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AP Psychology 1
April 1, 2009
Chapter 17 FRQs
1. Geraldo, a college sophomore, is so fearful of asking woman out that he hasn’t had a date
in over three years. He has recently contacted a psychotherapist for help in overcoming
his fear. Describe how a behavior therapist would treat Geraldo’s problem differently
individual. Include at least one example for social and one for biological.
• Body weight
• Perception
• Alcoholism
• Extraversion
• Schizophrenia
Body weight can be affected by stress, as can anything else. Stress would be a social
factor that could impact body weight. Stress affects sleeping habits and health habits,
these in turn can affect one’s weight. For instance, if someone is stressed, they may begin
to smoke, smoking then affects the health of the individual and one of the side effects is
weight gain. Also, when stressed, someone’s sleep pattern may be affected, usually when
someone is sleep deprived, their metabolism slows down, this also causes weight gain.
Biologically, there are some factors that can affect weight gain. Depending on your own
background, different cultures have different ideas of body and eating habits. For
instance, some people tend to eat dinner earlier than others, technically, eating later
makes weight gain greater for that individual. The amount of fat cells one has depends on
their genetic predisposition, early childhood eating patterns, and other patterns. Once
these fat cells in crease, the never disappear, they only shrink. Therefore, someone born
with more fat cells may gain weight easier than someone born with less. Also everyone’s
set point for weight changes, therefore, it’s difficult for some people to maintain weight
while it is effortless for someone else.
Perception on life can be affected socially and biologically. Biologically,
personality development happens during our childhood. For instance, temperance is a
heritable trait. We have similar personalities as our parents; however nurture plays a
much bigger role on one’s perception/personality in life. Socially, the people you hang
out with and the way you were raised as a child will affect your perception. Attachment
patterns in your childhood could make one either more optimistic or more pessimistic.
Hanging out with pessimistic teenagers can also affect one’s perception on life.
Alcoholism and it’s likelihood increases if someone has a family member who is
alcoholic. Socially, peer pressure and other things can affect your likelihood to start
drinking. Social support also plays an important role.
Extraversion should be affected more by social factors. Or at least, more by
childhood environmental factors. For instance, the attachment of children can often
predict their future personality or extraversion.
Schizophrenia can be affected biologically; if there are a group of twins and one
twin develops schizophrenia, the chances of the other developing the same disorder is
more likely. Socially, repressed feelings and other stress factors to an extent can aid to the
cause of this disorder.