Deck 1: Introducing Health Psychology

Question 1

Outline the central historical views of illness and health, with specific examples spanning from the prehistoric period to the present day, including both key theorists and medical developments.

Answer 1

not answered

Question 2

Health disparities are:

A) differences in the leading types of health problems that experienced by various groups experience.
B) preventable differences in the health of socially disadvantaged groups.
C) differences in the health of people living in various parts of the world.
D) unavoidable differences in the health of various groups.

Answer 2

preventable differences in the health of socially disadvantaged groups.

Question 3

Which statement of the following is true regarding the goals of Healthy People 2020?

A) Healthy People 2020 aims to improve health and decrease disparities exclusively among the wealthiest populations exclusively in the United States.
B) Healthy People 2020 aims to promote quality of life and healthy behaviors for adolescent populations in the United States.
C) Healthy People 2020 aims to reduce health equity, stabilize disparities, and enhance good health outcomes for the elderly in the United States.
D) Healthy People 2020 aims to create social and physical environments that promote good health for all in the United States.

Answer 3

Healthy People 2020 aims to create social and physical environments that promote good health for all in the United States.

Question 4

Identify the major epidemiological, theoretical, and philosophical trends that led to the emergence of health psychology as a field.

Question 5

Explain how Descartes's concept of dualism influenced medical science and current views of health and wellness in Western and non-Western medical practice and theory.

Question 6

According to Healthy People 2020, nearly one million deaths in the United States each year are:

A) preventable.
B) caused by genetic disorders.
C) lifestyle diseases that were rare fifty years ago.
D) caused by accidents.

Question 7

Regarding health and disease, which statement is NOT true?

A) Beginning in middle age, women have higher disease and disability rates than men do.
B) At every age, death rates vary by ethnic group.
C) People in developing countries can expect to live about the same number of healthy years as people in developed countries.
D) Men are twice as likely as women to die of any cause.

Question 8

Traditional Oriental medicine is founded on the principle that:

A) mind and body do not interact in determining health or illness.
B) the human body represents the entire universe in a microcosm.
C) internal harmony is essential for good health.
D) three bodily humors, or doshas, are the key to health.

Question 9

During the prehistoric period, our ancestors believed that disease was caused by:

A) trephination.
B) demons or evil spirits.
C) poor hygiene.
D) an imbalance of body fluids.

Question 10

The notion of personality traits being linked with body fluids:

A) was discarded long ago.
B) still persists in the folk and alternative medicines of many cultures.
C) originated with the work of Claudius Galen.
D) was the basis of the germ theory of disease.

Question 11

The subfield of psychology that contributes to the prevention and treatment of illness is:

A) medical psychology.
B) behavioral medicine.
C) health psychology.
D) biopsychosocial medicine.

Question 12

A health psychologist would agree with all the statements EXCEPT:

A) Health psychologists seek to promote healthy lifestyles.
B) Biological, psychological, and social forces act together to determine our health.
C) Health disparities are found only in the poorest nations.
D) Health psychologists approach the study of health and illness from several overlapping perspectives.

Question 13

According to Hippocrates, disease resulted when:

A) there was an imbalance among the different bodily fluids circulating in the body.
B) the person violated divine laws.
C) the person experienced too much of one type of emotion.
D) illness-causing worms infested the body.

Question 14

Trephination refers to:

A) the use of leeches to draw blood from a sick person.
B) a primitive form of surgery in which a hole was bored into a sick person's skull.
C) the earliest public health regulations established by Greek and Roman medicine.
D) a non-Western form of healing based on the use of herbs and tonics.

Question 15

Which of these is the field of health psychology NOT directly concerned with?

A) the health care system
B) enhancing health
C) preventing and treating illness
D) lowering health care costs

Question 16

Describe in detail the different contexts considered by health psychologists. Give a specific example for each context and ground your example in one particular perspective as mentioned in the text.

Question 17

Who developed a method by which physicians were able to directly observe internal organs in a living person?

A) William Morton
B) John Hunter
C) John Fothergill
D) Wilhelm Roentgen

Question 18

Compare and contrast the biomedical and biopsychosocial models of health and illness. Discuss the implications of accepting and adopting one model over the other in regard to understanding health and illness.

Question 19

Health is defined as:

A) the absence of disease.
B) a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being.
C) the ability to meet the demands of everyday living.
D) the perception that one is free of symptoms, whether accurate or not.

Question 20

The new federal law aimed at reducing the number of people in the United States who do NOT have health insurance is the:

A) Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
B) No Child Left Behind Act.
C) Healthy People 2020 Act.
D) Preventable Injury and Death Act.

Question 21

René Descartes influenced modern medicine with his view that:

A) the mind and body operate according to separate principles.
B) hygiene was an important component of good health.
C) the origins of all diseases are outside the individual.
D) all diseases originate within the body.

Question 22

A pathogen is:

A) a healing force.
B) the pattern of illness in a population.
C) a disease.
D) any agent, such as a bacterium or virus, that can cause a disease.

Question 23

The nuclear conflict model of psychosomatic medicine was developed by psychoanalyst:

A) Sigmund Freud.
B) B. F. Skinner.
C) Neal Miller.
D) Franz Alexander.

Question 24

The first complete anatomical study of the internal organs, musculature, and skeletal systems of the human body was published by:

A) Christian Huygens.
B) Claudius Galen.
C) Andreas Vesalius.
D) Giovanni Morgagni.

Question 25

A disease that spreads rapidly among many individuals in a community at the same time and over a limited geographical area is known as:

A) the plague.
B) a pandemic.
C) an epidemic.
D) mass hysteria.

Question 26

During the Middle Ages, disease was viewed as:

A) a form of divine punishment for sins.
B) being caused by evil spirits.
C) a physical condition of the body.
D) influenced by mind and emotions.

Question 27

The biomedical model embraces reductionism, which is the view that:

A) psychological, social, and behavioral variables play little role in illness.
B) complex phenomena (such as health) derive from a single primary factor.
C) mind and body are separate and autonomous entities.
D) health is nothing more than the absence of disease.

Question 28

Although both Sigmund Freud's theories and psychosomatic medicine were flawed, they started the trend toward viewing illness and health as being caused by:

A) host factors.
B) environmental factors.
C) psychological and behavioral factors.
D) the interaction of several factors.

Question 29

The oldest known medical system in the world is:

A) traditional Oriental medicine.
B) ayurveda.
C) acupuncture.
D) qi.

Question 30

Maintaining a balance of the vata, pitta, and kapha bodily humors is the key to health according to which medical system?

A) traditional Oriental medicine
B) acupuncture
C) homeopathic medicine
D) ayurveda

Question 31

Which of these is NOT a reason that psychosomatic medicine fell out of favor?

A) As Freudian concepts, such as the unconscious, fell out of favor, so too did psychosomatic medicine.
B) Franz Alexander's nuclear conflict model relied too heavily on individual psychological problems.
C) Psychosomatic medicine was based on reductionism, the outmoded idea that a single flaw was sufficient to trigger disease.
D) Psychosomatic medicine, being heavily influenced by the behaviorist movement, became unpopular during the late 1960s.

Question 32

The plague that killed thousands of people during the Middle Ages was an example of a(n):

A) food-borne illness.
B) genetic disease.
C) bacterial disease.
D) virus.

Question 33

Under the doctrine of mind-body dualism, health and disease came to be viewed:

A) in scientific, or biomedical, terms.
B) in spiritual terms.
C) in terms of social and psychological factors.
D) as culturally specific states.

Question 34

In traditional Oriental medicine, qi (sometimes spelled chi) refers to:

A) a vital energy or life force that ebbs and flows with changes in a person's well-being.
B) a health condition in which all organs and tissues are functioning properly.
C) a state of illness.
D) the three bodily humors.

Question 35

Because he doesn't feel sick, Enrique believes that he is healthy. He evidently has an implicit belief in the ______ model of health.

A) biopsychosocial
B) Cartesian
C) biomedical
D) biophysical

Question 36

The field of psychosomatic medicine emerged because the biomedical model was unable to explain:

A) gender differences in the prevalence of certain diseases.
B) disorders that had no observable physical cause.
C) cultural differences in the incidence of specific diseases.
D) age-related issues in health and disease.

Question 37

According to Sigmund Freud, loss of speech, deafness, and other conversion disorders were caused by:

A) unconscious emotional conflicts.
B) psychological viruses.
C) erotic urges.
D) repressed feelings of hatred toward one's parents.

Question 38

The concept that maintains that illness always has a biological cause and represents the dominant view in medicine today is known as what?

A) psychosomatic medical model
B) biopsychosocial model
C) biomedical model
D) genomic model

Question 39

Historically, health psychology grew out of:

A) the decreased life expectancy in industrialized nations.
B) the stabilization of health care and drug costs after World War II.
C) the rise in the incidence and prevalence of lifestyle disorders.
D) broad-based empirical support of the biomedical model.

Question 40

The scientific study of the causes or origins of specific diseases is called:

A) etiology.
B) entomology.
C) epidemiology.
D) behavioral medicine.

Question 41

Which of these is NOT one of the original four goals of the new field of health psychology?

A) Pto promote health
B) Pto prevent and treat illness
C) Lto lower health care costs
D) Pto promote public health policy

Question 42

Which of these has NOT been a major health trend in the United States since 1900?

A) Health care costs have increased.
B) Life expectancy has increased.
C) Lifestyle disorders such as cancer, stroke, and heart disease have decreased.
D) The medical model has been broadened from a biomedical focus to a biological, psychological, and social focus.

Question 43

During the twentieth century, life expectancy in the United States:

A) decreased.
B) remained about the same.
C) decreased, then increased during the twenty-first century.
D) increased.

Question 44

Dr. Ortiz is investigating how a mother's habits will affect her child's lifelong development. Dr. Ortiz is evidently working from the ______ perspective.

A) sociocultural
B) life-course
C) biomedical
D) behavioral

Question 45

Dr. Smyth is studying the relationship of socioeconomic status to health and disease. Dr. Smyth is evidently working from the ______ perspective.

A) sociocultural
B) life-course
C) gender
D) behavioral

Question 46

Health psychologists view health:

A) as the absence of disease.
B) from a biopsychosocial viewpoint.
C) from a biomedical perspective.
D) in various ways, depending on the individual's background.

Question 47

Genomics is the study of the:

A) evolutionary history of a species' health.
B) structure, function, and mapping of the genetic material of organisms.
C) role of psychological factors in vulnerability to disease.
D) effects of environmental forces on how genes are expressed.

Question 48

What is the leading cause of death in people ages 1-44?

A) chronic lower respiratory disease
B) heart disease
C) cancer
D) accidents

Question 49

When psychologists use the term culture, they are referring to:

A) large groups of people who tend to have similar values.
B) large groups of people who tend to have similar experiences.
C) the enduring behaviors, values, and customs that a group of people have developed over the years and transmitted from one generation to the next.
D) a group of people born within a few years of one another who experience similar historical and social conditions.

Question 50

A person who attributes catching a cold to not getting enough sleep or experiencing too much stress after being exposed to a virus is implicitly accepting which model of health?

A) biomedical
B) biopsychosocial
C) behavioral
D) cognitive-behavioral

Question 51

Dr. Heyward believes that our characteristic human behaviors exist because they helped our distant ancestors survive. Evidently, Dr. Heyward is a proponent of the:

A) evolutionary perspective.
B) biomedical model.
C) life-course perspective.
D) biopsychosocial model.

Question 52

DNA methylation is best described as the:

A) biochemical process that occurs in body cells and helps regulate the expression of genes.
B) cause of most chronic illnesses in children and young adults.
C) cause of most chronic illnesses in older adults.
D) mechanism by which psychological traits such as introversion are inherited.

Question 53

Today, the leading cause of death in the United States is:

A) accidents.
B) infectious disease.
C) cancer.
D) heart disease.

Question 54

Subjective well-being refers to:

A) empathy.
B) self-perceived happiness.
C) the level of stress in a person's day-to-day life.
D) the sense that one is better off than others.

Question 55

What is the leading cause of death among people age 45 and over?

A) cancer
B) heart disease
C) chronic conditions such as heart disease and cancer
D) external events such as homicide

Question 56

An "epigenetic effect" is one in which:

A) genes influence a person's vulnerability to disease.
B) a person's age influences his or her health.
C) environmental forces affect how genes are expressed.
D) exposure to an environmental toxin makes a person sick.

Question 57

Women and men who feel connected to a network of caring friends are less likely to die of cancer than those who feel alienated from others. This finding underscores the importance of the ______ context in health.

A) biological
B) psychological
C) social
D) emotional

Question 58

One research study found that boys who inherit one variation of the MAOA gene, and girls who inherit a different variation of the same gene, are more likely to engage in ______ behavior as adolescents, but only if they were exposed to ______ as children.

A) prosocial; chemical toxins
B) delinquent: maltreatment
C) criminal; malnutrition
D) bullying; bullying

Question 59

A birth cohort is a group of people who:

A) were born within a few years of each other.
B) have a certain cultural identity.
C) have a certain ethnic identity.
D) have a certain racial identity.

Question 60

Which statement is NOT true regarding the immigrant paradox?

A) Low socioeconomic status does not predict poor health for Hispanics and other ethnic groups in the United States.
B) The children and grandchildren of immigrants to the United States typically surpass their elders in income and education.
C) The children and grandchildren of immigrants to the United States typically are healthier than their elders.
D) Latinos in the United States use health care less often.

Question 61

Today, the largest group of health psychologists works in:

A) colleges and universities.
B) hospitals.
C) independent practice.
D) business or government.

Question 62

Which is one reason that middle-aged women have higher rates of illness than men in the same age group?

A) Women have been underrepresented as participants in medical research trials.
B) There simply are more middle-aged women than men living.
C) Because women have less muscular strength than men, they tend to get sick more often.
D) Because women have weaker immune systems than men.

Question 63

Massification is the idea that:

A) recent immigrants to the United States are typically healthier than immigrant families who have been in the country for several generations.
B) the mind-body connection is very strong when it comes to health.
C) higher education benefits everyone.
D) environmental factors strongly influence how our genes are expressed.

Question 64

Health psychologists work as:

A) teachers.
B) research scientists.
C) clinicians.
D) teachers, scientists, and clinicians.

Question 65

Research studies demonstrate that college students who drink heavily prefer:

A) large social contexts involving both men and women.
B) small social contexts involving both men and women.
C) large social contexts involving only men or women.
D) small social contexts involving only men or women.

Question 66

Dr. Mills conducts research on the health assets that produce longer life and optimal human functioning. Which specialty area does her research best represent?

A) positive health psychology
B) clinical health psychology
C) biopsychosocial psychology
D) health psychology

Question 67

Regarding the benefits of attending college, which statement is NOT true?

A) Women and men who have attended college are no healthier than those who have not.
B) Over the course of a typical four-year college experience, thinking tends to become broader and more complex.
C) Educated people are more likely to develop higher health literacy.
D) Higher education is associated with better health habits.

Question 68

Dr. Santiello is a licensed practitioner who focuses on health-promoting interventions with his clientele. Dr. Santiello is most likely a ______ psychologist.

A) positive health
B) biopsychosocial
C) health
D) clinical health

Question 69

Bella wants to enroll in a graduate program to become a health psychologist; in this program she has to take some research training courses, content courses based upon the biopsychosocial health model, and clinical training experiences that will enable her to be licensed to counsel individuals. What type of program should she choose?

A) Ph.D.
B) MSW
C) Psy.D.
D) Pharm.D.

Question 70

Alcohol dependency syndrome consists of each of these traits EXCEPT:

A) poor self-regulation.
B) negative emotionality.
C) self-defeating beliefs.
D) high self-esteem.

Question 71

According to the ecological-systems approach, health is a function of:

A) the body's biological systems.
B) our social relationships.
C) our psychological makeup.
D) the interaction of the body's biological, social, and psychological domains.