Chapter 6: System Theories

Test Bank

Multiple Choice

1. ______ are concerned with the adaptive “fit” of individuals with their environments and the means by which they grow and obtain a dynamic equilibrium or balance.

a. Strengths perspectives

b. Systems theories

c. Development theories

d. Diversity theories

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Case Example: Small Town Social Work Practice

Difficulty Level: Easy

2. In the social work frame of reference based on systems theory, the ______ is understood to be made up of subsystems that include biological, psychological, social, and spiritual components.

a. person

b. environment

c. life model

d. transaction

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Social Work Frame of Reference Based on Systems Theory

Difficulty Level: Easy

3. General systems theory is largely based on the work of which theoretical biologist?

a. Comte

b. Spencer

c. von Bertalanffy

d. Durkheim

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Person-in-Environment Perspective and General Systems Theory

Difficulty Level: Easy

4. Which of the following ideas was proposed by Spencer?

a. Societies are naturally evolving super organisms.

b. Stability and order are the predominant forces in social affairs.

c. Societies are held together on the basis of mechanical solidarity.

d. A state of normlessness happens during the transition from traditional to industrial societies.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Structural Functionalism

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. According to Parsons’ AGIL model, the capacity of the system to interact with the environment and acquire sufficient resources is called ______.

a. goal attainment

b. adaptation

c. latency

d. integration

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Structural Functionalism

Difficulty Level: Easy

6. Which condition of Parson’s AGIL model represents the way a system defines and prioritizes its goals for the future and makes decisions accordingly?

a. goal attainment

b. adaptation

c. latency

d. integration

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Structural Functionalism

Difficulty Level: Easy

7. According to Parsons’ AGIL model, the system’s actions to establish control and inhibit deviance to its shared values and norms is called ______.

a. goal attainment

b. adaptation

c. latency

d. integration

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Structural Functionalism

Difficulty Level: Easy

8. Which condition of Parson’s AGIL model represents the way a system integrates challenges and changes in order to maintain and transmit its cultural values?

a. goal attainment

b. adaptation

c. latency

d. integration

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Structural Functionalism

Difficulty Level: Easy

9. Which of Merton’s adaptive responses is represented a person internalizing social goals and having access to socially approved means to reach them?

a. conformity

b. innovation

c. retreatism

d. ritualism

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Structural Functionalism

Difficulty Level: Medium

10. Merton’s concept of ______ is represented by a person internalizing goals for success, but NOT having access to the means to achieve those goals.

a. conformity

b. innovation

c. retreatism

d. ritualism

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Structural Functionalism

Difficulty Level: Medium

11. Which of Merton’s adaptive responses describes a person who has access to the means to achieve goals, but has lost sight of those goals?

a. conformity

b. innovation

c. retreatism

d. ritualism

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Structural Functionalism

Difficulty Level: Medium

12. Which of Merton’s adaptive responses describe a person who abuses substances?

a. conformity

b. innovation

c. retreatism

d. ritualism

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Structural Functionalism

Difficulty Level: Hard

13. Structural functionalists hold which of the following beliefs?

a. People with mental illnesses represent a threat to the stability of a society.

b. The system may not always return to a level of stability and cohesion.

c. Change within a system or society is easily dealt with.

d. It is easy to explain how new types of social structures are created.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Structural Functionalism

Difficulty Level: Medium

14. Which of the following statements about the comparison of the ecosystems perspective and general systems theory is TRUE?

a. Only general systems theory has been conceptually linked to the PIE perspective.

b. Only the ecosystems perspective has been conceptually linked to the PIE perspective.

c. General systems theory was developed earlier than the ecosystems perspective.

d. The ecosystems perspective was developed earlier than general systems theory.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Person-in-Environment Perspective and General Systems Theory

Difficulty Level: Hard

15. Which of Merton’s adaptive responses is represented by a person wanting to set up a new society, new goals, and means for achieving social goals?

a. rebellion

b. innovation

c. retreatism

d. ritualism

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Structural Functionalism

Difficulty Level: Hard

16. In couples therapy, partners’ may choose to stay together, but they may want to change their roles and behaviors. Which concept of systems theory is reflected in this scenario?

a. homeostasis

b. reciprocity

c. multifinality

d. boundary

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Person-in-Environment Perspective and General Systems Theory

Difficulty Level: Hard

17. If you have grown up in poverty or experienced intimate partner violence, these prior experiences do NOT have to determine what happens to you in the future. Which concept of systems theory is reflected in this scenario?

a. homeostasis

b. reciprocity

c. multifinality

d. boundary

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Person-in-Environment Perspective and General Systems Theory

Difficulty Level: Hard

18. In family therapy, change in one family member will likely generate change in all other family members. Which concept of systems theory is reflected in this process?

a. boundary

b. entropy

c. equifinality

d. feedback

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Person-in-Environment Perspective and General Systems Theory Difficulty Level: Hard

19. After addressing the shortcomings of its early development, ______ continues to function as a prevailing theoretical and practice-based perspective in social work.

a. structural functionalism

b. general systems theory

c. ego theory

d. ecosystems theory

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Summary

Difficulty Level: Easy

20. Which of the following statement is TRUE about the concept of life course?

a. It is a linear conception of human growth and development.

b. It is silent on issues of race, gender, and sexual orientation.

c. It was first proposed by Eric Erikson in his psychosocial theory.

d. It places diversity directly at the heart of growth and development.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Focus of the Life Model

Difficulty Level: Hard

21. Which of the following statements is an assumption of the Life Model?

a. It provides a way to conceptualize problems, formulate objectives, and widens the arena of help and expands the role of the caseworker.

b. Human growth and development is an evolutionary process in which adaptations are made between individuals and their environments.

c. It helps to guide social workers in their efforts to engage progressive forces and adaptive potentialities of the person.

d. It helps to guide social workers in their efforts to mobilize the environmental processes and alter elements of the environment.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Assumptions of the Life Model

Difficulty Level: Medium

22. Which of the following statement is TRUE about general systems theory and the ecosystems perspective?

a. They are both concerned with conflict and coercion as a way of understanding or changing individual or societal behavior.

b. They both understand society to be a tangible structure with its members cohesively coming together around a shared set of values.

c. They both acknowledge that the potential growth and possibilities of a human being are linked to their social and natural environments.

d. They both lend themselves to being able to predict what kind of practice strategy will work best with a particular client at a specific moment-in-time.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: What Does this Theory Say about Human Behavior?

Difficulty Level: Hard

23. When critiquing systems theories based on social work values and ethics, one can argue that systems theories ______.

a. directly address clients’ experiences of oppression and discrimination

b. offer guidance for what a social worker should do to address oppression

c. specify the role of power in relationships that can contribute to injustice

d. provide a useful tool for assessing the existence of oppression on the client

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: How Consistent is this Theory with Social Work Values and Ethics?

Difficulty Level: Hard

24. A(n) ______ provides social workers with a visual image showing the social and personal relationships of an individual with his or her environment, such as families, groups, communities, and organizations.

a. genogram

b. eco-map

c. culturagram

d. gendergram

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Genograms

Difficulty Level: Easy

25. Which of the following tools can help social workers identify generations within a family, major family events, intergenerational communications, family aspirations, and role assignments?

a. genogram

b. eco-map

c. culturagram

d. gendergram

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Eco-maps

Difficulty Level: Easy

True/False

1. Merton sees deviant adaptations, such as retreatism and rebellion, as forms of psychopathology.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Structural Functionalism

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. To date, structural functionalism has NOT adequately addressed lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people or diverse forms of women’s growth and development.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Structural Functionalism

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. The general systems theory and the ecosystems perspective are different because the former has been linked to the PIE perspective but the latter has NOT.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Person-in-Environment Perspective and General Systems Theory

Difficulty Level: Easy

4. General systems and ecosystems theories are the best and most holistic theoretical perspectives to draw upon for social workers in their practice, according to the text.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: How Holistic is this Theory?

Difficulty Level: Easy

5. Structural functionalism seeks to explain how systems best function and emphasizes Knowledge that is hard, real and tangible.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: What Sources of Knowledge Does this Theory Support (e.g., client’s voice, social worker’s practice wisdom, qualitative and quantitative research studies)

Difficulty Level: Easy

Short Answer

1. Explain how structural functionalism can be critiqued.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Structural Functionalism

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. What is the person-in-environment (PIE) perspective and why is it important for social work practice?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Person-in-Environment Perspective and General Systems Theory

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. Elaborate on how recent development of ecosystems theory has addressed oppression, coping mechanisms, and diversity over the life course.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Person-in-Environment Perspective and General Systems Theory

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. Why did social workers struggle for most of the 20th century to implement their dual purpose, focused on both individual remediation and social change?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: In-depth Exploration of Systems Theories as Applied to Social Work Practice

Difficulty Level: Hard

5. What are the proposes of the Life Model? How can they be applied in social work practice?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Purposes of the Life Model

Difficulty Level: Medium