AP Psychology › Unit 5
The last unit applies psychology to health and well-being. It covers stress and coping, positive psychology, how disorders are explained and classified, major categories of disorders, and treatments from therapy to medication. Exam scenarios ask you to identify a disorder from its symptoms or match a treatment to a perspective, and free-response questions ask you to use research evidence. Students often confuse obsessive-compulsive disorder with obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. Another common error is calling schizophrenia a split personality, which describes a different condition, dissociative identity disorder.
These are taken from the Regular set, with the answer and explanation shown.
1. In a hypothetical study, nine adults reported their adverse childhood experiences (ACE) scores: 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 9. Which statement about these scores is accurate?
Answer: B. The nine scores add up to 18, so the mean is 18 ÷ 9 = 2. The median is the middle (fifth) score, which is 1. One extreme score of 9 raises the mean but not the median.
Common trap: Mixing up which measure moves. Outliers pull the mean, not the median. The mode-and-range option also fails: the mode is 0 and the range is 9.
2. Seven-year-old Noah rarely makes eye contact, struggles with back-and-forth conversation, lines up his toy cars in the same order every day, and becomes very upset when his routine changes. These patterns have been present since early childhood. Which disorder best fits these symptoms?
Answer: B. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder marked by differences in social communication plus restricted, repetitive behaviors. Noah shows both, and they began early in development. His routines are not driven by intrusive, distressing thoughts, as compulsions are in OCD.
Common trap: Choosing OCD because Noah repeats routines. In OCD, compulsions are meant to relieve anxiety from obsessions. Noah also shows social communication differences from early childhood, which point to ASD.
3. Today, a man with schizophrenia lives in his own apartment. He sees a psychiatrist every month for antipsychotic medication and attends weekly therapy at a community mental health center. Which trend in treatment does his care reflect?
Answer: A. After deinstitutionalization, therapists came to prefer decentralized treatment in the community. Care often combines medication with psychological therapy. The man's monthly medication visits and weekly community therapy show both parts.
Common trap: Choosing psychodynamic analysis because he attends therapy. His plan also includes medication, and the key point is the combined, community-based care.