Deck 14: Section 4: Stress and Health

Question 1

Activation of the HPA axis increases sympathetic nervous system activity.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Positive as well as negative events are important when considering the risk of stress-related illness.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

On average, a positive event will produce the same amount of stress as a negative event.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Environmental psychology is the scientific examination of the reasons why people tend to pollute their habitat.

Question 5

In answer to stress, the body responds with an initial fight-or-flight reaction.

Question 6

Cortisol decreases the amount of glucose in the blood.

Question 7

The HPA axis that plays a role in reaction to stress is composed of the hypothalamus, the pituitary gland, and the amygdala.

Question 8

During a fight-or-flight response, the adrenal glands release cortisol and catecholamines.

Question 9

People who report having many daily hassles often report more physical and psychological problems than people experiencing an infrequent but more severe life stressor.

Question 10

The three phases of the general adaptation syndrome are the alarm phase, the anxiety phase, and the exhaustion phase.

Question 11

Two types of catecholamines are glutamate and serotonin.

Question 12

Walter Cannon coined the term fight-or-flight.

Question 13

Walter Cannon termed the physiological reactions to stress the general adaptation syndrome.

Question 14

Situations in which we feel we have no control are more stressful than situations where we are required to take action.

Question 15

Exposure to a traumatic event may cause the hippocampus to decrease in size.

Question 16

In response to stimulation from the hypothalamus, the pituitary gland releases catecholamines.

Question 17

On the College Undergraduate Stress Scale, talking in front of the class is more stressful than finals week.

Question 18

The adrenal glands are stimulated by a hormone called ACTH.

Question 19

On the College Undergraduate Stress Scale, concerns about pregnancy produce the highest stress rating.

Question 20

The general adaptation syndrome in reaction to a chronic stressor is nonspecific; it doesn't vary, regardless of the stressor that is encountered.

Question 21

Chronic stress is an effect, but not a cause, of atherosclerosis.

Question 22

Conscientiousness is a feature of the Type A behavior pattern.

Question 23

Chronic life stressors and brief life stressors both wear down the immune system and increase the likelihood of illness.

Question 24

Threats, but not challenges, increase the constriction of blood vessels.

Question 25

Burnout occurs more often in the helping professions, in which workers encounter emotional turmoil.

Question 26

In males, the production of testosterone increases during the resistance stage of the general adaptation syndrome.

Question 27

Lymphocytes are cells that produce antibodies that fight infection.

Question 28

There is evidence that living at lower levels of society increases the risk of infections by weakening the immune system.

Question 29

Primary appraisal involves determining if a stimulus is a threat or a challenge.

Question 30

Hostility, especially in men, is a better predictor of heart disease than smoking cigarettes.

Question 31

Ultimately, telomerase cannot keep up telomere production at a sufficient pace, and
over time cells lose their ability to divide, causing aging and in the end, cell death.

Question 32

The body responds differently to stress depending on whether the stressor is perceived as a threat or a challenge.

Question 33

Telomerase is an enzyme that rebuilds telomeres at the tips of chromosomes.

Question 34

Burnout is particularly a problem for individuals in high-level management positions.

Question 35

Something as innocuous as having a conversation with a person of another race has been shown to produce posttraumatic stress disorder in some individuals.

Question 36

The main cause of coronary heart disease is atherosclerosis.

Question 37

People who experience burnout from their jobs usually believe that their jobs provide no meaning in their lives.

Question 38

If telomeres become too short, cells can no longer divide and this can lead to the development of tumors and a range of diseases.

Question 39

The resistance phase of the general adaptation syndrome is equivalent to the fight-or-flight response.

Question 40

Both challenges and threats are stressors that increase heart rate.

Question 41

People who use humor to reduce stress tend to live longer than people who use other relaxation strategies.

Question 42

When faced with a stressor, men produce epinephrine, norepinephrine, and oxytocin.

Question 43

Just thinking about a particular action will cause tension in the muscles associated with the action.

Question 44

Thinking and writing about stressful events improves the functioning of the immune system.

Question 45

Meditation appears to have positive psychological effects, in part because it helps people improve their control over their attention.

Question 46

Current U.S. government recommendations suggest that at least 1 hour of moderate exercise daily reduces the risk of chronic illness.

Question 47

First-year college students tend to have weaker immune systems than other college students.

Question 48

Aerobic exercise blocks the release of endogenous opioids in the brain, producing a runner's high.

Question 49

Research has indicated that exercise is as effective as the most effective psychological interventions for depression.

Question 50

Research indicates that the use of repressive or avoidance responses to manage stress is harmful.

Question 51

Biofeedback has been demonstrated to be about three times as effective in reducing stress as traditional relaxation therapy.

Question 52

Aerobic exercise is a causal factor in promoting psychological well-being.

Question 53

Married people have a lower risk of mortality from cancer, pneumonia, and influenza than single people.

Question 54

Relaxation on a regular basis can reduce blood levels of cortisol, the biochemical marker of the stress response.

Question 55

Rational coping involves purposefully attending to and thinking about the stressor in an effort to overcome it.

Question 56

Despite early reports, recent research has indicated that biofeedback is not effective at treating brain-wave abnormalities in disorders such as epilepsy.

Question 57

The release of estrogen triggers a tend-and-befriend reaction to stress in females.

Question 58

Current research suggests that humor can be helpful in reducing stress in the short term.

Question 59

Hans Selye developed relaxation therapy.

Question 60

Relaxation on a regular basis has been shown to decrease the size of cancerous tumors.

Question 61

Research has demonstrated that even die-hard pessimists can be trained to become significantly more optimistic.

Question 62

Shelley Taylor is known for her work on hardiness training.

Question 63

Optimists stick to the medical regimens their caregivers have prescribed better than pessimists.

Question 64

Compliance to a medical treatment tends to decrease as the treatment becomes more frequent.

Question 65

In response to a painful stimulus, low-pain-sensitive individuals exhibit less activity in the anterior cingulate cortex than high-pain-sensitive individuals.

Question 66

Malingering is a behavior in which individuals fabricate medical or psychological symptoms to get something they want.

Question 67

In response to a painful stimulus, high-pain-sensitive individuals exhibit more activity in the thalamus than low-pain-sensitive individuals.

Question 68

Some effects of placebos are due to classical conditioning.

Question 69

Directing attention away from our bodies and to the outside world is one way to decrease our perceived symptoms of stress and illness.

Question 70

Somatic symptom disorders are considered psychological disorders.

Question 71

The three "C's" associated with hardiness are commitment, control, and challenge.

Question 72

A placebo can be mostly effective even if you believe it will not work.

Question 73

The focus on psychosomatic disorders has shifted from concerns about mentally generated physical symptoms to excessive psychological concerns about explainable medical symptoms.

Question 74

A substantial number of people who seek medical care do so for treatment of psychological and emotional problems.

Question 75

Placebos given to reduce pain have been shown to increase activity in the insula and thalamus.

Question 76

Placebos have been shown to increase the release of endorphins, the brain's natural painkilling chemical.

Question 77

When sick, optimists tend to utilize social support more than pessimists.

Question 78

Physicians often focus on a patient's emotions and allow this to overshadow technical aspects of the patient's illness.

Question 79

Learning to become relatively insensitive to pain offers many health benefits and few health risks.

Question 80

People tend to underestimate how well they actually follow their doctor's instructions.