Health Psychology Test 1

In the historical development of the mind-body relationship, why did the idea that the mind and body were not interconnected occur during the Renaissance era?

Physicians would study and treat the body and philosophers and clergy would care for the mind.

Why is assertiveness training being used to alter health habits?

Poor health habits can develop in response to anxiety experienced in social situations.

Intervening with at-risk populations is a controversial issue because psychological distress may be created in exchange for instilling risk-education behaviors.

TRUE

It is estimated that almost half of all deaths in the United States could be prevented if people modified their behaviors by not smoking, wiser food choices, and exercising a little more.

TRUE

One of the biggest problems faced in health-habit modification is the tendency for people to relapse to their previous behavior following initial successful behavioral change.

TRUE

Self-efficacy is defined as a belief that one can control one's behavior.

TRUE

The transtheoretical model of behavior change analyzes stages and processes people go through in changing their behaviors and treatment goals.

TRUE

Which one is NOT a criticism of the original psychoanalytic and psychosomatic explanations of disorders and diseases?

The researchers in these movements were badly mistaken, and all their work is being discredited today.

Cognitive-behavior therapy, including that used to modify health habits, has increasingly moved toward a therapeutic model that emphasizes self-reinforcement.

FALSE

Family and friends exert very little real influence on an individual's health-related behaviors.

FALSE

Social engineering solutions to health problems are less successful than individual ones.

FALSE

The window of vulnerability refers to the time when an individual's body is most likely to become ill

FALSE

When people perceive that others are engaging in the same unhealthy practice, they may perceive a higher risk to their health.

FALSE

A critical function of the pancreas is the production of lecithin.

False

Diabetes is a chronic endocrine disorder in which the body is not able to manufacture or properly use catecholamines.

False

Hepatitis is a serious, common, and contagious disease that attacks the kidneys.

False

Infertility in couples in the United States is believed to be mainly caused by psychological issues in one or both partners.

False

Leukemia is a common form of cancer and results in a reduced number of white blood cells and an increased number of red blood cells.

False

Psychological counseling for disorders identified through genetic testing is best employed to help parents prepare for the possible bad news of the prenatal diagnosis.

False

T/F Correlational research measures the change in one variable that is caused by another variable.

False

T/F Health psychologists not only study who has what kind of cancer but also questions why some cancers are more prevalent than others in particular geographic areas or among particular groups of people.

False

T/F Men and women have the same life expectancy.

False

T/F Morbidity refers to the number of deaths due to a particular disease.

False

T/F Public health researchers work primarily in academic settings.

False

T/F The Ancient Greeks believed that disease resulted when the five circulating fluids of the body were out of balance.

False

The method of transmission for yellow fever is environmental.

False

The renal system consists of the kidneys, the liver, the urethra, and the appendix.

False

White blood cells and lymphocytes play an important role in blood clotting.

False

Which of the following is a hereditary disorder characterized by involuntary muscle spasms, loss of motor abilities, and personality changes?

Huntington's disease

Which of the following is NOT true of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)?

Men are more likely than women to experience PTSD.

Currently health is defined as:

a balance among physical, mental, and social well-being.

Role conflict occurs when:

a person receives conflicting information about work tasks or standards from different individuals.

Health psychology has been instrumental in developing:

a variety of new techniques for health-promoting behaviors and contributing to overall understanding of health-compromising behaviors.

Children who live and attend school in noisy areas:

are more likely to give up on difficult tasks.

Ambiguous events are less stressful than clear-cut negative events.

false

SLE scales take into account individual differences in the way events are experienced

false

The acute stress paradigm has proven valuable for understanding the effects of stress on disease.

false

The adverse aftereffects of stress, such as decreases in performance and attention span, often diminish soon after the stressful event itself is no longer present.

false

The perception of work overload shows a weaker relationship to physical health complaints and psychological distress compared to the actual work overload.

false

Which of the following do health psychologists generally NOT focus on in their line of work?

finding the solution to the mind-body problem

Cognitive-behavioral therapy approaches health-habit modification by:

focusing on the target behavior itself.

The major cause of heart disease in this country is the:

formation of plaques that narrow the arteries caused by deposits of cholesterol and other substances on the arterial walls.

Systolic blood pressure is to diastolic blood pressure as _______________ is to _______________.

greater force; lesser force

The biopsychosocial model of health emphasizes the idea that:

health and illness are influenced by a variety of factors other than those based on reductionistic explanations

The theory of planned behavior can be described as an attempt to link:

health attitudes to health related behaviors.

Freud claimed that in conversion hysteria, the patient converts specific unconscious conflicts into particular physical symptoms via ________.

highly stressful events

Health psychology is a growing field, with new jobs in ________.

hospitals, clinics, & research facilities

Health psychologists might want to study ________.

how one achieves health through attention to biological, psychological, and social needs

Teachable moments are least likely to occur ________.

in middle age

Functions of the nervous system are regulated by the means of chemical substances called ________.

neurotransmitters

Which of the following is an example of primary prevention?

never starting to smoke because of the anticipated health problems

Contingency contracting is more effective than punishment because:

people are more likely to adhere to reward or punishments when they make a contract with another person, such as a therapist.

Person-environment fit is determined by a person's:

perceived resources being adequate to meet a difficult situation.

College students may have too many tasks right before finals, and their immune system may be compromised resulting in the likelihood of becoming ill.

true

Heightened sympathetic reactivity to repeated moderate stressors and exaggerated cortisol response can relate to later chronic health disorders.

true

The fight-or-flight response can be harmful because stress disrupts emotional and physiological functioning.

true

One of the main drawbacks to the theory of planned behavior and behavior modification is that people:

with bad lifetime habits and new information may not be able to maintain the positive behavioral changes.

T/F Epidemiology is the study of the frequency, distribution, and causes of disease in a population.

True

T/F The biomedical model clearly emphasizes illness over health.

True

T/F The following is an example of retrospective research: The investigator attempts to reconstruct the conditions that led to a person contracting AIDS.

True

T/F Until the twentieth century, the major causes of illness and death in the United States were acute disorders.

True

The limbic system plays an important role in stress.

True

The release of catecholamines in the sympathetic nervous system affects respiration rate, blood pressure, and other physiological changes.

True

________ is an infectious disease caused by bacteria that invade lung tissue.

Tuberculosis

Why should you study health psychology?

- It could help you to understand the changes in health patterns in the United States. - It could help you to understand chronic illnesses in your loved ones. - It could help you to change your behavior for a healthier and longer life. (all of the above)

How has health psychology played an important role in the expansion and improvement of health care services?

- by emphasizing prevention and the modification of risky health behaviors - by implementing substantial research on what makes people satisfied or dissatisfied with their health care - by employing millions of individuals in a variety of jobs, thus making an enormous impact on the population (all of the above)

Health psychology is the study of:

- psychological influences determining why some people stay healthy and others do not. - interventions to help people stay healthy or become healthier. - why some people respond to illness in healthy ways and others, when they become ill, do not. (all of the above)

n the health belief model, the perception of a health threat is based on:

-beliefs about the consequences of a disorder. -general health values, such as one's interest and concern about health. -beliefs about personal vulnerability to a specific disorder. (ALL OF THESE)

Which of the following scenarios best exemplifies how modeling can be used as a technique for reducing fears associated with a preventive health behavior?

Before receiving medical injections, a group of children watch a video of other children receiving shots.

________ focuses primarily on the modification of self-talk.

Cognitive restructuring

Which of the following is NOT true about the sympathetic-adrenomedullary system (SAM)?

It is responsible for the secretion of corticosteroids.

All of the following statements are true about tend-and-befriend EXCEPT:

It takes the place of fight-or-flight in females.

Anticipation of a stress event is often as stressful as the actual occurrence.

True

At the same time that primary appraisals of stressful circumstances are occurring, secondary appraisals are initiated.

True

Atherosclerosis is caused by deposits of cholesterol and other substances that form plaque on the walls of the arteries.

True

Chronic bronchitis and emphysema are two familiar disorders that cause COPD.

True

Chronic pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) can result from sexually transmitted diseases and can lead to infertility problems.

True

Red blood cells are chiefly important because they contain hemoglobin, which is needed to carry oxygen and carbon dioxide throughout the body.

True

The three phases of the General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) are:

alarm, resistance, and exhaustion.

A state in which a physiological system body fluctuates to meet demands from stress is called ________.

allostasis

Primary appraisal processes are:

based on the premise that psychological appraisal determines the meaning of a stressful event.

Why have chronic illnesses helped spawn the field of health psychology?

because psychological and social factors are implicated as causes for these diseases

Your textbook suggests that _________ may be the most effective approach to health-habit modification.

broad-spectrum cognitive behavior therapy

The nervous system can be divided into the ________ and ________.

central; peripheral nervous system

Which approach to changing health behavior is illustrated by the use of Antabuse?

classical conditioning

The thalamus and hypothalamus compose the, which make up one of the two main sections of the ________.

diencephalon; forebrain

Whereas the nervous system is fast acting with a short-duration, the ______________ system is slow-acting with a long-duration.

endocrine

The sympathetic nervous system is to the parasympathetic nervous system as _______________ is to ______________.

energy exertion; energy conservation

Which of the following pairs of chemical substances are both neurotransmitters and hormones?

epinephrine and nonepinephrine

The fight-or-flight response:

involves the sympathetic nervous and endocrine system response to perceived danger.

GAS has been criticized because:

it does not pay attention to psychological factors and appraisal of events

Research suggests that the best way to persuade people through educational appeals is to ________.

make your message short, clear, and direct

The hindbrain is divided into three main parts: ________.

medulla, pons, and cerebellum

The biopsychosocial model of health makes the relationship between patient and practitioner:

most important, with the patient being considered a team member in the decision-making processes.

People undergoing chronic life stress show _________ in response to an acute stress in the laboratory.

natural killer cell activity

The degree of change that occurs in an individual's autonomic, neuroendocrine, or immune response as a result of stress is called ________.

reactivity

The main functions of the medulla are to ________.

regulate heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration

The hypothalamus and the pituitary gland work together to regulate the:

release of hormones by the endocrine system.

Which of the following approaches to health behavior change is most likely to change the individual's environment?

stimulus control interventions

Holmes and Rahe developed the Social Readjustment Rating Scale to measure ________.

stressful life events

Events such as noise, crowding, and a bad relationship are best described as ________.

stressors

The ________ is involved in the relay of sensory information to the cerebral cortex.

thalamus

The idea that health becomes something that one acquires through an interaction of several needs or factors, rather than something which is taken for granted, adheres to ________.

the biopsychosocial model

The term, "abstinence violation effect," refers to:

the feeling of loss of self-control that occurs when a self-imposed rule has been violated.

Multiple sclerosis is considered an autoimmune disorder because:

the immune system does not recognize itself and attacks itself.