Formative Assessment: Block 1

Answers are in bold.

To give you a guide, or yardstick against which to assess your performance, scores can be classified as follows:

Unsatisfactory=<5; Borderline=5-7; Satisfactory=8-9; Excellent=10

If your score falls within the range classified as either unsatisfactory or borderline, you may benefit from discussing you progress on the module with your small group tutor.

  1. In the human body, the ______nervous system is responsible for activating the body to respond to emergencies, while the ______nervous system is responsible for calming and slowing down the body to its normal state.

A. parasympathetic; sympathetic

B. sympathetic; parasympathetic

C. autonomic; central

D. central; autonomic

  1. Acute stressors seem to provoke ______responses in the immune system; chronic stressors seem to produce ______responses in the immune system.

A. adaptive; maladaptive

B. maladaptive; adaptive

C. maladaptive; maladaptive

D. adaptive; adaptive

  1. People who experience______stress, show a weakened ______.

A. chronic; cardiovascular system

B. acute; immune system

C. chronic; immune system

D. acute; cardiovascular system

  1. The field of ______examines the complex connection between psychosocial factors, such as stress, and the nervous, cardiovascular, endocrine, and immune systems.

A. psychobiology

B. neurobiology

C. psychoneuorimmunology

D. psychopharmacology

  1. From a psychological perspective, the extent to which an event is experienced as stressful is determined more by ______than by ______.

A. subjective appraisal processes; objective characteristics of the event

B. objective characteristics of the event; subjective appraisal processes

C. perceived social support; available social support

D. socio-economic-status; personality

  1. Which of the following variables does notinfluence illness symptom recognition?

A. stress

B. mood

C. intelligence

D. attention

  1. People who have a strong ______locus of control believe that their decisions and behaviors impact their outcomes, and people with such a belief generally experience ______physical and psychological health.

A. internal; better

B. internal; worse

C. external; better

D. external; worse

  1. In general, it is worse for people to explain negative events that occur to themselves as resulting from ______, ______, and global causes.

A. external; stable

B. internal; stable

C. internal;situation-specific

D. external; situation-specific

  1. People who are high in ______and ______experience fewer physical symptoms and report better physical health.

A. Optimism; external control beliefs

B. Pessimism; self-efficacy

C. Optimism; self-efficacy

D. Pessimism; external control beliefs

  1. People high in ______describe themselves as having a greater number of physical symptoms as well as more severe symptoms.

A. negative affect

B. self-efficacy

C. optimism

D. internal control beliefs

  1. Which of the following does NOTdescribe a feature of optimism?

A. Expecting good things to happen in the future

B. Explaining bad events as resulting from external, unstable, and specific causes

C. Explaining bad events as resulting from internal, stable, and global causes

D. Expecting that one’s goals can be achieved

  1. People who experience higher levels of ______are more likely (about a threefold increase) to suffer a heart attack as those who rarely experience it.

A. anger

B. sadness

C. happiness

D. boredom

  1. Jill has been smoking for the past 12 years. Lately, she has been heard saying, “I may start thinking about quitting smoking”. According to the transtheoretical model, Jill is currently in which stage of change?

A. Maintenance

B. Precontemplation

C. Contemplation

D. Appraisal

  1. Six months ago John and Dave both tested HIV positive. John views this diagnosis as a death sentence and, as a result, he is not concerned about receiving further treatment and is ‘living each day as though it’s his last’ (e.g. partying hard, drinking excessively, spending his life savings). In contrast, Dave views his HIV infection as a chronic illness that can be managed and, as a result, adheres to his treatment regimen and has made several positive health behaviour changes (e.g. eating a more healthy diet).

John and Dave are behaving in vastly different ways in response to their illness - what,from a psychological perspective, is the most likely explanation?

A. each one has a different lay referral network

B. differences in cultural factors associated with illness

C. differences in their illness representations

D. the way in which each was infected with HIV

  1. List twohealth behaviours AND two stable factors likely to contribute to the development and/or exacerbation of hypertension
  1. Behaviour includes the actions or reactions of an individual to a situation, and can be conscious or unconscious, voluntary or involuntary. For this question, answers could include cigarette smoking, eating a poor/unhealthy diet, too little leisure time physical activity, excessive alcohol consumption, delay in seeking medical help, etc.
  2. Stable factors, according to our module framework, refer to individual differences (AKA, personality) in psychological activity that are stable over time and context. For this question answers could include negative affect, innappropriate emotional expression (low, but also high), anger/hostility, externalising control beliefs, internalising explanatory styles.