Clinical Psychology and Organizational Behaviour: Disorders, Assessment, Psychotherapies, Culture, Decisions and Leadership

Practice questions (17)

Attempt each one before opening the answer. Every explanation names the tempting wrong option as well as the right one, because that is where marks are lost.

1. A clinician holds that a disorder develops only when an inherited vulnerability is combined with enough life stress to trigger it. In this diathesis-stress account, the 'diathesis' refers to:

   1. A pre-existing predisposition or vulnerability that makes the disorder more likely
   2. The specific stressful life event that precipitates the episode and triggers the first symptoms
   3. The therapeutic relationship that buffers the person against a relapse
   4. The unconscious conflict uncovered during free association
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   Answer: A — A pre-existing predisposition or vulnerability that makes the disorder more likely

   In the diathesis-stress model the diathesis is the predisposing vulnerability (genetic, biological or psychological), and stress is the trigger; a disorder appears only when both are present. The tempting wrong choice names the stress — the precipitating life event — which is the second term of the model, not the diathesis. A therapeutic relationship and an unconscious conflict belong to other frameworks entirely.

2. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5 and DSM-5-TR) is published by:

   1. The World Health Organization, as part of its international disease statistics programme
   2. The American Psychological Association, the professional body representing psychologists
   3. The American Psychiatric Association, the professional body representing psychiatrists
   4. The British Psychological Society, as the standard European diagnostic manual
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   Answer: C — The American Psychiatric Association, the professional body representing psychiatrists

   The DSM is produced by the American Psychiatric Association, a body of psychiatrists. The most tempting error is the American Psychological Association — a separate organisation that happens to share the initials. The WHO publishes the ICD, not the DSM, and the British Psychological Society publishes neither.

3. Which statement correctly describes a change that DSM-5 introduced relative to DSM-IV?

   1. It replaced categorical diagnosis entirely with a purely dimensional system of continuous scores
   2. It discontinued the multiaxial (five-axis) diagnostic system that DSM-IV had used
   3. It transferred authorship of the manual from the American Psychiatric Association to the WHO
   4. It abolished the use of specified diagnostic criteria for each separate disorder
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   Answer: B — It discontinued the multiaxial (five-axis) diagnostic system that DSM-IV had used

   DSM-5 removed DSM-IV's five-axis multiaxial format, folding the information into a single list of diagnoses with separate notes on psychosocial and contextual factors. DSM-5 did not become purely dimensional — it stayed largely categorical while adding some dimensional severity ratings — so that choice overstates the change. Authorship stayed with the American Psychiatric Association, and criteria sets were kept, so both of those are false.

4. Which of the following are projective techniques of personality assessment?

   1. The Rorschach Inkblot Test
   2. The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
   3. The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
   4. The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)
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   Answer: A — The Rorschach Inkblot Test; B — The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

   Projective techniques present ambiguous stimuli — inkblots in the Rorschach, ambiguous scenes in the TAT — and infer inner states from the responses. The MMPI is an objective, fixed-item self-report inventory, and the WAIS is a standardized intelligence test, so neither is projective and both are excluded.

5. Congruence (genuineness), unconditional positive regard and empathic understanding are the three therapist-provided conditions at the centre of:

   1. Joseph Wolpe's systematic desensitization method
   2. Aaron Beck's cognitive therapy for depression
   3. Albert Ellis's rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT)
   4. Carl Rogers's client-centred (person-centred) therapy
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   Answer: D — Carl Rogers's client-centred (person-centred) therapy

   These three 'core conditions' are the heart of Carl Rogers's client-centred therapy, which is non-directive and trusts the client's own actualizing tendency. Wolpe's method uses relaxation and exposure hierarchies, Beck tests automatic thoughts against evidence, and Ellis disputes irrational beliefs — none is built on the core conditions.

6. Systematic desensitization, developed by Joseph Wolpe, reduces a phobia principally by:

   1. Pairing deep relaxation with a graded hierarchy of feared situations so that relaxation inhibits the anxiety
   2. Exposing the client to the most intensely feared situation at full strength right from the very first session, without any relaxation
   3. Interpreting the transference feelings the client directs at the therapist
   4. Disputing the irrational beliefs the client holds about the feared object
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   Answer: A — Pairing deep relaxation with a graded hierarchy of feared situations so that relaxation inhibits the anxiety

   Systematic desensitization rests on reciprocal inhibition: a response incompatible with anxiety — deep muscle relaxation — is paired with feared items presented in a graded hierarchy from mild to intense, so anxiety is progressively counter-conditioned. Confronting the worst item at once is flooding, a different technique; interpreting transference is psychodynamic; disputing irrational beliefs is REBT.

7. Both Aaron Beck's cognitive therapy and Albert Ellis's REBT target maladaptive thinking. Which statement best captures the distinction usually drawn between them?

   1. Beck relies mainly on free association and dream analysis to uncover hidden meanings, whereas Ellis relies mainly on graded relaxation hierarchies
   2. Beck treats symptoms as learned habits to be extinguished by withholding reinforcement, whereas Ellis treats them as repressed unconscious conflicts
   3. Beck collaboratively tests automatic thoughts as hypotheses against evidence, whereas Ellis more forcefully disputes irrational core beliefs
   4. Beck works only with children in school settings, whereas Ellis works only with adult clients in hospital clinics and private practice
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   Answer: C — Beck collaboratively tests automatic thoughts as hypotheses against evidence, whereas Ellis more forcefully disputes irrational core beliefs

   The standard contrast is one of style and emphasis: Beck's cognitive therapy is collaborative empiricism — client and therapist treat negative automatic thoughts as hypotheses to be tested against evidence — while Ellis's REBT actively and directly disputes irrational beliefs in the ABC framework. Free association and dream analysis are psychodynamic; extinction and unconscious conflict belong to behavioural and psychodynamic models; and neither therapy is restricted by the client's age or setting.

8. Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), a structured programme using mindfulness meditation to manage stress and pain, is most closely associated with:

   1. Aaron T. Beck
   2. Jon Kabat-Zinn
   3. Joseph Wolpe
   4. Frederick (Fritz) Perls
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   Answer: B — Jon Kabat-Zinn

   Jon Kabat-Zinn developed the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction programme, from which mindfulness-based cognitive therapy later grew. Beck founded cognitive therapy, Wolpe devised systematic desensitization, and Perls created Gestalt therapy, so none of those three is the answer.

9. Which of the following are biological (somatic) therapies for psychological disorders?

   1. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) for severe, treatment-resistant depression
   2. Lithium used as a mood stabiliser in bipolar disorder
   3. Systematic desensitization for a specific phobia
   4. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS)
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   Answer: A — Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) for severe, treatment-resistant depression; B — Lithium used as a mood stabiliser in bipolar disorder; D — Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS)

   ECT, lithium (a psychotropic mood stabiliser) and rTMS all act directly on the nervous system and are biological (somatic) treatments. Systematic desensitization is a behaviour therapy built on learning principles, not a biological one, so it is the only option excluded from the set.

10. In Edgar Schein's model of organizational culture, the deepest and least visible level — the taken-for-granted beliefs members are often unaware of — is:

    1. The visible artifacts such as dress code, office layout and company rituals
    2. The published mission statement and the annual strategy documents
    3. The espoused values and goals that members openly state
    4. The basic underlying assumptions about how the world and the organization work
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    Answer: D — The basic underlying assumptions about how the world and the organization work

    Schein's three levels run from visible artifacts, through espoused values, to the basic underlying assumptions — the unconscious, taken-for-granted beliefs that form culture's true core. Artifacts are the most visible layer and espoused values the middle layer, so naming either mistakes a surface level for the deepest; a mission statement is a particular espoused value, not the deepest level.

11. A manager, lacking the time and information to evaluate every option, picks the first alternative that is 'good enough' rather than the mathematically best one. This behaviour is captured by:

    1. Herbert Simon's bounded rationality and satisficing
    2. The fully rational, classical model of optimal decision making
    3. Irving Janis's concept of groupthink in cohesive teams
    4. Victor Vroom's expectancy theory of work motivation
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    Answer: A — Herbert Simon's bounded rationality and satisficing

    Choosing the first acceptable option instead of optimising is 'satisficing', the core of Herbert Simon's bounded rationality: real decision makers are limited by information and cognition. The classical rational model assumes exactly the optimisation the manager does not attempt; groupthink concerns group consensus pressure; and expectancy theory explains motivation, not this decision shortcut.

12. A cohesive committee, eager to agree, convinces itself that everyone supports the plan, and members who privately doubt it keep silent. In Irving Janis's analysis, this illustrates which symptom of groupthink?

    1. The deliberate appointment of a devil's advocate to attack the emerging plan
    2. A wide and systematic search among many genuinely competing alternatives
    3. An illusion of unanimity reinforced by self-censorship of doubts
    4. The division of the task into independent subgroups that report separately
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    Answer: C — An illusion of unanimity reinforced by self-censorship of doubts

    Janis lists the illusion of unanimity and self-censorship among the symptoms of groupthink: members assume silence means consent and suppress their own doubts. A devil's advocate, a broad search of alternatives and independent subgroups are remedies that counter groupthink, not symptoms of it, so each of those is wrong.

13. Which of the following are cognitive biases or traps that can distort decision making in organizations?

    1. Anchoring on an initial figure when making later estimates
    2. Confirmation bias — seeking mainly evidence that supports a favoured option
    3. Escalation of commitment to a visibly failing course of action
    4. Reciprocal inhibition between relaxation and anxiety
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    Answer: A — Anchoring on an initial figure when making later estimates; B — Confirmation bias — seeking mainly evidence that supports a favoured option; C — Escalation of commitment to a visibly failing course of action

    Anchoring, confirmation bias and escalation of commitment are all well-documented distortions of organizational judgement. Reciprocal inhibition is the learning principle behind Wolpe's systematic desensitization — a therapy mechanism, not a decision bias — so it is the only option that does not belong.

14. In French and Raven's framework, the power a manager holds simply because of the formal position she occupies in the hierarchy is:

    1. Expert power, grounded in specialised knowledge and technical skill
    2. Legitimate power, grounded in the formal right to direct that comes with the office
    3. Referent power, grounded in others' identification with and liking for her
    4. Coercive power, grounded in the ability to impose punishments
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    Answer: B — Legitimate power, grounded in the formal right to direct that comes with the office

    Legitimate power flows from the formal position itself — the right to direct that comes with the office. Expert power rests on knowledge, referent power on identification and liking, and coercive power on the ability to punish; each is a different base among French and Raven's five, so none fits a power that comes purely from rank.

15. Fiedler's contingency model of leadership holds that leadership effectiveness depends on:

    1. Continuously adjusting one's own leadership style to match each individual follower's readiness or developmental maturity level
    2. Clarifying the paths to the goal and removing the obstacles that followers encounter along the way
    3. Possessing a fixed set of inborn personal traits that make someone an effective leader in any situation
    4. The match between the leader's style, indexed by the least-preferred-coworker score, and the favourableness of the situation
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    Answer: D — The match between the leader's style, indexed by the least-preferred-coworker score, and the favourableness of the situation

    Fiedler indexes a leader's orientation with the least-preferred-coworker (LPC) scale and argues that task-oriented and relationship-oriented leaders each perform best in situations of differing favourableness — effectiveness is the fit between the relatively fixed style and the situation. Adapting to follower readiness is Hersey and Blanchard's situational model; clearing the path to goals is House's path-goal theory; inborn traits are the trait approach Fiedler moved beyond.

16. According to Bernard Bass, which of the following are components of transformational leadership?

    1. Idealized influence — serving as a role model whom followers admire and trust
    2. Inspirational motivation — articulating an appealing and meaningful vision
    3. Intellectual stimulation — encouraging followers to question assumptions and innovate
    4. Contingent reward — exchanging specified rewards for the meeting of targets
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    Answer: A — Idealized influence — serving as a role model whom followers admire and trust; B — Inspirational motivation — articulating an appealing and meaningful vision; C — Intellectual stimulation — encouraging followers to question assumptions and innovate

    Bass's transformational leadership has four components — idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individualized consideration. Contingent reward belongs instead to transactional leadership, which exchanges rewards for performance, so it is the one option that does not fit the set.

17. A supervisor cancels a disliked weekend reporting duty for team members as soon as they begin filing their logs on time, and timely filing then increases. In operant terms, the removal of the disliked duty is:

    1. Negative reinforcement, because removing an unpleasant consequence strengthens the behaviour
    2. Punishment, because the supervisor is responding to the team's past failure to comply
    3. Positive reinforcement, because a pleasant stimulus is deliberately being added right after the behaviour occurs
    4. Extinction, because a previously reinforced behaviour is no longer being rewarded
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    Answer: A — Negative reinforcement, because removing an unpleasant consequence strengthens the behaviour

    Removing an aversive stimulus (the disliked duty) to make a behaviour more frequent is negative reinforcement — 'negative' means something is taken away, 'reinforcement' means the behaviour increases. It is not punishment, which decreases behaviour; not positive reinforcement, which adds a pleasant stimulus rather than removing an unpleasant one; and not extinction, where reinforcement simply stops and the behaviour fades.