ASWB Bachelors Basic 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: According to Erikson's stages of psychosocial development, the primary conflict of adolescence is:
- Autonomy vs. shame and doubt
- Intimacy vs. isolation
- Identity vs. role confusion (Correct answer)
- Industry vs. inferiority
Correct answer: Identity vs. role confusion
Erikson identified identity vs. role confusion as the central task of adolescence, during which individuals develop a sense of self.
Question 2: A social worker is meeting with a client from a collectivist culture who defers all decisions to family elders. The BEST response is to:
- Insist on the client making independent decisions to promote autonomy
- Respect the cultural context while ensuring the client's voice is also included (Correct answer)
- Consult only with family elders and exclude the client from planning
- Refer the client to a worker from the same cultural background
Correct answer: Respect the cultural context while ensuring the client's voice is also included
Culturally sensitive practice honors collectivist values while ensuring the client's perspective is not entirely marginalized.
Question 3: When assessing a client's mental status, which domain does the social worker evaluate by asking the client to recall three words after a delay?
- Orientation
- Memory (Correct answer)
- Judgment
- Affect
Correct answer: Memory
Delayed recall of words is a standard technique for assessing short-term memory during a mental status examination.
Question 4: A school social worker discovers that a 14-year-old student is being cyberbullied. The FIRST step is to:
- Immediately suspend the student doing the bullying
- Assess the student's safety and emotional well-being (Correct answer)
- Notify law enforcement about the cyberbullying
- Contact the parents of both students simultaneously
Correct answer: Assess the student's safety and emotional well-being
Assessing the targeted student's immediate safety and emotional state is the priority before other interventions.
Question 5: Positive reinforcement differs from negative reinforcement in that positive reinforcement:
- Decreases behavior by adding an aversive stimulus
- Increases behavior by adding a desirable stimulus (Correct answer)
- Decreases behavior by removing a pleasant stimulus
- Increases behavior by removing an unpleasant stimulus
Correct answer: Increases behavior by adding a desirable stimulus
Positive reinforcement strengthens a behavior by following it with the addition of a rewarding or pleasant stimulus.
Question 6: Which practice model emphasizes identifying and amplifying client strengths rather than focusing on deficits and pathology?
- Psychodynamic model
- Cognitive-behavioral model
- Strengths-based perspective (Correct answer)
- Task-centered model
Correct answer: Strengths-based perspective
The strengths-based perspective, associated with Saleebey, shifts focus from problems to client capacities, assets, and resilience.
Question 7: A social worker who is feeling burned out begins taking long lunches and arriving late to client sessions. This BEST illustrates:
- Vicarious trauma
- Secondary traumatic stress
- Compassion fatigue affecting professional behavior (Correct answer)
- Countertransference
Correct answer: Compassion fatigue affecting professional behavior
Compassion fatigue can erode professional conduct, leading to behaviors like tardiness and boundary erosion with clients.
ASWB Bachelors Basic 3
According to Erikson's stages of psychosocial development, the primary conflict of adolescence is: