Deck 5: Defining, Measuring, and Managing Stress

Question 1

The hormone ________ may be responsible for women's stress response being characterized as "tend and befriend" rather than "fight or flight."

A) adrenocorticotropic hormone
B) cortisol
C) norepinephrine
D) oxytocin

Answer 1

oxytocin

Question 2

The sympathetic nervous system

A) is a division of the parasympathetic nervous system.
B) mobilizes the resources of the body during stressful or emergency situations.
C) is activated at an elevated rate during the exhaustion stage.
D) all of these are correct.

Answer 2

mobilizes the resources of the body during stressful or emergency situations.

Question 3

The adrenal glands are an important part of the _______ system.

A) cardiovascular
B) nervous
C) immune
D) digestive

Answer 3

immune

Question 4

The endocrine system consists of

A) a system of ductless glands within the brain and spinal cord.
B) a system of ducted glands in the digestive system.
C) a system of both ducted and ductless glands oriented toward reproduction.
D) a system of ductless glands distributed throughout the body.

Question 5

The peripheral nervous system is divided into two parts:

A) the afferent and efferent branches.
B) the spinal cord and brain.
C) the spinal cord and parasympathetic nervous system.
D) the somatic and autonomic nervous systems.

Question 6

What is the difference between glands of the endocrine and neuroendocrine systems?

A) Glands in the neuroendocrine system are controlled by the nervous system.
B) Glands in the endocrine system are controlled by the autonomic nervous system not the sympathetic nervous system.
C) Glands in the neuroendocrine system secrete hormones, but those in the endocrine system do not.
D) Glands in the endocrine system secrete hormones, but those in the neuroendocrine system do not.

Question 7

The class of chemicals containing epinephrine and norepinephrine is called

A) acetylcholines.
B) catecholamines.
C) neurotransmitters.
D) glucocorticoids.

Question 8

________,or the wear and tear of the body,may be responsible for a number of health problems,such as high blood pressure,insulin resistance,and decline in cognitive functioning.

A) Allostatic load
B) Survival
C) "Fight or flight" response
D) Coping

Question 9

The two principal neurotransmitters of the autonomic nervous system are

A) serotonin and dopamine.
B) acetylcholine and norepinephrine.
C) epinephrine and dopamine.
D) the same as the principle neurotransmitters of the central nervous system.

Question 10

Which of the following responses is NOT part of sympathetic activation?

A) increased heart rate
B) increased blood pressure
C) increased digestive system activity
D) decreased salivary activity

Question 11

Individual nerve cells are called

A) synapses.
B) protons.
C) neurons.
D) ganglions.

Question 12

When the physiological stress response has been active for a prolonged amount of time,______ may occur.

A) allostatic load
B) survival
C) "fight or flight" response
D) coping

Question 13

If the activity level of the sympathetic nervous system increases,the level of activity in the parasympathetic nervous system

A) decreases.
B) increases.
C) doubles.
D) remains constant.

Question 14

The central nervous system consists of the

A) heart and the blood vessels.
B) brain and the spinal cord.
C) brain and the blood vessels.
D) somatic and the autonomic nervous systems.

Question 15

The autonomic nervous system has two subdivisions:

A) afferents and efferents.
B) central and peripheral nervous systems.
C) the brain and the spinal cord.
D) sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.

Question 16

The adrenal glands are located

A) in the midbrain.
B) in the forebrain.
C) just above the stomach.
D) just above the kidneys.

Question 17

The term that refers to the body's maintenance of an appropriate level of activation under changing circumstances is

A) "fight or flight" response.
B) allostatic load.
C) allostasis.
D) coping.

Question 18

Activation of the sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system produces ____ in heart rate,and activation of the parasympathetic division produces ____.

A) increases . . . additional increases in heart rate
B) increases . . . decreases in heart rate
C) decreases . . . increases in blood pressure
D) decreases . . . additional decreases in heart rate

Question 19

Which chemical substances of the endocrine system serve functions similar to the neurotransmitters of the nervous system?

A) lymph nodes
B) hormones
C) arterioles
D) efferents

Question 20

The space between neurons is called

A) an interneuron.
B) an intraneuron.
C) a neurotransmitter.
D) the synaptic cleft.

Question 21

Epinephrine

A) is produced by the pituitary gland.
B) is another word for norepinephrine.
C) is secreted exclusively by the sympathetic nervous system.
D) is so strongly associated with stress that it has been used as an index of stress.

Question 22

Stress has been considered as

A) a stimulus.
B) a response.
C) the interaction between stimulus and response.
D) all of these.

Question 23

The Perceived Stage Scale (PSS)

A) consists of 105 items that people have experienced during the past week.
B) measures changes in coping responses, as well as daily hassles and major life events.
C) measures events in people's lives that they perceive as unpredictable and uncontrollable.
D) measures events in people's lives that they see as being controllable.

Question 24

Lazarus saw stress as stemming from

A) strong emotional reactions to environmental stimuli.
B) negative life events.
C) positive life events.
D) the person's perception of an event.

Question 25

Instruments that measure stress by quantifying physiological reactions are ordinarily

A) highly reliable.
B) highly unreliable.
C) valid predictors of physiological illness.
D) valid predictors of psychological disorders.

Question 26

In recent years,some observers have criticized the "fight or flight" hypothesis on the grounds that

A) it defies common sense.
B) it is inconsistent with the behaviors of nonhuman animals.
C) it is valid for adults but not for children.
D) it is more valid for men than for women.

Question 27

Lazarus and Folkman suggested that stress is

A) a nonspecific response.
B) influenced by one's view of the situation.
C) a transactional process.
D) both b and c are correct

Question 28

Several methods have been used to measure stress,but the approach taken by most health psychologists is

A) self-report scales.
B) performance tests.
C) physiological measures.
D) estimates by close associates.

Question 29

The Social Readjustment Rating Scale assumes that

A) daily events are more crucial than major life events.
B) change in life adjustment is the key factor in measuring stress.
C) only desirable events are valid predictors of stress.
D) positive life events tend to reduce stress.

Question 30

Lazarus's Hassles Scale assumes that

A) stress is an objective environmental stimulus.
B) physiological instruments are more reliable measures of stress than self-reports.
C) the person's perception of an event is the critical factor in the measurement of stress.
D) frequency of hassles is more crucial than their intensity.

Question 31

The revised Hassles and Uplifts Scale

A) asks people to rate everyday events either positively or negatively.
B) is longer and more complex than the original Hassles Scale.
C) is less able to predict headaches than the Social Readjustment Rating Scale.
D) shows that the number of hassles is more important than the severity of hassles.

Question 32

During periods of extreme stress,the _________ helps mobilize the body's resources for the "fight or flight" response.

A) somatic nervous system
B) sympathetic nervous system
C) parasympathetic nervous system
D) digestive system

Question 33

According to Lazarus,a person's perceived ability to cope with harm or threat would be called

A) primary appraisal.
B) secondary appraisal.
C) reappraisal.
D) vulnerability.

Question 34

Both Selye's and Lazarus's theories of stress suggest that stress

A) is a nonspecific response.
B) has both environmental and personal sources.
C) is analogous to a pathogen.
D) is characterized by all of these.

Question 35

One criticism of Selye's theory of stress is that it emphasizes the ______ factors but largely ignores the influence of _______ factors.

A) external . . . internal
B) physical . . . psychological
C) psychological . . . individual
D) retrograde . . . proactive

Question 36

Which of the following has been used to measure stress?

A) blood pressure
B) daily hassles scales
C) self-reports
D) all of these

Question 37

The person(s)who proposed the view of stress as a nonspecific response was

A) Selye.
B) Lazarus.
C) Meichenbaum.
D) Dohrenwend.

Question 38

If spouses fill out a self-report measure of stress from their spouse's point of view,and if scores of the spouses match closely,we can say that the self-report inventory is

A) reliable.
B) valid.
C) both reliable and valid.
D) neither reliable nor valid, based on the information given.

Question 39

Which of these is NOT a stage of the General Adaptation Syndrome?

A) resistance stage
B) illness stage
C) exhaustion stage
D) alarm stage

Question 40

According to Lazarus,a person who loses her job but sees the prospect of finding a new job as a challenge would be

A) more vulnerable to stress than someone who saw the event as a threat.
B) more likely to reappraise the situation than someone who saw the event as a threat.
C) less vulnerable to stress than someone who saw the event as a threat.
D) unrealistic and less capable of coping with the situation than someone who saw the situation more realistically.

Question 41

Individuals who live closer to "green spaces" in cities report ___________.

A) higher stress
B) worse self-reported health
C) lower stress
D) being victims of crimes, like muggings.

Question 42

Which of these jobs is ordinarily LEAST stressful?

A) farm worker
B) waiter or waitress
C) chief executive officer
D) construction worker

Question 43

When people use strategies to manage the distressing problems in their lives,they are

A) coping.
B) becoming more vulnerable to stress.
C) dispersing sources of stress.
D) in the alarm stage of the GAS.

Question 44

Stressful events that are so powerful that they affect large numbers of people fit into the category of

A) life events.
B) cataclysmic events.
C) daily hassles.
D) unintentional events.

Question 45

The experience of discrimination

A) has been linked to health problems, including cardiovascular disease.
B) creates stress but has little ability to harm physical health.
C) creates stress, which harms physical health but has little ability to produce psychological distress.
D) occurs mostly in the workplace rather than in the community.

Question 46

John,a Montana rancher,lives five miles from his nearest neighbor.John's living conditions could be described as

A) dense but not crowded.
B) crowded but not dense.
C) both crowded and dense.
D) neither crowded nor dense.

Question 47

Which of the following is NOT a common source of stress for women?

A) occupying multiple roles of employee and mother
B) conflict with husbands over household work
C) having a husband who supports her career goals
D) the expectation that employed women will perform the majority of child care

Question 48

The experiments with rats living in highly crowded cages suggest that

A) overcrowding leads to changes in social behavior among rats.
B) overcrowding leads to short life spans for most rats in crowded conditions.
C) rats become more fertile, thus leading to even more crowded conditions.
D) crowding eventually reduces the population to about a tenth of its original size.

Question 49

During a recent football game,77,000 people were present in a stadium with a capacity of 73,000.The accumulation of that number of people in a relatively small area would be consistent with Stokols's definition of

A) crowding.
B) learned helplessness.
C) mob behavior.
D) density.

Question 50

The most stressful occupations are those that offer

A) high demands and low control.
B) high demands and high control.
C) low demands and low control.
D) low demands and high control.

Question 51

People experience less stress during,and after,a vacation than before a vacation.However,this "vacation effect" tends to only last

A) one- two days
B) one week
C) two weeks
D) three-four weeks

Question 52

Which of these could be a source of stress?

A) noise
B) crowding
C) air pollution
D) all of these

Question 53

Amy faces a long commute to college every day and once there parking is difficult to find.These everyday events can be classified as

A) cataclysmic life events.
B) major life events.
C) daily hassles.
D) none of the above.

Question 54

Discrimination is a source of stress that may increase the risk for _______.

A) cardiovascular disease
B) mental health problems
C) both a and b
D) none of the above

Question 55

Cataclysmic events,such as 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina,can cause individuals to experience a prolonged stress response and feelings of depression and anxiety,and after such events individuals are often diagnosed with

A) posttraumatic stress disorder.
B) social anxiety.
C) stomach ulcers.
D) migraines.

Question 56

Life events produce stress by

A) making the affected person's life more unpleasant.
B) creating change and requiring adaptation.
C) putting people's lives in danger.
D) all of these.

Question 57

In the past year,Kelly has graduated from college,changed jobs,and bought a house.All of these events can be classified as

A) cataclysmic life events.
B) major life events.
C) daily hassles.
D) none of the above.

Question 58

To Lazarus and Folkman,several factors determine a person's ability to cope with an event.Which of these is NOT one such factor?

A) material resources, such as money
B) the belief that one can bring about the desired consequences
C) problem-solving skills
D) the magnitude of the event

Question 59

Noise is considered a type of pollution because

A) one person's music is another person's noise.
B) one person's noise is another person's music.
C) it is loud.
D) it is a noxious, unwanted stimulus.

Question 60

Self-report inventories of stress are useful to the extent that

A) they are reliable.
B) they predict future illness.
C) they include the items that people actually find stressful.
D) all of these.

Question 61

A recent meta-analytic review found that social support buffered the effects of discrimination on __________ but not __________.

A) mental health; physical health
B) mental health; environmental stressors
C) physical health; mental health
D) physical health; environmental stressors

Question 62

A combination of emotional concern,instrumental aid,information,and appraisal best describes

A) social networks.
B) social contacts.
C) social support.
D) all of these.

Question 63

Phyllis is 65 years old,lives alone,and has no close friends or relatives.Her condition is best described as

A) social isolation.
B) widowhood.
C) sociopathy.
D) socioeconomic deficiency.

Question 64

The benefits of marriage ________ in terms of health; ___________.

A) are not equal . . . women benefit more than men
B) are not equal . . . men benefit more than women
C) are almost equal . . . college-educated women have an advantage, but other women do not
D) are equal . . . men and women benefit equally

Question 65

People who are ________ are more likely to use problem-focused coping and adjust their coping strategies to meet the demands of specific situations.

A) pessimistic
B) optimistic
C) narcissistic
D) healthy

Question 66

Rather than make a study schedule,Erin spends a lot of time complaining to her roommates about how hard her psychology course is and how worried she is about her grade.Folkman and Lazarus would call this approach

A) danger control.
B) emotion-focused coping.
C) problem-focused coping.
D) reappraisal.

Question 67

People who experience a trauma,such as losing a loved one,but then can find positive aspects concerning their trauma,often experience better psychological adjustment.This type of coping is:

A) problem-focused coping
B) emotion-focused coping
C) avoidance-orientated coping
D) meaning-focused coping

Question 68

In general,which type of coping strategy is related to good health?

A) emotion-focused coping
B) problem-focused coping
C) avoidant coping
D) danger control

Question 69

Marty believes that he has control of events that shape his life.Psychologists would say that Marty has high ____________.

A) problem-solving skills
B) social support
C) free will
D) personal control

Question 70

A study by Ellen Langer and Judith Rodin of nursing home residents showed that older people were more likely to retain good health if they

A) had plants in their rooms.
B) received flowers at least once a week from family members.
C) were responsible for caring for plants in their rooms.
D) received attention from the nursing staff in the form of frequent rearrangement of room furniture.

Question 71

Individuals are more likely to use this form of coping when they appraise the situation as controllable.

A) Problem-focused coping
B) Emotion-focused coping
C) Avoidance-orientated coping
D) Meaning-focused coping

Question 72

Individuals who frequently face situations that offer little control have increased production of ___________.

A) adrenocorticotropic hormone
B) cortisol
C) norepinephrine
D) oxytocin

Question 73

The _________________ suggests that social support lessens or eliminates the harmful effects of stress.

A) stress-buffering hypothesis
B) personal control hypothesis
C) tend and befriend hypothesis
D) emotion focused coping hypothesis

Question 74

The Alameda County Study was the first study to show a strong link between _______ and longevity.

A) self-esteem
B) narcissism
C) social support
D) social isolation

Question 75

Erin is worried about her grade in a psychology class.To receive her best grade,Erin needs to make and follow a study schedule.Folkman and Lazarus would call this preferred approach:

A) danger control.
B) emotion-focused coping.
C) problem-focused coping.
D) reappraisal.

Question 76

Claudia believes that her own health is mostly due to genetics and germs; she can do very little to improve her health.This attitude is consistent with

A) an internal locus of control.
B) an external locus of control.
C) a high level of self-efficacy.
D) a low level of self-efficacy.

Question 77

Research has confirmed that cultural differences in personal coping strategies exist for

A) people from Asian cultures, who are less likely than Westerners to seek social support from families.
B) African Americans, who are more likely than Whites to use emotion-focused coping.
C) Hispanic Americans, who are more likely than African Americans to use emotion-focused coping.
D) all of these.

Question 78

_______ is the better coping strategy to deal with chronic stressors,such as discrimination,HIV infection,and diabetes.

A) Problem-focused coping
B) Emotion-focused coping
C) Avoidance-orientated coping
D) Meaning-focused coping

Question 79

According to Ellen Langer and Judith Rodin's research about personal control and older people,the degree of control that is necessary to produce health benefits

A) may be created by decisions about relatively minor matters.
B) should include decisions about where to live.
C) should include choosing one's personal physician.
D) are so extensive that it is not feasible for most elderly people to be allowed such control due to safety concerns.

Question 80

People who own a _____ are 8 times more likely to be alive 1 year after their heart attack than those who do not own one.

A) bicycle
B) dog
C) pedometer
D) heart monitor