Deck 10: Stress, Meaning, and Health

Question 1

Which of the following biochemicals plays a role in producing the body's stress response?

A) epinephrine
B) catecholamines
C) cortisol
D) adrenaline
E) all of these play a role!

Answer 1

E

Question 2

What is a physical manifestation of the stress response?

A) Decreased heart rate.
B) Sudden rise in blood sugar or mobilization of sugar in the bloodstream.
C) Rapid drop in blood pressure.
D) Blood rushing away from different muscle groups.
E) Feeling instantly less energized.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Which of these does NOT typically intensify stress?

A) Social media involvement.
B) A marginalized identity.
C) Spiritual practices undertaken as a means to control aspects of one's life.
D) Being subject to racism, sexism, and/or other forms of bigotry.
E) Environmental pressures.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

What category do meat-packing factory assembly line jobs generally fall into?

A) high-demand, high-control
B) low-demand, low-control
C) high-control, low-control
D) low-demand, high-control
E) high-demand, low-control

Question 5

Children under chronic stress are:

A) less likely to do well in school due to their low allostatic load.
B) more likely to do well in school due to their high allostatic load.
C) more likely to do well in school due to their low allostatic load.
D) less likely to do well in school due to their high allostatic load.
E) None of these answers work: allostatic load does not affect school performance.

Question 6

Hugs and backrubs can work to reduce stress

A) By stimulating oxytocin
B) By reducing allostasis
C) For children but not adults
D) By increasing norepinephrine
E) In touch-phobic cultures

Question 7

Carrying a high allostatic load could make a person vulnerable to:

A) streptococcal illness
B) resilience
C) cultural consonance
D) overproduction of oxytocin
E) None of these answers work; a high allostatic load has no effect on an individual's overall health and wellbeing,

Question 8

Which does NOT typically cause or lead to poor health outcomes?

A) Allostasis
B) An elevated allostatic load
C) dysregulation of the body's 'factory settings'
D) High-demand, low-control jobs
E) Everything on this list is correlated with bad health.

Question 9

Why is having a large social network NOT in itself a guarantee of resilience?

A) having a lot of people to worry about can be stressful itself
B) social groups can put pressure on members to behave in particular ways that aren't personally fulfilling
C) the network may not believe in helping individuals or providing a safety net
D) All of these things might be true
E) one's network may not contain individuals who can help in the way that one needs in a given situation

Question 10

Of the following, which is NOT a 'culture bound syndrome':

A) road rage
B) susto
C) amok
D) everything on this list is a 'culture bound syndrome'
E) menopause

Question 11

To test the efficacy of a prescription anti-anxiety medication, clinical researchers administered it to some test subjects while others unknowingly received sugar pills. Everyone knew what the trial was about; and it occurred in the USA. Both groups reported reduced anxiety. How/why?

A) the 'meaning response' promoted anxiety-reduction among the sugar-pill takers
B) allostasis was triggered
C) the nocebo effect was at work
D) resilience promoted endurance in those who received the 'real' drug
E) all of the options are true

Question 12

The best thing to do when researchers notice a strong placebo effect in a clinical trial is to

A) stop testing the drug
B) increase the dose of the 'real' drug
C) try to explain what is causing that effect because that information can be used to help people
D) charge more for the drug
E) offset it with a nacebo

Question 13

What do hormones do in/for our bodies (assuming we are healthy)?

A) Regulate the relationships between the various organs
B) Keep us warm
C) Protect us from skin cancer
D) Protect us from germs by regulating the production of antibodies
E) Regulate color preference

Question 14

How do we know that we are more 'stressed' than our ancestors were?

A) cortisol comparisons
B) we don't: they are gone and we have no real measures
C) we actually are less stressed because there are no major predators of humans
D) the proof is in our lower parasite load
E) salivary cortisol comparisons

Question 15

The body's stress response was naturally selected for in our ancestors because:

A) it triggers the potentially lifesaving fight or flight reaction.
B) It led to the invention of leisure time.
C) It allows us to empathize with one another, strengthening group bonds and therefore group survival.
D) It eliminates harmful toxins in the bloodstream.
E) Our ancestors' ability to develop agriculture depended on it.

Question 16

The stress related to the value we place on being young and looking youthful in the USA is:

A) culturally constructed.
B) linked to liver health.
C) felt more deeply in traditional cultures that respect the aged.
D) biologically determined.
E) a form of relativism.

Question 17

Scientists seeking to gauge or assess allostatic load pay attention to which of the following conditions?

A) Elevated cortisol levels
B) High blood pressure
C) A large waist-to-hip ratio
D) High urinary epinephrine
E) All of these mark long-term stress

Question 18

Which of the following stress-reduction techniques has been scientifically validated or 'proven' to work in a welcoming cultural context?

A) having a view of trees or of a garden
B) hugs and backrubs
C) nothing listed here is scientifically proven
D) 'forest bathing'
E) there is scientific evidence that each of the actions mentioned helps reduce stress

Question 19

Although hypertension, diabetes, and low birth weight are complex conditions, they occur at higher rates among people of color than people who are white mostly because of

A) Genetics
B) Racism
C) Ancestry
D) Diet
E) Working too hard

Question 20

What evidence supports the argument that pibloktoq is not an indigenous culture bound syndrome of the Inuit?

A) It peaked in summertime
B) Westerners 'caught' it also
C) Mustard-water and morphine cured it
D) It showed up in a constricted time period among native peoples working for certain colonial expeditions led by Western explorers to the Arctic
E) This is a trick question because pibloktoq is a made up word

Question 21

By taking historical context into consideration, we can better see that many so-called culture bound syndromes are:

A) embodied expressions of the trauma of structural violence
B) made up by explorers to impress the folks at home
C) caused by vitamin deficiencies
D) biologically determined
E) expressions of bipolar disorder

Question 22

What is now understood as the key driver of pibloktoq among Arctic peoples?

A) sudden fright
B) the stress of subjugation (often including sexual predation) by exploitative and ethnocentric outsiders
C) vitamin D deficiency
D) overexposure to sunlight in those unused to it
E) drinking 'mustard water'

Question 23

Population-level statistics regarding risk can predict which of the following?

A) each person's individual chances for a problem
B) the average rate at which a problem will occur in the population in question
C) the chances that proximal populations will have similar problems
D) whether or not your children will be at risk for the problem
E) universal trends that will emerge in all populations

Question 24

Which of the following makes pibloktoq, a condition found among Arctic populations, a 'culture-bound syndrome'?

A) There is no change to the body during the disease, which is therefore purely cultural.
B) It is not: it is really just a vitamin deficiency.
C) Its manifestation (expression, symptoms) is shaped by cultural knowledge.
D) The disease is endemic to the population because of an altered night-day schedule during the winter.
E) No answer given is correct.

Question 25

In mainstream United States, young people (particularly white middle-class girls) with controlling parents sometimes express this distress in/as:

A) anorexia nervosa.
B) susto.
C) empacho.
D) couvade.
E) allostatic depression.

Question 26

A 'naturalistic' explanation for empacho or a stomach-based ailment generally:

A) focuses on social causes.
B) calls for community based treatment.
C) calls for individual treatment focused on bodily functions.
D) is the same as a 'personalistic' explanation for illness.
E) is the same as a native, insider's explanation.

Question 27

Which of the following approaches to healing always involves 'fighting fire with fire'?

A) allopathy
B) homeopathy
C) allostasis
D) naturopathy
E) genetic counseling

Question 28

What problem is solved by calling the 'placebo response' the 'meaning response' instead?

A) Placebos are substances that, by definition, have no effect (so they cannot, by definition, be effective).
B) Placebos do have biological effects, but the psychological effects outweigh these.
C) A placebo's effect is not related to its name or cost.
D) The term 'placebo' was trademarked so it can no longer be used freely.
E) A placebo response has no cultural component.

Question 29

Let's say that you are given a pill and told that it will enhance your test-taking performance. Which of the following has the LEAST to do with the 'placebo effect' that you may experience?

A) the pill's color
B) the pill's form/shape
C) context of procurement/use
D) pharmacologically active ingredients
E) cultural expectations regarding the pill

Question 30

The 'fight or flight response' does NOT involve:

A) the nervous system.
B) the intellect or the rational mind
C) hormones.
D) the immune system.
E) It involves directly all four things listed.

Question 31

Which of the following is NOT true of adrenaline?

A) It is generated in the adrenal glands.
B) It is now generally referred to as epinephrine.
C) It is the same as cortisol.
D) It is a biochemical occurring naturally in humans.
E) It is produced above the kidneys.

Question 32

Which of the following has NOT been found true in regard to stress and health?

A) Pregnancy complications are more likely when household stress levels are high.
B) High stress is related to increased risk of stroke, angina or chest pain.
C) Poor health outcomes are unrelated to household stress levels.
D) High household stress correlates with increased streptococcal illness.
E) Chronic stress in conditions of poverty can weaken working memory, leading to lower marks in school.

Question 33

'Culture-bound syndromes' are NOT:

A) biological predispositions to certain diseases based on ancestral background.
B) bounded, culturally named conditions.
C) often outlets for stress brought about by role incongruity.
D) associated with somatization.
E) found in Western or modern cultures .

Question 34

The 'placebo effect' is NOT:

A) a measurable, observable, or felt improvement in health not directly attributable to biomedical treatment.
B) self-healing attributable to knowledge or beliefs regarding the curative practice or process carried out.
C) brought about by the 'meaning response.'
D) unmeasurable.
E) the result of a treatment (for instance with a pill) that has no known biomedical effects.

Question 35

'Stress' is technically defined as:

A) the immediate biochemical response to an environmental pressure.
B) any mindset or psychological state that can negatively affect performance.
C) part of the environment that asserts negative consequences on people.
D) negative thinking (e.g., worry) that lasts over a long period of time.
E) a psychological condition that can become chronic.

Question 36

'Stress' entails reactions in which of the human body's systems?

A) nervous system
B) hormonal system
C) immune system
D) all three systems mentioned
E) none of the systems mentioned

Question 37

The 'fight or flight' reaction is:

A) also known as the love response.
B) a newly evolved adaptive ability related to chronic stress.
C) an aid to survival when one's life is directly threatened.
D) only an option for the weak and helpless.
E) a cultural adaptation to increased masculinity.

Question 38

People in the midst of a 'fight or flight' response have:

A) higher cortisol, epinephrine, and blood glucose ('blood sugar') levels than normal.
B) lower cortisol, epinephrine, and blood glucose ('blood sugar') levels than normal.
C) cortisol and blood glucose ('blood sugar') levels of zero.
D) unaffected cortisol and blood glucose ('blood sugar') levels but high epinephrine levels.
E) low lactose and adrenaline levels.

Question 39

Why might we have evolved strong 'fight or flight' reaction capabilities?

A) The fight or flight response was maladaptive.
B) Our ancestors who responded too slowly to the threat of being attacked by, say, a lion would not have passed along as many of their genes as those who responded quickly.
C) They were sexually selected for.
D) Such reactions are evolutionarily viable.
E) Actually, the 'fight or flight' response died out when culture emerged

Question 40

'Chronic stress' differs from acute stress mainly in that it:

A) creates more chemical changes in the body than acute stress.
B) is more severe than acute stress.
C) occurs over a longer period of time than acute stress.
D) happens less frequently than acute stress.
E) is beneficial to the body.

Question 41

'Allostatic load' is best described as:

A) the cumulative measurement of chemicals released in the body during chronic stress.
B) the cumulative pressure on body functions brought about by chronic stress.
C) the amount of environmental pressure needed to induce chronic stress.
D) muscular and skeletal dysregulation.
E) multi-system dysregulation caused by inactivity and weight gain.

Question 42

Chronic stress does its damage by:

A) prompting harmful recalibration of the body's healthy 'set points' or 'factory settings' for regulating things like blood glucose.
B) decoupling (dysregulating) the cerebrospinal and musculo-glucose systems.
C) increasing resilience.
D) moving fat from the gut to the rump and thighs, and so increasing the waist-to-hip ratio.
E) decreasing the allostatic index.

Question 43

'Allostasis' is:

A) another word for homeostasis.
B) how the body changes its 'set points' to accommodate chronic stress when normal homeostasis cannot be achieved.
C) a healthy alternative to homeostasis that helps us to avoid the long-term damage chronic stress otherwise can bring.
D) the opposite of homeostasis.
E) a cultural adaptation to avoid the effects of stress.

Question 44

A high allostatic load is associated with:

A) high blood pressure, high blood sugar, immune system suppression.
B) faster metabolism, improved muscle strength, low blood pressure.
C) high amounts of adrenaline caused by acute stress.
D) dehydration from overexertion.
E) obesity, diabetes, increased fertility.

Question 45

Which of the following is true of the 'allostatic load'?

A) It has nothing to do with racism.
B) Your allostatic load is determined by your genes.
C) People in the upper middle class are the least prone to allostatic loading.
D) Sociocultural factors support different patterns of allostatic loading in different populations.
E) Educated people are always least prone to allostatic loading.

Question 46

The fact that divorce is more stressful in societies where it is not culturally condoned or accepted and less stressful in societies where everyone does it supports the argument that:

A) our responses to events are culturally relative.
B) stress is NOT a contextually relevant experience.
C) if something causes stress in one culture it causes stress in another.
D) biological determinism is a powerful explanatory tool.
E) cultural context is irrelevant when it comes to the experience of stress.

Question 47

Which of the following is culturally universal?

A) a desire to look young
B) worry about homosexuality
C) worry about teen sexuality
D) superstitions about wash water
E) the contextual nature of stress

Question 48

'Resilience' refers to:

A) strength in the face of otherwise stressful situations.
B) biological predispositions against the release of adrenaline.
C) strategies that directly suppress the hurtful actions of others.
D) having a large social support network.
E) living in a small village where everyone knows one another.

Question 49

Why do so many African American women have premature births (give birth before gestation is over)?

A) poor nutrition
B) chronic or heightened stress due to racism can trigger early labor.
C) the different races naturally have different gestational lengths
D) actually, this is a myth: African American women's pregnancies last just as long, on average, as those of White women
E) nobody knows

Question 50

As a group, and due in large part to racism, African American women generally have ________ than White women.

A) higher allostatic loads
B) fewer premature babies
C) less hypertension
D) less diabetes
E) higher homeostatic loads

Question 51

Which of the following groups of mothers experiences the LOWEST level of infant mortality?

A) African Americans whose families have been in America for generations
B) African immigrants to America (first generation)
C) daughters of African immigrants to America (second generation)
D) African Americans who have at least one White relative
E) African Americans living in urban areas

Question 52

Comparisons of birth outcomes for African American mothers, mothers from Africa new to America, and African immigrants who have lived in America for one generation suggest that:

A) after one generation, infants are nearly never born prematurely or at low birthweights.
B) low birth weight among Black people is NOT genetically driven.
C) African Americans are genetically distinct from Africans.
D) Africans are biologically protected from low birth outcomes.
E) there is no difference between these three groups in terms of birth outcomes.

Question 53

When it comes to 'stress,' researchers have found that racist comments:

A) can be physiologically damaging to people who are targeted by them.
B) can cause mental anguish but cannot harm the body
C) are a prime source of acute allostatic consonance and chronic cortisol drainage.
D) are stressful but not harmful.
E) are harmful but not stressful.

Question 54

Countless studies suggest that ________ strongly increases one's risk for hypertension, diabetes, and other ills associated with chronic stress.

A) racist treatment
B) racialization
C) resilience
D) selling small electronics on Craig's list
E) being rich

Question 55

'Cultural consonance' refers to:

A) the degree to which cultural traits are in accordance (are concordant) from culture to culture.
B) the degree to which a person's lifestyle fits the lifestyle one's culture recommends and that one thereby aspires to.
C) whether or not a person's cultural practices are in harmony.
D) how much value one places on one's culture.
E) the similarities between cultures that overlap.

Question 56

From a scientific point of view: a husband and father whose culture expects a husband and father to be the breadwinner for the family, but who has not been able to secure employment for over a year, may experience chronic stress (and may even experience 'susto' after a sudden fright) due to:

A) role incongruity.
B) status inconsistency.
C) supernatural forces.
D) a hex.
E) the high consonance between his lifestyle and his culture.

Question 57

Which of the following provides the best example of a person who will have a low degree of 'cultural consonance'?

A) a person in the upper middle class who strives to belong to the upper class but cannot afford to buy/own some of the consumer goods expected
B) a person in the upper class who has no job but is independently wealthy
C) a person in the middle class who has no desire to climb the social ladder or who, some would say, has no aspirations
D) a person born into the royal lineage and who will eventually become his or her tribe's ruler
E) a student who is living and loving the student life

Question 58

People with high 'cultural consonance' levels generally have ___________ compared with those who experience low 'cultural consonance.'

A) lower allostatic loads
B) more premature babies
C) higher stress levels
D) more hypertension
E) more diabetes

Question 59

Diverse stress-related symptoms can be linked together differently in different cultures; anthropologists call these diverse groupings:

A) culture-bound syndromes.
B) psycho-somatic illnesses.
C) differential allostatic loadings.
D) resiliencies.
E) genetically redeemable.

Question 60

'Somatization' is associated with:

A) culture-bound syndromes.
B) genetically determined diseases.
C) homeostasis.
D) mental, not physical, symptoms.
E) allostatic loading.

Question 61

From a social science point of view, 'susto' is caused by:

A) a pathogen passed through cultural activities.
B) a lesion.
C) stress, itself resulting from role incongruity.
D) a genetic predisposition.
E) soul loss.

Question 62

Why are women in many societies free from symptoms of distress at menopause?

A) The distress associated with menopause in the United States is to a large degree culturally constituted (constructed).
B) Most undergo menopause much later.
C) Most undergo menopause much earlier.
D) People of older ages are respected in the United States only.
E) Women in the United States have a genetic predisposition for menopausal distress, which other women do not have.

Question 63

What is the best explanation for why people in different cultures treat upset stomachs so differently?

A) Different interpretations of stomach upset lead to different experiences of it across cultures.
B) Different groups have varied views regarding the causes of sickness, and so they use different treatments.
C) Different groups have diverse material or environmental options.
D) All substantive answers are correct.
E) None of the answers given is correct.

Question 64

The 'placebo effect' is best defined as:

A) the cultural interpretation of a disease and its repercussions.
B) a measurable improvement to one's health that cannot be attributed to biomedical procedures or pharmaceuticals.
C) the psychological side effects of medicine.
D) when the belief that one has been cursed leads to one's death.
E) unintended physiological side effects that accompany treatment medication.

Question 65

People who experience a 'placebo effect' may feel that they have been helped or healed:

A) but these effects cannot be measured.
B) and these effects are measurable.
C) but they have not been helped because the placebo effect is not real.
D) but they are having psychological delusions.
E) and yet their experience can never be scientifically proven.

Question 66

From the perspective of social science, a person who has been cursed or 'hexed' can die from the curse (hex) only when:

A) This is a trick question because nobody dies from a curse or hex.
B) poisons are secretly fed to the hexed individuals.
C) the curse or hex was uttered during a full moon.
D) he or she knows that the curse will bring death.
E) instrumental ties are more common than expressive ones.

Question 67

From the perspective of a biologist or medical researcher, a person who has been cursed or 'hexed' can die from the hex because, or only when:

A) chronic stress affects his or her blood volume and blood oxygen levels, inducing traumatic shock.
B) chronic stress leads to hyperactive breathing action, which brings on a loss of consciousness and this, coupled with self-starvation, can actually kill.
C) the hexer has actually poisoned the hexee (the hexed person).
D) fright is so intense that the heart instantly stops beating.
E) This question is bunk: a hex cannot kill.

Question 68

Building hospitals with more gardens and more sunny or nature-facing rooms:

A) leverages the meaning response to induce quicker healing and shorter length of stay.
B) was a fad in the 1990s.
C) is necessary in poor nations where real medicine is hard to come by.
D) disproves the idea that the built environment has any effect on our health.
E) led to increased use of pain medication and soon came to a halt.