Psychology 105 Final Exam Review Questions and Answers

Research suggests that stress-producing events are? - Answer- - Universal _______ is the term used to describe physical, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral responses to events that are threatening or challenging. - Answer- - Stress The tendency to overestimate people's fragility and underestimate their resilience is known as? - Answer- - Clinician's illusion _______ is the tension, discomfort, or physical symptoms that arise when a situation strains the ability to cope effectively. - Answer- - Stress According to your text, which of the following individuals would have the highest risk for experiencing stressful or traumatic events? - Answer- - 23-year old Tyson, a single male who just immigrated from Sri Lanka, and is a sales clerk at Walmart Many psychologists and self-help books inform us that in order to cope with trauma or stressful events, we need to seek psychological assistance, despite alternate research that suggests that most individuals are surprisingly resilient. This discrepancy in beliefs about coping with trauma is referred to as________? - Answer- - The Clinician's Illusion Researchers view stress in the following three ways: - Answer- - A stimulus, a transaction with the environment, and as a response Events that cause a stress reaction are referred to as? - Answer- - Stressors According to Lazarus, our first task when faced with a potential stressor is to estimate its severity and to determine whether it is a challenge or threat. This evaluation is referred to as? - Answer- - Primary appraisal Mary just received a traffic ticket but decided it is not worth being upset about. Mary just made a? - Answer- - Primary appraisal Imagine that you have just flunked a class. You evaluate this situation and decide that flunking a class is stressful and important enough to be upset about. Next you decide to repeat the class in summer school. You have made a _______? - Answer- - Both a primary appraisal and a secondary appraisal After we have decided that a certain event is a stressor, we must decide how we will deal with it and what resources are available for coping with the stressor. This process is called ? - Answer- - Secondary appraisal When encountering a potentially threatening event, people first decide whether the event is harmful; this is known as ________. Then, a ________ is made about how well one can cope with that event. - Answer- - Primary appraisal; secondary appraisal Which of the following is TRUE regarding coping strategies? - Answer- - Eric engages in problem focused coping when he faces the challenges of life head-on Coping strategies can be either ______________ focused or _____________ focused in nature - Answer- - Problem; emotion Working a second job to pay off credit cards is an example of? - Answer- - Problem focused coping Jamie applied to several graduate schools but was not accepted at any of them. He says that he is actually relieved - he really didn't want to graduate school anyway. Jamie appears to be engaging in __________ coping - Answer- - Emotion focused A coping strategy that is generally ineffective in dealing with stress is called _________ coping - Answer- - Emotion focused An emotion focused coping strategy is one that - Answer- - Reduces the stress without changing the situation Jessica begins to pray daily following the loss of her close friend, Tom, and praying helps her feel better. Praying is an example of __________ coping - Answer- - Emotion focused Many behavioral psychologists recommend ____________ coping for dealing with stress - Answer- - Problem focused Sven has developed a method for coping with his anxiety in his college courses. His next step in his problem focused coping strategy is to - Answer- - Implement the plan An important step in a problem focused coping strategy for dealing with stress is to - Answer- - Select a specific action that will reduce the amount of stress ___________ are stress hormones that activate the body and prepare us to respond to stressful circumstances - Answer- - Corticosteroids An assessment that measures the amount of stress in a person's life resulting from major life events over one year is called the? - Answer- - Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS) The Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS) is a way of measuring - Answer- - The changes that have happened in a person's life An important criticism of the Holmes-Rahe SRRS is that it - Answer- - Ignores many factors affecting how people respond to stress Jenna was relieved when her abusive husband left her. What measure of life events would erroneously score this event in her life? - Answer- - SRRS Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe developed the SRRS to measure change due to? - Answer- - Major life events The SRRS measures stress related to? - Answer- - Positive and negative life events Which of the following life events is not found in the list of major life events that cause a significant amount of stress according to the SRRS? - Answer- - Pregnancy - Marriage - Vacation - (All of the above) According to Holmes and Rahe, a person who scores over 300 on the SRRS is more likely than are people with lower scores to have what kind of experience in the near future? - Answer- - A higher chance of becoming ill or having an accident Deanna is participating in an experiment examining levels of stress on the SRRS. Her score on the SRRS is 203, which means that Deanna's susceptibility to illness and mental health problem is at a __________ level? - Answer- - Moderate Which major life event on the SRRS has the highest number of life change units? - Answer- - Death of a spouse The term hassles refers to - Answer- - Minor annoyances of everyday life Burning your toast, having trouble opening an e-mail attachment, breaking a glass, and running late for an appointment are all examples of? - Answer- - Hassles Researchers found an association between daily hassles and - Answer- - Poor general health ___________ help predict who will and won't thrive in the face of potentially stressful circumstances - Answer- - How people appraise stressful situations - Coping abilities and strategies in specific situations - Goals and availability of social support Which of the following is false? - Answer- - Difficulties with relaxing and insomnia only reflect everyday hassles and are not related to depression or anxiety Which of the following is the best predictor of physical health, depression, and anxiety - Answer- - The frequency and perceived severity of hassles Which psychologist(s) is (are) credited with proposing the general adaptation syndrome? - Answer- - Selye While searching for ___________, Hans Selye discovered that animals react with similar physical symptoms to a variety of stressors. - Answer- - A new sex hormone Seyle's general adaptation syndrome describes - Answer- - How people react when exposed to stressors In which stage of the general adaptation syndrome is arousal level the highest? - Answer- - Alarm During the resistance stage of the general adaptation syndrome, people will exhibit - Answer- - Moderate, sustained levels of arousal If someone is exposed to a stressor that demands so much and lasts so long that it exceeds the person's ability to cope with it, the person will move into which stage of Selye's general adaptation syndrome - Answer- - Exhaustion During the alarm stage of the general adaptation syndrome, - Answer- - the sympathetic nervous system is activated and adrenal glands release hormones During the alarm stage of the general adaptation syndrome, all of the following except _____________ are reactions that can be seen - Answer- - Hemorrhaging Adelaida hears a rattling sound as she hikes through the desert. Her muscles tense and her blood pressure rises. According to Hans Selye, she is in the - Answer- - Alarm phase A person in the ____________ stage of the general adaptation syndrome may feel better even though he or she continues to secrete hormones to help the body fight a stressor - Answer- - Resistance What is the correct sequence of stages in the general adaptation syndrome - Answer- - Alarm, resistance, exhaustion One of the most startling implications of Selye's theory is that - Answer- - Psychological stress may cause disease such as ulcers and high blood pressure In Rothbaum's research on flying phobias and virtual exposure therapy, what percentage of patients could continue to fly in an airplane post - treatment - Answer- - 70%