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AP PSYCH
CH 12 Stress & Health Psychology
Question | Answer |
---|---|
What is Stress? | A state of psychological tension or stress, my body’s response to stressful situations. Adjustment: Any effort to cope with stress |
What is health psychology? | A subfield of Psychology concerned with the relationship between psychological factors & physical health & illness |
What are stressors? | The events or circumstances that trigger stress, they vary in intensity & duration( from mild-severe). |
Info on Stressors: | •Ex: work pressure, public embarrassment, school, death, etc. • We experience the most stress when our life is in the greatest danger |
even more info on stressors: | •Happy occasions can be stressors bc it requires us to change or adapt in order to meet our needs. • The more adjustments an event requires the more stressful it will be. |
What is the Social Readjustment rating scale(SRRS)? | By psychiatrists Thomas Holmes & Richard Rache, scale consists of several dozen events that are assigned a point value based on the amount of adjustment they require. |
info on the SRRS: | •To find the amount of stress a person experienced during a given period, I add up the stress rating of all the changes with which he/she had to cope. • Some items on the SRRS deal with events such as death of a spouse, retirement, etc. |
More info on the SRRS | •The SRRS, assumes everyone will experience the same amount of stress when confronted w/ a particular stressor. • It fails to take into account the meaning of events for each position. |
What is the College Life stress Inventory? | : By MJ Renner, & RS Mackin. Includes potentially stressful events such as “finals week”, writing a major term paper, etc. • 2/3 of the students tested had scores between 800-1,700. • But scores ranged from a low of 182-to a high of 2,571. |
What are hassels? | An inconvenience, many of life’s stress comes from this |
What is pressure? | A feeling that one must speed up, intensify, or change the direction of one’s behavior or live up to a higher standard of performance. |
What is lean production? | Maintaining the same/higher levels of production w/less workers(Downsizing) |
What is frustration? | The feeling that occurs when a person is prevented from reaching a goal. 5 common sources of frustration are delays, lack of resources, losses, failure, & discrimination. |
What is conflict? | Simultaneous existence of incompatible demands, opportunities, needs, or goals. Most common life’s trouble. There are 3 different types of conflict. |
What is Approach/approach conflict? | According to Lewin, the result of simultaneous attraction to two appealing possibilities, neither of which has any negative qualities. |
example of an Approach/approach conflict: | Ex: student has been accepted to two equally desirable colleges/universities. The stress in this type of conflict arise form the fact that in choosing 1 option, I must give up the other |
What is Avoidance/avoidance conflict? | According to Lewin, the result of facing a choice between two undesirable possibilities, neither of which has any positive qualities. Pick the “lesser of the two evils” |
What is the Approach/avoidance conflict? | According to Lewin, the result of being simultaneously attracted to & repelled by the same goal. The most common form of conflict. |
Example of an Approach/avoidance conflict | Ex: A couple, whose only quarrel is that one wants to get married, the other is unsure. The “unsure” person wants to continue the relationship(approach) but is wary of making a life-long commitment (avoidance). |
What is change? | We like order & predictability; even good change is stressful. (END OF PART 1/3) |
What is primary appraisal? | People evaluate changes in terms of whether they have a lot or a little at stake. Stress will be very high if the event is harmful, threatening, or challenging |
What is Secondary Appraisal? | People evaluate in terms of whether, they believe they have the personal skills, knowledge, experience, & social resources, to cope with the event. |
Example of secondary Appraisal | For ex: if a person believes he/she doesn’t have the necessary skills & resources to cop w/the event, stress will be high. |
What is Locus of Control? | The degree to which I believe I can control my fate. Optimism & Pessimism are related to this. |
More info on Locus of Control | •Individuals who have an internal locus of control tend to believe that their circumstances are a huge result of their own decisions & actions & hence appraise situations as challenges. •People w/internal L of C work better than external L of C. |
What is Hardiness? | Developed by Suzanne Kobasa, a trait in which a person who tolerate stress exceptionally well or seem to thrive on it. |
info on Hardiness | •Stress-hardy people are open to change. Ex: someone who loses their job, doesn’t see the situation as catastrophic, but as an opportunity to begin a new career. |
more info on Hardiness: | •They are internally rather than extrinsically motivated, deeply committed to their work, & immerse themselves in meaningful activities. Challenges from environment are seen as challenging, not intimidating for Stress-hardy people |
even more info on hardiness | •Kobasa’s study suggested that to a degree, people’s response to stress depends on whether they believe they have some control over events or whether they feel helplessness. |
What is Resilience? | Ability to bounce back, recovering one’s self- confidence, good spirits, & hopeful attitude after extreme stress or prolonged stress. Stress WILL knock you down, but you get up. |
What is self-imposed stress? | People who create problems for themselves quite apart from stressful events in their environment. They are irrational, self-defeating beliefs that add to stress. |
Info on Self-imposed stress | •As a result, they frequently experience anxiety or other symptoms of stress in the absence of external stressors. |
More info on Self-Imposed stress: | •Albert Ellis said that such people typically have irrational, self-defeating beliefs that add unnecessarily to the normal stressors of living. |
self-confidence, what is it? | better handling of stress |
What is direct coping? | Any action to change a situation, Confrontation, compromise, & withdraw occur here |
more info on direct coping: | •Those with lower class life produce greater stress •They have less support, resources, education, and lower self esteem. •Men and women, appear to be equally affected physiologically, but different in coping mechanisms. |
Define cope | Make cognitive & behavioral efforts to manage psychological stress. |
What is direct coping? | refers to intentional efforts to change an uncomfortable situation |
Info on direct coping: | •Tends to be problem-oriented & to focus on the immediate issue. • When our needs/desires are frustrated, • When I am threatened, we may try to eliminate the source of threat, either by attacking it or by escaping from it. |
Example of Direct Coping: | •for ex: we may attempt to remove the obstacles between ourselves & our goals, or we may withdraw. |
Define Defense coping: | Refers to various forms of self-deception that provide a means of protecting our self-esteem & reducing stress. Tends to be emotion-oriented & to focus on our state of mind. |
What is confrontation? | Meet a stressful situation head-on & attempting to find a solution to the problem or attain the difficult goal. |
What does confrontation include? | •Includes expression of anger, can be effective, especially if we have been treated unfairly & if we express our anger w/restraint instead of exploding in rage. |
What is compromise? | One of the most common & effective ways of coping directly w/conflict, decide on a more realistic solution or goal when an ideal solution or goal is not practical. |
What is withdrawal? | Avoiding a situation when other forms of coping are not practical. |
Ex on Withdrawal: | •Ex: A women whose promotion depends on temporarily relocating…she might quit & join another company. |
Another ex of withdrawal: | •Sometimes withdrawal is a positive & realistic response, for Ex: if a driver with road rage confronts you, it’s better to define the situation & withdraw |
What is General Adaptation Syndrome(GAS)? | : A Canadian physiologist Hans Selye, it’s the three stages the body passes through as it adapts to stress. Alarm reaction, resistance, & exhaustion. |
Stage 1: Alarm Reaction | First response to stress. It begins when the body recognizes that it must fend off some physical or psychological danger. Emotions run high. |
Stage 1: more info on Alarm Reaction | • Activity of the sympathetic nervous system is increased resulting in the release of hormones(adrenaline, & Norepinephrine) from adrenal glands into the blood. |
stage 1: more info on alarm reaction | •We become more sensitive & alert, our respiration & heart beat quicken, our muscles tense, & we experience other physiological changes as well. •These changes help us to mobilize our coping resources to deal w/the threat. |
stage 1: more info on alarm reaction | •At the alarm stage, we might use either direct or defensive coping strategies. • If neither of these approaches reduces the stress, we eventually enter the second stage of adaptation. |
Stage 2: Resistance: | Physical symptoms & other signs of strain appear as we struggle against increasing psychological disorganization. We intensify our use of both direct/defensive coping techniques. |
stage 2: more info on resistance | •If we succeed in reducing the stress, we return to a more normal state. |
stage 2: more info on resistance: | • But if the stress is extreme/prolonged, we may turn in desperation to inappropriate coping techniques & cling to them rigidly, despite the evidence that they aren’t working. |
stage 2: more info on resistance: | • When that happens, we begin to deplete our physical & emotional resources, & signs of psychic & physical wear & tear become even more apparent. |
Stage 3: Exhaustion | A person uses ineffective defense mechanisms in a desperate attempt to bring stress under control. |
Stage 3:more info on Exhaustion | •Some people lose touch w/reality & show signs of emotional disorder or mental illness at this stage. •Others “burn out”, inability to concentrate, irritability, procrastination, & a cynical belief that nothing is worthwhile. |
Stage 3: more info on exhaustion | •Physical symptoms such as skin or stomach problems may erupt •Some victims turn to alcohol & drugs to cope w/stress-induced exhaustion. |
Info about stage 1 & 2: | The physiological reactions that prepare us to cope well in the alarm & resistance phases weaken us in the long run. If stress continues, the person may suffer irreparable physical, psychological damage, or even death. |
Define Antigens: | Invading substances such as bacteria, viruses, other microbes, & tumors. |
What is Psychoneuroimmunology(PNI)? | a field that studies the interaction between stress on the one hand, & immune, endocrine, & nervous system activity on the other hand. |
What is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder? | Psychological disorder characterized by episodes of anxiety, sleeplessness, & nightmares resulting from some disturbing event in the past. Victims of PTSD withdraw from social life, from job, & from family responsibilities |