Lesson 4.3.5.4

4.3.5.4 The interactionist approach and the diathesis-stress model Quiz: AQA Psychology, Unit 3

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson 4.3.5.4, The interactionist approach and the diathesis-stress model: 20 multiple choice questions for the AQA Psychology (7182), Unit 3: Issues and options in Psychology, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. In the diathesis-stress model, what does diathesis refer to?

    • Environmental trigger
    • Vulnerability
    • Treatment method
    • Relapse rate

  2. In the diathesis-stress model, what does stress refer to?

    • Psychological defect
    • Genetic vulnerability
    • Neural asymmetry
    • Environmental trigger

  3. Which approach explains schizophrenia through combined biological and environmental factors?

    • Behaviourist approach
    • Psychodynamic approach
    • Interactionist approach
    • Biological approach

  4. The diathesis-stress model is interactionist because schizophrenia requires both diathesis and what?

    • Brain damage
    • Environmental stress
    • Biological cure
    • Genetic mutation

  5. According to Meehl's original diathesis-stress model, diathesis was entirely driven by what?

    • High anxiety
    • A single schizogene
    • Childhood trauma
    • Cannabis use

  6. Modern models of diathesis propose that vulnerability can be psychological, caused by what?

    • Excess dopamine
    • Synaptic pruning
    • Genetic mutations
    • Early trauma

  7. Which treatment combination is most consistent with the interactionist approach to schizophrenia?

    • Antipsychotics alone
    • CBT alone
    • Psychoanalysis alone
    • Antipsychotics and CBT

  8. What can prevent someone with a high genetic diathesis from developing schizophrenia?

    • Lack of medication
    • Low environmental stress
    • Dysfunctional communication
    • High dopamine levels

  9. In the diathesis-stress model, what role does a severe life event like bereavement play?

    • Biological origin
    • Internal defence mechanism
    • Genetic diathesis
    • Environmental stressor

  10. Identical twins can have different schizophrenia outcomes despite identical genes due to differences in what?

    • Chromosome count
    • Diathesis levels
    • Genetic vulnerability
    • Environmental stress

  11. In Tienari's adoption study, high genetic risk children developed schizophrenia mainly in which environment?

    • Low-stress families
    • Single-parent families
    • Urban households
    • High-conflict families

  12. What do identical twin concordance rates under 50% for schizophrenia demonstrate?

    • Purely genetic cause
    • Biological determinism
    • Environmental factors matter
    • Concordance errors

  13. Modern interactionist models view cannabis use as which component of schizophrenia development?

    • Biological cure
    • Psychological trauma
    • Genetic diathesis
    • Environmental stressor

  14. Combining family therapy with medication reduces relapse by addressing environmental stress and what?

    • Biological vulnerability
    • Learned helplessness
    • Unconscious conflict
    • Faulty cognition

  15. To reduce the risk of schizophrenia in an individual with high diathesis, what should be minimised?

    • Environmental stress
    • Antipsychotic dosage
    • Neural pruning
    • Genetic vulnerability

  16. What key finding in twin studies supports the diathesis-stress model over a purely biological explanation?

    • High correlation
    • Incomplete concordance
    • Zero concordance
    • 100% concordance

  17. What makes precise testing of the diathesis-stress model difficult?

    • Hard to quantify
    • Fixed thresholds
    • Deterministic outcomes
    • Clear physiological markers

  18. In the interactionist approach to schizophrenia, what role does family therapy primarily target?

    • Dopamine dysregulation
    • Genetic vulnerability
    • Environmental stress
    • Neural diathesis

  19. How does a high biological diathesis affect the stress threshold needed to trigger schizophrenia?

    • Lowers the threshold
    • Prevents threshold trigger
    • Raises the threshold
    • Eliminates the threshold

  20. What term describes the combined effect of biological vulnerability and environmental stress on schizophrenia?

    • Biological determinism
    • Single-cause outcome
    • Environmental reductionism
    • Interactionist effect

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