Thorough ASWB BSW Exam Study Guide Test Questions and Answers.
Piaget's stage: Sensorimotor - ANS-0-2 years of age. Retains image of objects, develops primitive
logic in manipulating objects, begins intentional actions, play is imitative, signals meaning - infants
invests meaning in event (babysitter arriving means mother is leaving), symbol meaning (language)
begins in last part of stage. P. 40
Piaget's stage: Peoperational - ANS-2-7 years of age. Progress from concrete to abstract thinking,
can comprehend past, present and future, night terrors, acquires words and symbols, magical
thinking, thinking is not generalized, thinking is concrete, irreversible, egocentric, cannot see
another point of view besides own, thinking is centered on one detail or event. P. 40
Piaget's stage: Concrete Operations - ANS-7-11 years of age. Beginnings of abstract thought, plays
games with rules, cause and effect relationships understood, logical implications are understood,
thinking is independent of experience, thinking is reversible, rules of logic are developed. P. 40
Piaget's stage: Formal Operations - ANS-11 through maturity. higher level of abstraction, planning
for future, thinking hypothetically, assumes adult roles and responsibilities. P. 40
What are some main themes of sexuality in infants and toddlers? - ANS-Children are sexual even
before birth.
By age 2 children know their gender and are aware of differences in genders. P. 42
What are some main themes of sexuality in children (3-7)? - ANS-Children can be more affectionate
around this age. They begin to be more social.
Children will play doctor displaying normal curiosity. by age 5 or 6 children become more modest
and private about dressing and bathing.
They start to be aware of marriage and understand living together based on family experiences, so
they role play house or being married. P. 42
What are some main themes of sexuality in pre-adolescent youth (8-12)? - ANS-Puberty hits
anywhere between 9 and 12 for most.
Children become more self conscious. masturbation increases.
,Exploring same sex sexuality is usually around this age.
Group dating begins. P. 42
What are some main themes of sexuality in adolescent youth (13-19)? - ANS-Increase in romantic
sexual relationships.
Experience strong emotional attachments to romantic partners. P. 43
What is attachment theory? - ANS-A lasting psychological connectedness between human beings
that can be understood within an evolutionary context in which a caregiver provides safety and
security for a child. P. 43
What is the critical period for developing attachment? - ANS-Before the age of 5. P. 51
What is the order of Maslow's Hierarchy of needs pyramid? - ANS-1. Physiological needs
2. Safety needs
3. Social Needs (Love and Belonging)
4. Esteem Needs
5. Self Actualization
P. 53
What is strength? - ANS-Any ability that helps an individual (or family) to confront and deal with a
stressful life situation and to use the challenging situation as a stimulation for growth. P. 55
What are examples of strength attributes? - ANS-cognitive abilities, coping mechanisms, personal
attributes, interpersonal skills, and external resources. P. 55
What are examples of Family strengths? - ANS-Kinship bonds, community supports, religious
connections, flexible roles, strong ethnic traditions, and more. P. 55
What is the strengths perspective? - ANS-Focusing on understanding clients (or families) on the
basis of their strengths and resources (internal or external) and mobilizing the resources to improve
their situation. P. 55
,The strengths perspective is based on what? - ANS-The assumption that clients have the capacity to
grow, change, and adapt (Humanistic Approach). P. 55
Compensations - ANS-Enables one to make up for real or fancied deficiencies ( a person who
stutters becomes a very expressive writer). P. 56
Conversion - ANS-Repressed urge is expressed disguised as a disturbance of body function, usually
of the sensory, voluntary nervous system (as pain, deafness, blindness paralysis, convulsions, tics). P.
56
Dissociation - ANS-A process that enables a person to split mental functions in a manner that
allows him or her to express forbidden or unconscious impulses without taking responsibility for the
action, either because he or she is unable to remember the disowned behavior, or because it is not
experienced as his or her own (pathologically expresses as fugue states, amnesia, or dissociation
neurosis, or normally expressed as day dreaming). P. 56
Incorporation - ANS-Primitive mechanism in which psychic representation of a person (parts of a
person) is/are figuratively ingested. P. 57
Intellectualization - ANS-Where the person avoids uncomfortable emotions by focusing on facts or
logic. P. 57
Reaction Formation - ANS-persons adopts affects, ideas, attitudes, or behaviors that are opposites of
those he or she harbors consciously or unconsciously (excessive moral zeal masking strong, but
repressed asocial impulses or being excessively sweet to mask unconscious anger). P. 57
Splitting - ANS-defensive mechanism associated with borderline Personality Disorder in which a
person perceives self and others as "all good" or "all bad." Splitting serves to protect the good
object. A person cannot integrate the good and the bad in people. P. 58
Sublimation - ANS-Potentially maladaptive feeling or behaviors are diverted into socially acceptable,
adaptive channels (a person who has angry feelings channel them into athletics. P. 58
, Symbolization - ANS-A mental representation stands for some other thing, class of things, or
attribute. This mechanism underlies dream formation and some other symptoms (such as
conversation reactions, obsessions, compulsions) with a link between the latent meaning of the
symptom and the symbol; usually unconscious. P. 58
Undoing - ANS-A person uses words or actions to symbolically reverse or negate unacceptable
thoughts, feelings, or actions (a person compulsively washing hands to deal with obsessive
thoughts). P. 58
Who has the eight stages with two possible outcomes? - ANS-Erikson. P. 58
What are Erikson's eight stages? - ANS-1. Trust Vs. Mistrust
2. Autonomy Vs. Shame and Doubt
3. Initiative Vs. Guilt
4. Industry Vs. Inferiority
5. Identity Vs. Role Confusion
6. Intimacy Vs. Isolation
7. Generativity Vs. Stagnation
8. Ego Vs. Despair
P. 58-59
Define Groupthink - ANS-When a group makes faulty decisions because of group pressures. P. 61
What is a family systems approach? - ANS-A family systems approach argues that in order to
understand a family system, the social worker must look at the family as a whole, rather than
focusing on its members. P. 62
What is equifinality? - ANS-The ability of the family system to accomplish the same goals through
different routes. P. 63
