Health Psychology & Behavioral Medicine Flashcards

The Transtheoretical Model (Stages of Change) identifies which of the following as the stage in which a person is actively engaged in changing a behavior but for less than six months?

Answer: Action

In the Action stage, individuals have made specific, overt modifications to their problem behavior within the past six months; Maintenance follows after six months of sustained change, while Contemplation and Preparation are pre-action stages.

Psychophysiological disorders (sometimes called psychosomatic disorders) are best characterized as conditions in which:

Answer: Psychological factors play a significant role in initiating or exacerbating genuine physical pathology

Psychophysiological disorders involve real, verifiable physical conditions—such as asthma, hypertension, or irritable bowel syndrome—in which psychological factors (stress, emotion, behavior) demonstrably contribute to onset, severity, or maintenance.

A psychologist working in a cardiac rehabilitation program would most likely focus on which of the following evidence-based interventions?

Answer: Psychoeducation, stress management, exercise adherence, and depression screening

Cardiac rehabilitation psychology emphasizes risk factor modification through psychoeducation, stress reduction (e.g., relaxation training), promotion of exercise adherence, smoking cessation support, and screening/treatment of depression and anxiety which worsen cardiac outcomes.

The placebo effect in clinical research is best understood as:

Answer: A genuine psychobiological response to the expectation of treatment benefit

The placebo effect represents real neurobiological changes—including endorphin release, altered dopamine activity, and measurable physiological outcomes—driven by expectation, conditioning, and the therapeutic relationship, not mere imagination.

Which of the following best describes the concept of allostatic load in health psychology?

Answer: The cumulative physiological wear and tear resulting from chronic stress and repeated adaptation

Allostatic load, coined by McEwen and Stellar, refers to the cumulative biological cost of repeated allostasis (adaptation to stressors) over time, reflected in dysregulation of multiple physiological systems including cardiovascular, metabolic, immune, and neuroendocrine.

Research on social support and health has demonstrated that social support most consistently buffers the health impact of stress through which mechanism?

Answer: Altering the appraisal of stressors and providing resources for coping

The stress-buffering hypothesis holds that social support moderates the relationship between stress and health by influencing cognitive appraisal (reinterpreting threats as manageable) and providing emotional, informational, and instrumental coping resources.

A health psychologist conducting a motivational interviewing session is primarily using which technique to facilitate behavior change?

Answer: Eliciting and strengthening a patient's own motivation and commitment to change

Motivational Interviewing (MI), developed by Miller and Rollnick, uses a collaborative, person-centered style—employing reflective listening, open questions, affirmations, and summarizing—to evoke the patient's intrinsic motivation and explore ambivalence about change.