NBCC National Counselor Examination (NCE)

According to Piaget, a child who can perform mental operations on concrete objects and understands conservation but struggles with abstract hypothetical reasoning is in which stage?

• ASensorimotor
• BPreoperational
• CConcrete operational
• DFormal operational

Kohlberg's preconventional level of moral reasoning is BEST characterized by:

• ADecisions based on universal ethical principles and conscience
• BDecisions oriented toward avoiding punishment and obtaining rewards
• CDecisions based on maintaining social order and law
• DDecisions based on gaining the approval of others

Ainsworth's Strange Situation procedure is used to assess:

• AA child's IQ and cognitive ability
• BAttachment style between an infant and caregiver
• CMoral reasoning level
• DTemperament and sensory processing

In Bowlby and Worden's models of grief, which statement is MOST accurate?

• AGrief always proceeds through fixed, linear stages that every client completes in order
• BMourning involves tasks such as accepting the reality of the loss and adjusting to a worl…
• CComplicated grief is diagnosed if any sadness persists beyond two weeks
• DCounselors should encourage clients to avoid reminders of the deceased to speed recovery

Sue and Sue describe multicultural counseling competence as having three components. They are:

• ADiagnosis, treatment, and referral
• BAwareness, knowledge, and skills
• CEmpathy, genuineness, and warmth
• DAssessment, planning, and termination

A counselor incorrectly assumes that all members of a client's ethnic group share identical values and communication styles. This error is BEST described as:

• ACultural encapsulation through overgeneralization and stereotyping
• BAppropriate use of nomothetic data
• CCultural humility
• DEtic-emic balance

The ACA Advocacy Competencies emphasize that counselors should:

• AAvoid social or systemic issues and remain strictly neutral
• BAct on behalf of and alongside clients to address systemic barriers to well-being
• CMake all decisions for clients to protect them
• DLimit advocacy to writing insurance appeals

Which counseling approach, founded by Albert Ellis, holds that emotional disturbance is caused largely by irrational beliefs rather than by events themselves?

• APerson-centered therapy
• BRational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT)
• CGestalt therapy
• DReality therapy

Reality therapy, which focuses on present behavior, personal responsibility, and the WDEP system, was developed by:

• ACarl Rogers
• BFritz Perls
• CWilliam Glasser
• DAaron Beck

In Carl Rogers's person-centered theory, the three 'core conditions' necessary for therapeutic change are:

• AInterpretation, transference analysis, and free association
• BUnconditional positive regard, empathic understanding, and congruence (genuineness)
• CDisputation, homework, and psychoeducation
• DModeling, reinforcement, and shaping

A counselor asks a client, 'If you woke up tomorrow and the problem were solved, what would be different?' This 'miracle question' is a hallmark technique of:

• APsychoanalysis
• BSolution-focused brief therapy
• CExposure therapy
• DGestalt therapy

The 'empty chair' technique, in which a client speaks to an imagined person or part of self, is most associated with:

• ABehavior therapy
• BGestalt therapy
• CReality therapy
• DNarrative therapy

In operant conditioning, removing an unpleasant stimulus to INCREASE a desired behavior is an example of:

• APositive punishment
• BNegative reinforcement
• CPositive reinforcement
• DExtinction

A counselor uses motivational interviewing with a client who is ambivalent about change. A core principle of MI is to:

• AConfront and persuade the client until resistance breaks down
• BRoll with resistance and evoke the client's own reasons for change
• CAssign the change goal and require a written contract immediately
• DInterpret the unconscious roots of the client's ambivalence

Systematic desensitization for a specific phobia combines relaxation training with:

• AFlooding the client with the most feared stimulus first
• BGradual exposure to a hierarchy of feared stimuli paired with relaxation
• CDisputing irrational beliefs about the feared object
• DFree association about early childhood fears

According to Tuckman's model of group development, the stage characterized by conflict, competition, and challenges to leadership is:

• AForming
• BStorming
• CNorming
• DPerforming