LSP Health Psychology & Behavioral Medicine 4

Question 1

A clinician notices that a patient with hypertension only takes medication when they feel symptoms, believing pills are only needed when 'blood pressure is high.' Which construct from the Health Belief Model explains this behavior?

Accepted Answer

Inaccurate perceived susceptibility to complications

Answer

The patient underestimates ongoing risk because hypertension is asymptomatic most of the time, reflecting a distorted perceived susceptibility that medication is only needed during symptomatic episodes.

Question 2

Which term describes the phenomenon where patients in clinical trials show improvement simply from being monitored and receiving attention, regardless of the treatment?

Accepted Answer

The Hawthorne effect

Answer

The Hawthorne effect refers to behavioral or health changes that occur because participants know they are being observed, a key confound in health intervention research.

Question 3

Stage models of behavior change, such as the Transtheoretical Model, have been criticized primarily because:

Accepted Answer

Empirical evidence shows behavior change is often non-linear and stages are not reliably distinct

Answer

Critics note that stage boundaries are arbitrary, individuals frequently skip stages or cycle non-sequentially, and meta-analyses show stage-matched interventions don't consistently outperform non-matched ones.

Question 4

Somatization disorder involves physical symptoms that cannot be fully explained medically. Which psychological process is most implicated in symptom amplification?

Accepted Answer

Selective attention and hypervigilance to bodily sensations

Answer

Attentional bias toward bodily sensations amplifies normal physiological signals into distressing symptoms, a process well-documented in health anxiety and somatic symptom disorder research.

Question 5

Which model explains how social support buffers the effects of stress on health, specifically proposing that support reduces the perceived threat of stressors?

Accepted Answer

Stress-buffering hypothesis

Answer

The stress-buffering hypothesis holds that social support is most beneficial under high-stress conditions by altering cognitive appraisal of the stressor or facilitating coping resources.

(LSP) Licensed Specialist in Psychology Certification Practice Test

(LSP) Licensed Specialist in Psychology Certification Practice Test

LSP Health Psychology & Behavioral Medicine 4