ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY

CHAPTER 3: CLINICAL ASSESSMENT - Predictive validity – how well your

AND DIAGNOSIS assessment tells you what will happen in
the future
Clinical assessment – systematic evaluation and
measurement of psychological, biological, and Standardization – process by which a certain
social factors in an individual presenting with a set of standards or norms is determined for a
possible psychological disorder technique to make its use consistent across
different measurements
Diagnosis – process of determining whether a
particular problem afflicting the individual - The standards might apply to the
meets all criteria for a psychological disorder procedures of testing, scoring, and
evaluating data
Key Concepts of Assessment - Reliability, validity, and standardization
- The clinician begins by collecting a lot of are important to all forms of
information across a broad range of the psychological assessment
individual’s functioning to determine How do we assess clinical disorders?
where the source of the problem may lie
o The clinician then narrows the Assessing Psychological Disorders
focus by ruling out problems in
- Psychological Assessment
some areas and concentrating on
o Clinical Interview
areas that seem most relevant
- Three basic concepts that help determine o Behavioral Assessment
the value of our assessments: reliability, o Psychological Testing
validity and standardization o Neuropsychological Testing
- Assessment techniques are subject to a - Physical Evaluation
number of strict requirements, not the - Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for
least of which some evidence (research) Mental Disorders (DMS)
that they actually do what they are o DSM5 to DSM 5TR
assigned to do o Developed by the American
Psychiatric Association
Reliability – degree to which a measurement is - International Classification of Diseases
consistent (ICD)
- Interrelated reliability - psychologists o ICD 10 to ICD 11
improve their reliability by carefully o Developed by the World Health
designing their assessment devices and Organization in 2019 for effective
then conducting research on them to use starting January 2022
ensure that two or more raters will get
The Clinical Interview
the same answer
o Also determine whether these - Core of most clinical work used by
assessment techniques are stable mental health professionals
across time - The interview allows the clinician to
o Test-retest reliability gather information on:
o Current and past behavior
Validity – something measures what it is o Attitudes
designed to measure, whether a technique
o Emotions
assesses what it is supposed to
o Detailed history
- Concurrent/descriptive reliability – o General information
comparing the results of an assessment o Presenting problem
measure under consideration with the - Clinicians determine when the specific
results of others that are better known problem started and identify other events
allows you to begin to determine the (life stress, trauma, or physical illness)
validity of the first measure that might have occurred the same time
- Most clinicians gather some information
on the patient’s current and past
ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY
interpersonal and social history, - Ideas of reference –
including family makeup, and on the everything everyone else
individual’s upbringing does somehow relates
- Information on sexual development, back to the individual
religious attitudes (current and past), (similar to introjection)
relevant cultural concerns (stress induced o Content of speech
by discrimination), and educational - are delusions (false
history are also routinely collected beliefs) / hallucinations
(things that are seen or not
The Mental Statue Exam – systematic
heard; vivid, positive
observation of behavior which involves the ff.
symptoms – it adds)/
integrated behavior (varying number depending
present?
on the clinic; flexible to different practices etc.)
- Does the client experience
1) Appearance and behavior – general derealization (“fuzzy
appearance, overt physical behavior feeling”, pulled away
(Frank’s leg twitch), individual’s dress, from the
general appearance, posture, facial reality)
expression /depersonalization?
o Ex: Psychomotor retardation – - Derealization – being
slow and effortful motor pulled out from the reality
behavior; indicates severe - Derailment (loose
depression association)
2) Thought process – rate of speech, speed - Catatonic, disorganized
of speech, continuity of speech, content thinking/process
of speech (schizophrenia)
o Rate of speech 3) Mood and affect
- Loose association or - Euthymic – associated with bipolar
derailment – disorders
disorganized speech - Important part of the mental status exam
pattern, thinking or - Mood - Predominant feeling state of the
thought processes (basis individual
for schizophrenia) o What is the predominant mood?
- If patients show difficulty - Feeling state accompanying what the
with continuity or rate of individual says
speech, a clinician may o is the feeling statement
ask “can you think accompanying the predominant
clearly/is there some mood appropriate?
problem putting your - Affect – the feeling state that
thoughts together? Do accompanies what we say at a given
your thoughts tend to be point
mixed up or come o “appropriate” – we laugh when
slowly?” we say something funny or look
o Continuity of speech (Is there sad when we talk about
derailment? /Flight of ideas/loose something sad
associations) o Affect is “blunt” or “sad”
- Delusions – distorted 4) Intellectual functioning
views of reality - Confirmed through psychological tests
- Delusions of persecution - Global impression of intellectual
– someone thinks people functioning is it above, average, or below
are after him and out to average?
get him all the time o Rough estimate only,
- Delusions of grandeur – above/below average levels are
an individual thinks she is often noticeable when it deviates
all-powerful in some way from normal
ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY
- Are executive functioning (planning) - Advantage: clinicians may also depart
present? (Tower of Hanoi – assess the from set questions to follow up on
executive/cognitive functioning) specific issues, thus labeled as
o How is the person’s memory? “semistructured”
5) Sensorium - Disadvantage: it robs the interview of
- If a person has delirium some of the spontaneous quality of two
- Ability to understand one’s situation in people talking about a problem
space and time o if applied too rigidly, it may
- Awareness of surroundings (oriented inhibit the patient from
time 3; a person is aware of his/her volunteering useful information
surroundings if he answered properly that is not directly relevant to the
these three) questions being asked
o Person
Physical Examination
o Place
o Time - Certain physical conditions may mimic
- People with permanent brain damage or behavioral manifestation of
dysfunction or temporary brain damage psychological disorders
or dysfunction, often because of drugs or - Many problems presenting as disorders
other toxic states of behavior, cognition, or mood may, on
careful physical examination, have a
What can we conclude from these informal clear relationship to a temporary toxic
behavioral observations? state
- They allow the clinicians to make a - Ex: hyperthyroidism may have the effect
preliminary determination of which areas of anxiety disorders
of the patient’s behavior and condition - The clinician must first assure that the
should be assessed in more detail and manifesting behavior is not due to a
more formally physical condition/physiological effects
- If psychological disorders remain a of a substance
possibility, the clinician may begin to
hypothesize which disorders might be
present. This then provides more focus
for the assessment and diagnostic
activities to come

Behavioral Assessment
- Using direct observation to formally
assess an individual’s thoughts, feelings,
and behavior in a specific situations or
contexts
- The MSE may also be employed in the
beginning of the behavioral observation
- Behavioral assessment may be preferable
to the clinical interview in cases:
Semi structured Clinical Interview o The client not being old enough
for interview
- Made up of questions that have been o The client is unable to report their
carefully phrased and tested to elicit problems and experiences
useful information in a consistent manner (sometimes people withhold
so that clinicians can be sure they have information deliberately because
inquired about the most important it is embarrassing or
aspects of particular disorders unintentionally)
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- Target behaviors are identified and - The goal of collecting this information is
observed with the goal of determining to see whether there are any obvious
the factors that seem to influence them patterns of behavior and then to design a
- Most clinicians assume that a complete treatment based on these patterns
picture of a person’s problems requires
direct observation in a naturalistic
environment
- Role-play assessment be utilized in
assessing individuals who might behave
in similar situations in their daily lives
o Helpful in hiring Self-Monitoring
- Pre-assessment may allow the clinician - The goal is to help clients monitor their
to target a behavior for assessment behavior more conveniently. When
o Allows for what tools are behaviors occur only in private, self-
used/necessary; allows to prepare monitoring is essential
what to assess and the idea of - When people observe their own behavior
what to measure to find patterns
o Journaling
o Behavior rating scale –
assessment tools before treatment
and then periodically during
treatment to assess changes in the
person’s behavior
o Brief psychiatric rating scale
- Issue with behavioral observation in
general is reactivity (changing of
- Defiance to authority (oppositional behavior when someone is observing)
defiant disorder)
Behavioral Observation (clinical eye)
ABC of Observation
- Antecedent – what happened just before
the behavior
- Behavior – behavior manifested
- Consequences – what happed afterwards
Types of Behavioral Observation
- Informal observation – relies on the Psychological Testing
observer’s recollection, as well as
interpretation of the events (w/o Projective Tests
assessment instruments, simple - Rorschach Inkblot Tests (RIT)
observations) o The psychological x-ray
- Formal observation – identifying
o Was widely used, but was also
specific behaviors that are observable
and measurable (w/ assessment controversial due to the lack of
instruments; has structure) early data on reliability and
- Operational definition – clarifies the validity
behavior o Issues were addressed in the
- Once the target behavior is selected and Exner Scoring System – John
defined, an observer writes down each Exner
time it occurs, along with what happened o Developed by Hermann
just before (antecedent) and just after Rorschach
(consequence)
ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY
o Created by dropping ink onto a - Cronbach’s alpha – is high and the
piece of paper and folding it questions are repetitive; high in
resulting in a unique bilateral consistency
symmetric form on white - Self-report questionnaires that assess
background personality traits
o Consisted of 10 cards, 5 were - Relies on the empirical approach rather
black, 2 contained black, red, and than theories for interpretation
grey, and 3 contained pastel - Minnesota Multiphasic Personality
colors with different shades Inventory (MMPI)
o True/false self-report
questionnaire which measures for
personality traits and
psychopathology
o Patters of responses are examined
- Validity scales
- Clinical scales –
psychological processes

- Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

o Asks client to tell a story about
the pictures presented
o Based on the assumption that
people will reveal their
unconscious mental processes in
their stories about the pictures
o Is the next most well-known
projective test after the Rorschach
o Developed by Henry Murray
and Christina Morgan
o Pictures/photos were utilized as
the projective stimuli (consists of
30 pictures cards, and 1 blank
card)
o Respondents are asked to tell a - Questioned in board exam
story about the picture they are
shown
o Has variations such as the Child
Apperception Test (CAT) and
Senior Apperception Test (SAT)
Issues with Projective Testing
- Controversial as it is rooted in
psychoanalytic theory
- Relative lack of reliability and validity
makes them less useful as diagnostic
tests - Basic Personality Inventory and 16PF
Personality Inventories (Personality Factors)
ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY
- Deviation IQ – statistically analyze the
age of the test taker; comparing with
similar age
o Norm based

Verbal scales – measures vocabulary,

knowledge of facts, short-term memory, and
verbal reasoning
Performance scales – assess psychomotor
abilities, nonverbal reasoning, and ability to
Intelligence Testing learn new relationships
The Binet-Simon Scale Neuropsychological Testing
- The first test of intelligence can be - Assess the brain dysfunction by
tranced back to Alfred Binet and observing the effects of the dysfunction
Theodore Simon’s Binet-Simon Scale in on the person’s ability to perform certain
1904 tasks
- Was used to identify individuals with
intellectual disability in French schools. Bender Visual-Motor Gestalt Test
This allowed for these learners to benefit - Originally published by Lauretta
from remedial help Bender in 1938
- 2nd edition was published by Gary
Brannigan and Scott Decker in 2003
- Measures visual-motor integration skills
in children and adults from 4 to 85 years
of age (Bender II)
- Useful for screening for when brain
dysfunction is suspected
- The original Bender was less
sophisticated as it cannot determine the
nature or location of the
problem/impairment
- The Bender II included special
populations in its test construction to
account for clinical cases
- Also, a projective assessment
- Has two phases, the copy phase and the
recall phase
- The examiner shall show the stimulus
cards to the examinee and the examinee
will then be asked to copy each design
into a blank sheet of paper – copy phase
- Afterwards, the examinee is asked to
redraw the design from the memory –
recall phase
ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY

- When in doubt, always choose the lower

score - Measures executive functioning and
motor skills
Halsteid-Reitan Neuropsychological Battery
Neuroimaging
- Created by Ward Halstead and Ralph
Reitan - Refers to taking accurate pictures of the
- One of the most widely used fixed structure and function of the brain
neuropsychological battery that can o Examining brain structures
identify the nature and the area of brain o Mapping brain functioning
impairment 80% of the time through blood flow
- Generally, requires a full work day to
complete Brain Structure
- Evaluate various areas of functioning Computerized Axial Tomography (CAT
among adolescence and adults Scan/CT scan)
- Standardization sample included more
than 10,000 individuals - Utilizes multiple X-rays from various
angles to obtain an image
Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery - Non-invasive and useful in locating brain
- Created by Alexandr Luria at Nebraska tumors, brain injuries, and other
University structural and anatomical abnormalities
- Contains clinical scales designed to - Can pose a risk of cell damage due to
assess cognitive processes and functions repeated exposure to radiation
- Analysis of scores may lead to Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
judgement as to whether
neuropsychological impairments exists - High-strength magnetic field excites the
and what area of the brain is affected brain tissue altering the protons in the
- Generally, 30% faster to administer hydrogen atoms. These alterations are
compared to the Halsteid-Reitan measured along with the time it takes the
protons to relax to normal
These are reliable tools in detecting brain - Areas with lesions or damage are shown
damage. where the signal is lighter or darker
- False positives – walang problema pero Brain Functioning
may nadetect the problema
- False negatives – merong problema pero Positron emission tomography (PET) scan
hindi nadetect - Patients are injected with a radioactive
tracker substance attached to radioactive
isotopes that reacts to blood, oxygen, or
glucose
- When parts of the brain become active,
blood, oxygen, and glucose rushes to
these areas of the brain creating
“hotspots” picked up by the detectors
that identify the location of the isotopes
- Limitations: expensive
ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY
- Useful in supplementing the MRI and the
CT scan by localizing sites of brain
trauma that are often from the results in
brain injury or stroke, also can detect
brain tumors
Diagnosing Psychological Disorders
Single Photon Emission Computed
Tomography (SPECT)
- Works similar to a PET scan, but uses
different tracer substances
- Less accurate than the PET scan but,
more affordable to maintain
o Because of this, it is used more Strategies in diagnosis and treatment:
often than the PET scans
Ideographic strategy
Functional MRI (FMRI)
- Gives emphasis on the unique
- Allows for real time monitoring of how characteristics of an individual
the brain functions such as changes in - Allows us to tailor our treatment to the
oxygen level person
- Most common FMRI techniques utilizes - Determine what is unique about an
the Blood-Oxygen-Level-Dependent- individual’s personality, cultural
FMRI (BOLD-FMRI) background, or circumstances
- Different disorders may manifest
Psychophysiological Assessment differently from individual to individual
- Refers to measuring changes in the and may therefore allow us to create our
nervous system that reflect emotional or own treatment program from one person
psychological events to another
o Use of Electroencephalogram Nomothetic strategy
(EGG) to reveal brain wave
activity - Is our understanding of the general class
- EGG measures electrical activity in the of problems/disorders to which the
head from specific groups of neurons to presenting problem belongs
reveal brain wave activity - Allows us to understand the nature of
o Alpha waves – associated with disorders which allows us to classify
calmness and relaxation them (identity diagnostic features/criteria
o Delta waves – associated with and allows us to classify them)
nocturnal panic (happens during - Universal understanding of disorders
sleep) o DSM5
o Bearing of panic disorders; Key Terms
allows to further look into the
nature or etiology of Classification – referring simply to any effort to
psychopathological disorders construct groups or categories and to assign
- Other means of psychophysiological objects or people to these categories on that
assessment (often used in the study of basis of their shared attributes or relations
psychological dysfunctions such as (nomothetic strategy)
erectile dysfunction and vaginismus)
Taxonomy – classification of entities for
o Heart rate monitoring (stress,
scientific purposes
fight and flight responses)
o Respiration (breathing) Nosology – apply a taxonomic system to
o Sweat gland monitoring psychological or medical phenomena or other
(electrodermal responding) clinical areas
o Biofeedback
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Nomenclature – description of the names or - Alternative to the categorical and
labels of the disorders that make up the nosology dimensional approaches, which combines
(ex: anxiety and mood disorders) both approaches
- Certain essential characteristics are
- “nominal” – existing in name identified for classification, but allows
for nonessential variations
- DSM5 utilizes this approach (severity)
- Many possible features or properties of
the disorder are listed, and any candidate
must meet enough of them to fall into the
Classical Categorical Approach category
- Rooted in the biological model
- Categorize disorders depending on how
it is manifested, how/nature of
manifestation and symptomology
- Originated from the work of Emil
Kraepelin and the Biological Tradition
of Psychopathology
- Assumes that every diagnosis has an
underlying pathophysiological cause Reliability – consistency (consistently diagnose
(e.g., bacterial infection/brain damage) similar disorders)
- Assumes that each disorder is
fundamentally different from each other Validity – measure and diagnose the right
o Depression is fundamentally disorder; something measures what it is designed
different from anxiety to measure
- To understand the cause of symptoms is - Construct validity – signs and
to know what treatment will be effective symptoms chosen as criteria for the
- This approach is inappropriate to the diagnostic category are consistently
complexity of psychopathological associated or “go together” and what
disorders they identify differs from other
- Limitation: has no dimensionality categories
o Familial aggression – disorder
would be found among the
patient’s relatives
- Predictive validity – predict the course
of the disorder and the likely effect of
one treatment or another; predict the
outcome of the disorder
- Criterion validity – outcome is the
Dimensional Approach criterion by which we judge the
usefulness of the diagnostic category
- Assumes that mood, cognition, and - Content validity – if you create criteria
behavior can be quantified on a scale for a diagnosis, it should reflect the way
(e.g., “from 1 to 10, how depressed do most experts in the field think; need to
you feel?”) get the label right
- Was previously applied to personality
disorders, but outcome was generally Pre-DSM (Diagnosis before 1980)
unsatisfactory - Early attempt of classification was
- Most theorists have not been able to pioneered by the like of Kraepelin
agree on the numbers of dimension for o Dementia praecox –
psychological disorders deterioration of the brain that
Prototypical Approach sometimes occur with advancing
age (dementia) and develops
ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY
earlier than it is supposed to, or - The DSM-IV-TR made minor changes
“prematurely” (praecox) to some of the criteria to improve
o Manic depressive psychosis – consistency
bipolar disorder
International Classification of Diseases
- Created by the World Health
Organization (WHO)
- The ICD-6 in 1948 was the first ICD
version to classify mental disorders
- Currently we are on the 10th edition
(ICD-10) transitioning to the 11th (ICD-
11) which came into effect on January 1,
2022 1) Any major disorders that are diagnosed
(major depression, PTSD, schizophrenia;
manifests in the first axis)
2) MR – intellectual disability
3) Basic/general medical condition (cancer)
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental 4) Context of the patient that they are in
Disorders I and II (environmental factors, stressors, etc.)
5) Meant to indicate the level of an
- The DSM-I did not have much influence
individual on a global scale (0 – an
when it was published in 1952, but
individual is unable to take care of
gained traction in the later years of the
him/herself; score of 100 – better
1960s
functioning)
- The DSM-II was published in 1968, but
did not align with the ICD
- Both early versions of the DSM lacked
precision and heavily relied on DSM-5
unproven theories and had little - Removed the axial system due to the lack
reliability of reliability and poor clinical utility
DSM-III/III-R - Integrated axes I to III account for
mental and other medical diagnoses
- The DSM-III/III-R departed radically - Was designed to be compatible with the
from the original versions, utilizing an ICD-11
atheoretical approach - Was largely unchanged from the DSM-
- Specified the criteria for identifying IV, introduced new disorders, and others
disorders making it possible to study its were reclassified
reliability and validity (still had issues - Includes rating scales for severity,
with low reliability) frequency, or duration of specific
- Widely received due to the neutrality for disorders (for screening in assessment)
presuming the cause of diagnosis o Cross-cutting symptoms measure
DSM-IV/IV-TRR (DSM-IV/IV-TR) level 1
o Clinical-rated dimensions of
- Was made to be compatible with the psychosis symptoms severity
ICD-10 o WHO Disability assessment
- Relied as little as possible on expert schedule 2.0
consensus, but instead based on sound - Incorporates social and cultural
scientific data consideration through cultural
- Eliminated the distinction between formulation (that affect the development
organically based disorders and of the disorders such as protective and
psychologically based disorders risk factors, collective and individualist
societies)
ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY
- Cultural formulation allows disorders
to be described from the perspective of
the client’s personal experiences and in
terms of their primary social and cultural
group
Cultural Formulation Interview (CFI) - a
brief semi structured interview for assessing
cultural factors in the clinical encounter that may
be used with any individual Hypothesis – educated guess of the researchers
and what they expect to find
- Cultural identity of the individual
- Cultural conceptualization of distress – Research design – refers to the plan for testing
idea of distress of the person (being the hypothesis
alone, in a large or social group,
Variables – any entity that can take on values
psychosocial stressors)
(dependent, independent/continuous, categorical,
- Psychosocial stressors and cultural
and nominal/demographic variables)
features of vulnerability and resilience
- Cultural features of the relationship - Independent variable – variable that is
between the individual and clinician manipulated to influence the dependent
- Overall cultural assessment variable
- Dependent variable –
changes/outcomes from the manipulation
of the independent variable

- Internal validity – the extent in which

the results of the study can be attributed
Changes from the DSM-5 to the DSM-5-TR to the independent variable
o These are inversely related
- Additional of diagnostic entities and
because to ensure internal validity
symptom codes
you have to control the situation,
o Prolonged grief disorder,
to ensure that there are no
unspecified mood disorder, and external factors that affect the
stimulant-induced mild results
neurocognitive disorder
- Changes in diagnostic criteria and in - External validity – extent in which the
specific definitions in more than 70 study can be applied outside of the
disorders immediate study (generalizability)
- Updated terminologies o Results are applicable in the real-
world setting that there are a lot
of factors that affect the data and
CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH METHODS the individual
Issues with Internal and External Validity
- Confounding variables refers to factors
occurring in the study that make the
results uninterpretable because a
variable other than the independent
ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY
variable has affected the dependent - Focuses on an intensive investigation on
variable one or more individual/s who display
- To ensure internal validity behavioral and/or physical patterns
o Control groups o Allows for a comprehensive
o Randomization in research understanding of a person, such
(sample) as unique traits, behaviors,
o Analogue models beliefs, etc.
- Patient uniformity myth refers to the - Important in the history of psychology
tendency to see all participants as (such as Freud’s and sexuality research
homogenous group. This leads to an of Johnson and Masters)
issue in which important differences - Relies heavily on the researcher’s
among individuals are overshadowed observation (does not rely on scientific
by the overall group score observation)
- Limitations: there are many
Ensuring Internal Validity confounding variables and it does not
- Employing control and experimental have the control of other research
groups methods
o A control group is a group of Research by Correlation
people similar to the experimental
group in every way, except that - Correlational research answers the
they do not receive treatment question, if two variables are statistically
- Randomizing the assignment of people related
improves internal validity by eliminating - A correlation only establishes
systematic bias in assignments (every relationship between the variables, but
person has an equal change that they may does not imply causation
be in the control or experimental group, - Correlation coefficient ranges from
eliminating the bias in sampling) +1.00 to -1.00
- Utilizing analogue models allows for the o Positive correlation – both
research to create controlled conditions variables go up as well as go
that are comparable to the phenomenon down
of the study o No correlation
o Negative correlation – variable 1
Statistical and Clinical Significance goes up, one variable goes down
- Statistical significance – the measure of
probability being compared to the
acceptable levels of uncertainty
o Significant relationship
o Significant differences
- Clinical significance – whether or not
the manifestations of behavior is
meaningful for those affected (such as
dysfunction and impairment)

Research by Experiment
- An experiment involves the manipulation
Types of Research Methods of an independent variable and the
observation of its effects on the
dependent variable
- Group experimental design
o Clinical trial refers to a form or
group experimental design which
focuses on the treatment
Case study method psychological disorders
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- Placebo control groups – a group which - A withdrawal design gives researchers a
was given an inactive version of better sense of whether or not the
treatment (ex. Placebo pills instead of treatment itself caused the behavior or
medication) change
- Single- and double-blind control – a
variant of the placebo control procedure
in which participants (single blind) or
both researchers and participants (double
blind) are unaware of which is the
placebo group (eliminates the bias in the
study)
- Comparative treatment - See if the behavior is due to the
o Implementing multiple treatments intervention or not
- Withdrawal design is not always
for comparison
appropriate (there are some cases that the
o Ex. Comparing two different
removal of treatment is not possible)
treatment models for anxiety
o Through the administration of
- Process research
medication
o Focuses on answering the
question “why does this work?”
Single-case Experimental Designs
- Differs from the case study method;
reduces the confounding variables
- Formalized by B.F Skinner
- Refers to the systematic study of
individuals under a variety of
experimental conditions
- In comparison to case study research,
this model implements strategies to - Multiple baseline – an experimental
improve internal validity approach in which the behaviors are
- Repeated measures – a method in which assessed at different times/situations to
the variable is measured several times establish different behaviors across
before the independent variable is settings
changed (before and after the o Ex. Setting a baseline in the
intervention/treatment)
home, and in the school setting
o Helps identify a person is doing
before and after intervention and Studying Genetics
whether the treatment accounted
- Phenotypes – the observable
for any changes
characteristics or behavior that the
individual manifests
- Genotypes – refers to the unique genetic
makeup of the individual
- Endophenotypes – genetic mechanisms
that contributes to the underlying
problems causing symptoms
o We want to understand if there
- Withdrawal design – method where a are any interaction of the genetic
baseline is established prior to makeup of the individual and
intervention, then after intervention, the their behaviors
intervention is withdrawn
o Also known as the ABAB or
reversal design
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taught to everyone ex: don’t talk to
strangers)
- Universal prevention strategies – entire
population but targets certain specific
risk factors ex: anti-bullying program
- Selective prevention – specifically
Family studies targeting groups that are at risk ex:
individuals that are at risk of substance
- Researcher examine the behavioral abuse
patterns/emotional traits in the context of - Indicated prevention – focuses on the
the family individuals that are not yet diagnosed
o Traits singled out for a study is with psychological disorders but shows
called the proband signs of the disorders (individual level)
- If there is a genetic influence,
presumably, the trait should occur more Cross-sectional Research Design
often in first-degree relatives - Cross-sectional design – compare
Adoption studies different people at different ages
o Ex. Comparing how alcohol
- Separate environmental influences from abuse develops in adolescents/
genetics adults/ elderly
o Ex: a person was adopted as a o Advantage: easier to implement
baby, but still manifested rather than the longitudinal
psychopathology similar to his design (time consuming,
brothers who were raised in their expensive)
original household - Disadvantage: Cohort effect –
Twin studies differences among cohorts in their
opinions (differences among cohorts and
- Allow researchers to get the closest their perspective/results; cannot directly
possible look of the roles of genes in compare the groups of people)
development as MZ twins (identical)
share most of their genes, while only DZ Longitudinal Research Design
twins (fraternal) only share about 50% - Follows one person, or groups of people
of their genes over time to assess changes directly
Genetic linkage analysis - Does not suffer from the cohort effect,
but can suffer from the cross-
- Refers to the principle where family generational effect (trying to generalize
disorders are studied, other inherited the findings of your study to groups that
characteristics are also assessed at the are different from your research
same time participants; results from generalized
- If a match or link is discovered between participants are no longer the same)
the inheritance of the disorder and the - Limitations
inheritance of a genetic marker, the o Costly
genes for the disorder and genetic marker o Time-consuming
are probably close together o Risky (in the instance of losing a
o Study has yet to be replicated participant)
(limitations)
Prevention Research
- Health promotion or positive
development strategies – involves the
entire population even those who are
may or may not be at risk (focusing on
preventing problems and promoting
protective behavior; behavior that is
ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY
all about the study, if they are harmed to
correct this)

Sequential research design

- Combines the longitudinal and cross-
sectional designs
- This includes repeatedly studying
different cohorts over time
- Ex: three cohorts, starting from early
childhood, middle childhood, and late
childhood (cross-sectional), following
them until adulthood (longitudinal)

Research Ethics
PAP Code of Ethics – Standard X. Research
- Rights and dignity of participants –
respect their rights and safeguard their
dignity, ensuring that they are safe and
have the right to withdraw from the study
whenever they deemed fit
- Informed consent to research –
participants consents; they must know
why they are the subjects of the study,
know how their data will be used, what
information will be released and to
whom, participants also has the right not
to give consent (not forcing them to take
part in the research; informed consent
must be understood by the participants)
- Offering inducements for research
participation – make sure that we do not
offer undue/inappropriate/excessive
rewards, financial or otherwise for
research participation which could
pressure or coarse the participants
- Deception in research – we refrain from
deception except upon when: 1) we have
determined that the use of deception is
justified by significant positive
scientific/societal benefits 2) when
effective non-deceptive alternative
procedures are not possible
- Debriefing - If we deceive participants,
we must debrief them (informing them