PSYCH 115 Lecture Notes - Lecture 30: Rorschach Test, Psych, Thematic Apperception Test
Document Summary
Purpose: to diagnose or rule out physical etiologies. Clinicians often recommend a physical examination, particularly if the patient has not been seen by a medical doctor in the past year. Behavioral assessment uses direct observations to formally assess an individuals thoughts, feelings, and overt behaviors in specific situations or contexts. It is probably more appropriate than the interview in assessing young clients. The purpose of behavioral assessment is to identify target behaviors (problematic behaviors) Formal vs. informal behavioral observation may be either formal or informal. In formal observation, the observation procedures are usually structured and systematic, and involve behavior rating scales or checklists and clear operational definitions (how the behavior is measured) of target behaviors. Informal observation is less standardized and systematic. Self-monitoring vs. others observing people may be asked to observe their own behavior using a technique called slef-monitoring or slef-observation (e. g. , recording the number of cigarettes smoked per day.
