Exam 1 Practice Questions – Complete (With Answers)

Health Psychology Spring 2024 Exam 1 Practice Questions – Complete (With Answers) 1. Finn is studying the effects of meditation on coping with illness. In his sample of participants with serious illness, he has the treatment group do an hour-long meditation and the control group listen to the news for an hour. To strengthen the possibility that the meditation, rather than a difference in how comfortable the chairs used by the treatment and control group participants were, causes changes in the participants’ coping, Finn should use: a. random assignment. b. random sampling. c. experimental control. d. a prospective design. 2. In the previous question, how comfortable the chairs were is a: a. confound. b. moderator. c. dependent variable. d. mediator. 3. Researchers who investigate the relation between stress and adult-onset diabetes by asking participants with and without adult-onset diabetes to report the number of stressful life events they have experienced in the past 5 years are using the _____ method. a. experimental b. prospective c. retrospective d. archival 4. Dr. Britos is conducting an intervention to improve physicians’ communication with patients. She has one group of physicians participate in a workshop on effective communication styles and the other group of physicians read a paper about immunizations. To measure effective communication, she then has judges code audiotapes of the physicians’ interactions with patients. She finds that the communication workshop was effective in improving their communication, but mostly for young physicians – it was less effective for old physicians. In this study, the age of the physicians was a(n): a. confound. b. mediator. c. moderator. d. independent variable. 5. In his study on the relation between optimism and exercise, Dr. Farabaugh found a positive correlation that was explained by the observation that having a large social network both caused people to be optimistic and to exercise. Therefore, social network size was a: a. moderator. b. third variable. c. mediator. d. dependent variable.

6. Researchers using the Terman data set have found that childhood personality (assessed in 1921) is associated with adult smoking behavior (assessed in 1950). This study is: a. experimental. b. correlational. c. observational. d. cross-sectional. e. prospective. f. retrospective. g. a and d h. b and e i. c and f 7. Keale is testing the effectiveness of a smoking cessation intervention in a sample of heavy smokers. The intervention involves using classical conditioning techniques to make the participants find smoking unpleasant (the control group does not receive the intervention). The results show that the intervention was effective; the participants in the treatment group had higher quitting rates than those in the control group. However, Keale realized that the participants in the control group had been smoking for a longer time than those in the treatment group, making quitting more difficult. Therefore, length of time smoking was a(n): a. confound. b. independent variable. c. dependent variable. d. mediator. 8. Daeun is interested in the effect of the quality of physician-patient communication on patient adherence, and discovers that physicians who communicate warmth and empathy to patients have more adherent patients than physicians who communicate without warmth and empathy. Further, when patients are treated with warmth and empathy by their physicians, they gain optimism about the efficacy of the recommended treatment, which increases their adherence levels. In this study, optimism is a(n): a. confound. b. moderator. c. independent variable. d. mediator. 9. Dr. Johansson finds a negative correlation between social support and heart disease; the more social support people have, the lower their risk of heart disease. However, it is further found that this relationship exists because hostility causes low levels of social support and hostility causes heart disease. In this study, hostility is a: a. third variable. b. mediator. c. moderator. d. dependent variable.

15. If exercise is beneficial because it brings people into nature, not because of the physical activity, the _____ of the study is in question. a. statistical significance b. external validity c. internal validity d. generalizability 16. A study that compares the anxiety levels of people who have and have not had surgery is a(n) ____ study. a. experimental b. observational c. archival d. quasi-experimental 17. A researcher measures helpfulness in children and their quality of social relationships as adults. This study is: a. experimental b. quasi-experimental c. prospective d. retrospective 18. Arizona is telling her friends about the results of a new study on the effect of physician empathy on patient outcomes. When she says the results are statistically significant, she means that they are: a. large. b. meaningful. c. generalizable. d. unlikely to be due to chance. 19. In a study on gratitude and depression, r = -.31 and p = .04. Therefore, a. this is a meaningful effect that is likely to be due to chance. b. this is a meaningless effect that is likely to be due to chance. c. this is a meaningless effect that is unlikely to be due to chance. d. this is a meaningful effect that is unlikely to be due to chance. 20. The idea that we have different ideal body temperatures when we are sleeping and when we are active is consistent with: a. mind-body dualism. b. homeostasis. c. allostasis. d. allostatic load. 21. Proponents of the ____ model believe that health problems such as ulcers and asthma result from unconscious psychological conflicts. a. biomedical b. biopsychosocial

c. psychoanalytic d. psychoneuroimmunological 22. Hippocrates theorized that an imbalance of _____ caused illness. a. temperature b. bodily fluids c. stress hormones d. blood pressure 23. When I experience an increase in heart rate and blood pressure due to commuter stress, the _____ system activates my body’s “fight or flight” response. a. sympathetic nervous b. parasympathetic nervous c. immune d. somatic nervous 24. When a student steps into a hot classroom and begins to perspire, this demonstrates: a. allostasis b. allostatic load c. homeostasis d. mind-body dualism 25. As you think about getting up out of bed, your blood pressure increases, demonstrating: a. homeostasis b. allostasis c. allostatic load d. the HPA system 26. The sympathetic-adrenal-medullary (SAM) system causes the secretion of _____, which stimulate(s) the cardiovascular system. a. cortisol b. epinephrine c. norepinephrine d. oxytocin e. b and c 27. During a long, traffic-ridden commute, my cortisol levels become elevated due to activation of my: a. parasympathetic nervous system. b. cardiovascular system. c. HPA system. d. SAM system. 28. Immediately after realizing that I missed my flight, my heart rate and blood pressure escalate due to activation of my: a. parasympathetic nervous system. b. somatic nervous system.

e. cognitive appraisal 35. Which of the following studies provides evidence for the association between stress and immune functioning? a. Sgoutas-Emch et al.’s (1995)’s study with a speech about shoplifting b. Ader and Cohen’s (1975) study with rats and sugar water c. Uchino et al.’s (1995) study with serial subtractions and noise blasts d. Marucha et al.’s (1998) study with dental students and vacation vs. exam times 36. In Detillion et al.’s (2004) study in which hamsters were exposed to stress (immobility) and given wounds, which group of hamsters exhibited the fastest wound healing? a. the socially isolated hamsters given oxytocin injections b. the socially isolated hamsters not given adrenalectomies c. the pair-housed hamsters given an oxytocin antagonist d. the socially isolated hamsters given saline injections 37. Coan et al. (2006) found that women had the MOST activation in the stress-processing areas of the brain when: a. holding their spouse’s hand b. holding a stranger’s hand c. holding their own hand d. holding no one’s hand 38. In Detillion et al.’s (2004) study, what happened to the pair-housed hamsters injected with an oxytocin antagonist? a. slow wound healing b. fast wound healing c. no effect on wound healing