CHAPTER 19

30 MCQ questions

1) Which of the following is FALSE? Health psychology:

a) Is a recent and fast-growing sub-discipline of psychology.

b) Works to a simple linear model of health.
c) Considers the social factors involved in illness.
d) Regards illness as the result of a combination of factors.

2) According to health psychology: (please highlight all CORRECT answers)

a) Individuals are either healthy or ill.

b) Mind and body do not interact.
c) Psychological factors contribute to all stages of health.
d) None of the above.

3) Which of these do health psychologists NOT study?

a) What people think about health and illness.

b) The role of beliefs and behaviours in becoming ill.
c) The experience of being ill in terms of adaptation to illness
d) The biological processes of illness in isolation from other factors.

4) The following four statements all relate to McKeown and his 1979 book The Role
of Medicine. But which is FALSE?

a) The Role of Medicine discusses the onset of infectious diseases in the

eighteenth century, which forms the focus for medical sociology.
b) The commonly held view was that the decline in infectious illnesses was
related to the development of medical interventions.
c) McKeown claimed that the decline in infectious diseases is best understood in
terms of social and environmental factors.
d) McKeown’s emphasis on behaviour is supported by evidence of the
relationship between behaviour and mortality.

5) Identify the INCORRECT statement from those given below:

a) A small percentage of mortality from the 10 leading causes of death is due to

behaviour.
b) The majority of all deaths due to cancer are related to behaviour.
c) Cigarette smoking is linked to cancer of the lung, bladder, pancreas, mouth,
larynx and oesophagus, and to coronary heart disease.
d) Bowel cancer can be linked to diets high in total fat, high in meat and low in
fibre.

6) Which of the following statements concerning attribution theory is INCORRECT?

 a) Attribution theory has been applied to the study of health and health
behaviour.
b) The origins of attribution theory lie in the work of Engel, who argued that
individuals are motivated to understand the causes of events as a means to
make the world seem more predictable and controllable.
c) Bradley (1985) examined patients’ attributions of responsibility for their
diabetes and found that perceived control over their illness influenced their
choice of treatment.
d) A study by King (1982) demonstrated that if the hypertension was seen as
external but controllable, the individual was more likely to attend the
screening clinic.

7) Which of the following are TRUE of the health locus of control? (Please highlight
all true answers.)

a) The health locus of control relates to where the cause of health is seen to be
located.
b) An internal locus of control entails the individual regarding events as under
the control of a powerful other.
c) There is widespread support for the suggestion that health locus of control
relates to whether we change our behaviour.
d) It is commonly accepted that health locus of control relates to our adherence to
recommendations by a health professional.

8) Which of the following is NOT true of Weinstein’s (1983, 1984) theory of

unrealistic optimism?

a) Weinstein suggested that one of the reasons we continue to practice unhealthy

behaviours is because of our inaccurate perceptions of risk and susceptibility.
b) When presented with a list of health problems to examine and asked about
their chances of getting them, most of Weinstein’s participants believed that
they were less likely to experience the named health problem than others.
c) In explaining unrealistic optimism, Weinstein (1983) reasoned that individuals
show selective focus.
d) In selective focus, individuals focus on their friends’ risk-decreasing
behaviour rather than their own.

9) Which of the following are among Weinstein’s (1987) four cognitive factors that
contribute to greater unrealistic optimism? (Please highlight all CORRECT answers.)

a) Increased personal experience with the problem.

b) The belief that the problem is preventable by individual action.
c) The belief that if the problem has not yet appeared, it will not appear in the
future.
d) The belief that the problem is infrequent.

10) If applied to giving up cigarettes, the stages of change model would suggest
which of the following actions? (Please highlight all CORRECT answers.)

a) Precontemplation: I am happy being a smoker and intend to continue smoking.

 b) Contemplation: I have been coughing a lot recently; however, I am happy
being a smoker and intend to continue smoking.
c) Preparation: I will stop going to the pub and will buy lower-tar cigarettes.
d) Action: I have stopped smoking.

11) Which of the following descriptions of some of the major perspectives on health
beliefs is INCORRECT?

a) Attribution theory emphasizes attributions for causality and control.

b) The health locus of control emphasizes attributions for causality and control.
c) Unrealistic optimism stresses the dynamic nature of beliefs, time, and costs
and benefits.
d) The stages of change model describes the dynamic nature of beliefs, time, and
costs and benefits.

12) Which of the following statements about the health belief model are accurate?
The health belief model: (please highlight all CORRECT answers)

a) Was developed initially by Rosenstock in 1866.

b) Was developed further by Becker and colleagues so that they could predict
preventative health behaviours and the behavioural response to treatment in
acutely and chronically ill patients.
c) Suggests that our core beliefs are used to predict the likelihood that a
behaviour will occur.
d) Was, in response to criticisms, revised to include the construct work
motivation.

13) Which is true? The protection motivation theory:

a) Was developed by Ajzen and colleagues in the 1970s.

b) Expanded the health belief model to include additional factors.
c) Describes three types of information source.
d) Describes three types of coping response.

14) The theory of planned behaviour: (please highlight all CORRECT answers)

a) Was developed by Rogers in 1985.

b) Emphasizes behavioural intentions as the outcome of a single belief.
c) Proposes that intentions are a result of three composite beliefs.
d) States that perceived behavioural control can have a direct effect on behaviour
without the mediating effect of behavioural intentions.

15) Which of the following are composite beliefs underlying intentions, according to
the theory of planned behaviour? (Please highlight all CORRECT answers.)

a) Attitude towards a behaviour.

b) Objective norm.
c) Perceived behavioural control.
d) Subjective norm.
16) Which of these is NOT the case? Leventhal and colleagues:

a) Defined illness beliefs as a patient’s own explicit, scientific beliefs about his
or her illness.
b) Proposed that illness beliefs provide a framework, or schema, for coping with
an illness.
c) Proposed that illness beliefs provide a framework, or schema, for
understanding an illness.
d) Proposed that illness beliefs provide a framework, or schema, for telling us
what to look out for if we believe that we are becoming ill.

17) Which of the following statements relating to studies into Leventhal et al.’s five
dimensions of illness beliefs is INCORRECT?

a) The extent to which beliefs about illness comprise different dimensions has
been supported through both qualitative and quantitative research.
b) The findings of Lau, Bernard and Hartman’s (1989) study reflected the
dimensions of identity of the illness, its consequences, the time line, the cause
and cure/control.
c) Bishop and Converse (1986) claimed that their study did not support the role
of the identity dimension of illness representations.
d) There is evidence for a similar structure of illness representations to that
proposed Leventhal et al. in other non-Western cultures.

18) In order to delve further into beliefs about illness, researchers in New Zealand and
the UK have developed the IPQ. But what exactly is the IPQ and what does it do?
(Please highlight all CORRECT answers.)

a) It stands for the ‘Illness Problem Questionnaire’.

b) It asks people to rate a series of statements about their illness.
c) The statements it provides refer specifically to the dimensions of
consequences and cause.
d) All of the above.

19) Which of the following statements about Leventhal’s model of illness behaviour
is FALSE?

a) Leventhal’s model of illness behaviour suggests that illnesses and their

symptoms are different from normal problems, so should be dealt with in a
different way.
b) Traditional models of problem-solving involve three stages.
c) The stages of problem-solving continue until a state of equilibrium has been
attained.
d) The problem-solving process is regarded as self-regulatory because the
components of the model are quite separate and do not interrelate.

20) TWO of these statements concerning the first stage of Leventhal’s self-regulatory
model of illness behaviour are FALSE. But which two?

a) The first stage of Leventhal’s model is known as ‘evaluation’.

 b) Symptom perception influences how an individual interprets the problem of
illness and is a relatively straightforward process.
c) ‘Medical students’ disease’ involves medical students reporting the symptoms
they have been learning about, even though they usually don’t have the
disease in question.
d) Colleagues, friends or family can make up our ‘lay referral system’.

21) All of the assertions below relate to the second stage of Leventhal’s self-
regulatory model of illness behaviour, but only one is true. Which is it?

a) Wishful thinking is a good example of approach coping.

b) Avoidance coping might involve taking pills.
c) According to Taylor et al., denial and avoidance are central to the developing
and maintaining of ‘illusions’.
d) According to Taylor et al., ‘illusions’ constitute a process of cognitive
adaptation.

22) In terms of the final stage of Leventhal’s self-regulatory model of illness

behaviour, which, if any, of the following statements are CORRECT? (Please
highlight all correct answers.)

a) The final stage of Leventhal’s model is referred to as the ‘appraisal’ stage.

b) During this final stage, effective coping strategies are retained and ineffective
ones replaced.
c) This is the least self-regulatory stage of the three that constitute Leventhal’s
model.
d) None of the above.

23) Throughout the twentieth century, stress models have varied in terms of their
definition of ‘stress’. Which TWO of the following descriptions of some of the most
important stress models are CORRECT?

a) Cannon’s ‘fight or flight’ model suggested that external threats elicit the ‘fight
or flight’ response, increasing activity rate and arousal.
b) Selye’s general adaptation syndrome describes three stages in the stress
process: alarm, reaction and exhaustion.
c) The life events theory examines stress and stress-related changes as a response
to life change.
d) The results of research into links between life events and health status were
obtained using Holmes and Rahe’s ‘Schedule of Past Experiences’.

24) Which of the following statements about stress, illness and behaviour do we know
to be true?

a) The relationship between stress and illness is fairly straightforward.

b) Exercise can mediate the stress–illness link.
c) Stress can only affect health through a physiological pathway.
d) Individuals who experience low levels of stress are just as likely to perform
behaviours that increase their chances of becoming ill or injured as those with
high stress levels.
25) Select the TWO FALSE statements from those given below. Research involving
the acute stress paradigm:

a) Studies the physiological consequences of stress.

b) Takes place in the field.
c) Brings participants into a controlled environment, puts them into a stressful
situation and then records any changes.
d) Has highlighted two main groups of behavioural effects.

26) Which of the following descriptions of sympathetic activation are CORRECT?

(Please highlight all correct answers.)

a) When an event is appraised as stressful, it triggers responses in the

sympathetic nervous system.
b) The process of sympathetic activation is similar to Cannon’s ‘fight or flight’
response.
c) Sympathetic activation and prolonged production of adrenalin can result in fat
deposits.
d) The changes brought about by sympathetic activation may increase the
chances of loss of memory and concentration.

27) Which of the following descriptions of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical

(HPA) activation are INCORRECT? (Please highlight all incorrect answers.)

a) Changes in the HPA system brought about by stress include increased levels
of corticosteroids.
b) The changes brought about by HPA activation can be detected by the
individual.
c) There are similarities between HPA activation and Selye’s alarm, resistance
and exhaustion stages of stress.
d) HPA activation and prolonged production of cortisol can result in an increased
heart rate.

28) Which of these is NOT an accurate description of psychoneuroimmunology

(PNI)?

a) It is a relatively new area of research.

b) It is based on the prediction that psychological state can influence the nervous
system via the immune system.
c) It provides a scientific basis for the ‘mind over matter’ approach to life.
d) None of the above – all are true.

29) The risk factors for coronary heart disease (CHD) can be understood and
predicted by examining an individual’s health beliefs; psychology’s role is to both
understand and attempt to change these behavioural risk factors. But which of the
following is NOT a risk factor for CHD?

a) Type A behaviour.
b) Type A1 behaviour.
 c) Type B behaviour.
d) Diet and exercise.

30) Which of the following might be a feature of a rehabilitation programme for

coronary heart disease (CHD)?

a) Modifying behaviour.
b) Improving diet.
c) Avoiding smoky environments.
d) All of the above.