Free EPPP Exam Flashcards

Dopamine influences reward, motor control, and is implicated in psychosis; serotonin affects mood, sleep, and appetite; GABA is the primary inhibitory transmitter; glutamate is the primary excitatory transmitter; acetylcholine supports memory and is reduced in Alzheimer disease.

For most right-handed people, the left hemisphere is dominant for language (Broca's and Wernicke's areas) and the right hemisphere for visuospatial processing and prosody. Damage location predicts the specific deficit pattern.

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors block serotonin reuptake, increasing synaptic availability. Therapeutic mood effects typically take several weeks despite immediate receptor action, which is important for managing patient expectations and adherence.

Typical (first-generation) antipsychotics carry higher risk of extrapyramidal symptoms and tardive dyskinesia. Atypicals carry higher metabolic risk (weight gain, dyslipidemia, diabetes). Neuroleptic malignant syndrome is a rare, life-threatening reaction.

The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis releases cortisol in response to stress. Chronic activation is associated with hippocampal effects, immune changes, and is implicated in depression and PTSD.

Classical conditioning pairs a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus to produce a reflexive response (Pavlov). Operant conditioning changes voluntary behavior through consequences—reinforcement and punishment (Skinner).

Variable-ratio schedules produce the highest, most resistant response rates (e.g., gambling). Fixed schedules produce post-reinforcement pauses. Intermittent reinforcement makes behavior more resistant to extinction than continuous reinforcement.

Negative reinforcement removes an aversive stimulus to increase a behavior; punishment decreases a behavior. They are commonly confused—negative reinforcement is not punishment because it strengthens responding.

Working memory holds limited information briefly for processing; declarative (explicit) memory stores facts and events; procedural (implicit) memory stores skills. The hippocampus is critical for forming new declarative memories.

The discomfort from holding inconsistent cognitions or acting against one's beliefs, motivating attitude or behavior change to reduce the tension (Festinger). It explains attitude shifts after counter-attitudinal behavior.

Performance improves with arousal up to an optimal point, then declines. The optimal arousal level is lower for complex tasks and higher for simple ones, explaining why moderate stress can aid simple performance.

The tendency to overattribute others' behavior to internal dispositions while underweighting situational factors. People show the opposite (situational) bias when explaining their own behavior—the actor-observer asymmetry.

Conformity is matching a group norm (Asch); compliance is yielding to a request; obedience is following an authority's order (Milgram). They differ in the source and directness of social pressure.

The likelihood that any individual helps decreases as the number of bystanders increases, largely through diffusion of responsibility and pluralistic ignorance.

Cultural competence is knowledge and skill working across cultures; cultural humility adds ongoing self-reflection and recognition of power imbalances. Both are required to avoid imposing the clinician's cultural assumptions.

Integration (maintaining heritage and adopting new culture) is generally associated with the best adjustment; marginalization (rejecting both) with the worst. Assimilation and separation fall between.

The risk of confirming a negative stereotype about one's group can impair performance under evaluative conditions, independent of ability—an important consideration when interpreting assessment results.

Eight lifespan stages, each a developmental crisis (e.g., trust vs. mistrust in infancy, identity vs. role confusion in adolescence, integrity vs. despair in late life). Resolution shapes later adjustment.

Sensorimotor (object permanence), preoperational (egocentrism, lack of conservation), concrete operational (conservation, logical operations on concrete items), and formal operational (abstract reasoning).

Strange Situation classifications: secure, anxious-ambivalent, avoidant, and disorganized. Early attachment is associated with later relational patterns and emotion regulation.

Preconventional (avoid punishment, self-interest), conventional (social approval, law and order), and postconventional (social contract, universal ethical principles) levels of moral reasoning.

Inborn behavioral style (Thomas & Chess) interacts with the environment; adjustment depends on the match between a child's temperament and caregiving demands, not temperament alone.

Resilience reflects the balance of risk factors (e.g., adversity, abuse) and protective factors (e.g., a supportive relationship, competence). Outcomes depend on this interaction, not single causes.

Reliability is the consistency of measurement; validity is whether a test measures what it intends. A test can be reliable but not valid, but it cannot be valid without being reliable.

Content (representativeness of items), criterion (concurrent and predictive correlation with an outcome), and construct (measures the theoretical trait). Construct validity is the overarching framework.

Estimates the band of error around an observed score due to imperfect reliability. It is used to build confidence intervals so a single score is interpreted as a range, not an exact value.

Sensitivity is the proportion of true cases correctly identified (few false negatives, good for screening). Specificity is the proportion of non-cases correctly identified (few false positives, good for confirming).

Norm-referenced scores compare a person to a normative sample (percentiles, standard scores). Criterion-referenced scores compare performance to a fixed standard regardless of others' performance.

Systematically distinguishing disorders with overlapping presentations (e.g., bipolar vs. borderline, ADHD vs. anxiety) using course, criteria, and rule-outs to reach an accurate DSM-5-TR diagnosis.

A test is biased if it systematically over- or under-predicts for a group. Fairness requires appropriate norms, validated use for the population, and cautious interpretation across cultural and linguistic differences.

The prevalence of a condition affects predictive value. With a low base rate, even an accurate test yields many false positives, so screening results must be interpreted in context of base rates.

Interventions with research support for specific conditions (e.g., exposure-based therapy for anxiety, CBT for depression, DBT for borderline personality disorder). Matching treatment to condition improves outcomes.

Therapeutic alliance, empathy, expectancy, and goal consensus account for a substantial portion of outcome variance across modalities—often more than specific techniques alone.

Targets the link among thoughts, emotions, and behaviors using cognitive restructuring and behavioral techniques. It is structured, goal-oriented, and strongly supported for many disorders.

Systematic, graded confrontation with feared stimuli without avoidance, allowing extinction of the fear response. It is first-line for many anxiety and trauma-related disorders; avoidance maintains the disorder.

Precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance. Interventions should be matched to the client's stage; pushing action before readiness predicts resistance and dropout.

Primary prevention reduces incidence before onset; secondary prevention is early detection and intervention; tertiary prevention reduces disability from established conditions.

Supervisors are responsible for client welfare, must ensure clients know they are seen by a supervisee, and monitor the supervisee's competence and ethics. Vicarious liability applies to the supervisor.

Stabilize immediate safety first—assess suicide and violence risk and reduce access to means—before deeper therapeutic work. Safety considerations can override the planned session agenda and routine confidentiality.

The independent variable is manipulated by the researcher; the dependent variable is measured for effects. Confounding variables vary with the IV and threaten internal validity.

Type I (alpha) is rejecting a true null hypothesis (false positive). Type II (beta) is failing to reject a false null (false negative). Power (1 minus beta) is the ability to detect a true effect.

Internal validity is confidence that the IV caused the change in the DV (controlling confounds). External validity is the generalizability of findings to other people, settings, and times.

Significance indicates an effect is unlikely due to chance; effect size quantifies its magnitude. A large sample can make a trivial effect significant, so effect size is essential for practical importance.

Test selection depends on the level of measurement and design: t-test (two group means), ANOVA (three or more means), correlation/regression (associations among continuous variables), chi-square (categorical frequencies).

Five aspirational General Principles (beneficence/nonmaleficence, fidelity/responsibility, integrity, justice, respect for rights and dignity) and enforceable Standards. Principles guide; Standards are the mandatory rules.

Confidentiality is broken when required by law or to prevent serious harm: mandated abuse reporting, danger to self or others (duty to protect/Tarasoff), and valid court orders. Limits are disclosed at the outset.

Relationships beyond the professional one are avoided when they risk impaired objectivity or exploitation. Sexual relationships with current clients are prohibited, and post-termination restrictions also apply.

Clients must understand the nature, risks, benefits, alternatives, fees, and confidentiality limits, and consent voluntarily with capacity. With minors or impaired clients, obtain consent from the legal representative and assent from the client.

Psychologists practice only within the boundaries of their education, training, and supervised experience and obtain consultation, training, or refer when client needs exceed their competence.

When a client poses a serious, foreseeable threat to an identifiable victim, the psychologist may have a legal/ethical obligation to take protective action. The specific duty varies by jurisdiction.