Drill 25 · Multiple Choice · Unit 5: Mental and Physical Health
AP Psychology: Introduction to Health Psychology (Drill 25) is a Multiple Choice practice drill covering Unit 5: Mental and Physical Health. It contains 5 original questions created by Brian Stewart, a Barron's test prep author with over 20 years of tutoring experience.
AP Psychology practice questions on health psychology, stress, appraisal, and coping. Five scenario-based AP exam prep items covering primary and secondary appraisal, problem-focused versus emotion-focused coping, the general adaptation syndrome, and stress-related research methods.
Question 1. After missing a deadline at work, Priya tells herself, "This is terrible; my boss will never trust me again." Her coworker Daniel, who also missed the deadline, instead thinks, "This is frustrating, but I've handled setbacks before and I can recover." Which concept best accounts for the difference in how Priya and Daniel are responding to the same event?
Explanation: The scenario shows two people facing an identical stressor but interpreting it in opposite ways; this is exactly what Lazarus's cognitive appraisal model addresses. Priya is treating the event as a threat she cannot handle, while Daniel is treating it as a challenge he can manage, and that appraisal difference is what drives the emotional response. (B) is true but irrelevant: both of them would show some sympathetic arousal, but the question asks what explains the difference between them, not the shared physiological response. (D) describes the general stress response pattern, not why two people appraise the same event differently. [Practice 1]
Question 2. Marcus is stressed about an upcoming medical procedure. He spends an afternoon researching the procedure, writing down questions for his doctor, and arranging for a friend to drive him home afterward. His roommate Kenji, facing the same procedure the next week, instead calls friends to vent, listens to calming music, and practices deep breathing. Which pair of terms best describes the coping strategies each is using?
Explanation: Marcus is directly addressing the source of the stress by gathering information and making logistical arrangements; this is problem-focused coping. Kenji is not changing anything about the procedure itself; he is managing his emotional reaction to it through social support and relaxation, which is emotion-focused coping. (A) reverses the two strategies. (D) is a true-but-irrelevant distractor: primary and secondary appraisal are real concepts in Lazarus's model, but they describe how someone evaluates a stressor, not the behavioral strategies someone uses to cope with it. [Practice 1]
Question 3. A researcher wants to test whether a six-week mindfulness program reduces physiological stress in college students. Participants are randomly assigned to either the mindfulness program or a waitlist control group. At the end of six weeks, the researcher measures each participant's salivary cortisol level. Which of the following identifies the independent variable and the dependent variable in this study?
Explanation: The researcher manipulates one thing, whether a participant gets the mindfulness program or goes on the waitlist, and measures cortisol as the outcome, which makes program assignment the IV and cortisol the DV. (A) reverses the two, a common student error. (C) confuses a procedural feature of the study (random assignment) with the IV itself; random assignment is how participants are placed in conditions, not the variable being manipulated. (D) describes a different study design altogether, since self-reported stress was never mentioned in the scenario. [Practice 2]
Question 4. The table below summarizes findings from a hypothetical study tracking 200 adults over one year. Participants reported their average weekly stress levels and the number of upper respiratory infections they experienced.
| Average weekly stress (self-reported) | Mean infections per year |
|---|---|
| Low | 1.4 |
| Moderate | 2.1 |
| High | 3.6 |
Explanation: The table shows that as self-reported stress goes up, reported infections also go up, that is a positive association, and "association" is the strongest claim the data can support. (A) overreaches: this is correlational data, and a positive correlation alone cannot establish that stress causes infection. (C) is the reverse causal claim, which is equally unsupported. (D) is the true-but-irrelevant distractor, chronic stress really does suppress aspects of immune function, but this specific table only reports self-reported stress and infection counts, not anything about lymphocytes, so the data do not support that mechanistic claim. [Practice 3]
Question 5. During a car accident, Tanya's heart races, her pupils dilate, and blood rushes to her skeletal muscles. Hours later, once she is safely home, her heart rate slows, her digestion resumes, and she feels drained. Which division of the nervous system was most responsible for Tanya's initial response during the accident?
Explanation: The racing heart, dilated pupils, and redirected blood flow during the accident are classic signs of sympathetic nervous system activation, the branch of the autonomic nervous system that prepares the body for fight-or-flight. This is the cross-unit connection back to Unit 1 biology. (A) reverses the two autonomic branches: the parasympathetic system is what calms Tanya down hours later, not what mobilized her during the accident. (B) gets the somatic system wrong in a common way; it controls voluntary skeletal movement, not involuntary organ responses. (D) is the true-but-irrelevant distractor: the central nervous system is of course involved in processing the threat and signaling the endocrine system, but the specific physiological response described (heart, pupils, blood flow) is produced by the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system, which is what the question asks about. [Practice 1]