Writers Den

QUESTION 1

1. Jill is the type of person who tends not to expect the best out of life; rather, she always sees the dark underside of situations and life events. Based on information from your text, Jill is probably best described as
   

   an optimist.

   Type A.

   a pessimist.

   Type B.

0.5 points

QUESTION 2

1. If you believe that something about you caused an event to occur, you would be making a(n)
   

   internal attribution.

   external attribution.

   perception of control.

   self-blaming statement.

0.5 points

QUESTION 3

1. A number of laboratory and field studies in social psychology have revealed that two psychological factors determine whether a setback is perceived as stressful. They are _________ and __________.
   

   how permanent the setback is; how severe the setback is

   how much control people feel; how they explain the causes

   how common the setback is; how much control people feel

   people’s prior experience with setbacks; their projections of future success

0.5 points

QUESTION 4

1. In what way might perceived control be a detriment to dealing with an illness? Perceived control
   

   may lead patients to blame themselves for the disease or for failure to recover.

   may make a patient feel better, but actually increases the severity of the physical symptoms.

   alleviates physical symptoms, but decreases immunity toward other diseases.

   may lead a patient to ignore the advice of medical professionals.

0.5 points

QUESTION 5

1. According to stress research pioneer Richard Lazarus (1966, 1993), it is ______ and not ______ stress that causes problems for people.
   

   physical; emotional

   negative; positive

   subjective; objective

   social; personal

0.5 points

QUESTION 6

1. The authors of your text provide examples of people in other cultures who have died after finding out that they ate a certain food that is considered forbidden in their culture, even though the food did not poison them. What is the explanation for these deaths?
   

   These people were cursed.

   Violating a taboo created such stress that they died.

   These people were allergic to that particular food.

   These people actually contracted bird flu.

0.5 points

QUESTION 7

1. Consider the findings from the study by Cohen and his colleagues (1991; 1993) on stress and the immune system. On a college campus, when would students be most susceptible to catching a cold?
   

   just after returning from Spring Break

   the second week of the semester

   finals week, when there are many exams and papers due

   during summer break

0.5 points

QUESTION 8

1. Suppose that each of the following members of the track team did poorly at the first meet of the season. Which one is most likely to do the worst at the next meet?
   

   Sue, who thought after the first meet, “I was out of shape and didn’t train hard enough”

   Mary, who thought after the first meet, “I’m just not as good an athlete as I thought I was”

   Sarah, who thought after the first meet, “I had a bad day and didn’t sleep well the night before”

   Liz, who thought after the first meet, “The wind was blowing too hard that day”

0.5 points

QUESTION 9

1. If you are convinced that the cause of some stressful event will remain constant over time, you are making a(n) _____ attribution.
   

   external

   global

   stable

   specific

0.5 points

QUESTION 10

1. Amos has just been fired from his job at a major software firm. As he packs up the contents of his desk, he says to a colleague, “It just goes to show what can happen when your supervisor has it in for you.” Amos’s attribution in this case can best be characterized as
   

   specific.

   global.

   internal.

   stable.