Module 1

Question 1

How many Australian adults are overweight or obese?

Answer 1

Every 2 out of 3

Question 2

What are the 3 major types of food that have been found to have a positive or negative impact on well being?

Answer 2

Sugar
Carbs
Omega-3

Question 3

What 2 areas of the brain can excess sugar shrink?

Answer 3

• Areas responsible for memory

- Areas responsible for mood regulation eg: hippocampus

Question 4

What psychological disorder has excess sugar consumption been linked to?

Answer 4

Major depression

Question 5

In what ways do carbohydrates impact well being?

Answer 5

• They can enhance mood in individuals with obesity, premenstrual syndrome, and seasonal affective disroder
• Reduce anxiety, anger, and depression

Question 6

In what ways does omega-3 impact well being?

Answer 6

• Link between depression and low omega-3 fatty acids (drawn from seafood)
• Linked with neuronal growth, enhanced mood, reduced heart disease and the delay of dementia

Question 7

What are the 3 most ‘pleasurable’ foods?

Answer 7

Coffee, chocolate and wine

Question 8

What did Jacka et al. 2010 find an increase in a Western diet (junk and processed foods) led to in terms of psychological outcomes, for women?

Answer 8

Increased Western diet = increased MDD/dysthymia and bipolar, but not anxiety

Question 9

What did Jacka et al. 2010 find an increase in a traditional diet (vegetables, fruit, beef, lamb, wholegrains, fish) led to in terms of psychological outcomes, for women?

Answer 9

Increased traditional diet = decreased MDD/dysthymia, bipolar and anxiety

Question 10

What kind of specific diet has been shown to improve mood, energy, vigour and contentment?

Answer 10

10-day Mediterranean diet

Question 11

What is the link between coffee and depression?

Answer 11

One study found women who drank coffee had a 20% lower risk of depression

Question 12

What did Lucas et al (2011) find in terms of the relationship between noncoffee sources of caffeine and depression?

Answer 12

They found no significant relationship, perhaps due to insufficient power

Question 13

What are some of the strengths of Lucas et al (2011) study on the link between caffeine and depression?

Answer 13

• Large sample size
• Prospective design
• Repeated measures of covariates (7 times over 22 years)

Question 14

What are some of the limitations of Lucas et al (2011) study on the link between caffeine and depression?

Answer 14

• Cannot prove that caffeine reduces the risk of depression, but only suggests the possibility of such a protective effect
• Possibility of reverse causation (eg: depressive symptoms lead to reduced caffeine intake)

Question 15

What are some of the benefits of eating chocolate?

Answer 15

• Reports of more positive child temperament by mothers who consumed chocolate daily during their pregnancies
• Increased wellbeing among men who reported eating chocolate versus other sweets
• Enhanced cognition, reduced cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease in elderly men and postmenopausal women who consumed 100g of dark chocolate a day
• Lower blood pressure, blood sugar and cortisol, as well as improved cellular processing of sugar

Question 16

Which component of chocolate is said to cause it beneficial effects?

Answer 16

Anandamides

Question 17

What is the formula for getting the right balance of pleasure from wine?

Answer 17

W(e) = f(W, P, E)

Question 18

What are the typical demographics of wine consumers versus other alcohol consumers?

Answer 18

• Highly educated
• Healthy dietary practices
• Exercise regimes
• Consume less alcohol overall
• Reduced levels of smoking and body mass

Question 19

What are some of the trends with regards to physical attractiveness and disadvantage?

Answer 19

• Physically attractive people are more like to receive better treatment than less attractive people
• Physically attractive people are more likely to be deemed suitable for jobs compared to less attractive people, except in masculine jobs where looks are not important (eg: tow truck driver) (attractive females are not considered more suitable in these cases)
• People prefer to bond with physically attractive people. they are deemed as more interpersonally receptive and responsive, even with online gaming characters

Question 20

What is the halo effect?

Answer 20

The effect wherein having one good quality (eg: physical attractiveness) leads to the perception of having other good qualities

Question 21

What were the 2 main findings of Lorenzo et al (2010) study on physical attractiveness and personality accuracy?

Answer 21

1) More physically attractive people are judged with greater normative accuracy (ie: they are more in line with the highly desirable normative profile)
2) Physically attractive people are judged with more distinctive accuracy (ie: more in line with their unique self-reported personality traits)

“Overall, people do judge a book by its cover, but a more beautiful cover prompts a closer reading, leading more physically attractive people to be seen both more positively and more accurately”

Question 22

What did Lorenzo et al (2010) mean when they said “the application of the physical-attractiveness stereotype and accuracy were still to some extent a product of they eye of the beholder” ?

Answer 22

When an individual views another as more attractive (controlling for the group’s perception), they are more likely to form positive perceptions of that person, even if the general group doesn’t find them attractive.

Question 23

How do women explain the success of attractive women versus the success of attractive men?

Answer 23

Success of attractive woman = luck

Success of attractive man = ability

Question 24

Who do men make derogatory statements to and who do they make glorifying statements to?

Answer 24

Derogatory = attractive males, unattractive females
Glorifying = unattractive males, attractive females

Question 25

When does the sexual attribution bias tend to disappear?

Answer 25

When those being judged are children, gay men, or members of a different ethnic group

Question 26

Aside from facial attractiveness, what other kind of physical attractiveness is associated with better career success and income?

Answer 26

Height

Question 27

What have been the findings in studies looking at the link between facial characteristics and election success?

Answer 27

- In the US, participants rated unknown candidates on their competency, and these rapid judgments (based on photographs) predicted a substantial proportion of their success in the election - Indian and US participants judged which Mexican and Brazilian candidates were more appealing, and were highly accurate in predicting the election winners on this basis - Benefits candidates derive from physical attractiveness tends to come from citizens with less knowledge about politics

Question 28

What is the self-fulfilling prophecy associated with attractiveness?

Answer 28

Attractive people tend to behave more positively and have more positive traits

Question 29

What did the twin study looking at the relationship between personality traits and self-esteem find?

Answer 29

- Between unrelated lookalikes, there was no significant correlation between personality traits and self-esteem - For identical twins, there was a significant correlation between personality traits and self-esteem - These findings suggest personality has a basis in genetics, and this genetic basis accounts for more of one's personality than appearance alone

Question 30

What were the main findings of Jones et al. (2014) study on cosmetics?

Answer 30

- Both sexes judged, incorrectly, that men would prefer more cosmetics than would women - Rather, men and women have similar preferences for cosmetic use - Male and female observers significantly over-estimated how much cosmetics other people would prefer - Models wore more makeup than observers' personal preference, and even more than observers' overinflated estimates of what others would prefer - Therefore, cosmetics are a form of pluralistic ignorance, whereby women tailor their cosmetics use to an inaccurate perception of others' preferences

Question 31

What are the 2 major factors that influence one's acceptance and consideration of cosmetic surgery?

Answer 31

- Appearance-based rejection sensitivity | - Body image disturbance

Question 32

What are some other factors that may influence one's acceptance and consideration of cosmetic surgery?

Answer 32

- Social media use - Exposure to reality TV shows about cosmetic surgery (doesn't increase favourability towards surgery, but decreases satisfaction with appearance and weight) - Interest in celebrities ("celebrity worship")

Question 33

What are the 2 areas of research at The Centre for Appearance Research (CAR) in the UK?

Answer 33

1) Body image | 2) Physical difference/disfigurement

Question 34

What is the current trend in eating disorder in the West vs in Asia, the Middle East, and among Hispanics and Africans in North America?

Answer 34

- In the West, the incidence of anorexia nervosa seems to be stabilising - In other parts of the world, eating disorders appear to be on the rise

Question 35

What are some of the benefits of positive emotions?

Answer 35

- Increased self-esteem - Increased optimism - Enhanced attention - Cognitive function - Emotional stability - Resilience - Reverse the adverse physiological effects of negative emotions - Deeper contemplations and broadening of ideas

Question 36

What are the main points of Fredrickson (2013) paper "Learning to self-generate positive emotions"?

Answer 36

- Positive emotions have a range of beneficial correlates - Positive emotions open minds (broaden) - Positive emotions transform lives - Trait positive affect can change - Upward spirals counter downward spirals - Emotional habits can change using the broaden-and-build theory, even in clinical cases

Question 37

Why has most positive emotion research supported the building and broadening theory?

Answer 37

Because most of this research involves experiments with methods that induce low approach positive emotions (eg: giving rewards, watching funny films, recalling fulfilled goals)

Question 38

What kind of positive emotions go against the build and broaden theory, and instead have been shown to narrow attention?

Answer 38

- Positive emotions high in arousal and approach motivation eg: enthusiasm and excitement - In these cases, the action tendencies are based on the arousal of the CNS, and a disregard of irrelevant and disturbing stimuli thereby narrowing attention and focus

Question 39

What are some benefits of negative emotions?

Answer 39

- Engage more fully in tasks - Remember events more accurately - Write more convincing arguments - Practice more vigorously - Disregard stereotypes - Fair evaluation of others - Increase skepticism and detect deception - Respond to challenges or threats

Question 40

What are the benefits of fear, disgust, and anger, respectively?

Answer 40

Fear - avoid danger and direct efforts towards conservation Disgust - Restricts attention to specific features, rather than global patterns Anger - Readiness to attack, persist with course of action, risk-seeking behaviour

Question 41

How do people usually feel about having mixed emotions?

Answer 41

Though they are common everyday (nostalgia, hope), people tend to find mixed emotions discomforting and want to resolve them

Question 42

What happens when people try to recall times when they had mixed emotions?

Answer 42

They tend to only recall one of the emotions, or both individually, not that they felt mixed

Question 43

How does the term 'narcissism' have different meanings in the context of personality theory vs a DSM-5 personality diagnosis?

Answer 43

Personality theory - narcissism is regarded as a trait that varies between individuals on a continuum DSM-5 - narcissism is treated as categorical, where an individual can be formally diagnosed as having "narcissistic personality disorder".

Question 44

What is the key difference between overt and covert narcissism?

Answer 44

Overt is positively correlated with self-esteem, whereas covert is negatively correlated with self-esteem

Question 45

What is the scale most commonly used to measure narcissism?

Answer 45

The Narcissism Personality Inventory (NPI)

Question 46

What are the 7 subscales of the NPI?

Answer 46

``` Authority Self-sufficiency Superiority Exhibitionism Exploitativeness Vanity Entitlement ```

Question 47

What are the 3 factors that recent research has suggested the NPI actually consists of?

Answer 47

Leadership/authority Grandiose exhibitionism Entitlement/exploitativeness

Question 48

What Big 5 personality traits does narcissism correlate negatively and positively with?

Answer 48

Correlates negatively with agreeableness | Correlates positively with extroversion and openness to experience

Question 49

What two other things does narcissism correlate with to form the 'Dark Triad'?

Answer 49

Machiavellianism and psychopathy

Question 50

According to Weiser , which 2 facets of narcissism were positively associated with selfie-posting frequency, and which one wasn't?

Answer 50

Leadership/authority and grandiose exhibitionism were | Entitlement/exploitativeness wasn't

Question 51

Which facet was a stronger predictor of selfie posting for women, and which was a predictor for men, but not women?

Answer 51

``` Women = leadership authority Men = entitlement/exploitativness ```