Экзаменационный билет №5

The first psychological tests.

More than 2,000 years before the birth of Christ, the emperor of China instituted a system of formal examinations to determine whether particular public officials were capable of continuing in office. Later, the Chinese developed the first “civil service” exams to choose government workers. For example, in 1115 B.C., job candidates had to demonstrate proficiency in music, archery, horsemanship, writing, arithmetic, and the ceremonies of public and private life. Thus, the first known tests in the history of the human race were designed to choose people for jobs on the basis of their knowledge and abilities rather than on the basis of favoritism or accidents of birth, as practiced in many other societies.

The first psychological tests were designed with similar goals in mind. Alfred Binet developed the first intelligence test in 1905 for the objective identification of mentally retarded schoolchildren who required special schooling. The first personality test was devised by Robert Woodworth for the U.S. Army during World War I to identify draftees who would be unable to function psychologically under the stress of combat.

Today, hundreds of psychological tests are routinely administered to millions of Americans every year. Ordinarily, testing starts in school with standardized tests of achievement and IQ. The Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) may have helped determine the college you attend, and if you go on to graduate or professional school, your future may depend in part on your scores from a great number of tests. All these tests grew out of attempts to measure people’s strengths and weaknesses fairly and objectively. But any type of evaluation is likely to involve problems, and from the beginning tests have been questioned by psychologists and non-psychologists alike.

Экзаменационный билет №6

Health psychology.

The field of health psychology is concerned with the relationships between behavior, health and illness. This area includes basic research on these issues and the application of its findings to change people’s behavior in order to prevent or cure disease.

The success of twentieth-century science in diagnosing and treating certain types of diseases has actually changed the pattern of disease and thus is changing the principal problems faced by most physicians. In 1900, the three most common causes of death in the United States were influenza, pneumonia and tuberculosis. Today, the three leading causes of death are heart disease, cancer, and strokes. Thus, while doctors at the turn of the century struggled primarily with contagious diseases, today’s major medical problems may be more closely related to behaviors, such as smoking, eating the right foods, and dealing with stress.

Although social scientists have studied the relationships between behavior and health for many years, it was only in the 1970s that researchers defined this area as a separate discipline. Researchers in health psychology are trying to determine the most effective ways of helping people modify their behavior to promote health.

Many chronic diseases stem from life-styles. For example, there is a large body of evidence that coronary heart disease is related to improper diet and lack of exercise. Other problems result from alcohol abuse, drug abuse, and cigarette smoking. Yet, despite increasing awareness in our society of the harmful effects of these behaviors, many people continue to drink to excess, take drugs, and smoke cigarettes.