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Quiz: Health Influences and Information Literacy

Test your understanding of social and cultural influences on health, evaluating health information, and communication skills with these review questions.

1. According to the chapter, what does "congruence" mean in communication?

  1. Speaking loudly enough for everyone in the room to hear
  2. Using only nonverbal signals without any words at all
  3. Verbal and nonverbal signals matching each other, such as saying "I'm fine" in a calm tone with relaxed posture
  4. Repeating the same sentence multiple times during a conversation
Show Answer

The correct answer is C. Congruence is when verbal and nonverbal signals match, such as saying "I'm fine" in a calm tone with relaxed posture. Incongruence, when the two conflict, is usually a signal that something is being left unsaid.

Concept Tested: Verbal And Nonverbal Communication

2. Which of the following is listed by the chapter as a clear signal that professional support, not self-research, is the appropriate next step?

  1. Warning signs of suicide, self-harm, or harming others
  2. Wanting a second opinion on a minor, non-urgent curiosity question
  3. Feeling mildly tired after a normal school day
  4. Disagreeing with a friend about which movie to watch
Show Answer

The correct answer is A. The chapter lists warning signs of suicide, self-harm, or harming others as a situation that calls for a trusted adult and a professional immediately, not further independent research.

Concept Tested: Situations Needing Professional Support

3. How does the chapter distinguish a social norm from a public health policy?

  1. A social norm and a public health policy are the exact same thing, just described differently
  2. A social norm is an unwritten, unenforced community expectation, while a policy is a written, enforced rule that applies whether or not someone agrees with it
  3. A public health policy is always informal, while a social norm is always written into law
  4. Only a social norm can ever change over time; policies never change
Show Answer

The correct answer is B. The chapter is explicit that a social norm is the unwritten "what people do," while a public health policy is written down, enforced, and applies regardless of individual agreement.

Concept Tested: Public Health Policy Influence

4. Why does the chapter say naming an influence out loud, such as saying "this is an ad" or "this is peer pressure," often weakens its pull?

  1. Naming an influence has no real effect on how it functions
  2. Naming an influence always makes a person feel worse about their choice
  3. Peer and media influence only exist if a person names them out loud
  4. Both peer and media influence are strongest when they operate quietly, without anyone recognizing what is happening
Show Answer

The correct answer is D. The chapter states that peer and media influence work most powerfully when unnamed, so simply recognizing and naming the influence out loud is often enough to weaken its pull.

Concept Tested: Peer And Media Influence On Health Behavior

5. A student notices that their friend group treats vaping as normal, and they've also recently seen several ads for flavored vape products online. Applying the chapter's strategies to identify health influences, what should the student recognize?

  1. Only one influence can ever be present in a single situation
  2. Since a peer norm is present, media cannot also be a factor
  3. More than one influence — peer norm and media/advertising — may be shaping the same behavior at the same time
  4. Advertising and peer influence are actually the same category of influence
Show Answer

The correct answer is C. The chapter's strategy of "checking for more than one source" recognizes that a single scenario often involves overlapping influences, and identifying all of them gives a fuller picture than stopping at the first one noticed.

Concept Tested: Strategies To Identify Health Influences

6. During a disagreement about a changed group project plan, a student says, "I felt left out when the plan changed without me," then listens and reflects back what their friend says before responding. Which conflict-resolution strategies does this best demonstrate?

  1. Using an "I" statement and active listening
  2. Using a "you" statement and the broken-record refusal
  3. Separating the problem from the person by ignoring the friend's response entirely
  4. Escalating the conflict by repeating an accusation
Show Answer

The correct answer is A. Describing one's own experience ("I felt left out") rather than accusing the other person is an "I" statement, and reflecting back what was said before responding is active listening — two of the chapter's core conflict-resolution strategies.

Concept Tested: Conflict-Resolution Skills

7. A health claim comes from a hospital patient-education page with cited research and disclosed funding, compared to a social media post from an individual with no disclosed credentials promoting a product with no cited evidence. Analyzing these using the chapter's five-question rubric, what conclusion follows?

  1. Both sources are equally trustworthy since both discuss health topics
  2. The hospital page meets more of the validity criteria and is the more trustworthy source for this claim
  3. The social media post is more trustworthy because it is more recent and popular
  4. Neither source can be evaluated without knowing the exact statistics involved
Show Answer

The correct answer is B. Comparing the two against the rubric's questions — who wrote it, is evidence cited, is funding transparent, is it updated, is a product being sold — the hospital page meets more criteria and is the more trustworthy source.

Concept Tested: Evaluating Validity Of Health Information

8. A friend says "I'm totally fine" in a flat tone while avoiding eye contact and crossing their arms tightly. Analyzing this using the chapter's communication framework, what does this combination likely indicate?

  1. Perfect congruence, since the words themselves are reassuring
  2. Nothing meaningful, since nonverbal cues never carry real information
  3. That the friend is being deliberately dishonest in every case
  4. Incongruence between verbal and nonverbal signals, which usually signals something is being left unsaid
Show Answer

The correct answer is D. This is a clear example of incongruence — the words say one thing while the tone, eye contact, and posture suggest another — which the chapter identifies as usually signaling something unspoken.

Concept Tested: Verbal And Nonverbal Communication

9. Comparing two situations — a student with a mild, one-day headache researching home remedies, versus a student who has felt persistently sad and unmotivated for several weeks affecting their sleep and grades — how should each be handled according to the chapter's decision framework?

  1. Both situations should be handled the same way, with self-research only
  2. Both situations require immediate emergency intervention
  3. The headache can reasonably start with self-research using valid sources, while the weeks-long pattern affecting daily life calls for professional support
  4. The headache requires professional support, while the weeks-long pattern can be handled with self-research alone
Show Answer

The correct answer is C. The chapter's decision framework routes ongoing struggles that affect daily functioning, like weeks of sadness affecting sleep and grades, toward professional support, while a mild, one-day symptom can reasonably start with research using valid sources.

Concept Tested: Situations Needing Professional Support

10. A student evaluates a health claim from an online post: no disclosed credentials, no cited evidence, undisclosed sponsorship, not updated in years, and directly promoting a specific supplement for sale. Judging this claim against the chapter's five-question rubric, what verdict is justified?

  1. Likely not valid, since the claim fails nearly every criterion for a trustworthy health information source
  2. Likely valid, since the post is confident and easy to understand
  3. Likely valid, since it recommends a specific product a person can buy immediately
  4. There is not enough information in the rubric to reach any verdict
Show Answer

The correct answer is A. Judged against the five-question rubric — expertise, evidence, transparency, currency, and product-selling conflict — this claim fails every criterion, justifying a "likely not valid" verdict rather than trusting its confident tone.

Concept Tested: Valid Health Information Sources