Due Monday by 8:30pm Introduction to Abnormal Psychology
Chapter Three
Assessment and Classification of Abnormal Behavior
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Reliability and Validity
- Reliability:
- Yields the same results repeatedly under the same circumstances
- Test-retest reliability:
- Same results when given at two different points in time
- Internal consistency:
- Various parts of measure yield similar or consistent results
- Interrater reliability:
- Consistency of responses when different raters administer measure
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Reliability and Validity (cont’d.)
- Validity:
- Performs the function it was designed to perform
- Predictive validity
- Is measure able to predict how a person will behave, respond, or perform
- Criterion-related validity
- Is measure related to phenomenon in question
- Construct validity
- Is measure related to phenomena related to measure
- Content validity
- Is measure representative of measured phenomenon
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Reliability and Validity (cont’d.)
- Standardization:
- Crucial to reliability and validity of tests
- Administration of all testing requires that common rules and procedures are followed
- Requires a comparison group to which an individual’s test performance can be compared
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Assessment of Abnormal Behavior
- Assessment:
- Process of gathering information and drawing conclusions about an individual’s traits, skills, abilities, emotional functioning, and psychological problems
- Principal means of assessment:
- Observations
- Interviews
- Psychological tests and inventories
- Neurological tests
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Assessment of Abnormal Behavior (cont’d.)
- Observations:
- Controlled (analogue) observations:
- Made in laboratory, clinic, or other contrived setting
- Naturalistic observations:
- Made in natural setting (schoolroom, office, hospital ward, home)
- Usually in conjunction with an interview
- Observe appearance and behavior
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Assessment of Abnormal Behavior (cont’d.)
- Interviews:
- Observe client and collect data about the person’s life history, current situation, and personality
- Analyze:
- Verbal behavior
- Nonverbal behavior
- Content
- Process of communication
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Assessment of Abnormal Behavior (cont’d.)
- Interviews: standardization and structure
- Common rules and procedures
- Vary in degree of structure and freedom of response, and manner of conduct
- Formal standardized interview: highly structured
- Mental status examination: evaluate individual’s cognitive, psychological, and behavioral functioning
- Fallible and subjective
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Assessment of Abnormal Behavior (cont’d.)
- Psychological tests and inventories:
- Standardized instruments used to assess:
- Personality
- Maladaptive behavior
- Social skills
- Intellectual abilities
- Vocational interests
- Cognitive impairment
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Assessment of Abnormal Behavior (cont’d.)
- Projective personality tests:
- Test taker is presented with ambiguous stimuli and is asked to respond to them in some way
- Rorschach Technique
- Wikipedia and the Rorschach
- Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
- Sentence-completion test
- Draw-a-person test
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Assessment of Abnormal Behavior (cont’d.)
- Problems with projective personality tests:
- Analysis and interpretation of responses are subject to wide variation
- Reliability
- Validity
- Subjectivity
- Norms
- Cultural relevance
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Assessment of Abnormal Behavior (cont’d.)
- Self-report inventories:
- Test taker answers specific written questions or selects specific responses from a list of alternatives.
- Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI and MMPI-2)
- Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)
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Assessment of Abnormal Behavior (cont’d.)
Figure 3-1 The ten MMPI-2 clinical scales and sample MMPI-2 tests Shown here are the MMPI-2 clinical scales and a few of the items that appear on them. As an example, answering “no” or “false” (rather than “yes” or “true”) to the item “I have a good appetite” would result in a higher scale score for hypochondriasis, depression, and hysteria.
Source: Adapted from Dahlstrom & Welsch, (1965). These items from the original MMPI remain unchanged in the MMPI-2.
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Assessment of Abnormal Behavior (cont’d.)
- Intelligence tests:
- Primary functions:
- Obtain intelligence quotient (IQ), or estimate of current level of cognitive functioning
- Secondary function:
- Provide clinical data
- Wechsler scales
- Stanford-Binet scales
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Assessment of Abnormal Behavior (cont’d.)
- Criticisms of intelligence tests:
- Popularized as measuring innate intelligence, but actually reflect cultural and social factors
- Predictive validity
- Disagreement over criterion variables
- Misses multidimensional attributes of intelligence
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Assessment of Abnormal Behavior (cont’d.)
ABC Video: Measure of IQ Can IQ tests accurately measure how smart you are or determine your future success? The theory of mutiple intelligence may explain why traditional IQ tests may not always be an accurate measure of intelligence.
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Assessment of Abnormal Behavior (cont’d.)
- Tests for cognitive impairment:
- Detect cognitive impairment
- Bender-Gestalt Visual-Motor Test
- Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Test Battery
- Have been found to be effective and valid in evaluating impairment due to brain damage
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Assessment of Abnormal Behavior (cont’d.)
Figure 3-3 The nine Bender designs The figures presented to participants are shown on the left. The distorted figures drawn by participants that are possibly indicative of brain damage are shown on the right.
Source: Bender, (1938)
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Assessment of Abnormal Behavior (cont’d.)
- Neurological tests:
- Increase diagnostic accuracy when coupled with psychological tests
- Electroencephalograph (EEG)
- X-ray studies
- Computerized axial tomography (CT) scan
- Positron emission tomography (PET) scan
- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
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Assessment of Abnormal Behavior (cont’d.)
ABC Video: MRI as a Lie Detector Learn about the experimental use of Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging to map activity in the region of the brain used for deception.
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Assessment of Abnormal Behavior (cont’d.)
- Can we accurately assess the status of members of different cultural groups?
- Concepts not equivalent across cultures
- Scores on instruments not equivalent in cross-cultural research
- Symptom expression varies from culture to culture
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Classification of Abnormal Behavior
- Classification system:
- Provides distinct categories, indicators, and nomenclature for different patterns of behavior, thought processes, and emotional disturbances
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Classification of Abnormal Behavior (cont’d)
- Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)
- Early studies of DSM:
- Low reliability and validity
- Did not help with etiology, process, treatment, or prognosis of mental disorders
- DSM-I (1952): Identified 106 disorders
- DSM-II (1968): Identified 182 disorder
- Revisions (DSM-II, DSM-III, DSM-III-R, DSM-IV, DSM-IV-TR) increase reliability and validity
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Classification of Abnormal Behavior (cont’d.)
- DSM-V:
- Dimensional system: disorders lie on a continuum with “normality” at one end
- “Risk syndromes”: milder forms of disorders
- Ratings: “none,” “slight,” “mild,” “moderate,” “severe”
- Clear diagnostic and categorizing guidelines
- Comorbidity: the concurrence of different disorders suffered by a patient at one time
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Classification of Abnormal Behavior (cont’d.)
- Evaluation of the DSM classification system
- Positive aspects of DSM-V:
- Moves away from a categorical system and towards a dimensional system
- Hopes of improving reliability and validity
- More clarity regarding differential diagnoses
- Increase clinical utility
- Emphasis on cross-cultural assessment
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Classification of Abnormal Behavior (cont’d.)
- Evaluation of the DSM classification system
- Criticisms of DSM-V:
- Viewing disorder on continuum
- Diagnostic categories influenced by outside pressure (pharmaceuticals)
- Medicalizing behavioral problems
- Controversial diagnoses
- Cross-cultural applicability
- Emphasis on deficits
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Classification of Abnormal Behavior (cont’d.)
- Objections to classification and labeling:
- Can lead to overgeneralization, stigmas, and stereotypes
- Can lead to treating someone differently
- Individuals who are labeled tend to believe they have those characteristics
- Labels may not provide precise, functional information
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