Chapters 13

Psychological Disorders

Practice Exm

1. In general, women are more vulnerable than men to ________ disorders such as ________.
A) active; anxiety
B) passive; depression
C) active; antisocial conduct
D) passive; alcohol abuse

2. The diagnostic reliability of DSM-IV:
A) is unknown.
B) depends on the age of the patient.
C) is very low.
D) is relatively high.

3. Low levels of anxiety are most characteristic of:
A) antisocial personality disorder.
B) dissociative identity disorder.
C) obsessive-compulsive disorder.
D) paranoid schizophrenia.
E) agoraphobia.


4. The social-cognitive perspective has linked the experience of depression to:
A) learned helplessness.
B) unresolved childhood anger.
C) external attributions for failure.
D) disruptions in conscious awareness.
E) a lack of guilt feelings.


5. Michael complains that threatening voices are constantly telling him that he is so evil that he should drown himself. Michael is experiencing:
A) a panic attack.
B) catatonia.
C) flat affect.
D) hallucinations.
E) a dissociative disorder.


6. Amanda's therapist suggests that her depression results from mistakenly blaming herself rather than a slumping economy for her recent job loss. Her therapist's suggestion best illustrates a:
A) DSM-IV diagnosis.
B) psychoanalytic perspective.
C) medical model.
D) social-cognitive perspective.


7. Janette, a 30-year-old teacher, regularly loses her temper and experiences tension and fatigue. Her behavior is most likely to be diagnosed as psychologically disordered if it is:
A) personally disabling and a cause of suffering.
B) a reaction to the stresses of her career.
C) not caused by a biological impairment.
D) a symptom of her own unconscious conflicts.
E) indicative of a lifelong personality style.


8. Which of the following is not a symptom of schizophrenia?
A) inappropriate emotions
B) disturbed perceptions
C) panic attacks
D) disorganized thinking


9. Which of the following is the most pervasive of the psychological disorders?
A) depression
B) schizophrenia
C) bipolar disorder
D) generalized anxiety disorder


10. Without success, Maxine spends hours each day trying to suppress intrusive thoughts that she might have forgotten to lock her house when she left for work. Her experience is most symptomatic of:
A) a panic disorder.
B) an obsessive-compulsive disorder.
C) a generalized anxiety disorder.
D) a dissociative disorder.
E) a histrionic personality disorder.


11. Hearing voices would be a(n) ________; believing that you are Napoleon would be a(n) ________.
A) obsession; compulsion
B) compulsion; obsession
C) delusion; hallucination
D) hallucination; delusion


12. (Close-up) Hussein, who suffers from chronic loneliness, probably attributes his unsatisfactory social relationships to:
A) an inherited trait.
B) his own inadequacies.
C) a cultural norm.
D) the social incompetence of other people.


13. Which of the following is true of the medical model?
A) In recent years, it has been in large part discredited.
B) It views psychological disorders as sicknesses that are diagnosable and treatable.
C) It emphasizes the role of psychological factors in disorders over that of physiological factors.
D) It focuses on cognitive factors.


14. At one time, disordered people were simply warehoused in asylums. These have been replaced with psychiatric hospitals in which attempts were made to diagnose and cure those with psychological disorders. This best illustrates one of the beneficial consequences of:
A) the trait perspective.
B) the legal insanity defense.
C) the DSM-IV.
D) the medical model.
E) linkage analysis.


15. If researchers discovered that genetically influenced abnormalities in brain structure contribute to bipolar disorder, this would most clearly add credibility to:
A) the DSM-IV.
B) the medical model.
C) the social-cognitive perspective.
D) psychoanalytic theory.
E) the humanistic perspective.


16. Behavior is classified as disordered when it is:
A) atypical.
B) maladaptive.
C) unjustifiable.
D) disturbing.
E) all of the above.


17. Which of the following provides evidence that human fears have been subjected to the evolutionary process?
A) Compulsive acts typically exaggerate behaviors that contributed to our species' survival.
B) Most phobias focus on objects that our ancestors also feared.
C) It is easier to condition some fears than others.
D) All of the above provide evidence.


18. The fact that disorders such as schizophrenia are universal and influenced by heredity, whereas other disorders such as anorexia nervosa are culture-bound provides evidence for the ________ model of psychological disorders.
A) medical
B) bio-psycho-social
C) social-cultural
D) psychoanalytic


19. Kyle is extremely manipulative and can look anyone in the eye and lie convincingly. His deceit often endangers the safety and well-being of those around him, but he is indifferent to any suffering they might experience as a result of his actions. His behavior best illustrates:
A) schizophrenia.
B) dissociative identity disorder.
C) bipolar disorder.
D) obsessive-compulsive disorder.
E) a personality disorder.


20. Julia's psychologist believes that Julia's fear of heights can be traced to a conditioned fear she developed after falling from a ladder. This explanation reflects a ______ perspective.
A) medical
B) psychoanalytic
C) social-cognitive
D) learning


21. After falling from a ladder, Joseph is afraid of airplanes, although he has never flown. This demonstrates that some fears arise from:
A) observational learning.
B) reinforcement.
C) stimulus generalization.
D) stimulus discrimination.


22. Bob has never been able to keep a job. He's been in and out of jail for charges such as theft, sexual assault, and spousal abuse. Bob would most likely be diagnosed as having:
A) a dissociative identity disorder.
B) major depressive disorder.
C) schizophrenia.
D) an antisocial personality.


23. The relationship between the season of the year in which people are born and their subsequent risk of schizophrenia best highlights the role of ________ in this disorder.
A) serotonin
B) viral infections
C) oxygen deprivation
D) learned helplessness


24. Lenore is unexplainably and continually tense and is plagued by muscle tension, sleeplessness, and an inability to concentrate. Lenore most likely suffers from a(n):
A) phobia.
B) dissociative disorder.
C) antisocial personality disorder.
D) obsessive-compulsive disorder.
E) generalized anxiety disorder.


25. Mr. Hoffman has always been cautious with his money, but over the past two weeks he has developed grandiose plans to bet his entire life savings on a single horse race. With unrestrained exuberance he has also been giving everybody he sees unsolicited advice on how to make millions in the stock market. Mr. Hoffman's behavior is most indicative of:
A) an obsessive-compulsive disorder.
B) a generalized anxiety disorder.
C) an antisocial personality disorder.
D) a manic episode.
E) a panic attack.


26. Among the following, which is generally accepted as a possible cause of schizophrenia?
A) an excess of endorphins in the brain
B) being a twin
C) extensive learned helplessness
D) a genetic predisposition


27. Phobias and obsessive-compulsive behaviors are classified as:
A) anxiety disorders.
B) mood disorders.
C) dissociative disorders.
D) personality disorders.


28. The criteria for classifying behavior as psychologically disordered:
A) vary from culture to culture.
B) vary from time to time.
C) are characterized by both a. and b.
D) have remained largely unchanged over the course of history.


29. Symptoms that may be misperceived as a heart attack are most characteristic of:
A) bipolar disorder.
B) panic disorder.
C) depression.
D) catatonia.
E) obsessive-compulsive disorder.


30. After participants in one study were informed that a videotaped interviewee was a psychiatric patient, they characterized the person with phrases such as "a passive type" and "frightened of his own impulses." This study best illustrated the:
A) value of a psychoanalytic perspective.
B) dangers of dissociative identity disorder.
C) unreliability of the DSM-IV.
D) biasing power of diagnostic labels.
E) shortcomings of the social-cognitive perspective.


31. Mr. James believes that people are constantly laughing at him and that FBI agents are trying to steal his life savings. Mr. James is most clearly suffering from:
A) compulsions.
B) catatonia.
C) delusions.
D) hallucinations.
E) post-traumatic stress disorder.


32. In treating depression, a psychiatrist would probably prescribe a drug that would:
A) increase levels of acetylcholine.
B) decrease levels of dopamine.
C) increase levels of norepinephrine.
D) decrease levels of serotonin.


33. Andrea experiences extreme anxiety when approaching the shoreline of any lake. Her therapist suggests that her fear results from a traumatic boat accident she experienced as a child. The therapist's suggestion reflects a ________ perspective.
A) psychoanalytic
B) biological
C) learning
D) humanistic
E) trait


34. Research evidence links the brain abnormalities of schizophrenia to ________ during prenatal development.
A) maternal stress
B) a viral infection contracted
C) abnormal levels of certain hormones
D) the weight of the unborn child
E) alcohol use


35. Catatonia is characterized by:
A) periods of immobility or excessive, purposeless movement.
B) offensive and unwanted thoughts that persistently preoccupy a person.
C) a continuous state of tension, apprehension, and autonomic nervous system arousal.
D) hyperactive, wildly optimistic states of emotion.
E) delusions of persecution.


36. The psychoanalytic perspective would most likely view phobias as:
A) conditioned fears.
B) displaced responses to incompletely repressed impulses.
C) biological predispositions.
D) manifestations of self-defeating thoughts.


37. Which of the following disorders is associated with a high level of hypnotizability?
A) generalized anxiety disorder
B) schizophrenia
C) antisocial personality disorder
D) obsessive-compulsive disorder
E) dissociative identity disorder


38. What have researchers concluded regarding the question of whether stress can trigger schizophrenia?
A) Schizophrenia is caused by genes, not stress.
B) Schizophrenia can definitely be triggered by extreme stress alone.
C) Stress may trigger schizophrenia in people who are genetically predisposed to develop the disorder.
D) Researchers have been unable to predict the development of schizophrenia.


39. People around the world may experience the same genetically based disorder quite differently depending on their own personal expectations and the definitions of abnormality common to their unique culture. This best illustrates the need for:
A) the DSM-IV.
B) the medical model.
C) linkage analysis.
D) the legal insanity defense.
E) a bio-psycho-social perspective.


40. Although Mark realizes that his behavior is unreasonable, he is so alarmed by high bridges or expressway overpasses that he avoids them by taking an unnecessarily lengthy route to and from work each day. Mark appears to suffer from a(n):
A) obsessive-compulsive disorder.
B) mood disorder.
C) phobia.
D) dissociative disorder.
E) generalized anxiety disorder.


41. An overabundance of the neurotransmitter norepinephrine is most likely to be associated with:
A) a dissociative disorder.
B) a manic episode.
C) schizophrenia.
D) antisocial personality disorder.


42. Social-cognitive theorists contend that depression is linked with:
A) negative moods.
B) maladaptive explanations of failure.
C) self-defeating beliefs.
D) all of the above.


43. Mrs. Higgins believes that aliens from another planet have removed her stomach and are watching her to see how long it takes her to grow another one. Mrs. Higgins is most likely suffering from:
A) agoraphobia.
B) bipolar disorder.
C) schizophrenia.
D) a panic disorder.
E) a dissociative identity disorder.



Answer Key

1. B
2. D
3. A
4. A
5. D
6. D
7. A
8. C
9. A
10. B
11. D
12. B
13. B
14. D
15. B
16. E
17. D
18. B
19. E
20. D
21. C
22. D
23. B
24. E
25. D
26. D
27. A
28. C
29. B
30. D
31. C
32. C
33. C
34. B
35. A
36. B
37. E
38. C
39. E
40. C
41. B
42. D
43. C