AP Psychology: Abnormal Behavior 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Obsessive-compulsive disorder is best characterized by:
- Intrusive thoughts and repetitive behaviors meant to reduce anxiety (Correct answer)
- Persistent low mood lasting two years
- Sudden memory loss after trauma
- Alternating identities
Correct answer: Intrusive thoughts and repetitive behaviors meant to reduce anxiety
OCD involves obsessions (intrusive thoughts) and compulsions (repetitive behaviors that relieve anxiety).
Question 2: A combat veteran experiences flashbacks, nightmares, and hypervigilance months after returning home. This best fits a diagnosis of:
- Generalized anxiety disorder
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (Correct answer)
- Panic disorder
- Specific phobia
Correct answer: Post-traumatic stress disorder
PTSD follows a traumatic event and includes flashbacks, nightmares, and heightened arousal.
Question 3: Which perspective would explain a phobia as a classically conditioned association between a neutral stimulus and a fear response?
- Psychodynamic perspective
- Behavioral perspective (Correct answer)
- Humanistic perspective
- Sociocultural perspective
Correct answer: Behavioral perspective
The behavioral perspective sees phobias as learned through classical conditioning.
Question 4: Anorexia nervosa is most accurately defined by:
- Binge eating followed by purging
- Significantly low body weight and intense fear of gaining weight (Correct answer)
- Eating large amounts without purging
- Avoiding food due to texture only
Correct answer: Significantly low body weight and intense fear of gaining weight
Anorexia nervosa involves restricting food intake, very low body weight, and fear of weight gain.
Question 5: A clinician using the psychodynamic perspective would most likely attribute a disorder to:
- Unconscious conflicts from early childhood (Correct answer)
- Irrational thought patterns
- Imbalanced neurotransmitters
- Maladaptive reinforcement schedules
Correct answer: Unconscious conflicts from early childhood
Psychodynamic theory traces disorders to unconscious conflicts rooted in childhood.
Question 6: Dissociative identity disorder is characterized by:
- Two or more distinct identities controlling behavior (Correct answer)
- Loss of contact with reality
- Persistent sadness and fatigue
- Excessive worry about health
Correct answer: Two or more distinct identities controlling behavior
DID involves the presence of two or more distinct personality states.
Question 7: The diathesis-stress model proposes that disorders result from:
- Stress alone regardless of biology
- A biological predisposition combined with environmental stress (Correct answer)
- Purely genetic causes
- Unconscious conflict only
Correct answer: A biological predisposition combined with environmental stress
The diathesis-stress model holds that a predisposition interacts with stress to trigger disorders.
AP Psychology: Abnormal Behavior 3
Obsessive-compulsive disorder is best characterized by: