, Chapter 01
What Is Health Psychology?
1. Which of the following best defines health psychology?
A. using psychological theories and principles to tackle problems in the areas of mental health, education, product design,
ergonomics, and law
B. understanding the psychological influences on how people stay healthy, why they become ill, and how they respond when
they get ill
C. applying the principles of biology in order to study the anatomy of a human being
D. diagnosing, preventing, and treating a disease without including the option of surgery
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2. A health psychologist who designs a media campaign to get people to improve their diets focuses on
A. health promotion and maintenance.
B. prevention and treatment of illness.
C. the etiology and correlates of health, illness, and dysfunction.
D. the health care system and the formulation of health policy.
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3. According to the psychological aspects of prevention and treatment of illness, health psychologists who work with people
who are already ill focus on
A. altering their exercise patterns.
B. helping them in following their treatment regimen.
C. developing recommendations to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
D. advising individuals about career paths that are less stressful.
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4. A health psychologist who is interested in the behavioral and social factors that contribute to disease focuses on
A. health promotion and maintenance.
B. the prevention and treatment of illness.
C. the etiology and correlates of health, illness, and dysfunction.
D. the health care system and the formulation of health policy.
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5. refers to the origins or causes of illness.
A. Etiology
B. Epidemiology
C. Oncology
D. Pathology
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6. Which of the following is studied by health psychologists to analyze the health care system and formulate health policy?
A. classification of occupations that are highly stressful and can adversely affect people’s health
B. exercise patterns and dietary interventions that help to promote good habits and develop a healthy lifestyle
C. the behavioral and social factors that contribute to health, illness, and dysfunction such as alcohol consumption and
smoking
D. the impact of hospitals and physicians on people’s behavior to develop recommendations for improving health care
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7. According to the humoral theory of illness, disease occurs when
A. God punishes one for wrongdoing.
B. evil spirits enter a body.
C. bodily fluids are imbalanced.
D. there is a cellular disorder.
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8. Each of the four humors has been associated with different personality types, in that blood has been associated with
A. a laid-back approach to life.
B. an angry disposition.
C. sadness.
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,D. a passionate temperament.
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9. According to the humoral theory of illness, yellow bile is known to be associated with
A. a laid-back approach to life.
B. an angry disposition.
C. sadness.
D. a passionate temperament.
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10. According to the humoral theory of illness, black bile is associated with
A. an angry disposition.
B. a passionate temperament.
C. sadness.
D. a laid-back approach to life.
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11. The model assumes a mind-body dualism to understanding illness.
A. commonsense
B. health belief
C. biopsychosocial
D. biomedical
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12. The humoral theory of illness was replaced by the science of during the Renaissance.
A. biotechnology
B. organic chemistry
C. molecular biology
D. cellular pathology
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13. The biomedical model maintains that
A. psychological and social processes are relevant to the disease process.
B. disease results when the four humors or circulating fluids of the body are out of balance.
C. health and illness are consequences of biological, psychological, and social factors.
D. all illness can be explained on the basis of aberrant somatic bodily processes.
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14. Sigmund Freud described as a specific unconscious conflict that produces physical disturbances and symbolizes
repressed psychological conflicts.
A. etiology
B. conversion hysteria
C. chronic illness
D. epidemiology
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15. In the context of psychosomatic medicine, Flanders Dunbar and Franz Alexander maintained that conflicts produce
anxiety, which becomes unconscious and takes a physiological toll on the body via the
A. cardiovascular system.
B. autonomic nervous system.
C. integumentary system.
D. muscular system.
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16. In the context of Flanders Dunbar and Franz Alexander’s work in the field of psychosomatic medicine, which of the
following disorders were believed to be psychosomatic in origin?
A. colitis
B. tuberculosis
C. diphtheria
D. diabetes
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17. The belief that profiles of particular disorders are caused by emotional conflicts is propagated by the
A. theory of biophysics.
B. field of psychosomatic medicine.
C. biomedical model.
D. tools of neuroscience.
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18. Which of the following statements is true about the biomedical model?
A. It focuses on behaviors that promote health rather than emphasizing illness over health.
B. It recognizes social and psychological processes as powerful influences over bodily estates.
C. It assumes that psychological and social processes are largely relevant to the disease process.
D. It reduces illness to low-level processes such as disordered cells and chemical imbalances.
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19. According to the biopsychosocial model, which of the following is a macrolevel process that continually interacts with
microlevel processes to influence health and illness and their course?
A. cellular disorders
B. chemical imbalances
C. depression
D. social seclusion
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20. Which of the following is emphasized by the biopsychosocial model?
A. Psychological conflict is sufficient to produce certain disorders.
B. Certain biological disorders can be related on a consistent basis to specific personality types.
C. Certain disorders are best treated medically; however, other disorders are best treated using psychotherapy.
D. Health is achieved by being attentive to biological, psychological, and social needs.
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21. Which of the following is a characteristic of an acute disorder?
A. It can only be managed, not cured.
B. It is currently the main contributor to disability and death.
C. It often develops because of a virus or bacteria.
D. It is usually a long-term illness.
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22. Acute disorders are
A. short-term illnesses that are usually amenable to cure.
B. typically co-managed by the patient and the practitioner.
C. the major causes of death and illness in the United States.
D. slowly developing diseases with which people live for many years.
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23. is an example of a chronic illness that is particularly prevalent in industrialized countries.
A. Influenza
B. Pneumonia
C. Cancer
D. Tuberculosis
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24. Which of the following suggests that chronic illnesses helped in propagating the field of health psychology?
A. Chronic illnesses often result in problems in family functioning.
B. Chronic illnesses are short-lived, and its management is simple.
C. Psychological factors are the sole causes implicated in chronic illnesses.
D. Chronic illnesses usually have no requirement for lengthy interventions.
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25. Which of the following statements is true about chronic illnesses?
A. They are rapidly developing diseases.
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,B. They are diseases in which social factors are implicated as causes.
C. They rarely affect relationships with a partner.
D. They are curable.
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26. Which of the following statements, if TRUE, will support the argument that health care delivery has a substantial social
and psychological impact on people?
A. Few people in the United States have direct contact with the health care system as a recipient of services.
B. Health psychologists know what makes people satisfied or dissatisfied with their health care.
C. Health psychology rejects the notion that people’s risky health behaviors can be modified before they become ill.
D. Health psychology mainly emphasizes cure rather than prevention to reduce the dollars devoted to the management of
illness.
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27. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2010, million Americans had no health insurance.
A. 15.3
B. 26.7
C. 49.9
D. 54.6
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28. Behavioral interventions, particularly those that target risk factors such as diet or smoking, have contributed to the
decline in the incidence of some diseases, especially
A. Addison’s disease.
B. autoimmune thyroid disease.
C. coronary heart disease.
D. undifferentiated connective tissue disease.
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29. Which of the following statements is true about theories?
A. Theories usually generate nonspecific predictions.
B. Theories rarely provide guidelines for how to do research and interventions.
C. Theories are untestable.
D. Theories that are simple and useful are considered the best.
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30. Judith is diagnosed with a lump in her gallbladder that must be surgically removed. Her doctor and the hospital
psychologist explain the procedure, the difficulties, and the benefits of undergoing the surgery. Judith is aware of the extent
of pain she might experience, and she will be taught techniques to manage the pain. According to Janis and Johnson, which
of the following is Judith likely to do?
A. improve her adjustment toward the procedure
B. feel anxious and withdraw from the procedure
C. ask for a substitute procedure that might involve less pain
D. take a second opinion from another health care provider to verify the facts
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31. Most of the research in health psychology is guided by
A. practical problems.
B. proven theory.
C. unproven hypothesis.
D. clinical trials.
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32. Which of the following statements best defines a theory?
A. a combination of results from different studies that identify how strong the evidence is for a particular research finding
B. a proposition made based on a researcher’s belief that provides a starting point for further investigation
C. a set of analytic statements that explain a set of phenomena, such as why people practice poor health behaviors
D. a creation of two or more conditions that differ from each other in exact and predetermined ways
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33. Much research in health psychology is
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, A. experimental.
B. descriptive.
C. meta-analytic.
D. semi-experimental.
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34. A researcher creates two or more conditions that differ from each other in exact and predetermined ways in
A. descriptive research.
B. a longitudinal study.
C. a theory.
D. an experiment.
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35. An experiment conducted by a health care practitioner to evaluate treatments or interventions and their effectiveness over
time is called a
A. retrospective design.
B. prospective research.
C. randomized clinical trial.
D. correlational study.
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36. Which of the following happens in a randomized clinical trial?
A. A target treatment is compared against an organically inert treatment.
B. It is difficult to determine the direction of causality unambiguously.
C. The same people are observed at multiple points in time.
D. Researchers attempt to reconstruct the conditions that led to a current situation.
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37. is a medical intervention that goes through rigorous testing and evaluation of its benefits through randomized
clinical trials.
A. Ethno medicine
B. Alternative medicine
C. Psychosomatic medicine
D. Evidence-based medicine
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38. A health psychologist measures whether a change in one variable corresponds with changes in another variable in
A. correlational research.
B. prospective research.
C. retrospective research.
D. applied research.
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39. A major disadvantage of a correlational study is that
A. it is not empirically testable.
B. only one variable can be examined at any given point in time.
C. the direction of causation is ambiguous.
D. it studies issues when variables cannot be manipulated experimentally.
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40. The approach is used to remedy some of the problems with correlational research.
A. prospective
B. cross-sectional
C. meta-analytic
D. retrospective
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41. research looks forward in time to see how a group of people change, or how a relationship between two variables
changes over time.
A. Correlational
B. Prospective
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