NCE & CPCE Test Prep Terms

ABCD Model

Used for developing program objectives and includes A = audience (individuals influenced by the program objective), B = behavior (expected action or attitude), C = conditions (context or mode in which behavior will occur), and D = description (concrete performance criterion).

ABCDEs

An acronym used to explain the core beliefs of rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT). The activating event (A) is any event or experience that elicits negativity or unease. People's belief systems (B) can be either rational or irrational in response to (A) and are what contribute to an emotional consequence (C) that is either beneficial or detrimental. By delineating this idea to clients, clients can see that (C) actually results from (B) and not (A), as often thought by clients. Next, irrational beliefs must be disputed (D) with the goal of developing (E), an effective new philosophy that allows people to replace their irrational beliefs with rational beliefs.

ABC-X Model of Family Crisis and Stress

Acronym for the model created by HIll through observations of families experiencing separation and reunification during and after World War II: (A) provoking stressor/event; (B) family resources; (C) meaning attached to the stressor/event; and (X) the crisis, which is an actue state of family disequilibrium/immobilization.

Ability Assessment

A broad category of assessment instruments that measure the cognitive domain (e.g., knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of information). Assessment of ability includes tests that measure achievement.

Ableism

The belief that individuals with disabilities are limited in what they can do and undervalues their abilities.

ACA Code of Ethics

A set of guidelines established by the American Counseling Association (ACA) to guide the professional practice of counselors to ensure the welfare and safety of clients.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

A cognitive-behavioral therapy that emphasizes acceptance and mindfulness processes. A central tenet of ACT is that maladaptive behaviors develop from clients' attempts to avoid or suppress negative thoughts and feelings.

Accomodation

An individual perceives and interprets new information in a way that causes the restructuring of existing cognitive structures.

Accountability

From a program evaluation perspective, a process of providing feedback about a program to its stakeholders.

Accreditation

A process that eligible educational institutions and organizations can elect to undergo (i.e., it is voluntary) to demonstrate that the institution meets set standards.

Acculturation

A process by which groups of individuals from differing cultures exchange cultural attributes as a result of continuously close contact. Typically, the minority group's adoption of the dominant culture's beliefs, values, and language; however, the dominant group can also adopt minority cultural patterns.

Acculturative Stress

The cognitive and affective consequences associated with leaving one's own country and entering a host country. Individuals with acculturative stress have to adapt to the values, norms, and behaviors of a new culture and lose some of their cultural identity in the process.

Achievement Tests

Assess the knowledge and skills an individual has acquired in a particular area due to instruction or training experiences.

Acting "As If"

An Adlerian counseling techniques that encourages clients to act "as if" they are the person they hope to be someday. This techniques helps client realize that they are capable of changing and being the person they want to be.

Action Research

Research carried out to improve practice or organizational efficiency. It is used as a means to test new approaches, theories, or ideas and reflect on one's own teachings in an effort to enhance effectiveness.

Active Imagination

A Jungian technique that requires clients to actively talk to the characters in their dreams.

Active Listening

A counseling technique used in both individual and group therapy in which the counselor attends to the nonverbal and verbal behaviors of clients to show that the cousnelor is paying attention.

Active Theories

Developmental theories that portray people as active in regulating or governing their behavior.

Adaptation

According to Piaget, individuals must adapt their existing cognitive structures when new information is encountered. The adaptation of cognitive structures occurs through two complementary processes known as assimilation and accommodation. Assimilation and accommodation assist an individual in reducing the disequilibrium that results from encountering new information, which challenges previously existing ways of thinking.

Adaptive Information Processing (AIP)

AIP theory holds that the brain is capable of adapting and learning from the events in our life. Pathology develops when this adaptive process has not occurred or has not been completed around a traumatic or stressful event.

Addiction

The psychological or physiological dependence on a substance or activity to maintain normal functioning. Addiction is generally associated with increased tolerance and the experience of withdrawal symptoms when the drug is removed.

Alfred Adler

A Viennese psychologist (1870-1937) who developed the theory of individual psychology (also known as Adlerian psychology). Adler was the first major figure to break away from Freudian psychoanalysis because he disagree with Freud over the importance of sexuality in motivating human behavior.

Advisory Committee

Used in program development and evaluation. Typically, the committee is composed of representatives from various stakeholder groups and varies widely in form and function.

Advocacy Counseling

Promotes the needs of clients, communities, and the counseling profession at the local, state, regional, and national levels.

Affectional Orientation

The suggested term used to describe sexual minorities, as it acknowledges that all relationships involve attraction, emotional stability, communication styles, and other interpersonal factors and feelings in addition to sexual attraction.

Ageism

The stereotyping and discrimination against individuals or groups as a result of their age. Ageism is based on the false notion that chronological age determines an individual's characteristics and value.

Aggression

Taking actions with the intent to cause pain or harm. Aggression can be verbal, physical, or relational.

Aggressiveness

Displayed in a group as frequent disagreement with, and forceful attempt to impose ideas upon, the leader and other members.

Aging

A set, predictable process involving growth and change in an organism over time. Aging is categorized as biological (how the body functions and changes over time), psychological (one's perception of personal age), and social (how one's chronological age is viewed within the societal, or cultural context). Two primary theories of aging have been proposed: disengagement theory (views withdrawal from social system as a natural process) and activity theory (suggests that people prefer to remain socially active as they age).

Agnosticism

The belief that any ultimate being is unkown or unknowable.

Mary Ainsworth

Described four patterns of infant attachment: secure, avoidant, ambivalent, and disorganized.

Alcoholics Anonymous

An organization that provides self-help groups and resources to persons who abuse alcohol. AA assists individuals with gaining and maintaining control over their lives through sobriety.

Alignments

Alliances between family members (i.e., the ways family members join with and oppose each other).

Alliances

The subgrouping of members in group therapy. Positive alliances can provide sources of support and strength and lead to high levels of group performance and cohesion, serving much the same intimacy function as friendships and families. However, alliances that are exclusionary can prevent members from forming productive relationships and achieving individual and group goals.

Alternative Hypothesis

A hypothesis developed in order to be eliminated; it addresses the question "What else could be causing the results?" Alternative hypotheses usually involve outlining potential extraneous variables. It is notated H1

American Association of State Counseling Boards (AASCB)

Created to connect together states' licensure boards in order to promote communication to the public and collaboration among states regarding counseling licensure laws and legal matters.

American College Counseling Association (ACCA)

A division of ACA, the ACCA is a professional association for counselors working in higher education.

American Counseling Association (ACA)

The largest professional association for counselors, ACA was established in 1952, to promote the growth and development of the profession.

American Group Psychotherapy Association (AGPA)

An interdisciplinary organization promoting research and practice in group psychotherapy for individuals with mental disorders.

American Mental Health Counselors Association (AMHCA)

The division of the American Counseling Association (ACA) that serves as the professional association for mental health counselors.

American Personnel and Guidance Association (APGA)

Known today as the American Counseling Association (ACA).

American Rehabilitation Counseling Association (ARCA)

A division of ACA, ARCA is the professional association for rehabilitation counselors, educators, and students.

American School Counselor Association (ASCA)

The division of ACA that serves as the professional association for school counselors committed to increasing student achievement and success.

American Society of Group Psychotherapy and Psychodrama (ASGPP)

Founded by J. L. Moreno, this professional association promotes standards in training, research, and practice in psychodrama, sociometry, and group psychotherapy.

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990

Prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities in employment, public services, and telecommunications, and requires accommodations for access.

Amplification

A technique in which Jung compared the dreamer's image to stories or images in myths, fairy tales, literature, art, and folklore. Amplification helps the analyst identify central archetypes and possible meanings behind dreams.

Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA)

A statistical test that includes an independent variable as a covariate, or a variable that needs to be statistically adjusted and controlled in order to look at the relationship of other independent variables and the dependent variable.

Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)

A statistical test that involves having at least one independent variable in a study with three or more groups or levels. An ANOVA provides an F ratio, which indicates if two or more of the group means are statistically different. With more than one independent variable, a factorial ANOVA is used. Factorial ANOVAs yield both main effects and interaction effects (i.e., significant differences among groups across two or more independent variables).

Androgyny

An individual's embodiment and expression of both male and female traditional characteristics (e.g., being strong and emotionally vulnerable).

Annulment

The voiding of a marriage.

Aptitude Tests

Assess what a person is capable of learning and attempt to predict how well that individual will perform in the future.

Arbitration

Use of a third party to make decisions that resolve a conflict for the involved individuals.

Archetypes

A Jungian concept used to refer to innate, universal templates for human thought and behaviors. Archetypes are patterns of human experience and interpretations that have existed since the origin of humankind. Some of the most prominent archetypes found within the collective unconscious are The Self (the regulating center of the psyche, which contains both conscious and unconscious aspects of a person); The Shadow (characterized as the repressed or unkown aspects of each person and which often contains qualities that the individual possesses but does not identify with); The Anima (made up of female traits that exist in the collective unconscious of men); The Animus (made up of male traits that exist in the collective unconscious of women); and The Persona (the psychological masks that all humans wear and that allow people to change their behavior depending on the social situation).

Army Alpha

Developed by Robert Yerkes, the Army Alpha is an intelligence test developed during World War I to screen the cognitive ability of military recruits.

Army Beta

The language-free version of the intelligence test used during World War I to screen the cognitive ability of military recruits who could not read or speak English.

Asking the Question

The question, often asked of clients in Adlerian psychology, "How would your life be different if you were well?" Many variations of this question are used, the primary goals being to help clients think about the possibility of no longer having their problem and to show clients that they have the ability to change their lives. This question also helps counselors gain a clearer picture of what the client would like to change and whether the problem is physiological or psychological.

Aspirational Ethics

The optimal standard of behavior and the highest professional standards of conduct to which professional counselors can aspire.

Assertiveness Training

The use of behavioral techniques such as shaping, modeling, and behavioral rehearsal to assist clients in learning how to be assertive and speak up for themselves in an appropriate manner without being passive or aggressive.

Assessment

The systematic process of gathering and documenting information regarding a client's knowledge, skills, attitudes, and beliefs.

Assimilation

The process by which an individual perceives and interprets new information through previously existing cognitive structures.

Assimilation Model

A model of acculturation in which highly acculturated individuals identify solely with the new culture, so that one group adopts values and customs of another, more dominant group.

Associated for Adult Development and Aging (AADA)

A division of ACA founded in 1986 to improve the counseling services available to adults at all stages of life through advancing counselor education and preparation related to human development and aging.

Association for Assessment and Research in Counseling (AARC)

A division of ACA founded in 1965 to guide the proper development, training, and use of assessment and research in counseling. Formerly known as the Association for Assessment in Counseling and Education (AACE).

Association for Child and Adolescent Counseling (ACAC)

A division of ACA founded to promote awareness and knowledge of counseling considerations related to children and adolescents.

Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES)

A division of ACA founded to enhance counseling services in all specializations through the promotion of quality education, supervision, and credentialing of counselors.

Association for Creativity in Counseling (ACC)

This professional association, a division of ACA, was founded to promote imaginative and creative approaches to counseling and is comprised of counseling professionals from diverse specializations, including dance, art, music, and play therapy.

Association for Humanistic Counseling (AHC)

This "heart and conscience of the counseling profession" looks after the mental health and wellness of both clients and counselors. Formerly known as Counseling Association for Humanistic Education and Development (C-AHEAD).

Association for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Issues in Counseling (ALGBTIC)

A division of ACA established to fight in the crusade for recognition of sexual minority issues within the counseling profession.

Association for Multicultural Counseling and Development (AMCD)

A division of ACA created to raise awareness about multicultural issues in counseling.

Association for Specialists in Group Work (ASGW)

A division of ACA founded in 1973 for the advancement of professionalism in group work.

Association for Spiritual, Ethical, and Religious Values in Counseling (ASERVIC)

A division of ACA created to promote the incorporation of spiritual, religious, and ethical values into counselors' educational programs and professional practice.

Atheism

The disbelief in the existence of God.

Attending

A basic counseling skill that involves the counselor's use of verbal and nonverbal behaviors to convey to the client that the counselor is actively listening and is interested in client self-disclosures. Nonverbal attending behaviors include eye contact, an open stance, head nodding, gestures, and silence; verbal attending behaviors include "door openers" (e.g., "Tell me more about that") and minimal encouragers (e.g., "Okay, I see").

Attention-Seeking Behaviors

Behaviors that call attention to the group member and away from other members.

Attenuation

A misleading correlation that occurs when unreliable measures indicate a lower relationship between two variables than actually exists.

Attribution Theory

Concerned with how people perceive their own as well as others' behaviors. It also examines the cause an individual attributes to events and how these cognitive perceptions shape one's behavior.

Authoritarian

A group leadership style in which the group. leader takes control of and responsibility for the group; sets the agenda, goals, and rules; and serves as the conduit for member interaction (i.e., discussion occurs through the leader).

Automatic Thoughts

A term used in cognitive therapy to refer to immediate personal beliefs and ideas that are unexamined and dysfunctional.

Autonomy

The ability of clients to exercise free will and act independently.

Autosomal Diseases

Genetic disorders that involve a chromosome other than the sex chromosome. Examples of autosomal diseases are phenlyketonuria, sickle cell anemia, and Tay-Sachs disease.

Back Home Visits

A technique used in Bowen family systems therapy that requires clients who have unresolved issues to visit their family of origin to increase their client's differentiation.

Albert Bandura

Developed social learning theory, which is based on the principle that people learn through observation, imitation, and modeling.

Bar Graph

A graph that displayes nominal data. Each bar represents a distinct (noncontinuous) response, and the height of the bar indicates the frequency of that response.

BASIC ID

An acronym used to describe the seven assessment domains in multimodal therapy: (B) behavior; (A) affect; (S) sensations; (I) imagery; (C) cognitions; (I) interpersonal relationships; and (D) drugs/biological functions/nutrition/exercise.

Behavioral Rehearsal

A technique used by the client to practice or rehearse new behaviors until he or she is confident enough the try the new behaviors outside of the counseling environment.

Behaviorism

A scientific, research-based theory of counseling that aims to modify clients' maladpative behaviors. Behaviorists focus only on overt, observable client behaviors and specify that all client behavior is learned and, therefore, can be unlearned. Often referred to as the "second force" in counseling.

Belmont Report

A report prompted by the ethical issues arising from the Tuskegee syphilis study. Created by the former U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare to outline ethical principles and guidelines for research involving human participants.

Beneficence

In contrast to nonmaleficence, means doing only good.

Eric Berne

Developed transactional analysis (TA).

Between-Groups Design

A general category of experimental research designs that involves exploring the effects of a treatment or intervention between two groups or among more than two groups.

Bias

In assessment, a broad term that refers to an individual or group being deprived of the opportunity to demonstrate their true skills, knowledge, abilities, and personalities on a given assessment.

Biculturalism

A model of acculturation in which individuals identify with both their own culture and the host culture.

Biography

A qualitative research tradition that seeks to identify personal meanings individuals give to their social experiences. The researcher gathers stories and explores meanings for an individual as well as how the stories fit into a broader social or historical context.

Biological Aging

Categorization of aging as biological (how the body functions and changes over time).

Biracial Individuals

Individuals who are the biological children of parents from two different racial backgrounds.

Birth Order

Also referred to as sibling position; the position children occupy in their families of origin. Alfred Adler believed that where individuals fall chronologically in their family influences their personalities. He proposed five ordinal positions; firstborns, second children, middle children, youngest children, and only children.

Bisexual

Said of an individuals who is attracted to members of the same and opposite sex.

Blind Study

A study in which the participants are not aware of the condition (treatment or control group) to which they have been assigned.

Blocking

A technique used in group counseling to stop a counterproductive member behavior in order to protect other members from potentially damaging interactions.

Boundaries

The physical and psychological factors that separate the family system from outsiders, as well as define roles and responsibilities within a family unit. Boundaries can be either rigid (closed family system) or flexible (open family system).