Cheryl Spends Four Hours Every Day in the Shower, Scrubbing

question 69

Multiple Choice

Cheryl spends four hours every day in the shower, scrubbing her skin raw with a loofa brush for fear that she is contaminated with urine or feces. She sees a cognitive-behavioral therapist for treatment. The cognitive-behavioral therapist is most likely to write which note about Cheryl's case?

• A) "Guarding against own unacceptable urges; uses reaction formation as a general defense."
• B) "Engages in superstitious behavior; probably associating hand washing with some previous situation where it led to reinforcement."
• C) "Neurotransmitters not functioning properly; needs medication."
• D) "Need to correct dysfunctional beliefs in order to reduce anxiety over cleanliness."

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Definitions:

Degrees Of Freedom

The number of values in the calculation of a statistic that are free to vary, often related to the sample size.

Pearson Correlation

A measure of the linear correlation between two variables, giving a value between -1 and 1 inclusive, where 1 is total positive linear correlation, 0 is no linear correlation, and -1 is total negative linear correlation.

Negative Number

A real number that is less than zero, indicating a lack of something or a decrease in a given value.

Pearson Correlation Coefficient

The Pearson Correlation Coefficient is a measure of the linear correlation between two variables, ranging from -1 to +1, where 1 means a perfect positive correlation and -1 means a perfect negative correlation.