guilt, and embarrassment. Most
scientists believe that complex emotions don’t surface until 18 to
24 months of age because they depend on the child having some
understanding of the self, which typically occurs between 15 and
18 months.Thus, children’s growing understanding of themselves
enables them to experience complex emotions like pride and guilt.

Cultural Difference in Cultures also differ in the events that trigger emotions, particularly
Emotional complex emotions. Situations that evoke pride in one culture may
Expression evoke embarrassment or shame in another. Expression of anger
also varies around the world. Thus, culture can influence when
and how much children express emotion.

Social Referencing Behavior in which infants in unfamiliar or ambiguous environments

look at an adult for cues to help them interpret the situation.

Interacting with Others

The Joys of Play

Parallel Play When children play alone but are aware of and interested in what
another child is doing.

Simple Social Play Play begins at about 15 to 18 months; toddlers engage in similar
activities as well as talk and smile at each other.

Cooperative Play Play that is organized around a theme, with each child taking on a
 different role; begins at about 2 years of age.

Make-Believe During the preschool years, cooperative play often takes the form
of make-believe. Preschoolers have telephone conversations with
imaginary partners or pretend to drink imaginary juice.

● In the early phases of make-believe, children rely on

realistic props to support their play. While pretending to
drink, younger preschoolers use a real cup; while
pretending to drive a car, they use a toy steering wheel.

● In the later phases of make-believe, children no longer

need realistic props; instead, they can imagine that a block
is the cup or that a paper plate is the steering wheel.

Solitary Play At times throughout the preschool years, many children prefer to
play alone. Should parents be worried? Not necessarily. Some
children are simply not particularly sociable—they enjoy solitary
activities. However, other children are socially avoidant—they play
alone not because they particularly like solitary play but because
they’re uncomfortable interacting with peers. In other words,
solitary play is no cause for concern when children enjoy playing
alone but is worrisome when children play alone to escape
interacting with peers.

Gender Differences Between 2 and 3 years of age, children begin to prefer playing
in Play with same-sex peers. By age 10 or 11, the vast majority of peer
activity is with same-sex children, and most of this involves
sex-typed play: Boys are playing sports or playing with cars or
action figures; girls are doing artwork or playing with pets or dolls

Enabling actions Individuals’ actions and remarks that tend to support others and
sustain the interaction.

Constricting actions Interaction in which one partner tries to emerge as the victor by
threatening or contradicting the other.

Parental Influence

Parents become involved in their preschool children’s play in several ways:

Playmate Many parents enjoy the role of playmate (and many parents
deserve an Oscar for their performances). They use the
opportunity to scaffold their children’s play, often raising it to more
sophisticated levels.

Social Director It takes two to interact, and young children rely on parents to
create opportunities for social interactions. Many parents of young
children arrange visits with peers, enroll children in activities (e.g.,
preschool programs), and take children to settings that attract
young children.

Coach Successful interactions require a host of skills, including how to

initiate an interaction, make joint decisions, and resolve conflicts.
 When parents help their children acquire these skills, children tend
to be more competent socially and more accepted by their peers.

Mediator When young children play, they often disagree, argue, and
sometimes fight. However, children play more cooperatively and
longer when parents are present to help iron out conflicts.

Prosocial behavior Any behavior that benefits another person.

Altruism Prosocial behavior such as helping and sharing in which the

individual does not benefit directly from his or her behavior.

Empathy Act of experiencing another person’s feelings.

Situational Influences

Feelings of Children act altruistically when they feel responsible for the person
responsibility in need.

Feelings of Children act altruistically when they believe that they have the
competence skills to help the person in need.

Mood Children act altruistically when they are happy or when they are
feeling successful but not when they are feeling sad or feeling as if
they have failed.

Costs of altruism Children act altruistically when such actions entail few or modest
sacrifices.

Socialization of Altruism

Modeling When children see adults helping and caring for others, they often
imitate such prosocial behavior.

Disciplinary practices Children behave prosocially more often when their parents are
warm and supportive, set guidelines, and provide feedback; in
contrast, prosocial behavior is less common when parenting is
harsh, is threatening, and includes frequent physical punishment.

Opportunities to You need to practice to improve skills, and prosocial behaviors are
behave prosocially no exception—children and adolescents are more likely to act
prosocially when they’re routinely given the opportunity to help and
cooperate with others.
 Gender Roles and Gender Identity

Social Role Set of cultural guidelines about how one should behave, especially
with other people

Gender Stereotypes Beliefs and images about males and females that are not
necessarily true.

Research suggests ● Verbal ability - Girls have larger vocabularies than boys
differences between and are more talkative
males and females in
the following areas: ● Mathematics - During the elementary school years, girls
are usually more advanced than boys in arithmetic and
mastery of basic math concepts, a difference that may be a
byproduct of girls’ greater language skill

● Spatial ability - Beginning in infancy, boys tend to have

better mental-rotation skills than girls. However, on other
spatial tasks, sex differences are smaller or nonexistent.

● Memory - Compared with boys and men, girls and women

often remember the identity of objects as well as their
location more accurately

● Social influence - Girls are more likely than boys to

comply with the directions of adults. Girls and women are
also more readily influenced by others in a variety of
situations, particularly when they are under group pressure

● Aggression - In virtually all cultures that have been

studied, boys are more physically aggressive than girls,
and this is true by 2 years of age

● Emotional sensitivity and expression - Throughout

infancy, childhood, and adolescence, girls identify facial
expressions (e.g., happy face versus a sad face) more
accurately than boys do.

● Effortful control - During story time in a preschool

classroom, many children sit quietly, listening to the
 teacher read. But if a child is fidgeting or pestering a
nearby child, it’s probably a boy.

Relational Aggression used to hurt others by undermining their social

aggression relationships.

Gender identity Sense of oneself as male or a female.

Gender-schema Theory that states that children want to learn more about an
theory activity only after first deciding whether it is masculine or feminine.

Chapter 6: Off to School: Cognitive and Physical Development in Middle

Childhood

Cognitive Development

Mental operations Cognitive actions that can be performed on objects or ideas.

Deductive reasoning Drawing conclusions from facts; characteristic of

formal-operational thought

Working memory Type of memory in which a small number of items can be stored
briefly.

Long-term memory Permanent storehouse for memories that has unlimited capacity.

Organization As applied to children’s memory, a strategy in which information to

be remembered is structured so that related information is placed
together.

Elaboration Memory strategy in which information is embellished to make it

more memorable.

Metamemory Person’s informal understanding of memory; includes the ability to

diagnose memory problems accurately and to monitor the
effectiveness of memory strategies.

Metacognitive A person’s knowledge and awareness of cognitive processes

knowledge

Cognitive Skill at identifying goals, selecting effective strategies, and

self-regulation monitoring accurately; a characteristic of successful students.
 Aptitudes for School

Psychometricians Are psychologists who specialize in measuring psychological

characteristics such as intelligence and personality.

The Hierarchical
View of Intelligence

Gardner’s Theory of
Intelligence

Emotional Ability to use one’s own and others’ emotions effectively for solving
Intelligence problems and living happily.

Sternberg’s Theory of Successful Intelligence

Analytic ability In Sternberg’s theory of intelligence, the ability to analyze

problems and generate different solutions.

Creative ability In Sternberg’s theory of intelligence, the ability to deal adaptively

with novel situations and problems.

Practical ability In Sternberg’s theory of intelligence, the ability to know which

problem solutions are likely to work.

Mental Age In intelligence testing, a measure of children’s performance

corresponds to the chronological age of those whose performance
equals the child’s.

Intelligence quotient Mathematical representation of how a person scores on an

(IQ) intelligence test in relation to how other people of the same age
 score.

IQ = MA / CA x 100

Culture-fair Intelligence tests devised using items common to many cultures.

intelligence tests

Stereotype threat An evoked fear of being judged in accordance with a negative

stereotype about a group to which you belong.

Gifted Children Traditionally, giftedness was defined by scores on intelligence

tests: A score of 130 or greater was the criterion for being gifted.
But modern definitions of giftedness are broader and include
exceptional talent in an assortment of areas, including art, music,
creative writing, dance, and sports.

Divergent thinking Thinking in novel and unusual directions.

Intellectual disability Substantially below-average intelligence and problems adapting to

an environment that emerge before the age of 18.

Learning disability When a child with normal intelligence has difficulty mastering at
least one academic subject.

Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Hyperactivity Children with ADHD are unusually energetic, fidgety, and unable
to keep still.

Inattention Youngsters with ADHD do not pay attention in class and seem
unable to concentrate on schoolwork; instead, they skip from one
task to another.

Impulsivity Children with ADHD often act before thinking; they may run into a
street before looking for traffic or interrupt others who are already
speaking.

Academic Skills

Word recognition The process of identifying a unique pattern of letters.

Comprehension The process of extracting meaning from a sequence of words.

Phonological The ability to hear the distinctive sounds of letters.

awareness

Knowledge-telling Writing down information as it is retrieved from memory, a

strategy common practice for young writers.

Knowledge-transfor Deciding what information to include and how best to organize it to

ming strategy convey a point.

Physical Development

Growth Physical growth during the elementary school years continues at

the steady pace established during the preschool years.
Development of
Motor Skills

Gender Differences In both gross and fine motor skills, there are gender differences in
in Motor Skills performance levels. For example, girls tend to excel in fine motor
skills; their handwriting tends to be better than that of boys. Girls
also excel in gross motor skills that require flexibility and balance,
such as tumbling. On gross motor skills that emphasize strength,
boys usually have the advantage.

Physical fitness Exercise has many benefits: Children who are active physically
are healthier, have better self-esteem, and greater achievement in
school

Participating in Sports can enhance participants’ self-esteem and can help them
Sports to learn initiative. Sports can provide children with a chance to
learn important social skills, such as how to work effectively (often
in complementary roles) as part of a group. And playing sports
allows children to use their emerging cognitive skills as they
devise new playing strategies or modify the rules of a game.

CHAPTER 7: Expanding Social Horizons:

Socioemotional Development in Middle Childhood

Family Relationships

Socialization Teaching children the values, roles, and behaviors of their culture.

Parenting styles ● Authoritarian parenting - style of parenting in which parents

show high levels of control and low levels of warmth toward
their children.

● Authoritative parenting - style of parenting in which parents

use a moderate amount of control and are warm and
responsive to their children.

● Permissive parenting - style of parenting in which parents

offer warmth and caring but little control over their children.

● Uninvolved parenting - style of parenting in which parents

provide neither warmth nor control and minimize the time
 they spend with their children.

Direct instruction Telling a child what to do, when, and why.

Counterimitation Learning what should not be done by observing the behavior.

Reinforcement Consequence that increases the likelihood that a behavior will be

repeated in the future.

Punishment Application of an aversive stimulus (e.g., a spanking) or removal of

an attractive stimulus (e.g., TV viewing).

Negative Unwittingly reinforcing a behavior you want to discourage.

reinforcement trap

Time-out Punishment that involves removing children who are misbehaving

from a situation to a quiet, unstimulating environment.

Open adoption An adoption in which adopted children (and their adoptive families)
communicate with the children’s birth family.

Joint custody Custody agreement in which both parents retain legal custody of
their children following divorce.

Blended family Family consisting of a biological parent, a stepparent, and

children.

Ego resilience Person’s ability to respond adaptively and resourcefully to new

situations.

Peers

Friendship Voluntary relationship between two people involving mutual liking.

Co-rumination Conversations about one’s personal problems, common among

adolescent girls.

Clique Small group of friends who are similar in age, sex, and race.

Crowd Large group including many cliques that have similar attitudes and
values.

Dominance hierarchy Ordering of individuals within a group in which group members

with lower status defer to those with greater status.

Popular children Children who are liked by many classmates

Rejected children As applied to children’s popularity, children

who are disliked by many classmates.

Controversial As applied to children’s popularity, children who are intensely liked

children or disliked by classmates.

Average children As applied to children’s popularity, children who are liked and
disliked by different classmates, but with relatively little intensity.
Neglected children As applied to children’s popularity, children who are
ignored—neither liked nor disliked—by their classmates.

Instrumental Aggression used to achieve an explicit goal

aggression

Hostile aggression Unprovoked aggression that seems to have the sole goal of
intimidating, harassing, or humiliating another child.

Electronic Media

Watching television can also help children learn to be more generous and cooperative and
have greater self-control.

Cyberbullying Using social media to hurt other people by repeatedly insulting

them, excluding them, or spreading rumors about them.

Describing others

According to Selman’s theory, children’s understanding of how others think progresses

through five stages. In the first (undifferentiated) stage, children often confuse their own
and another person’s view. In the last (societal) stage, adolescents can take a third-person
perspective and know that this perspective is influenced by context.

Recursive thinking Thoughts that focus on what another person is thinking.

Lai Nerully O. Gaputan
BS Psychology 4 – YC

CHAPTER 8: RITES OF PASSAGE: PHYSICAL AND COGNITIVE

DEVELOPMENT IN ADOLESCENCE
Puberty - Denotes two general types of physical changes that mark the
transition from childhood to young adulthood.
- The first are bodily changes, including a large increase in
height and weight, as well as changes in the body’s fat and
muscle content.
- The second concern sexual maturation, including change in the
reproductive organs and the appearance of secondary sexual
characteristics such as facial and body hair and growth of the
breasts.
Brain Growth in Adolescence
- At the beginning of adolescence, the brain is nearly full size—it’s about 95% of the
size and weight of an adult’s brain.
- Two features of brain development that begin early in life are nearly complete in
adolescence:
➢ Myelination - the acquisition of fatty insulation that allows neurons to transmit
information faster.
➢ Synaptic Pruning - the weeding out of unnecessary connections between
neurons.
- Another distinguishing feature of the adolescent brain is that some, but not all, brain
regions reach maturity. Some brain systems that are sensitive to reward (especially to
rewards from peers) may reach maturity in adolescence but the systems responsible for
self-control aren’t fully specialized until adulthood
Sexual Maturation
Primary Sex - Refers to organs that are directly involved in reproduction.
Characteristics
Secondary Sex - Physical signs of maturity not directly linked to the
Characteristics reproductive organs.
Menarche - Onset of menstruation, typically occurs at about age 13.
- Early menstrual cycles are usually irregular and without
ovulation.
Spermarche - First spontaneous ejaculation of sperm-laden fluid.
- Initial ejaculations often contain relatively few sperm; only
months or sometimes years later are there sufficient sperm to
fertilize an egg.
Mechanisms of Maturation
Pituitary Gland - Helps regulate physical development by releasing growth
hormone.
 - Regulates pubertal changes by signaling other glands to secrete
hormones.
- In girls, the pituitary signals the ovaries to release estrogen,
which causes the breasts to enlarge, the female genitals to
mature, and fat to accumulate.
- In boys, the pituitary signals the testes to release the androgen
hormone testosterone, which causes the male genitals to mature
and muscle mass to increase.
Nutrition
- The physical growth associated with puberty means that the body has special
nutritional needs.
- A typical teenage girl should consume about 2,200 calories per day; a typical boy
should consume about 2,700 calories.
- Teenagers also need calcium for bone growth and iron to make extra hemoglobin, the
matter in red blood cells that carries oxygen.
➢ Boys need additional hemoglobin because of their increased muscle mass.
➢ Girls need hemoglobin to replace that lost during menstruation.
Obesity
Body Mass Index - An adjusted ratio of weight to height.
(BMI) - Children and adolescents who are in the upper 5% (very heavy
for their height) are defined as being overweight.
Factors that contribute to obesity:

• Heredity - Obesity runs in families, showing that genes contribute perhaps by causing
some people to overeat, to be sedentary, or to be less able to convert fat to fuel.
• Parents - Some parents urge children to “clean their plates” even when the children are
not hungry. Other parents use food to comfort children who are upset. Both practices
cause children to rely on external cues to eat instead of eating only when they’re
hungry.
• Sedentary Lifestyle - Youth are more prone to obesity when they are physically
inactive, such as watching television instead of playing outdoors.
• Too Little Sleep - Adolescents who do not sleep enough tend to gain weight, perhaps
because they have more opportunities to eat because they are awake longer, they
experience increasing feelings of hunger, or they are too tired to exercise.
Anorexia Nervosa - A disorder marked by a persistent refusal to eat and an
irrational fear of being overweight.
- Individuals with anorexia nervosa have a grossly distorted
image of their body and claim to be overweight despite being
painfully thin.
- Anorexia is a serious disorder that, left untreated, can result in
death.
Bulimia Nervosa - Alternate between binge eating periods, when they eat
uncontrollably, and purging through self-induced vomiting,
laxatives, fasting, or excessive exercise.
 - During binge eating, adolescents with bulimia consume two
days’ worth of calories in two hours or less, then purge once or
twice daily.
Threats to Adolescent Well-Being
- Every year approximately 1 U.S. adolescent out of 2,000 dies, with boys more than
twice as likely as girls to die.
- The next most common cause of death for boys and girls is suicide, followed by
homicide for boys and cancer for girls.
- Adolescent deaths from accidents can be explained in part because adolescents take
risks that adults often find unacceptable.
- In addition, adolescents find the rewards associated with risky behavior far more
appealing than adults do—so much so that they’re willing to ignore the risks.
Working Memory and Processing Speed
- Working memory is the site of ongoing cognitive processing, and processing speed is
the speed with which people complete basic cognitive processes.
- Adolescents’ working memory has about the same capacity as adults’ working
memory, which means that teenagers are better able than children to store information
needed for ongoing cognitive processes.
Kohlberg’s Theory
- Kohlberg analyzed children’s, adolescents’, and adults’ responses to a large number of
dilemmas and identified three levels of moral reasoning, each divided into two stages.
- Kohlberg identified three levels of moral reasoning:
➢ Preconventional Level - moral reasoning is based on external forces.
Individuals in stage 1 moral reasoning assume an obedience orientation, which
means believing that authority figures know what is right and wrong.
Consequently, stage 1 individuals do what authorities say is right to avoid being
punished.
➢ Conventional Level - adolescents and adults look to society’s norms for moral
guidance. In other words, people’s moral reasoning is largely determined by
others’ expectations of them. In stage 2, adolescents’ and adults’ moral
reasoning is based on interpersonal norms. The aim is to win the approval of
other people by behaving as “good boys” and “good girls” would.
➢ Postconventional Level - moral reasoning is based on a personal moral code.
The emphasis is no longer on external forces such as punishment, reward, or
social roles.
Lai Nerully O. Gaputan
BS Psychology 4 - YC

CHAPTER 9: MOVING INTO THE ADULT SOCIAL WORLD

Self-concept - Refers to the attitudes, behaviors, and values that make a
person unique.
- In adolescence, self-concept takes on special significance as
individuals struggle to achieve an identity that will allow them
to participate in the adult world.
The Search for Identity
- Erikson argued that adolescents face a crisis between identity and role confusion.
- This crisis involves balancing the desire to try out many possible selves and the need to
select a single self.
- Adolescents who achieve a sense of identity are well prepared to face the next
developmental challenge: establishing intimate, sharing relationships with others.
Adolescent - Adolescents are overly concerned with their own thoughts and
Egocentrism feelings.
Imaginary audience - Adolescents believe that others are watching them constantly.
Personal Fable - Adolescents believe that their experiences and feelings are
unique.
Illusion of - Adolescents think that misfortune happens only to others.
Invulnerability
Ethnic Identity
Ethnic Identity - They feel a part of their ethnic group and learn the special
customs and traditions of their group’s culture and heritage.
- Roughly one-third of the adolescents and young adults living in
the United States are members of ethnic minority groups,
including African Americans, Asian Americans, Latino
Americans, and Native Americans.
- Older adolescents are more likely than younger ones to have achieved an ethnic
identity because they are more likely to have had opportunities to explore their cultural
heritage.
- Adolescents who have achieved an ethnic identity tend to have greater self-esteem and
find their interactions with family and friends more satisfying.
- Adolescents with a strong ethnic identity are less affected by discrimination—they
maintain their self-worth after experiencing racial or ethnic discrimination.
Self-Esteem in Adolescence
- Self-esteem is normally very high in preschool children but declines gradually during
the early elementary school years as children compare themselves to others.
- By the beginning of adolescence, self-esteem has usually stabilized—it neither
increases nor decreases in these years.
- Self-esteem becomes more complex as older children and adolescents identify distinct
domains of self-worth. This growing complexity is not surprising; it reflects the older
 child’s and adolescent’s greater cognitive skill and the more extensive social world of
older children and adolescents.
- Children’s and adolescents’ self-worth is also affected by how others view them,
particularly other people who are important to them.
Romantic Relationships
- Romantic relationships build on friendships. Like friends, romantic partners tend to be
similar in popularity and physical attractiveness.
- And a best friendship serves as both a prototype for and a source of support during ups
and downs of close relationships.
- Romantic relationships change over time in ways that resemble changes in friendship:
➢ For younger adolescents, romantic relationships offer companionship (like that
provided by a best friend) and an outlet for sexual exploration.
➢ For older adolescents like those in the photo, intimacy, trust, and support
become important features of romantic relationships.
Sexual Behavior
- By the end of high school, about two-thirds of American adolescents will have had
intercourse at least once.
- No single factor predicts adolescent sexual behavior. Instead, adolescents are more
likely to be sexually active when they acquire (from parents, peers, and media)
permissive attitudes toward sex, when their parents don’t monitor their behavior, when
they are more physically mature, and when they drink alcohol regularly.
- Sexual activity has very different meanings for boys and girls.
➢ Girls tend to describe their first sexual partner as “someone they love,” but boys
describe their first partner as a “casual date.”
➢ Girls report stronger feelings of love for their first sexual partner than for a later
partner, but boys don’t.
➢ Girls have mixed feelings after their first sexual experience—fear and guilt
mixed with happiness and excitement—whereas boys’ feelings are more
uniformly positive.
➢ When describing their sexual experiences to peers, girls’ peers typically express
some disapproval but boys’ peers typically do not.
➢ In short, for boys, sexual behavior is viewed as recreational and self-oriented;
for girls, sexual behavior is viewed as romantic and is interpreted through their
capacity to form intimate interpersonal relationships.
Sexually Transmitted Diseases
- Adolescent sexual activity is cause for concern because a number of diseases are
transmitted from one person to another through sexual intercourse.
- Many factors make adolescents especially susceptible to AIDS.
- Teenagers and young adults are more likely than older adults to engage in unprotected
sex and to use intravenous drugs, which are common pathways for the transmission of
AIDS.
Teenage Pregnancy and Contraception
- Adolescents’ sexual behavior is also troubling because among American adolescent
girls who have had intercourse, approximately one in eight becomes pregnant.
- Teen pregnancy is common because many sexually active teens do not use birth
control consistently or correctly.
 Dating Violence
- Many teens experience violence in dating, which can include physical violence (e.g.,
being hit or kicked), emotional violence (e.g., experiencing threats or bullying
designed to harm selfworth), sexual violence (being forced to engage in sexual activity
against one’s will), or stalking (being harassed or threatened in a way designed to
frighten).
- Teens are more likely to be violent during dating when they’re exposed to violence at
home—either through maltreatment from their parents or from observing violence
between their parents.
- Dating violence is more common when teens believe that their peers condone dating
violence, when they know peers who are in abusive relationships, and when their
school’s climate condones dating violence.
Part-Time - Most adults praise teens for working, believing that early
Employment exposure to the workplace teaches adolescents self-discipline,
self-confidence, and important job skills.
- However, part-time work can actually be harmful, for several
reasons:
• School performance suffers - When students work
more than approximately 15 to 20 hours per week, they
become less engaged in school and are less likely to be
successful in college, particularly if they are European
Americans.
• Mental health and behavioral problems –
Adolescents who work long hours—more than 15 or 20
hours a week—are more likely to experience anxiety
and depression; in addition, their self-esteem and
quality of life often suffer.
• Teens learn bad habits for handling money –
Working adolescents spend most of their earnings on
themselves: to buy clothing, snack food, or cosmetics
and to pay for entertainment. Few working teens set
aside much of their income for future goals, such as a
college education, or use it to contribute to their
family’s expenses.
Teenage Drinking
- Teens are more likely to drink when their parents drink, when their parents do not
monitor their teen’s behavior, and when parents are not warm toward them.
- Also, they’re more likely to drink when peers.
- Finally, teens who report frequent life stresses—problems with parents or peers and,
for minority teens, racial discrimination—more often drink.
- Stopping teens from drinking before it becomes habitual is essential because
adolescents who drink are at risk for becoming alcohol-dependent, depressed, or
anxious as adults.
Teenage Smoking
- As was true for teenage drinking, parents and peers are influential in determining
whether youth smoke. When parents smoke, their teenage children are more likely to
smoke, too.
- Smoking can interfere with the growth of the lungs, and teens who smoke often have a
variety of health problems such as respiratory illnesses.
- What’s more, smoking is often the fateful first step on the path to abuse of more
powerful substances, including alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine.
Depression
- Adolescent girls are more often affected than boys, probably because social challenges
in adolescence are greater for girls than boys.
- Depression is often triggered when adolescents experience a serious loss,
disappointment, or failure, such as when a loved one dies or when a much-anticipated
date turns out to be a fiasco.
- Parents and families can also put an adolescent at risk for depression. Not surprisingly,
adolescents more often become depressed when their parents are critical of them, don’t
respect their opinions and choices, and seem unwilling to accept them as they are.
Lai Nerully O. Gaputan
BS Psychology 4 – YC

CHAPTER 10: BECOMING AN ADULT

Emerging - Period when individuals are not adolescents but are not yet
Adulthood fully adults.
- A time to explore careers, self-identity, and commitments.
- It is also a time when certain biological and physiological
developmental trends peak and brain development continues in
different ways.
Role Transitions Marking Adulthood
- When people become adults in different cultures depends on how you define adulthood
and the kind of role transitions cultures create.
- A role transition is movement into the next stage of development marked by
assumption of new responsibilities and duties.
Neuroscience, Behavior, and Emerging Adulthood
- Emerging adulthood is a time of very important developments in the brain, especially
in terms of strengthening interconnections across different brain structures that help
integrate different modes of thinking and feeling.
- There is considerable evidence that the prefrontal cortex, a part of the brain involved in
high-level thinking, is not fully developed until a person reaches his or her mid-20s
Growth, Strength, and Physical Functioning
- Physical functioning generally peaks during young adulthood.
- Physical strength, coordination, and dexterity in both sexes peaks during the late 20s
and early 30s, declining slowly throughout the rest of life even when you maintain an
active lifestyle.
Lifestyle Factors in Health
- Smoking is the single biggest contributor to health problems.
- About 60% of women and 70% of men in the United States drink alcohol at least
occasionally.
- For the majority of people, drinking alcohol poses no serious health problems as long
as they do not drink and drive.
- However, moderate drinking also increases the risk for certain types of cancer, so
whether moderate drinking is an appropriate health behavior depends on the balance
between lowering cardiovascular risk and increasing cancer risk.
- Experts agree nutrition directly affects one’s mental, emotional, and physical
functioning.
- Diet has been linked to cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, anemia, and digestive
disorders.
How Should We View Intelligence in Adults?
Multidimensional - Several types of intellectual abilities.
Multidirectionality - Some aspects of intelligence improve and other aspects decline
during adulthood
 - interindividual variability: These patterns of change also vary
from one person to another.
Plasticity - They are not fixed, but can be modified under the right
conditions at just about any point in adulthood.
Structure of - The organization of interrelated intellectual abilities.
Intelligence
Factor Analysis - The structure of intelligence is uncovered through sophisticated
statistical detective work using a technique.
Primary - Intellectual abilities can be studied as groups of related skills
Mental Abilities (such as memory or spatial ability) organized into hypothetical
constructs.
Secondary - Related groups of primary mental abilities can be clustered into
Mental Abilities a half dozen or so broader skills termed.
Number - The basic skills underlying our mathematical reasoning.
Word Fluency - How easily we produce verbal descriptions of things.
Verbal Meaning - Our vocabulary ability.
Inductive - Our ability to extrapolate from particular facts to general
Reasoning concepts.
Spatial Orientation - Our ability to reason in the three-dimensional world.
Fluid Intelligence - Consists of the abilities that make you a flexible and adaptive
thinker, allow you to make inferences, and enable you to
understand the relations among concepts.
- Includes the abilities you need to understand and respond to
any situation, but especially new ones: inductive reasoning,
integration, abstract thinking.
Crystallized - The knowledge you have acquired through life experience and
Intelligence education in a particular culture.
- Crystallized intelligence includes your breadth of knowledge,
comprehension of communication, judgment, and
sophistication with information.
Postformal - Characterized by recognition that truth (the correct answer)
Thought may vary from situation to situation, solutions must be realistic
to be reasonable, ambiguity and contradiction are the rule rather
than the exception, and emotion and subjective factors usually
play a role in thinking.
Emotional - Refers to people’s ability to recognize their own and others’
Intelligence (EI) emotions, to correctly identify and appropriately tell the
difference between emotions, and use this information to guide
their thinking and behavior.
- First, EI can be viewed as a trait that reflects a person’s self-
perceived dispositions and abilities.
- Second, EI can be viewed as an ability that reflects the person’s
success at processing emotional information and using it
appropriately in social contexts.
Impression - The way we form and revise first impressions about others.
Formation
Possible Selves - Represent what we could become, what we would like to
become, and what we are afraid of becoming.
- What we could or would like to become often reflects personal
goals; we may see ourselves as leaders, as rich and famous, or
in great physical shape.
- What we are afraid of becoming may show up in our fear of
being alone, or overweight, or unsuccessful.
- Our possible selves are powerful motivators.
Personal Control - Reflect the degree to which you believe your performance in a
Beliefs situation depends on something you do.
Primary Control - Behavior aimed at affecting the individual’s external world;
working a second job to increase one’s earnings is an example.
Secondary Control - Behavior or cognition aimed at affecting the individual’s
internal world.
- An example is believing that one is capable of success even
when faced with challenges.
Gweneth Angelee G. Baslote PSY 98 YC

CHAPTER 11: Being with Others: Relationships in Young and Middle Adulthood
Friendships • Researchers define friendship as a mutual
relationship in which those involved influence one
another’s behaviors and beliefs, and define friendship
quality as the satisfaction derived from the relationship
• The role and influence of friends for young adults is
extremely important from the late teens through the
20s, and friends continue to be a source of support
across adulthood. Friendships are predominantly
based on feelings and grounded in reciprocity and
choice.
Friendship in Adulthood • adult friendships can be viewed as having identifiable
stages: Acquaintanceship, Buildup, Continuation,
Deterioration, and Ending
• Longitudinal research shows how friendships change
across adulthood, some in ways that are predictable
and others not. As you probably have experienced, life
transitions (e.g., going away to college, getting
married) usually result in fewer friends and less
contact with the friends you keep
• The importance of maintaining contacts with friends
cuts across ethnic lines as well. People who have
friendships that cross ethnic groups have more
positive attitudes toward people with different
backgrounds, including Facebook networks
• Social Baseline Theory, a perspective that integrates
the study of social relationships with principles of
attachment, behavioral ecology, cognitive
neuroscience, and perception science.
• When people are faced with threatening situations,
their brains process the situation differently when
faced alone compared to with a close friend.
 Specifically, neuroimaging definitively shows the parts
of the brain that respond to threat operate when facing
threat alone but do not operate when facing the same
threat with a close friend.
• Three broad themes characterize both traditional
(e.g., face-to-face) and new forms (e.g., online) of
adult friendships:
➢ affective or emotional basis of friendship
➢ shared, or communal nature, of friendship
➢ sociability and compatibility dimension
• In the case of online friendships (e.g., through social
media), trust develops on the basis of four sources:
1. reputation;
2. performance, or what users do online;
3. precommitment, through personal self-
disclosure;
4. situational factors, especially the premium
placed on intimacy and the relationship
• A special type of friendship exists with one’s siblings,
who are the friends people typically have the longest
and that share the closest bonds; the importance of
these relationships varies with age
Men’s, Women’s, and Cross- • Men’s and women’s friendships tend to differ in
Sex Friendships adulthood, reflecting continuity in the learned
behaviors from childhood
• Cross-sex friendships help men have lower levels of
dating anxiety and higher capacity for intimacy. These
patterns hold across ethnic groups, too. Cross-sex
friendships can also prove troublesome because of
misperceptions.
Love Relationships love has three basic components:
1. passion, an intense physiological desire for someone;
 2. intimacy, the feeling that you can share all your
thoughts and actions with another;
3. commitment, the willingness to stay with a person
through good and bad times.
Love Through Adulthood • the development of romantic relationships in emerging
adulthood is a complex process influenced by
relationships in childhood and adolescence.
• Infatuation is short-lived. As passion fades, either a
relationship acquires emotional intimacy or it is likely
to end.
• Although it may not be the basis for best-selling
romance novels or movies, this pattern is a good
thing. Research shows people who select a partner
for a more permanent relationship (e.g., marriage)
during the height of infatuation are likely to support the
notion of “love at first sight” and are more likely to
divorce
• as time goes on, physical intimacy and passion
decrease but emotional intimacy and commitment
increase.
Falling in Love • love is two-sided: Just as it can give you great
ecstasy, so can it cause you great pain
• As you may have experienced, taking the risk is fun
(at times) and difficult (at other times). Making a
connection can be ritualized, as when people use
pickup lines in a bar, or it can happen almost by
accident, as when two people literally run into each
other in a crowded corridor
• The best explanation of the process is the theory of
assortative mating, that states people find partners
based on their similarity to each other. Assortative
mating occurs along many dimensions, including
education, religious beliefs, physical traits, age,
 socioeconomic status, intelligence, and political
ideology, among others.
• People meet people in all sorts of places, both face-
to-face and virtually.
• Speed dating provides a way to meet several people
in a short period of time. Speed dating is practiced
most by young adults
• The popularity of online dating means an increasing
number of people meet this way. Surveys indicate
nearly 1 in every 5 couples in the United States meet
online. Emerging research indicates virtual dating
sites offer both problems and possibilities, especially
in terms of the accuracy of personal descriptions.
• One increasing trend among emerging adults is the
hookup culture of casual sex, often without even
knowing the name of one’s sexual partner
• A few studies have examined the factors that attract
people to each other in different cultures. In one now
classic study, Buss and a large team of researchers
(1990) identified the effects of culture and gender on
heterosexual mate preferences in 37 cultures
worldwide.
• In the first main dimension, the characteristics of a
desirable mate changed because of cultural values—
that is, whether the respondents’ country has more
traditional values or Western-industrial values. In
traditional cultures, men place a high value on a
woman’s chastity, desire for home and children, and
ability to be a good cook and housekeeper; women
place a high value on a man being ambitious and
industrious, being a good financial prospect, and
holding favorable social status.
Developmental Forces, • In terms of love, neurochemicals related to the
Neuroscience, and Love amphetamines come into play early in the process,
Relationships providing a biological explanation for the exhilaration
of falling madly in love.
• Additional research indicates that the hormone
oxytocin may play an important role in attachment. In
men, it enhances their partner’s attractiveness
compared to other females; in women, it enhances
their orgasms, among other things, which has earned
it the nickname of the “cuddle hormone”
• The interactions among psychological aspects,
neurological aspects, and hormonal aspects of
romantic love help explain why couples tend to have
exclusive relationships with each other. For women
(but not men), blood levels of serotonin increase
during periods of romantic love
• Psychologically, an important developmental issue is
intimacy; according to Erikson, mature relationships
are impossible without it.
• to understand adult relationships, we must take the
forces of the biopsychosocial model into account.
Relying too heavily on one or two of the forces
provides an incomplete description of why people are
or are not successful in finding a partner or a friend.
Violence in Relationships • Sometimes relationships become violent; one person
becomes aggressive toward the partner, creating an
abusive relationship. For example, battered woman
syndrome occurs when a woman believes she cannot
leave the abusive situation and may even go so far as
to kill her abuser
• Being female, Latina, African American, having an
atypical family structure (something other than two
biological parents), having more romantic partners,
 early onset of sexual activity, and being a victim of
child abuse predicts a higher likelihood of being a
survivor of relationship violence.
• a continuum of aggressive behaviors toward a partner,
and progresses as follows: verbally aggressive
behaviors, physically aggressive behaviors, severe
physically aggressive behaviors, and murder. The
causes of the abuse also vary with the type of abusive
behavior being expressed.
• Two points about the continuum should be noted.
First, there may be fundamental differences in the
types of aggression independent of level of severity
• The second point, depicted in the table, is the
suspected underlying causes of aggressive behaviors
differ as the type of aggressive behaviors change.
Although anger and hostility in the perpetrator are
associated with various forms of physical abuse,
especially in young adulthood, the exact nature of this
relationship remains elusive
• Heterosexual men and members of the LGBTQ
community are also the victims of violence from
intimate partners, though at a reporting rate lower that
of women. All victims need to be supported and
provided avenues that provide safe ways for them to
report assaults.
• Culture is also an important contextual factor in
understanding partner abuse.
• Additionally, international data indicate rates of abuse
are higher in cultures that emphasize female purity,
virginity, male status, and family honor. A common
cause of women’s murders in Arab countries is
brothers or other male relatives performing so called
 honor killings, murdering the victim because she
violated the family’s honor
• Alarmed by the seriousness of abuse, many
communities established shelters for people who
experience abuse. However, the legal system in many
localities is still not set up to deal with domestic
violence; for example, women in some locations
cannot sue their husbands for assault, and restraining
orders all too often offer little real protection from
additional violence.
Singlehood • Adult men and women are single—defined as not
living with an intimate partner—at multiple points in
their lives: before marriage or other long-term
commitment, following divorce, and in widowhood are
common examples.
• What’s it like to be a single young adult in the United
States? It’s tougher than you might think. Several
researchers point out numerous stereotypes and
biases against single people, especially women.
• Many women and men remain single as young adults
to focus on establishing their careers rather than
marriage or relationships that most do later. Others
report they simply did not meet “the right person” or
prefer singlehood, a factor especially important among
strongly religious groups
• Men remain single a bit longer in young adulthood
because they marry about two years later on average
than women.
• Ethnic differences in singlehood reflect differences in
age at marriage as well as social factors. Nearly twice
as many African Americans are single during young
adulthood as European Americans, and more are
choosing to remain so
 • The millennial generation is also changing the
assumptions about singlehood. The Urban Institute
projects that the percentage of millennials who will
remain single until at least age 40 may be as high as
30%, higher than any previous generation.
• Globally, the meanings and implications of remaining
single are often tied to strongly held cultural and
religious beliefs.
• An important distinction is between adults who are
temporarily single (i.e., those who are single only until
they find a suitable marriage partner) and those who
choose to remain single. For most singles, the
decision to never marry is a gradual one.
Cohabitation • People in committed, intimate, sexual relationships
but who are not married may decide living together, or
cohabitation, provides a way to share daily life.
• In the United States, evidence clearly indicates that
cohabitation is common, and has increased over the
past several decades. For example, roughly half of all
women cohabit with, rather than marry, a partner as a
first committed relationship.
• The global picture differs by culture. In most
European, South American, and Caribbean countries,
cohabitation is a common alternative to marriage for
young adults.
• Interestingly, having cohabitated does not seem to
make marriages any better; in fact, under certain
circumstances it may do more harm than good,
resulting in lower quality marriages
• Essentially, the happiest cohabiting couples are those
who look very much like happily married couples: they
share financial responsibilities and childcare.
Longitudinal studies find few differences in couples’
 behavior after living together for many years
regardless of whether they married without cohabiting,
cohabited then married, or simply cohabited
LGBTQ Relationships • The current generation of adults in the LGBTQ
community have largely experienced various forms of
oppression and discrimination throughout their adult
lives
• For the most part, the relationships of gay and lesbian
couples have many similarities to those of
heterosexual couples. Most gay and lesbian couples
are in dual-earner relationships, much like the majority
of married heterosexual couples, and are likely to
share household chores.
• t the experiences of older lesbian, gay, and bisexual
adults cannot be put into need categories, even
generational ones. Rather, King emphasizes that the
LGB community is at least as diverse as the
heterosexual community, and needs to be understood
as such.
• With the advent of legalized same-sex marriage,
numerous issues that heterosexual married couples
have long taken for granted are being confronted in
the LGBTQ community, including end-of-life issues
and legal matters regarding caregiving
• When compared to LGB individuals living with
partners, LGB individuals living alone or with others
(but not in a relationship with them) reported higher
degrees of loneliness. This finding parallels that in
heterosexual individuals in similar living
arrangements, and highlights the fact that there are
many similarities in personal outcomes across various
gender identity groups.
 • Little research has been conducted examining the
development of transgender and gender
nonconforming (TGNC) individuals across adulthood
(Witten, 2016). One detailed examination of
experiences of TGNC adults found that many barriers
to accessing key services such as health care and
social services exist, largely due to anti-TGNC
prejudice, discrimination, and lack of appropriate and
adequate training of professionals
Marriage • Most adults want their love relationships to result in
marriage.
• An important fact to keep in mind is that these
statistics reflect heterosexual marriage. Until the 2015
Obergefell v. Hodges decision in the U.S. Supreme
Court, samesex marriage was still illegal in 14 states.
What Is a Successful • Minnotte (2010) differentiates marital success, an
Marriage and What Predicts umbrella term referring to any marital outcome (such
It? as divorce rate), marital quality, a subjective
evaluation of the couple’s relationship on a number of
different dimensions, marital adjustment, the degree
spouses accommodate each other over a certain
period of time, and marital satisfaction, a global
assessment of one’s marriage.
• Marriages, like other relationships, differ from one
another, but some important predictors of future
success can be identified.
Do Married Couples Stay • Few sights are happier than a couple on their wedding
Happy? day.
• The pattern of a particular marriage over the years is
determined by the nature of the dependence of each
spouse on the other
• The vulnerability–stress–adaptation model sees
marital quality as a dynamic process resulting from
 the couple’s ability to handle stressful events in the
context of their particular vulnerabilities and
resources.
Setting the Stage: The Early • Marriages are most intense in their early days
Years of Marriage • Early in a marriage, couples tend to have global
adoration for their spouse regarding the spouse’s
qualities. For wives, but not for husbands, more
accurate specific perceptions of what their spouses
are really like were associated with more supportive
behaviors, feelings of control in the marriage, and a
decreased risk of divorce.
• As time goes on and stresses increase, marital
satisfaction declines. For many couples, the primary
reason for this drop is having children.
• However, using the birth of a child as the explanation
for the drop in marital satisfaction is much too
simplistic, because child-free couples also experience
a decline in marital satisfaction
• During the early years of their marriage, many couples
may spend significant amounts of time apart,
especially those who are in the military. Spouses who
serve in combat areas on active duty assignment and
who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
are particularly vulnerable, as they are at greater risk
for other spouse-directed aggression.
• What the nondeployed spouse believes turns out to
be important.
Keeping Marriages Happy • Although no two marriages are exactly the same,
couples must be flexible and adaptable.
• Sharing religious beliefs and spirituality with one’s
spouse is another good way to ensure higher quality
marriages, and that’s especially the case among
couples in lower socioeconomic groups.
 • But when you get down to basics, it’s how well
couples communicate their thoughts, actions, and
feelings to each other and show intimacy and support
each other that largely determines the level of conflict
couples experience and, by extension, how happy
they are likely to be over the long term
The Parental Role The most common form of family in most Western societies is
the nuclear family, consisting only of parent(s) and
child(ren). However, the most common family form globally is
the extended family, in which grandparents and other
relatives live with parents and children
Deciding Whether to Have • One of the biggest decisions couples (and many
Children singles) make is whether to have children.
• potential parents actually don’t think deliberately or
deeply about when to have a child, and those who are
career-oriented or like their freedom do not often
deliberately postpone parenthood because of those
factors. Rather, thoughts about having children are
implicit and do not cross their minds until they are
ready to begin thinking about having children.
• Whether the pregnancy is planned or not (and more
than half of all U.S. pregnancies are unplanned), a
couple’s first pregnancy is a milestone event in a
relationship, with both benefits and stresses. Parents
largely agree children add affection, improve family
ties, and give parents a feeling of immortality and
sense of accomplishment.
• Nevertheless, finances are of great concern to most
parents because children are expensive.
• For many reasons that include personal choice,
financial instability, and infertility, an increasing
number of couples are child-free. Social attitudes in
many countries (Austria, Germany, Great Britain,
 Ireland, Netherlands, and United States) are
improving toward child-free couples
• Couples without children have some advantages:
higher marital satisfaction, more freedom, and higher
standards of living on average. Yet, they also must
deal with societal expectations regarding having
children and may feel defensive about their decision
not to be a parent
• The factors that influence the decision to be childfree
appear to differ for women and men
• Today, parents in the United States typically have
fewer children and have their first child later than in
the past. The average age at the time of the birth of a
woman’s first child is nearly 26.3
• Being older at the birth of one’s first child is
advantageous. Older mothers, like Denise in the
vignette, are more at ease being parents, spend more
time with their babies, and are more affectionate,
sensitive, and supportive to them.
Ethnic Diversity and • Ethnic background matters a great deal in terms of
Parenting family structure and the parent–child relationship.
• As a result of several generations of oppression,
many Native American parents have lost the cultural
parenting skills that were traditionally part of their
culture: children were valued, women were
considered sacred and honored, and men cared for
and provided for their families
• Nearly 25% of all children under 18 in the United
States are Latino, and most are at least second
generation. Among two-parent families, Mexican
American mothers and fathers both tend to adopt
similar authoritative behaviors toward their preschool
children.
 • Familism refers to the idea the well-being of the
family takes precedence over the concerns of
individual family members.
• Asian American adolescents report very high feelings
of obligation to their families compared with European
American adolescents, although in fact, most
caregiving is done by daughters or daughters-in-law,
not sons
• Raising multiethnic children presents challenges not
experienced by parents of same-race children. For
example, parents of biracial children report feeling
discrimination and being targets of prejudicial
behavior from others
• In multiethnic families, you might think that the parent
from a minority group takes primary responsibility for
guiding that aspect of the child’s ethnic identity.
• It is clear that ethnic groups vary a great deal in how
they approach the issue of parenting and what values
are most important. Considered together, there is no
one parenting standard that applies equally to all
groups.
Diverse Family Forms The traditional family form of two married parents with their
biological parents does not reflect the wide diversity of family
forms in American society.
Single Parents • About 40% of births in the U.S. are to mothers who
are not married, a rate that has declined 14% since
peaking in 2008.
• Single parents, regardless of gender, face
considerable obstacles. Financially, they are usually
much less well-off than their married counterparts.
• Many divorced single parents report complex feelings
toward their children, such as frustration, failure, guilt,
and a need to be overindulgent. Loneliness when
 children grow up and leave or are visiting the
noncustodial parent can be especially difficult to deal
with
• Single parents, regardless of gender, face
considerable obstacles.
• One particular concern for many divorced
single parents is dating.
• Military families experience unique aspects of single
parenting. When one parent in a two-parent
household deploys, the remaining parent becomes a
single parent.
Step-, Foster-, Adoptive, and • Roughly one-third of North American couples become
Same-Sex Couple Parenting stepparents or foster or adoptive parents at some time
during their lives.
• A big issue for foster parents, adoptive parents, and
stepparents is how strongly the child will bond with
them. Although infants less than 1 year old will
probably bond well, children who are old enough to
have formed attachments with their biological parents
may have competing loyalties.
• Still, many stepparents and stepchildren ultimately
develop good relationships with each other.
Stepparents must be sensitive to the relationship
between the stepchild and his or her biological,
noncustodial parent.
• Adoptive parents also contend with attachment to birth
parents, but in different ways.
• Families with children adopted from another culture
pose challenges of how to establish and maintain
connection with the child’s culture of origin. For
mothers of transracially adopted Chinese and Korean
children, becoming connected to the appropriate
 Asian American community is a way to accomplish
this.
• Foster parents have the most tenuous relationship
with their children because the bond can be broken for
any of a number of reasons having nothing to do with
the quality of the care being provided. Dealing with
attachment is difficult; foster parents want to provide
secure homes, but they may not have the children
long enough to establish continuity.
• Finally, many gay men and lesbian women also want
to be parents.
• Research indicates that children reared by gay or
lesbian parents do not experience any more problems
than children reared by heterosexual parents and are
as psychologically healthy as children of heterosexual
parents. Substantial evidence exists that children
raised by gay or lesbian parents do not develop
sexual identity problems or any other problems any
more than children raised by heterosexual parents.
• The evidence is clear that children raised by gay or
lesbian parents suffer no adverse consequences
compared with children raised by heterosexual
parents.
Divorce Most couples enter marriage with the idea their relationship
will be permanent.
Who Gets Divorced and • You or someone you know has experienced divorce.
Why? • Of those marriages in the U.S. ending in divorce
within 20 years, Asian American couples have the
lowest risk and African Americans the highest. College
educated women have much lower divorce rates than
women who have a high school or lower education
• Research indicates that men and women tend to
agree on the reasons for divorce. Infidelity is the most
 commonly reported cause, followed by incompatibility,
drinking or drug use, and growing apart.
• Divorce touches every aspect of relationships:
emotional, psychological, social, economic, and more.
• A great deal of attention has been devoted to the
notion that success or failure depends critically on
how couples handle conflict. Although conflict
management is important, it has become clear from
research in couples therapy that the reasons couples
split are complex
• Gottman and Levenson developed two models that
predicted divorce early (within the first 7 years of
marriage) and later (when the first child reaches age
14) with 93% accuracy over the 14-year period of their
study.
• Gottman’s and other similar research is important
because it clearly shows how couples show emotion
is critical to marital success.
• We must be cautious about applying Gottman’s model
to all married couples. Kim, Capaldi, and Crosby
(2007) reported in lower-income high-risk couples, the
variables Gottman says predict early divorce did not
hold for that sample.
• Covenant marriage expands the marriage contract to
a lifelong commitment between the partners within a
supportive community. This approach is a religious-
centered view founded on the idea that if getting
married and getting divorced were grounded in
religious and cultural values and divorce was made
more difficult, couples would be more likely to stay
together
Effects of Divorce on the • Divorce takes a high toll on the couple.
Couple
 • Research in the United States and Spain shows great
similarity in how both partners in a failed marriage
feel: deeply disappointed, misunderstood, and
rejected. Unlike the situation of a spouse dying,
divorce often means that one’s ex-spouse is present
to provide a reminder of the unpleasant aspects of the
relationship and, in some cases, feelings of personal
failure.
• Divorced people sometimes find the transition difficult;
researchers refer to these problems as “divorce
hangover”. Divorce hangover reflects divorced
partners’ inability to let go, develop new friendships, or
reorient themselves as single parents.
• Divorce in middle age has some special
characteristics.
• We must not overlook the financial problems that
many divorced women face. These problems are
especially keen for the middle-aged divorcee who may
have spent years as a homemaker and has few
marketable job skills.
Relationships with Young • When it involves children, divorce becomes a
Children complicated matter, especially when viewed from a
global perspective
• In contrast, divorced fathers often pay a higher
psychological price. Although many would like to
remain active in their children’s lives, few actually do.
• Collaborative divorce is a voluntary, contractually
based alternative dispute resolution process for
couples who want to negotiate a resolution of their
situation rather than have a ruling imposed on them
by a court or an arbitrator. Collaborative divorce is an
intervention designed to assist the parents of children
 6 years and younger as they begin the
separation/divorce process.
• Results from this approach are positive
Divorce and Relationships • Divorce and Relationships with Adult Children
with Adult Children • The effects of experiencing the divorce of one’s
parents while growing up can be quite long-lasting.
College-age students report poorer relations with their
parents if their parents are divorced
Remarriage • The trauma of divorce does not always deter people
from beginning new relationships that often lead to
another marriage.
• Overall, women are less likely to remarry than are
men, but this gender gap is closing, mainly because
men are less likely in general to remarry now than in
the past (Livingston, 2014). European Americans are
the most likely group to remarry (60% of those
couples do), and African Americans (48%) and Asian
Americans (46%) least likely.
• Cultural differences are apparent in the ability of
women, in particular, to remarry; in Namibia widows
are constrained in their options and typically must
depend on others. Among older adults, adult children
may voice strong opposition to their parent remarrying
that can put sufficient pressure on the parent that they
remain single.
• Adapting to new relationships in remarriage is
stressful.
• Remarriages tend to be less stable than first
marriages, and have become less so since the 1990s.
The typical first marriage lasts 13 years, whereas the
typical remarriage lasts 10.
 CHAPTER 12: Working and Relaxing
The Meaning of Work • Studs Terkel, author of the fascinating classic book Working
(1974), writes work is “a search for daily meaning as well as
daily bread, for recognition as well as cash, for
astonishment rather than torpor; in short, for a sort of life
rather than a Monday through Friday sort of dying”
• The meaning most of us derive from working includes both
the money that can be exchanged for life’s necessities (and
perhaps a few luxuries) and the possibility of personal
growth
• The upshot is that the specific occupation a person holds
appears to have no effect on his or her need to derive
meaning from work.
• concept called meaning-mission fit explains how
corporate executives with a better alignment between their
personal intentions and their firm’s mission care more about
their employees’ happiness, job satisfaction, and emotional
well-being
• Given the various meanings that people derive from work,
occupation is clearly a key element of a person’s sense of
identity and self-efficacy
• As we will see, occupation is part of human development.
• Because work plays such a key role in providing meaning
for people, an important question is how people select an
occupation.
Occupational Choice • Decisions about what people want to do in the world of work
Revisited do not initially happen in adulthood.
• Career construction theory posits people build careers
through their own actions that result from the interface of
their own personal characteristics and the social context.
What people “do” in the world of work, then, results from
how they adapt to their environment, that in turn is a result
 of bio-psychosocial processes grounded in the collection of
experiences they have during their life.
• First, Holland’s (1997) personality-type theory proposes
people choose occupations to optimize the fit between their
individual traits (such as personality, intelligence, skills, and
abilities) and their occupational interests. Second, social
cognitive career theory (SCCT) proposes career choice is
a result of the application of Bandura’s social cognitive
theory, especially the concept of self-efficacy.
• Holland categorizes occupations by the interpersonal
settings that people must function and their associated
lifestyles.
• Complementarily, social cognitive career theory proposes
people’s career choices are heavily influenced by their
interests. SCCT has two versions.
• proposed a progression through five distinct stages during
adulthood as a result of changes in individuals’ self-concept
and adaptation to an occupational role: implementation,
establishment, maintenance, deceleration, and retirement.
People are located along a continuum of vocational
maturity through their working years; the more congruent
their occupational behaviors are with what is expected of
them at different ages, the more vocationally mature they
are.
• Super proposed five developmental tasks, the first two
(crystallization and specification) occurring primarily in
adolescence.
• Each of the tasks in adulthood has distinctive
characteristics, as follows.
➢ The implementation task begins in the early 20s
➢ The stabilization task begins in the mid-20s
➢ The consolidation task begins in the mid-30s
 • These adult tasks overlap a sequence of developmental
stages, beginning at birth, that continues during adulthood:
exploratory (age 15 to 24), establishment (age 24 to 44),
maintenance (age 45 to 64), and decline (age 65 and
beyond).
Perspectives on • loss of self-efficacy through job loss and long-term
Theories of Career unemployment provides support for the role the self-
Development statements underling self-efficacy and SCCT are key.
• SCCT has also been used as a framework for career
counselors and coaches to help people identify and select
both initial occupations and navigate later occupational
changes.
• Although people may have underlying tendencies relating to
certain types of occupations, unless they believe they could
be successful in those occupations and careers they are
unlikely to choose them. These beliefs can be influenced by
external factors.
Occupational • It is said that advancing through one’s career is not just a
Development function of being smart and doing all of the written
requirements of a job.
• Certainly, the relations among occupation, personality, and
demographic variables are complex. However, even given
the lack of stable careers and the real need to change jobs
frequently, there is still a strong tendency on people’s part to
find occupations in which they feel comfortable and that
they like
• SCCT has also been used as a framework for career
counselors and coaches to help people identify and select
initial occupations and navigate later occupational changes.
The goal is for people to understand that the work world
changes rapidly and that they need to develop coping and
compensatory strategies to deal with that fact.
 • Although people may have underlying tendencies that relate
to certain types of occupations, unless they believe they
could be successful in those occupations and careers, they
are unlikely to choose them
Occupational • Especially in adolescence, people begin to form opinions
Expectations about what work in a particular occupation will be like,
based on what they learn in school and from their parents,
peers, other adults, and the media.
• In adulthood, personal experiences affect people’s opinions
of themselves as they continue to refine and update their
occupational expectations and development. This usually
involves trying to achieve an occupational goal, monitoring
progress toward it, and changing or even abandoning it as
necessary
• Research shows most people who know they have both the
talent and the opportunity to achieve their occupational and
career goals often attain them. When high school students
identified as academically talented were asked about their
career expectations and outcomes, it turned out that 10 and
even 20 years later they had been surprisingly accurate
• In general, research shows young adults modify their
expectations at least once, usually on the basis of new
information, especially about their academic ability.
• Many writers believe occupational expectations also vary by
generation.
• Contrary to most stereotypes, millennials are no more
egotistical, and are just as happy and satisfied as young
adults in every generation since the 1970s
• It can also be a place where you experience reality shock,
a situation that what you learn in the classroom does not
always transfer directly into the “real world” and does not
represent all you need to know.
 • Many professions, such as nursing and teaching, have gone
to great lengths to alleviate reality shock. This problem is
one best addressed through internship and practicum
experiences for students under the careful guidance of
experienced people in the field.
The Role of Mentors • most people are oriented by a more experienced person
and Coaches who makes a specific effort to do this, taking on the role of a
mentor or coach.
• A mentor is part teacher, sponsor, model, and counselor
who facilitates on-the job learning to help the new hire do
the work required in his or her present role and to prepare
for future career roles. A developmental coach is an
individual who helps a person focus on their goals,
motivations, and aspirations to help them achieve focus and
apply them appropriately.
• The mentor helps a young worker avoid trouble and also
provides invaluable information about the unwritten rules
governing day-to-day activities in the workplace, and being
sensitive to the employment situation. Good mentors makes
sure their protégés are noticed and receives credit from
supervisors for good work.
• Helping a younger employee learn the job is one way to
achieve Erikson’s phase of generativity.
• Developmental coaching is a process that helps people
make fundamental changes in their lives by focusing on
general skill development and performance improvement. It
tends not to focus on specific aspects of a job; rather, the
intent is more general improvement of one’s overall career
success.
• Women and minorities have an especially important need
for both mentors and coaches. When paired with mentors
and coaches, women benefit by having higher expectations;
 mentored women also have better perceived career
development.
• Despite the evidence that having a mentor or coach has
many positive effects on one’s occupational development,
there is an important caveat; the quality of the mentor or
coach really matters
Job Satisfaction • Job satisfaction is the positive feeling that results from an
appraisal of one’s work. This research has resulted in the
creation of psychological capital theory, the notion that
having a positive outlook improves processes and
outcomes.
• Satisfaction with some aspects of one’s job increases
gradually with age, and successful aging includes a
workplace component
• Optimistically, this indicates there is a job out there,
somewhere, where you will be happy. That’s good, because
research grounded in positive psychology theory indicates
happiness fuels success
• It’s also true job satisfaction does not increase in all areas
and job types with age
• However, the changes in the labor market in terms of lower
prospects of having a long career with one organization
have begun to change the notion of job satisfaction
• Also complicating traditional relations between job
satisfaction and age is the fact that the type of job one has
and the kinds of family responsibilities one has at different
career stages—as well as the flexibility of work options such
as telecommuting and family leave benefits to
accommodate those responsibilities—influence the
relationship between age and job satisfaction
Alienation and Burnout • All jobs create a certain level of stress.
• When workers feel what they are doing is meaningless and
their efforts are devalued, or when they do not see the
 connection between what they do and the final product, a
sense of alienation is likely to result.
• It is essential for companies to provide positive work
environments to ensure the workforce remains stable and
committed
• Sometimes the pace and pressure of the occupation
becomes more than a person can bear, resulting in
burnout, a depletion of a person’s energy and motivation,
the loss of occupational idealism, and the feeling that one is
being exploited.
• First responders and people in helping professions must
constantly deal with other people’s complex problems,
usually under time constraints. Dealing with these pressures
every day, along with bureaucratic paperwork, may become
too much for the worker to bear.
• Burnout has several bad effects on the brain. For instance,
highly stressed workers are much less able to regulate
negative emotions, resulting from weakened connections
between the amygdala, anterior cingulate cortex, and
prefrontal cortex.
• A passion is a strong inclination toward an activity
individuals like (or even love), they value (and thus find
important), and where they invest time and energy
• Vallerand’s model differentiates between two kinds of
passion: obsessive and harmonious. A critical aspect of
obsessive passion is the internal urge to engage in the
passionate activity, which makes it difficult for the person to
fully disengage from thoughts about the activity, leading to
conflict with other activities in the person’s life
Gender Differences in • A growing number of women work in occupations that have
Occupational Selection been traditionally male-dominated, such as construction and
engineering.
 • Despite the efforts to counteract gender stereotyping of
occupations, male-dominated occupations tend to pay more
than women-dominated occupations. Although the definition
of nontraditional varies across cultures, women who choose
nontraditional occupations and are successful in them are
viewed negatively as compared with similarly successful
men.
• In patriarchal societies, both women and men gave higher
“respectability” ratings to males than females in the same
occupation. In the United States, research shows men
prefer to date women who are in traditional occupations
Women and • The biggest difference across generations is the
Occupational progressive increase in opportunities for employment
Development choice.
• In the 21st century, women entrepreneurs are starting small
businesses but are disadvantaged in gaining access to
capital
• In the corporate world, unsupportive or insensitive work
environments, organizational politics, and the lack of
occupational development opportunities are most important
for women working full-time.
• Second, women may feel disconnected from the workplace.
Ethnicity and • Unfortunately, little research has been conducted from a
Occupational developmental perspective related to occupational selection
Development and development for people from ethnic minorities
• Women do not differ significantly in terms of participation in
nontraditional occupations across ethnic groups. However,
African American women who choose nontraditional
occupations tend to plan for more formal education than
necessary to achieve their goal.
• Whether an organization is responsive to the needs of
ethnic minorities makes a big difference for employees.
Bias and Discrimination • Since the 1960s, numerous laws have been enacted in the
United States to prohibit various types of bias and
discrimination in the workplace.
Gender Bias, Glass • gender discrimination: denying a job to someone solely
Ceilings, and Glass on the basis of whether the person is a man or a woman
Cliffs • Women themselves refer to a glass ceiling, the level they
may rise within an organization but beyond which they may
not go. The glass ceiling is a major barrier for women, and
one of the most important sources of loss of women leaders
• The glass ceiling is pervasive across higher management
and professional workplace settings. Despite decades of
attention to the issue, little overall progress is being made in
the number of women who lead major corporations or serve
on their boards of directors
• Consequently, women often confront a glass cliff where
their leadership position is precarious.
• women can and must be assertive in getting their rightful
place at the table by focusing on five key things: drilling
deep into the organization so you can make informed
decisions, getting critical support, getting the necessary
resources, getting buy-in, and making a difference.
• Much debate has erupted over the issue of women rising to
the top. There is no doubt the glass ceiling and glass cliff
exist.
Equal Pay for Equal • women are also subject to salary discrimination
Work • Many people have argued that there are legitimate reasons
for the wage gap, such as women stepping out of their
careers to raise children, or their taking lower paying jobs in
the first place.
• In the United States, the first law regarding pay equity was
passed by Congress in 1963. Forty-six years later in 2009,
President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act,
showing clearly that gender-based pay inequity still exists.
 • Over time, the difference gets bigger, not smaller
• Even after controlling for differences in academic field,
women earn on average 11% less than men in first-year
earnings after receiving their doctoral degree. Women
software developers, for example, earn only 81% of their
male counterparts earn
• A woman is also significantly disadvantaged when it comes
to the division of labor at home if she is married to or living
with a man. Despite decades of effort in getting men to do
more of the housework and child care tasks, little has
changed in terms of the amount of time men actually spend
on these tasks.
• Only through a concerted effort on the part of employers
and policymakers can the gender-based pay gap be
addressed.
Sexual Harassment • Whether such behavior is acceptable, or whether it
constitutes sexual harassment, depends on many
situational factors, including the setting, people involved,
and the relationship between them
• there is no universal definition of harassment, men and
women have different perceptions, and many victims do not
report it
• As you might expect, research evidence clearly shows
negative job-related, psychological, and physical health
outcomes. These outcomes can affect people for many
years after the harassment incident(s).
• Training in gender awareness is a common approach that
often works, especially given that gender differences exist in
perceptions of behavior.
Age Discrimination • Another structural barrier to occupational development is
age discrimination, that involves denying a job or
promotion to someone solely on the basis of age.
 • Age discrimination is difficult to document, because
employers can use such things as earnings history or other
variable appear to be a deciding factor. Or they can attempt
to get rid of older workers by using retirement incentives.
• Indeed, an emerging model of employment is boomerang
employees, individuals who terminate employment at one
point in time but return to work in the same organization at a
future time. Boomerang employees sometimes return as
employees on the company’s payroll but increasingly are
returning as contract workers who are not eligible for
benefits, thereby meeting the company’s needs for both
expertise and lower costs
• Age discrimination usually happens before or after
interaction with professional human resources staff by other
employees making the hiring decisions, and it can be covert
Retraining Workers • Career plateauing occurs when there is a lack of challenge
in one’s job or promotional opportunity in the organization or
when a person decides not to seek advancement.
• In cases of job loss or a career plateau, retraining may be
an appropriate response. Around the world, large numbers
of employees participate each year in programs and
courses offered by their employer or by a college or
university and aimed at improving existing skills or adding
new job skills
• Alternatively, mid-career individuals may choose to change
fields altogether. In this case, people may head back to
college and earn a credential in a completely different field.
• The retraining of midcareer and older workers highlights the
need for lifelong learning as a way to stay employable
Occupational Insecurity • Over the past few decades, changing economic realities
(e.g., increased competition in a global economy), changing
demographics, continued advancements in technology, and
a global recession forced many people out of their jobs.
 • As a result, many people feel insecure about their jobs
much of the time.
• Like Fred, the autoworker in the vignette, many worried
workers have numerous years of dedicated service to a
company. Unfortunately, people who worry about their jobs
tend to have poorer physical and psychological well-being
• although unemployed participants reported higher levels of
stress compared with employed participants, employment
uncertainty mediated the association between employment
status and perceived stress.
• This result is due to differences in coping strategies.
Coping with • Coping with unemployment involves both financial and
Unemployment personal issues.
• McKee-Ryan and colleagues (2005) found several specific
results from losing one’s job. Unemployed workers had
significantly lower mental health, life satisfaction, marital or
family satisfaction, and subjective physical health (how they
perceive their health to be) than their employed
counterparts.
• The effects of job loss vary with age, gender, and education.
In the United States, middle-aged men are more vulnerable
to negative effects than older or younger men—largely
because they have greater financial responsibilities than the
other two groups and they derive more of their identity from
work—but women report more negative effects over time
• Because unemployment rates are substantially higher for
African Americans and Latinos than for European
Americans, the effects of unemployment are experienced by
a greater proportion of people in these groups. Economic
consequences of unemployment are often especially
difficult.
• How long you are unemployed also affects how people
react.
 • Additionally, the U.S. Department of Labor offers tips for job
seekers, as do online services such as LinkedIn that also
provides networking groups.
The Dependent Care Many employed adults must also provide care for dependent
Dilemma children or parents
Employed Caregivers • Many mothers have no option but to return to work after the
birth of a child.
• Despite high participation rates, mothers grapple with the
decision of whether they want to return to work. Surveys of
mothers with preschool children reveal the motivation for
returning to work tends to be related to financial need and
how attached mothers are to their work.
• FMLA resulted in an increase in the number of women who
returned to work at least part-time. Evidence from the few
states with paid family leave show similar trends; for
instance, mothers in California who take paid leave extend
their time off roughly five weeks longer, and show more
work hours during the second year of the child’s life
• A concern for many women is whether stepping out of their
occupations following childbirth will negatively affect their
career paths.
• Often overlooked is the increasing number of workers who
must also care for an aging parent or partner. providing this
type of care takes a high toll through stress and has a
generally negative impact on one’s career.
• Whether assistance is needed for one’s children or parents,
key factors in selecting an appropriate care site are quality
of care, price, and hours of availability. Depending on one’s
economic situation, it may not be possible to find affordable
and quality care available when needed.
Dependent Care and • Being responsible for dependent care has significant
Effects on Workers negative effects on caregivers.
 • When women’s partners provide good support and women
have average or high control over their jobs, employed
mothers are significantly less distressed than employed
nonmothers or mothers without support. One of the most
important factors in this outcome is the realization that it is
impossible to “have it all” for either mothers or fathers
Dependent Care and • A growing need in the workplace is for backup care, that
Employer Responses provides emergency care for dependent children or adults
so the employee does not need to lose a day of work.
• Making a child care center available to employees does
tend to reduce employee stress, but does not necessarily
reduce parents’ work–family conflict or their absenteeism. A
“family-friendly” company must also pay attention to the
attitudes of their employees and make sure the company
provides broad-based support
• Research also indicates there may not be differences for
either mothers or their infants between work-based and
nonwork-based child-care centers in terms of the mothers’
ease in transitioning back to work or the infants’ ability to
settle into day care
• It will be interesting to watch how these issues— especially
flexible schedules—play out in the United States, where
such practices are not yet common.
Juggling Multiple Roles When both members of a heterosexual couple with dependents are
employed, who cleans the house, cooks the meals, and takes care of the
children when they are ill?
Dividing Household • Despite much media attention and claims of increased
Chores sharing in the duties, women still perform the lion’s share of
housework, regardless of employment status
• The additional burden women carry with respect to
household chores, including child rearing, is still reflected in
millennials, despite their endorsement of more gender-equal
views on the matter. It appears that deeply held cultural
 beliefs about gender-based divisions of labor are difficult to
change.
• Ethnic differences in the division of household labor are also
apparent.
Work–Family Conflict • These competing demands cause work–family conflict,
the feeling of being pulled in multiple directions by
incompatible demands from one’s job and one’s family.
• Dual-earner couples must find a balance between their
occupational and family roles. Many people believe work
and family roles influence each other: When things go badly
at work, the family suffers, and when there are troubles at
home, work suffers.
• Understanding work–family conflict requires taking a life-
stage approach to the issue. The availability of support for
employed parents that takes the child’s developmental age
into account (e.g., day care for young children, flexible work
schedules when children are older) goes a long way to
helping parents balance work and family obligations.
• A comprehensive review of the research on the experience
of employed mothers supports this conclusion
• In addition to having impacts on each individual, dual-earner
couples often have difficulty finding time for each other,
especially if both work long hours. The amount of time
together is not necessarily the most important issue; as long
as the time is spent in shared activities such as eating,
playing, and conversing, couples tend to be happy
• When both partners are employed, getting all of the
schedules to work together smoothly can be a major
challenge. However, ensuring joint family activities are
important for creating and sustaining strong relations among
family members.
 • The issues faced by dual-earner couples are global: burnout
from the dual demands of work and parenting is more likely
to affect women across many cultures
• The work-family conflicts described here are arguably worse
for couples in the United States because Americans work
more hours with fewer vacation days than any other
developed country
Types of Leisure • Leisure is discretionary activity that includes simple
Activities relaxation, activities for enjoyment, and creative pursuits.
• More complete measures of leisure activities not only
provide better understanding of how adults spend their time,
but can help in clinical settings. Declines in the frequency of
leisure activities is associated with depression, with lower
well-being, and with a later diagnosis of dementia
• Personality factors are related to one’s choice of leisure
activities, and it is possible to construct interest profiles that
map individuals to specific types of leisure activities, and to
each other. Other factors are important as well: income,
health, abilities, transportation, education, and social
characteristics.
• The use of computer technology in leisure activities has
increased dramatically.
Developmental • Cross-sectional studies report age differences in leisure
Changes in Leisure activities.
• Longitudinal studies of changes in individuals’ leisure
activities over time show considerable stability in leisure
interests over reasonably long periods.
Consequences of • Studies show leisure activities provide an excellent forum
Leisure Activities for the interaction of the biopsychosocial forces
• How people cope by using leisure varies across cultures
depending on the various types of activities that are
permissible and available. Likewise, leisure activities vary
across social class;
• Whether the negative life events we experience are
personal, such as the loss of a loved one, or societal, such
as a terrorist attack, leisure activities are a common and
effective way to deal with them. They truly represent the
confluence of biopsychosocial forces and are effective at
any point in the life cycle.
• Participating with others in leisure activities may also
strengthen feelings of attachment to one’s partner, friends,
and family
• There is a second sense of attachment that can develop as
a result of leisure activities: place attachment. Place
attachment occurs when people derive a deep sense of
personal satisfaction and identity from a particular place
• In some cases, people create leisure–family conflict by
engaging in leisure activities to extremes
• One frequently overlooked outcome of leisure activity is
social acceptance. For persons with disabilities, this is a
particularly important consideration
 CHAPTER 13: Making It in Midlife The Biopsychosocial Challenges of Middle
Adulthood
Changes in • On that fateful day when the hard truth stares back at you in
Appearance the bathroom mirror, it probably doesn’t matter to you that
getting wrinkles and gray hair is universal and inevitable.
• It may not make you feel better to know that gray hair is
perfectly natural and caused by a normal cessation of
pigment production in hair follicles. Male pattern baldness, a
genetic trait in which hair is lost progressively beginning at
the top of the head, often begins to appear in middle age.
• To make matters worse, you also may have noticed that your
clothes aren’t fitting properly even though you carefully watch
what you eat.
• People’s reactions to these changes in appearance vary.
Changes in Bones The bones and the joints change with age, sometimes in potentially
and Joints preventable ways and sometimes because of genetic predisposition
or disease.
Osteoporosis • Skeletal maturity, the point at which bone mass is greatest
and the skeleton is at peak development, occurs at around 18
for women and 20 in men
• Severe loss of bone mass results in osteoporosis, a disease
in which bones become porous and extremely easy to break.
In severe cases, osteoporosis can cause spinal vertebrae to
collapse, causing the person to stoop and to become shorter
• Osteoporosis is caused in part by having low bone mass at
skeletal maturity (the point at which your bones reach peak
development), deficiencies in calcium and vitamin D,
estrogen depletion, and lack of weight-bearing exercise that
builds up bone mass. Other risk factors include smoking;
high-protein diets; and excessive intake of alcohol, caffeine,
and sodium.
 • The National Osteoporosis Foundation recommends getting
enough vitamin D and dietary calcium as ways to prevent
osteoporosis.
• Women who are late middle-aged or over age 65 are
encouraged to have their bone mineral density (BMD) tested
by having a dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) test,
which measures bone density at the hip and spine.
• Lowering the risk of osteoporosis involves dietary,
medication, and activity approaches
• In terms of medication interventions, bisphosphonates are the
most commonly used and are highly effective, but can have
serious side effects if used over a long time.
Bisphosphonates slow the bone breakdown process by
helping to maintain bone density during menopause.
• Selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs) are not
estrogens, but are compounds that have estrogen-like effects
on some tissues and estrogen-blocking effects on other
tissues.
Arthritis • Many middle-aged and older adults have good reason to
complain of aching joints
• Over time and repeated use, the bones underneath the
cartilage become damaged, which can result in
osteoarthritis, a disease marked by gradual onset and
progression of pain and disability, with minor signs of
inflammation. The disease usually becomes noticeable in late
middle age or early old age, and it is especially common in
people whose joints are subjected to routine overuse and
abuse, such as athletes and manual laborers.
• A second form of arthritis is rheumatoid arthritis, a more
destructive disease of the joints that also develops slowly and
typically affects different joints and causes other types of pain
and more inflammation than osteoarthritis
 • The American College of Rheumatology has adopted
guidelines for treating rheumatoid arthritis.
• Although the exact nature of these inheritance factors are
unknown, several potential locations have been identified as
possible markers. Further advances in our knowledge of
these genetic links could result in more effective and more
individualized treatments
• Surgical interventions may be an option if medications do not
provide relief. For example, arthroplasty, or the total
replacement of joints damaged by arthritis, continues to
improve as new materials help artificial joints last longer. Hip
and knee replacement surgery is becoming both more
common and more effective as less invasive surgical
techniques are developed that dramatically reduce recovery
time.
• Osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis can
appear similar and cause similar symptoms.
Reproductive • If you watched any television recently, you undoubtedly saw
Changes programs and advertisements showing middle-aged and
older couples who clearly have active sex lives.
• Still, middle age brings changes to the reproductive systems
of men and women. These changes are more significant for
women, but men also experience certain changes. Let’s see
what they are and how people learn to cope with them.
Reproductive • As women enter midlife, they experience a major biological
Changes in Women process called the climacteric, during which they pass from
their reproductive to nonreproductive years. Menopause is
the point at which menstruation stops.
• This time of transition from regular menstruation to
menopause is called perimenopause, and how long it lasts
varies considerably
• Many women report no symptoms at all, but most women
experience at least some, and there are large differences
 across social, ethnic, and cultural groups in how they are
expressed
• The decline in estrogen that women experience after
menopause is a very big deal. Estrogen loss is related to
numerous health conditions, including increased risk of
osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, stress urinary
incontinence (involuntary loss of urine during physical stress,
as when exercising, sneezing, or laughing), weight gain, and
memory loss, in short, almost every major body system
• In response to these increased risks and to the estrogen-
related symptoms that women experience, one approach is
the use of menopausal hormone therapy (MHT): women
take low doses of estrogen, which is often combined with
progestin (synthetic form of progesterone).
Reproductive • men do not have a physiological (and cultural) event to mark
Changes in Men reproductive changes, although there is a gradual decline in
testosterone levels that can occur to a greater extent in men
who are obese or have diabetes
• With increasing age the prostate gland enlarges, becomes
stiffer, and may obstruct the urinary tract. Prostate cancer
becomes a real threat during middle age; annual screenings
are often recommended for men over age 50
• Men experience some physiological changes in sexual
performance. By old age, men report less perceived demand
to ejaculate, a need for longer time and more stimulation to
achieve erection and orgasm, and a much longer resolution
phase during which erection is impossible
• As with women, as long as men enjoy sex and have a willing
partner, sexual activity is a lifelong option. Also as with
women, the most important ingredient of sexual intimacy for
men is a strong relationship with a partner
• As with women, if men enjoy sex and have a willing partner,
sexual activity is a lifelong option
Stress and Health There is plenty of scientific evidence that over the long term, stress is
very bad for your health.
Stress as a • There is widespread agreement across many research
Physiological studies that people differ in their physiological responses to
Response stress
• Gender differences in physiological stress responses have
also been documented. For example, there is some evidence
that the hormone oxytocin plays a different role in women
than in men.
The Stress and The stress and coping paradigm views stress not as an
Coping Paradigm environmental stimulus or as a response but as the interaction of a
thinking person and an event
Appraisal • Primary appraisal categorizes events into three groups
based on the significance they have for our well-being:
irrelevant, benign or positive, and stressful.
• Secondary appraisal evaluates our perceived ability to cope
with harm, threat, or challenge.
• Reappraisal involves making a new primary or secondary
appraisal resulting from changes in the situation. For
example, you may initially dismiss an accusation that your
partner is cheating on you (i.e., make a primary appraisal that
the event is irrelevant), but after being shown pictures of your
partner in a romantic situation with another person, you
reappraise the event as stressful.
• The three types of appraisals demonstrate that determining
whether an event is stressful is a dynamic process. Initial
decisions about events may be upheld over time, or they may
change in light of new information or personal experience.
Coping • Collectively, these attempts to deal with stressful events are
called coping
• Problem-focused coping involves attempts to tackle the
problem head-on. Emotion-focused coping involves dealing
with one’s feelings about the stressful event.
 • Several other behaviors can also be viewed in the context of
coping. Many people use their relationship with God as the
basis for their coping. For believers, using religious coping
strategies usually results in positives outcomes when faced
with negative events.
• Psychologically, a positive attitude about oneself and one’s
abilities is also important.
• The most effective ways to deal with stress are through
various relaxation techniques. Whether you prefer yoga,
visualization, progressive muscle relaxation, meditation or
contemplative prayer, massage, or just chilling does not really
matter.
• Keep in mind that the number of stressful events, per se, is
less important than one’s appraisal of them and whether the
person has effective skills to deal with them. Of course,
should the number of stressful issues exceed one’s ability to
cope, then the number of issues being confronted would be a
key issue
Effects of Stress on • There is ample evidence that perceived stress is related to
Physical Health brain structures; for instance, the size of the hippocampus, a
brain structure intimately involved in cognition is smaller in
people who report moderate to high levels of chronic stress
• Research indicates that different types of appraisals that are
interpreted as stressful create different physiological
outcomes. This may mean that how the body reacts to stress
depends on the appraisal process; the reaction to different
types of stress is not the same.
• Research indicates that one of the most serious
consequences of chronic stress is that it increases the level
of LDL cholesterol, which has significant negative
consequences. LDL cholesterol levels rise as a result of
chronic stress for several reasons: people stop exercising,
eat more unhealthy foods, and have higher levels of cortisol
 and adrenaline (which stimulate the production of
triglycerides and free fatty acids, which in turn increase LDL
cholesterol levels over time).
Effects of Stress on • The National Institute of Mental Health defines post-
Psychological Health traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as an anxiety disorder
that can develop after exposure to a terrifying event or ordeal
in which grave physical harm occurred or was threatened.
• For example, one popular approach is mindfulness based
stress reduction, being aware and nonjudgmental of
whatever is happening at that moment. Common approaches
using mindfulness-based stress reduction include yoga and
meditation.
Exercise • Adults benefit from aerobic exercise, exercise that places
moderate stress on the heart by maintaining a pulse rate
between 60% and 90% of the person’s maximum heart rate.
• Physiologically, adults of all ages show improved
cardiovascular functioning and maximum oxygen
consumption; lower blood pressure; and better strength,
endurance, flexibility, and coordination. Psychologically,
people who exercise aerobically report lower levels of stress,
better moods, and better cognitive functioning.
• The best way to gain the benefits of aerobic exercise is to
maintain physical fitness throughout the life span, beginning
at least in middle age. The benefits of various forms of
exercise are numerous, and include lowering the risk of
cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis (if the exercise is
weight bearing), and a host of other conditions.
• Without question, regular exercise is one of the two most
important behaviors you can do to promote healthy living and
good aging (not smoking is the other).
• Whether exercise can delay or prevent diseases associated
with these brain structures, such as Alzheimer’s disease,
remains to be seen. But the evidence to date points in that
 direction, so researchers and clinicians are promoting
exercise as a way to a healthy, better functioning brain in
later life.
• In summary, if you want to maximize the odds of healthy
aging, exercise. Guidelines state about 150 minutes of
moderate aerobic exercise weekly with additional whole-body
strength training and balance work is sufficient to produce
positive effects
Practical Intelligence The broad range of skills related to how individuals shape, select, or
adapt to their physical and social environments is termed practical
intelligence.
Applications of • Practical intelligence and postformal thinking across
Practical Intelligence adulthood have been linked.
• Research indicates that adults tend to blend emotion with
cognition in their approach to practical problems, whereas
adolescents tend not to because they get hung up in the
logic. Summarizing over a decade of her research,
Blanchard-Fields (2007) notes that for late middle-aged
adults, highly emotional problems (issues with high levels of
feelings, such as dealing with unexpected deaths) are
associated most with passive-dependent and avoidant-denial
approaches.
Mechanics and • The mechanics of intelligence reflects those aspects of
Pragmatics of intelligence comprising fluid intelligence. The pragmatics of
Intelligence intelligence refers to those aspects of intelligence reflecting
crystallized intelligence
• The mechanics of intelligence in later life is more associated
with the fundamental organization of the central nervous
system (i.e., biological forces).
• the developmental pathways the mechanics and pragmatics
of intelligence take across the course of adult life differ.
Becoming an Expert • We saw earlier in this chapter aspects of intelligence
grounded in experience (crystallized intelligence) tend to
improve throughout most of adulthood
• For novices, the goal for accomplishing the activity is to reach
as rapidly as possible a satisfactory performance level that is
stable and “autonomous.” In contrast, experts build up a
wealth of knowledge about alternative ways of solving
problems or making decisions.
• Experts don’t always follow the rules as novices do; they are
more flexible, creative, and curious; and they have superior
strategies grounded on superior knowledge for accomplishing
a task. Even though experts may be slower in terms of raw
speed because they spend more time planning, their ability to
skip steps puts them at a decided advantage. In a way, this
represents “the triumph of knowledge over reasoning”
• Research evidence indicates expert performance tends to
peak by middle age and drops off slightly after that
• Such compensation is seen in expert judgments about such
things as how long certain figure skating maneuvers will take.
Lifelong Learning • Lifelong learning is gaining acceptance as the best way to
approach the need for keeping active cognitively and is
viewed as a critical part of aging globally
• Lifelong learning is becoming increasingly important, but
educators need to keep in mind learning styles change as
people age. Effective lifelong learning requires smart
decisions about how to keep knowledge updated and what
approach works best among the many different learning
options available
• As described in the Spotlight on Research feature, software
companies would do well to take into account differences in
expertise and in learning when designing updated versions
of familiar programs and apps.
The Five-Factor Trait Big Five traits:
Model 1. People who are high on the neuroticism dimension tend to
be anxious, hostile, self-conscious, depressed, impulsive,
and vulnerable.
2. Individuals who are high on the extraversion dimension
thrive on social interaction, like to talk, take charge easily,
readily express their opinions and feelings, like to keep busy,
have boundless energy, and prefer stimulating and
challenging environments.
3. Being high on the openness to experience dimension tends
to have a vivid imagination and dream life, an appreciation of
art, and a strong desire to try anything once
4. Scoring high on the agreeableness dimension is associated
with being accepting, willing to work with others, and caring.
5. People who show high levels of conscientiousness tend to
be hard-working, ambitious, energetic, scrupulous, and
persevering.

What Happens to • They suggest personality traits stop changing by age 30, after
Traits Across which they appear to be “set in plaster”
Adulthood? • We would normally be skeptical of such consistency over a
long period. But similar findings were obtained in other
studies. In a longitudinal study of 60-, 80-, and 100-year-olds,
Martin, Long, and Poon (2002) found stability higher for those
in their 70s and 80s than for centenarians.
• there is evidence both stability and change can be detected
in personality trait development across the adult life span.
These findings came about because of advances in statistical
techniques in teasing apart longitudinal and cross-sectional
data
• Personality adjustment involves developmental changes in
terms of their adaptive value and functionality, such as
functioning effectively within society, and how personality
 contributes to everyday life running smoothly. Personality
growth refers to ideal end states such as increased self-
transcendence, wisdom, and integrity.
• Studies also show a decrease in openness to new
experiences with increasing age
• The most likely answer is personality growth or change
across adulthood does not normally occur unless there are
special circumstances and with an environmental push for it
to occur. Thus, the personality-related adjustment that grows
in adulthood does so in response to ever-changing
developmental challenges and tasks, such as establishing a
career, marriage, and family.
Changing Priorities in • In his psychosocial theory, Erikson argued that this shift in
Midlife priorities reflects generativity, or being productive by helping
others to ensure the continuation of society by guiding the
next generation.
• Erikson referred to this state as stagnation, in which people
are unable to deal with the needs of their children or to
provide mentoring to younger adults.
What Are Generative • Research shows that generativity is different from traits; for
People Like? example, generativity is more related to societal engagement
than are traits
• A person derives personal meaning from being generative by
constructing a life story or narrative, which helps create the
person’s identity.
• Similar research focusing specifically on middle-aged women
yields comparable results. Hills (2013) argues that leaving a
legacy, a major example of generativity in practice, is a core
concern in midlife, more so than at any other age.
• These data demonstrate that the personal concerns of
middle-aged adults are fundamentally different from those of
younger adults. In fact, generativity may be a stronger
 predictor of emotional and physical well-being in midlife and
old age
Life Transition in • Despite its appeal, though, there is no such thing as a
Midlife universal midlife crisis.
• Stewart suggests that rather than a midlife crisis, such an
adjustment may be more appropriately considered a midlife
correction, reevaluating one’s roles and dreams and making
the necessary corrections.
Letting Go: Middle- • Middle-aged mothers (more than fathers) tend to take on this
Aged Adults and Their role of kinkeeper, the person who gathers family members
Children together for celebrations and keeps them in touch with each
other.
• Indeed, middleaged adults are sometimes referred to as the
sandwich generation because they are caught between the
competing demands of two generations: their parents and
their children.
• A positive experience with launching children is strongly
influenced by the extent the parents perceive a job well done
and their children have turned out well
• A major impetus is the increased costs of living on their own
when saddled with college debt, especially if the societal
economic situation is bad and jobs are not available. This
was especially true during the Great Recession of the late
2000s and early 2010s.
Giving Back: Middle- Most adult children feel a sense of responsibility, termed filial
Aged Adults and Their obligation, to care for their parents if necessary.
Aging Parents
Stresses and • When caring for an aging parent, even the most devoted
Rewards of Providing adult child caregiver will at times feel depressed, resentful,
Care angry, or guilty
• On the plus side, caring for an aging parent also has rewards.
Caring for aging parents can bring parents and their adult
 children closer together and provide a way for adult children
to feel they are giving back to their parents
• Things aren’t always rosy from the parents’ perspective,
either. Independence and autonomy are important traditional
values in some ethnic groups, and their loss is not taken
lightly. Older adults in these groups are more likely to express
the desire to pay a professional for assistance rather than ask
a family member for help; they may find it demeaning to live
with their children and express strong feelings about “not
wanting to burden them”
Grandparenthood Most people become grandparents in their 40s and 50s, though
some are older, or perhaps as young as their late 20s or early 30s.
How Do Grandparents • Grandparents have many different ways of interacting with
Interact with their grandchildren.
Grandchildren? • Grandchildren give grandparents a great deal in return.
Grandchildren keep grandparents in touch with youth and the
latest trends.
Being a Grandparent Most grandparents derive multiple meanings, and they are linked
Is Meaningful with generativity
Ethnic Differences • How grandparents and grandchildren interact varies in
different ethnic groups.
• Asian American grandparents, particularly if they are
immigrants, serve as a primary source of traditional culture
for their grandchildren. When these grandparents become
heavily involved in caring for their grandchildren, they
especially want and need services that are culturally and
linguistically appropriate.
When Grandparents • Grandparenthood today is tougher than it used to be.
Care • Because most grandparents in this situation do not have legal
for Grandchildren custody of their grandchild, problems and challenges such as
dealing with schools and obtaining school or health records
are frequent. Typically, social service workers must assist
grandparents in navigating the many unresponsive policies
 and systems they encounter when trying to provide the best
possible assistance to their grandchildren
• Even custodial grandparents raising grandchildren without
these problems report more stress and role disruption than
noncustodial grandparents, though most grandparents are
resilient and manage to cope. Most custodial grandparents
consider their situation better for their grandchild than any
other alternative and report surprisingly few negative effects
on their marriages.