Lesson 8.6.1

8.6.1 Issues and debates in health psychology Quiz: Pearson Edexcel Psychology, Unit 8

20 questions

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Lesson 8.6.1, Issues and debates in health psychology: 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. Why is the use of animals in drug research an ethical issue in health psychology?

    • Animals are always able to give informed consent
    • Animals are not capable of experiencing any drug effects at all
    • Animals may suffer pain or distress, so the benefit of the research must be weighed against the harm caused
    • Animal studies never produce any useful findings

  2. Why is generalising findings from animal drug studies to humans a practical issue?

    • Animal studies are never published
    • Species differ in biology and behaviour, so the effects of a drug may not transfer directly to humans
    • Humans and animals always react in identical ways
    • Animals cannot be given drugs in a laboratory

  3. Which practical difficulty arises when researchers try to study how a drug acts in the human brain?

    • Brain activity cannot be measured in any form
    • The brain is always easy to observe with a simple questionnaire
    • The brain is hard to access in a living person without invasive methods, so the drug's full action is difficult to observe
    • Drugs never reach the brain in humans

  4. How does reductionism appear in the study of drug misuse using experiments?

    • Experiments always include every variable in the real world
    • Experiments are impossible to conduct with drugs
    • Experiments reduce the cost of research to zero
    • Experiments isolate variables to test cause and effect, which may simplify the complex social context of drug use

  5. Animal studies of drugs tend to isolate variables. Which evaluation point follows from this?

    • Isolating variables makes the findings meaningless in all cases
    • The findings are always more complex than human studies
    • The findings may show clear cause and effect, but the isolated conditions may not reflect the complexity of human drug use
    • Isolating variables guarantees that the findings apply to humans

  6. A researcher compares learning and biological explanations of drug misuse. Which issue is being considered?

    • Cultural bias in questionnaires
    • Ethical use of animals
    • Comparisons between ways of explaining behaviour using different themes
    • Gender bias in sampling

  7. What does a comparison of learning and biological explanations of addiction show about the nature-nurture debate?

    • Biology proves that nurture is irrelevant
    • Learning proves that nature is irrelevant
    • The comparison shows that the debate has no relevance to addiction
    • Learning highlights environmental influence, while biology highlights genetic and neural factors, and both may interact

  8. Which statement illustrates the issue of psychology as a science in health psychology?

    • Using controlled animal experiments and biological measures to test explanations of drug misuse
    • Ignoring all data in favour of personal opinion
    • Avoiding any measurement of behaviour
    • Relying only on personal anecdotes about drug use

  9. A criticism of biological explanations of addiction is that they may be reductionist. Which point best supports this criticism?

    • They explain addiction using many social variables
    • They explain complex addiction mainly in terms of neurochemistry, which may neglect social and cultural influences
    • They explain addiction without any reference to the brain
    • They explain addiction only through culture

  10. Why do cross-cultural differences in drug use matter for the culture issue in health psychology?

    • They show that culture has no influence on drug use
    • They show that patterns of drug use vary with social norms and laws, so explanations must consider cultural context
    • They show that drug use is identical in every culture
    • They show that all drug research should be conducted only in one country

  11. Gender is an issue in health psychology research on drugs. Which research problem might arise if a study recruits only male participants?

    • The study will have perfect reliability
    • Findings will automatically apply to all populations
    • The study cannot measure drug use at all
    • Findings may not generalise to women, whose drug use patterns and risk factors can differ

  12. Ethical issues in aversion therapy include which concern most directly?

    • The collection of data by questionnaire
    • The use of double-blind procedures in drug trials
    • Deliberately causing discomfort to a person as part of treatment, which must be justified and consented to
    • The publication of findings in journals

  13. A researcher wants to explain why people from the same environment differ in drug use. Which issue from the debates is most relevant?

    • Reductionism of the Strange Situation
    • Nature-nurture interaction, as genetic and environmental factors may jointly influence individual differences
    • Cultural bias in classic studies
    • Gender bias in sampling only

  14. Which statement best describes the nature-nurture issue applied to addiction?

    • Genetic predisposition and environmental experiences can both contribute to addiction, and they often interact
    • Addiction is determined only by environment
    • Addiction is determined only by genes
    • Addiction cannot be linked to either nature or nurture

  15. An evaluation argues that animal research on addiction is limited by practical issues. Which example best illustrates this?

    • Rats are easy to house and feed
    • Rats can be observed in a laboratory setting
    • Rats can be randomly allocated to groups
    • Rats cannot report their subjective craving, so a key aspect of human addiction cannot be measured

  16. How does the issue of ethics interact with the issue of practical design in drug research?

    • Ethics only applies after the study has finished
    • Ethical constraints can limit the designs researchers may use, which can affect the quality of the evidence
    • Ethics has no effect on design
    • Design always overrides ethics in research

  17. A researcher argues that health psychology's use of experiments on drug effects makes it more scientific. Which evaluation point is most valid?

    • Experiments always establish reality perfectly
    • Experiments can only be carried out on humans
    • Experiments can establish cause and effect, but they may lack ecological validity in real life
    • Experiments are irrelevant to science

  18. Which issue is most closely illustrated by the claim that biological explanations of drug misuse are deterministic?

    • The statistical use of chi-squared tests
    • Reductionism and the question of how much individual choice and environment matter
    • The practical difficulty of finding volunteers
    • The ethics of informed consent

  19. Which point about the cultural issue in health psychology is most accurate?

    • Attitudes to drugs and alcohol differ between societies, so explanations and treatments must take cultural context into account
    • Cultural issues can only be studied with animals
    • Attitudes to drugs are identical across all societies
    • Culture is irrelevant to health psychology

  20. A study concludes that a biological treatment works, but it is tested only in animals. Which two issues from the debates most directly apply?

    • Only reductionism of classical conditioning
    • Only the use of questionnaires
    • Only gender bias and cultural bias
    • Generalisation to humans as a practical issue, and the ethics of using animals in research

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