AL Psych Juris study guide
AL Psych Juris · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The Alabama Board of Examiners in Psychology licenses psychologists in Alabama, and candidates for that license complete a national, EPPP-based examination process rather than a Board-authored written test. This page is an independent study resource for people preparing for that licensure examination; it is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operated by the Alabama Board of Examiners in Psychology. The AL Psych Juris study guide has 8 sections and about 1,768 words.
01Biological Bases of Behavior
Focus on structure-function links: the frontal lobes (executive control, inhibition, motor planning), temporal lobes (auditory processing, memory, language comprehension), parietal lobes (somatosensory integration, spatial attention), and occipital lobes (vision). Know the limbic system's division of labor: amygdala for fear/threat detection and emotional tagging, hippocampus for consolidation of declarative memory, hypothalamus for homeostatic and endocrine regulation.
232 words, about 1 min02Cognitive-Affective Bases of Behavior
Integrate cognition and emotion rather than treating them separately. Core cognitive constructs: attention (selective, divided, sustained), working memory (limited capacity, active maintenance), long-term memory subtypes (episodic, semantic, procedural), encoding specificity, and retrieval cues.
224 words, about 1 min03Social and Cultural Bases of Behavior
Cover social cognition (attribution, fundamental attribution error, self-serving bias), attitudes and persuasion, conformity and obedience (Asch, Milgram), group dynamics (social loafing, groupthink, deindividuation), and interpersonal processes (transference, countertransference in clinical contexts). Cultural competence requires understanding individualism-collectivism, power distance, and how culture shapes symptom expression, help-seeking, and family involvement.
209 words, about 1 min04Growth and Lifespan Development
Know major stage frameworks at a descriptive level: Piaget's cognitive stages (sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational) with hallmark capacities such as object permanence and conservation; Erikson's psychosocial stages and their central conflicts; attachment classifications (secure, avoidant, ambivalent/resistant, disorganized) and their behavioral signatures in the Strange Situation. Understand developmental milestones in language, motor, and social domains, and the concepts of critical/sensitive periods, temperament, and goodness of fit.
229 words, about 1 min05Assessment and Diagnosis
Understand psychometric foundations: reliability (test-retest, interrater, internal consistency) and validity (content, construct, criterion-concurrent and predictive), standard error of measurement, and the meaning of standard scores (z, T, IQ, percentile). Know purposes of assessment (screening, diagnosis, treatment planning, progress monitoring) and the difference between nomothetic and idiographic approaches.
204 words, about 1 min06Treatment, Intervention, Prevention, and Supervision
Distinguish levels of prevention: universal, selective, and indicated (and tertiary care). Know major intervention frameworks-psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, humanistic, systemic-at a conceptual level, plus evidence-based practice as the integration of best research, clinical expertise, and client values.
210 words, about 1 min07Research Methods and Statistics
Understand design logic: experimental vs. correlational, internal vs.
232 words, about 1 min08Ethical, Legal, and Professional Standards
Master the core ethical principles (beneficence, nonmaleficence, autonomy, justice, fidelity) and how they resolve conflicts. Know informed consent requirements, confidentiality and its limits (danger to self or others, abuse reporting, court orders), and the distinction between ethical obligations and legal mandates.
228 words, about 1 min