ALL BUT WHICH of the following is an accurate statement about prediction?
a. Clinicians are often asked to make specific predictions about client behavior.
b. It is usually possible to make valid, specific predictions on the basis of diagnostic and general background information.
c. Sometimes predictions may appear invalid because people change their behavior in response to them.
d. All of the above are accurate statements about prediction.
Question 2Clinical judgment and interpretation can be improved by
a. resisting the temptation to oversimplify inherently complex patients.
b. recording and evaluating the validity of predictions.
c. using structured rating scales and objective tests.
d. all of the above
Question 3The statistical approach to clinical judgment is especially valuable when
a. the outcome to be predicted is objective and specific.
b. there is reason to be particularly concerned about human judgmental error or bias.
c. both of the above
d. neither of the above
Question 4The clinical approach to clinical judgment is especially valuable in all of the following cases EXCEPT
a. when information is needed about areas for which no adequate assessments are available.
b. when the task involves predicting outcomes for large, heterogeneous samples, and interest in individual cases is minimal.
c. when the clinical judgment involves predictions for which no statistical equations have been developed.
d. when the clinical judgment involves the prediction of rare, unusual events of a highly individualized nature.
Question 5Research investigating the validity of judgments about mental health diagnoses has found that
a. medical practitioners are more accurate than nonmedical practitioners.
b. there is no difference in the accuracy of medical and nonmedical practitioners.
c. nonmedical practitioners are slightly more accurate than medical practitioners.
d. nonmedical practitioners are much more accurate than medical practitioners.
Question 6Research has shown that clinical experience increases only slightly the accuracy of one's clinical predictions. ALL BUT WHICH of the following did the textbook offer as an explanation for this finding?
a. The measures upon which mental health professionals base their predictions do not have high validity, so they are no more valid in experienced hands than in inexperienced ones.
b. Once clinicians obtain job security, any enhanced accuracy from their experience is canceled out by a corresponding decrease in effort.
c. Clinicians often receive no feedback about their predictions, so they cannot learn from their experience.
d. Clinicians are biased toward remembering their accurate predictions and forgetting their inaccurate ones.
Question 7A recent, large-scale meta-analysis of clinical judgment studies (Spengler et al., 2009) suggests that higher levels of clinical experience
a. are associated with greatly improved prediction.
b. are associated with slightly improved prediction.
c. have no impact on prediction quality.
d. are negatively associated with prediction quality.
Question 8Garb (1997) reviewed the empirical evidence for social class bias, race bias, and gender bias in clinical judgment. Based on this review, the author recommended that clinicians should
a. use statistical prediction rules instead of clinical prediction or judgment whenever possible.
b. accept only clients who are similar to the therapist in terms of race, social class, and gender to the extent possible.
c. both of the above
d. neither of the above
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