Week 1: Health Psychology Methods Flashcards
What does HAART stand for:
A: Hyperactive Antibiotic Analgesic Regimen (HAART): An aggressive treatment plan combining multiple antibiotics for a severe bacterial infection and powerful painkillers to manage the associated pain. This combination could be used for cases like sepsis, severe pneumonia, or post-surgical infections.
B: Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) refers to a broad category of treatment regimens usually comprised of three or more antiretroviral drugs that, in previously untreated HIV-1-infected patients, are expected to reduce plasma virus levels below the limits of detection.
C: Highly Accelerated Anesthetic Recovery Technique (HAART): A new and controversial method for rapidly bringing patients out of anesthesia after surgery. This could involve advanced monitoring techniques, specific drug combinations, or even physical stimulation to speed up the process.
B: Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) refers to a broad category of treatment regimens usually comprised of three or more antiretroviral drugs that, in previously untreated HIV-1-infected patients, are expected to reduce plasma virus levels below the limits of detection.
Which of the following were NOT reasons closeted HIV+ men died faster than those who were out?
A: People treated them better, the secrecy protected them from verbal and physical violence
B: Were poorer, had worse health habits, didn’t go to the doctor, had more one-night stands.
C: They lived healthier lives, they were well-respected
B: Were poorer, had worse health habits, didn’t go to the doctor, had more one-night stands.
Which of the following WAS believed to be the reason closeted HIV+ men died faster than those who were out based on the work of Steve Cole & Margaret Kemeny?
A: Rejection sensitivity
B: They had more one-night stands
C: They had worse health habits
A: Rejection sensitivity
True or false: If the stress response is heightened there will be more copies of HIV cells and lower T cell counts?
A: True
B: False
A: True
As the fight or flight response increases in size, the number of HIV copies/viral load also increases. So a heightened stress response was correlated with more copies of HIV cells replicating in the body.
T cells are part of the immune system and help fight HIV, so lower T cell counts would be undesirable. The graph they showed had a change in T lymphocytes (T cells) on the y-axis, and it demonstrated that as the fight or flight response increased in size on the x-axis, T cell counts decreased. So a heightened stress response was associated with fewer T cells according to the study.
What role does adrenaline/epinephrine play?
A: Adrenaline and epinephrine have no connection to the fight or flight response, and their release during stress has no impact on physiological reactions.
B: Adrenaline and epinephrine serve as inhibitors during the fight or flight response, slowing down physiological reactions and reducing the overall stress response.
C: Adrenaline and epinephrine are essentially the same thing. They are chemicals released during the fight or flight response from the autonomic nervous system. A study was done where HIV-positive cells were isolated and exposed to epinephrine/adrenaline. They found that adding more epinephrine caused the HIV-infected cells to replicate faster over the course of the 8-day study. So epinephrine, the chemical released during stress, appeared to directly influence HIV-infected cells to replicate at a higher rate.
C: Adrenaline and epinephrine are essentially the same thing. They are chemicals released during the fight or flight response from the autonomic nervous system. A study was done where HIV-positive cells were isolated and exposed to epinephrine/adrenaline. They found that adding more epinephrine caused the HIV-infected cells to replicate faster over the course of the 8-day study. So epinephrine, the chemical released during stress, appeared to directly influence HIV-infected cells to replicate at a higher rate.
True or false: health psychology is a bi-directional relationship?
A: True
B: False
A: True
Health Psychology looks at the interplay between
__________ and ____________?
A: Psychology and SES
B: ACEs and physical health
C: Psychology and physical health
C: Psychology and physical health
> The effects of physical health on psychological functioning
> The effects of psychological factors on physical health
Define health psychology:
A: The application of psychological principles to optimize athletic performance and mental well-being in sports.
B: The scientific contribution of psychology (meaning thoughts, emotions, & behaviors) for the promotion and maintenance of health, the prevention and treatment of illness, the identification of the causes of health, illness, and dysfunction, and the analysis and improvement of the healthcare system.
C: The study of how personal characteristics, such as personality and intelligence, influence health outcomes.
B: The scientific contribution of psychology (meaning thoughts, emotions, & behaviors) for the promotion and maintenance of health, the prevention and treatment of illness, the identification of the causes of health, illness, and dysfunction, and the analysis and improvement of the healthcare system.
Which of the following is a topic that health psychologists might study?
A: Home COVID tests’ success at diagnosing COVID
B: Smoking’s effect on the lungs
C: Athletic training for maximum fitness
D: The effect of stress on heart health
D: The effect of stress on heart health
> This goes back to the bi-directional aspect of health psychology. Stress is the psychological factor and heart health is the physiological factor.
Fill in the blank: In a correlational study, as one thing goes ______, another thing goes _______ or _________?
Up, up, down
What is reverse causation:
A: Reverse causation refers to a situation where there is no relationship between two variables, and any observed correlation is purely coincidental.
B: Reverse causation occurs when the relationship between two variables remains consistent with the initial proposal or assumption, providing clear evidence for causation in correlational studies.
C: Reverse causation is when the direction of the relationship between two variables is the opposite of what was initially proposed or assumed. In a correlational study, reverse causation means that rather than variable A causing changes in variable B, it could actually be that variable B is influencing or causing changes in variable A. This poses a challenge for determining the true direction of the relationship based on correlational data alone.
C: Reverse causation is when the direction of the relationship between two variables is the opposite of what was initially proposed or assumed. In a correlational study, reverse causation means that rather than variable A causing changes in variable B, it could actually be that variable B is influencing or causing changes in variable A. This poses a challenge for determining the true direction of the relationship based on correlational data alone.
EXAMPLE:
Diets stress me out (diets cause stress : A causes B)
OR… could it be that stress makes you diet (B causes A)
What is a confounding variable:
A: Confounding variables in psychology are defined as influences that interfere with an accurate measurement between the independent and dependent variables.
B: A dependent variable that affects the independent variable.
C: An extraneous variable that is controlled for in the research design.
A: Confounding variables in psychology are defined as influences that interfere with an accurate measurement between the independent and dependent variables.
> Basically, we can’t say that A causes B, or that B causes A because there could be a confounding variable that’s influencing both A and/or B.
EXAMPLE:
Drinking wine causes better health (A causes B)
OR…. Being in better health causes people to drink
wine (B causes A)
OR… Something else causes people both to drink wine (confounding variable)
True or false: A true experiment is the only way to conclude causality?
A: True
B: False
A: True
True Experiment 👇🏽
1. Manipulate variable A.
2. Hold everything else constant: Random assignment to
condition.
3. Measure variable B.
Then you can say that changes in variable B were caused by variable A.
In a true experiment question look for no more than 2 things (#1: “people” being RANDOMLY ASSIGNED to #2 this or that)
EXAMPLE:
Professor Bower randomly assigned people (#1) to either receive yoga (#2) or a no-treatment control group (3) and measured stress levels.
OHER HINTS:
“Randomly assigned”
“Measured”
True or false: In health psychology, random assignment is always an option?
A: True
B: False
B: False
In health psychology, random assignment is usually NOT an option.
We can’t randomly assign people to:
* Drink red wine for decades or not
* Come out of the closet or not
* Get cancer or not
In a quasi-experiment we:
A: Observe two similar groups without any intervention or manipulation of variables.
B: Randomly assign all participants to specific groups, then track their outcomes over time.
C: Randomly assign at least one thing but some things aren’t randomly assigned
C: Randomly assign at least one thing but some things aren’t randomly assigned
HINT: Look for at least 4 things (men and women, yoga and no yoga)
Professor Stanton randomly assigned Stage I (#1) and Stage Il (#2) breast cancer survivors to a blogging condition (#3) or a control condition (#4) and measured psychological adjustment.
MORE HINTS:
“Randomly assigned”
“Measured”
MORE EXAMPLES:
> Randomly assign cancer patients or non-cancer patients to psychotherapy or control
> Randomly assign men and women to social support
interventions or control
> Randomly assign old and young people to exercise program or control
> Randomly assign people with high or low social support to cold virus or saline
> Randomly assigned dieters or non-dieters to drink a milkshake or not
