Lesson 8.1.6

8.1.6 Individual and developmental differences in drug misuse Quiz: Pearson Edexcel Psychology, Unit 8

20 questions

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Lesson 8.1.6, Individual and developmental differences in drug misuse: 20 multiple choice questions for the Pearson Edexcel Psychology (9PS0), Unit 8: Health psychology, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. What is sensation seeking, as used to explain individual differences in drug misuse?

    • A learned habit of avoiding all unfamiliar situations
    • A personality trait involving a need for novel, intense and varied experiences
    • A measure of how well a person remembers past events
    • A biological state caused only by withdrawal

  2. Which personality trait is most often linked to impulsive drug use because it involves acting without considering consequences?

    • Openness to tasks with fixed routines
    • Conscientiousness only
    • Agreeableness
    • Impulsivity

  3. A study finds that people high in sensation seeking are more likely to try drugs at a young age. Which type of relationship is shown?

    • A negative correlation between sensation seeking and early drug use
    • A positive correlation between sensation seeking and early drug use
    • A causal relationship proven by random allocation
    • No relationship between the two variables

  4. Why does a correlation between sensation seeking and drug use not prove that sensation seeking causes drug misuse?

    • Because drug use always causes sensation seeking
    • Because correlations can never be calculated for personality traits
    • Because the sample must have been randomly allocated
    • Because a third variable, such as peer group or family environment, could account for both

  5. Which gender difference in drug misuse is most consistently reported across many studies?

    • Women are always more likely than men to use all drugs
    • Women never use alcohol at all
    • There is no difference between men and women in any study
    • Men are more likely than women to misuse alcohol and illicit drugs in many populations

  6. A researcher wants to examine whether genetic differences affect drug vulnerability. Which design would allow the researcher to separate genetic from environmental influence?

    • A single case study of one family
    • A cross-sectional survey of drug use in a single school
    • A twin study comparing identical and non-identical twins reared together and apart
    • A content analysis of newspaper reports

  7. Which statement best describes the diathesis-stress model applied to drug misuse?

    • Stress has no effect on drug misuse in any individual
    • A genetic or personality vulnerability interacts with environmental stress to increase the likelihood of misuse
    • Drug misuse is caused entirely by a single gene
    • Vulnerability is only environmental and never biological

  8. A study finds that adolescents with high impulsivity start drinking earlier than those with low impulsivity, and that stressful home life strengthens this link. Which combination is shown?

    • A random effect with no pattern
    • An individual difference interacting with an environmental factor
    • A purely learned explanation with no personality
    • A purely biological explanation with no environment

  9. Why do researchers consider personality differences important when explaining drug misuse?

    • Because personality is the only cause of drug misuse
    • Because personality is unrelated to any behaviour
    • Because all people with the same personality use the same drugs
    • Because two people in the same environment can respond very differently to the same drug or peer pressure

  10. Which evaluation point is most appropriate for research on personality and drug misuse?

    • Personality research cannot be carried out with adolescents
    • Personality measures are often self-report, which may be affected by social desirability and recall bias
    • Personality has no link to any measurable outcome
    • Personality can be measured perfectly with a single observation

  11. A researcher finds that people with a particular gene variant show higher drug use only when they also have a history of childhood neglect. Which concept best describes this finding?

    • Classical conditioning
    • Observational learning only
    • Monotropic attachment
    • Gene-environment interaction

  12. Which factor is an example of a biological individual difference that may contribute to drug misuse?

    • Variation in how quickly a person metabolises alcohol
    • The type of television programmes a person watches
    • The number of friends a person has at school
    • The neighbourhood in which a person lives

  13. A study of heavy drinkers finds that those who score high on neuroticism also report more drinking to cope with negative mood. Which explanation does this support?

    • Personality influences the motives for drinking, with coping being a key reason
    • Drinking has no link to emotional states
    • Drinking is only caused by classical conditioning
    • Neuroticism is unrelated to mood

  14. Which statement about individual differences and treatment is most supported by psychological evidence?

    • Personality is irrelevant to the success of any treatment
    • Treatments should be the same for everyone regardless of individual factors
    • Treatments may work better for some individuals than others, so matching treatments to personality or risk profile may help
    • All individuals respond identically to every treatment

  15. A psychologist wants to measure impulsivity in adolescents as an individual difference. Which method would give the most objective measure?

    • A parent's casual comment on the teenager's behaviour
    • A newspaper article about risky teenagers
    • A single open-ended question asking how impulsive the teenager feels
    • A behavioural task that records how quickly a participant chooses an immediate small reward over a delayed larger one

  16. Why might a gender difference in drug misuse be explained by a social factor rather than a biological one?

    • Women have no contact with social norms
    • Social norms about masculinity may encourage men to take more risks with drugs
    • Men are biologically unable to resist drugs
    • Women are biologically unable to use drugs

  17. Which of the following best illustrates an individual difference that affects the likelihood of addiction, rather than a difference between groups?

    • Two cultures with different traditions of alcohol consumption
    • One person who develops dependence after a few uses while another does not, despite similar exposure
    • Two countries with different drug laws
    • Two groups of people who use different drugs at different rates

  18. A researcher finds a correlation between impulsivity and drug use in a sample of 200 young adults, with a correlation coefficient of 0.3. Which is the most accurate interpretation?

    • Impulsivity completely explains drug use
    • There is a strong negative association between the two variables
    • There is no association because 0.3 is below 1
    • There is a weak to moderate positive association, so impulsivity explains only part of the variation in drug use

  19. Which methodological issue is raised when researchers study individual differences in drug misuse using only one sample of university students?

    • Excessive use of observation
    • Lack of any quantitative data
    • Too much random allocation to conditions
    • Limited generalisability to other populations, such as older adults or those not in education

  20. Which explanation best accounts for why some people recover from drug dependence without treatment while others do not?

    • Recovery is random and unrelated to any individual factor
    • Individual differences in personality, social support and coping resources interact to influence recovery
    • Recovery depends only on the type of drug used
    • Recovery is caused entirely by the environment with no individual factor

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