GRE Subject Test: Psychology : Stress, Conflict, Coping
Study concepts, example questions & explanations for GRE Subject Test: Psychology
All GRE Subject Test: Psychology Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #11 : Clinical & Abnormal
As one approaches the goal of an avoidance-avoidance conflict, the level of repulsion is best described by which of the following choices?
Increases for the choice not being made and stays the same for the choice being made
Increases for both the choice being made and the choice not being made
Increases for the choice being made and decreases for the choice not being made
Increases for the choice being made and stays the same for the choice not being made
Increases for the choice being made and decreases for the choice not being made
In an avoidance-avoidance conflict, a person must choose between two equally unpleasant alternatives. As they move toward one of the two options, the repulsion of the choice grows stronger, which pushes them back to a state of indecisiveness between the two unpleasant alternatives. This can be overcome through willpower. Otherwise, the individual will be propelled into a perpetual state of indecisive neutrality.
Example Question #11 : Stress, Conflict, Coping
A Freudian psychoanalyst would likely predict that which of the following people would have the easiest time handling conflict?
A person that avoids using defense mechanisms such as repression
A person that resists the influence of the preconscious
A person that rejects the ideation of their problems
A person that has a strongly developed ego
A person that has a strongly developed ego
In his revised psychoanalytic framework, Freud identified the struggle between superego and id as one of the keystones of conflict within an individual. In this way, Freud thought that the ego—in its role as moderator of the id and superego—could be trained to the level of conscious response, bridging the gap between the unconscious id and the conscious superego.
Example Question #12 : Stress, Conflict, Coping
Suppose that you are walking down the street one night when you see something move very quickly in your peripheral vision. You rapidly turn your head and see a cat stalking down an alley. Which of the following is the most proximate cause of your increased heart rate and breathing?
A burst of cortisol and adrenaline from the adrenal glands
Sudden release of steroids coming from the thyroid glands
Neurotransmitters generated from your pituitary gland
Hormones being released from the hypothalamus
A burst of cortisol and adrenaline from the adrenal glands
The adrenal glands release adrenaline and cortisol as reactions to sudden stress, in response to a signal from the hypothalamus via the pituitary gland that signals the release of glucocorticoids into the bloodstream.
Example Question #13 : Stress, Conflict, Coping
According to Karen Horney, a person who utilizes the neurotic strategy of "moving toward" seeks out all of the following needs in excess except which of the following?
Self-simplification of one's life
A loving partner to take over their lives
Perfection and unassailability
Affection and approval
Perfection and unassailability
Karen Horney classified an excess of the need to be personally unassailable as the hallmark of the "moving away" strategy, in which one seeks to avoid conflict by removing themselves from others.
Example Question #14 : Stress, Conflict, Coping
Suppose that a child feels threatened by a schoolyard bully, and reacts by throwing a rock at them and yelling. Karen Horney would state that this response most closely demonstrates which of the following?
Moving with
Moving away
Moving toward
Moving against
Moving against
Karen Horney described a strategy of "moving against" as being the most childlike of neuroses, and the most aggressive. People who rely on this strategy seek out confrontation with the source of their stress, hoping in a display of aggression to solve their anxiety.
Example Question #15 : Stress, Conflict, Coping
All of the following about cortisol are true except which of the following?
High levels of cortisol correlate with short-term memory formation
Natural levels of cortisol are highest in the morning
It can be triggered by low blood glucose
Changes to cortisol levels due to stress occur equally across men and women
Changes to cortisol levels due to stress occur equally across men and women
Studies have found that cortisol levels differ between men and women in similar stressful environments. Research has revealed that in some women when stressors are present, which may go towards explaining why the "fight or flight" response is often weakened or absent in women.
Example Question #16 : Stress, Conflict, Coping
The idea that conflict resolution is best viewed as a framework by which societies and individuals can specialize their roles or behaviors, contributing to a greater whole, might be advocated by which of the following psychologists?
Herbert Spencer
Erik Erikson
Alfred Adler
Karen Horney
Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer, one of the founding members of the structural functionalism psychological approach, viewed conflicts between members of society as analogous to conflicts between organs in the body (or cells, depending on the importance of the conflict).
All GRE Subject Test: Psychology Resources
