Critical Thinking Exercises
1 Imagine that you are a psychologist who wants to assess an 8-year-old boy for ADHD. From whom might you gather information about the boy’s behavior? What methods might you use to assess his functioning?
2 Matias is a 9-year-old boy who immigrated to the United States with his mother and two younger siblings from Colombia. Matias’s school psychologist is concerned that Matias might have ADHD. She shared her concerns with Matias’s mother, but his mother said that she was not interested in treatment for her son. How might the school psychologist conduct a cultural formulation interview with Matias’s mother to understand her concerns about treatment?
3 Can a psychological test be reliable but not valid? Can a test be valid but not reliable?
4 Maddy is a 14-year-old girl who is experiencing depression following the death of her father. She has lost interest in many activities she formerly enjoyed, has low energy and sleeps a lot of the time, and acts grumpy and irritable toward others. She also has largely given up on school and has a negative attitude toward her teachers. How might her counselor use (1) behavior therapy, (2) cognitive therapy, and (3) interpersonal therapy to help Maddy?
5 Mr. Fox’s teenage daughter has an anxiety disorder. Her pediatrician recommended that she see a therapist. Mr. Fox was disappointed, saying, “I don’t believe in therapy. Anxiety is caused by neurochemistry—no amount of talk therapy will help.” Evaluate Mr. Fox’s claim. What is the evidence that psychotherapy for adolescents is efficacious? Effective?
Test Yourself and Extend Your Learning
Videos, flashcards, and links to online resources for this chapter are available to students. Teachers also have access to PowerPoint slides to guide lectures, a case study book (with answers) to prompt classroom discussions, and exam questions. Visit abnormalchildpsychology.org.
Descriptions of Images and Figures
Back to Figure
The details of images in the table are as follows:
Row 2:
A balance scale has a round object, a square object, and a triangular object on the left plate, and a round object, and a diamond shaped object on the right plate.
Another balance scale has a diamond shaped on its left plate, and an empty right plate.
Below, there are four boxes with a round object and a diamond shaped object, a square object and a triangular object, a square object and a diamond shaped object, and a triangular object and a round object.
Row 3:
Four squares have 1 square fully shaded, one fully unshaded, and two squares with only the area above diagonal shaded.
An adjacent square has a shaded square in it, resembling a diamond shaped pattern within a square.
Row 5:
A matrix has the following data: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, x, a left pointing arrow, a solid triangle, a hashtag, and a question mark symbol.
Back to Figure
The details of the bell curve are as follows:
The standard scores range from below 70 to above 130.
Sara’s reading and Math is seen in scores below 70 to 100, and Sara’s FSIQ is seen from scores 100 to above 130.
Percent of Cases:
2.2% at standard scores below 70, Quantitative description extremely low.
6.7% at standard scores 70 to 80, Quantitative description very low.
16.1% at standard scores 80 to 90, Quantitative description low average.
50% at standard scores 90 to 110, Quantitative descriptions average.
16.1% at standard score 110 to 120, Quantitative descriptions high average.
6.7% at standard scores 120 to 130, Quantitative description very high.
2.2% at standard scores above 130, Quantitative description extremely high.
Back to Figure
The graph is described as follows:
The horizontal axis shows the Higher-Order scales and the Restructured Clinical (RC) scales.
The vertical axis shows the T-Score from 20 to 100 in increments of 10.
The approximate scores for various scales are:
Emotions (EID): 68;
Thoughts (THD): 46;
Behavior (BXD): 52;
RCd: 58;
RC1: 74;
RC2: 55;
RC3: 48;
RC4: 42;
RC6: 48;
RC7: 70;
RC8: 50;
RC9: 42.
Back to Figure
The graph is described as follows:
The horizontal axis shows various DSM-5 Disorders.
The vertical axis shows the standard score from 0 to 100 in increments of 10.
The approximate score for various diseases:
Separation Anxiety: 85;
GAD: 50;
Panic Disorder: 42;
Social Phobia: 51;
OCD: 40;
Depression: 58.
Back to Figure
The illustration is described as follows:
Three dartboards have 5 levels of concentric circles, from inside to outside.
The first dartboard titled Low Reliability and Validity shows three arrows in level 3 and 4.
The second dartboard titled High Reliability and Low Validity shows all the three arrows around the same point in level 5.
The third dartboard titled High Reliability and Validity shows all the three arrows around the same point in level 1.
Back to Figure
The graph is described as follows:
The horizontal axis shows various disorders.
The vertical axis shows Mean Effect Size from 0.0 to 0.7, in increments of 0.1.
The values of post treatment are:
1 Anxiety: 0.61;
2 Conduct Problems: 0.46;
3 ADHD: 0.34;
4 Depression: 0.39;
5 Multiple Problems: 0.15.
The values of follow-up are:
1 Anxiety: 0.55;
2 Conduct Problems: 0.44;
3 ADHD: