psych 6 Flashcards
Biopsychosocial model of Health Psychology
- maintains the premise ad practices of a medical model by looking at biological problems
- accounts fro the importance of psychological and social factors
- allows for proper assessment, diagnosis and treatment for mental and physical disorders
Identify and describe four of the psychological responses to stress discussed in the lecture
- Emotional instability: e.g., irritability and losing temper, hypersensitivity and crying, etc..
- Problem solving difficulties: e.g., trouble making decisions, poor choices, easily frustrated
- Ruminative thinking: obsessively worrying and intrusive disturbing mental images
- Catastrophizing: using extreme absolute language, over-reacting to minor problems, etc.
Explain how the Sympathetic Adrenal Medullary (SAM) system operates
- stress is perceived by the cerebral cortex
- signals the hypothalamus to activate the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight).
- This stimulates the Adrenal Medulla glands to secrete catecholimines, epinephrine, and norepinephrine.
- The effects are raised blood pressure, irregular heart rate, sweating, and constriction of peripheral blood vessels
problem-focused and emotion-focused coping
- problem-focused coping is reducing the demands of the stressful situation or expanding the resources available to deal with the stressor
- i.e., dealing directly with the problem or situation
- emotion-focused coping is aimed at controlling the emotional response to the stressful situation
Explain and provide an example for the term defensive attribution, and give a reason for why people might use defensive attributions
- Defensive attributions are a tendency to blame (make internal attributions about) victims for their misfortunes
- one feels less likely to be victimized in a similar way
- E.g., blaming a rape victim for the clothes she wore or blaming a mugging victim for being out so late, etc..
- People use defensive attributions to create an illusion of safety and to avoid confronting the ugly reality that bad things happen to good people for no reason
Briefly explain the procedure and results of the Asch study discussed in class
Subjects had to identify which line matched the target line from a choice of three
- The task was designed to be very easy. There were five confederates that answered out loud first, then the subject answered.
- On some trials, all the confederates answered the same incorrect response. When this occurred 35% of subjects conformed and answered incorrectly as well and the majority of subjects conformed at least one time.
- There was no conformity when the confederates were not unanimous in their answers.
What is deindividuation and what are some circumstances where it might occur?
- deindividuation is a loss of self-awareness and evaluation apprehension that can occur when a situation allows one to feel anonymous
- it can occur when one is in a crowd, or when one is wearing a mask, or wearing a uniform that many others are wearing, etc…
List 4 desirable phenomena that can result from being in a group
- Social, moral and language development
- sense of membership and identity
-charity
-emotional comfort
-support
-social facilitation - cooperation
- survival
Explain the relationship between social support and stress
- Social support is two-way communication where a person can confide their concerns and receive support
- people who have low social support tend to have a decreased lifespan
- social support can buffer a person against the effects of stress allowing them to share their feelings and problems with others who can listen and offer help
- social support is a positive force that allows for shared enjoyment and thus reduces overall susceptibility to stress
What is stress
- Stress is a psychobiological process.
- a stimulus (stressors) like catastrophies (earthquake, flood or war), life events (marriage, divorce) and circumstances (poverty, overcrowding).
-A response (strain) both physiological and psychological.
- A process where transactions between the person and environment lead to perceived discrepancies between the demands of the situation and the resources of the person
List 8 behavioural responses to stress discussed in class
- procrastination & avoidance - lowered performance
- increased alcohol & drug use and abuse
- increased use of prescription drugs
- under eating due to apathy, depression
- overeating as an escape
- weight loss
- increased recklessness, gambling
- aggression and criminal acts
- poor relations with family and friends
-suicide or attempted suicide
List 3 positive emotion-focused coping strategies
meditation
social support
individual or group therapy
Describe and give an example of a stable and an unstable internal attribution for why you aced your final exam in PSY100
internal attributions are inferences made about the causes of behaviors or events that consider the causes as being due to personality, traits, or personal dispositions.
- stable internal attribution: I am smart
- unstable internal attribution: I put a lot of effort in
What are norms? Provide two examples
norms are the unwritten rules and codes of behavior for a particular society
- e.g., not cutting in line in front of other, eating ice cream with a spoon, not wearing clothes inside out, etc…
How does being in a crowd lead to a greater likelihood of committing violent or unacceptable behavior?
- crowds can lead to deindividuation which is a loss of self awareness and evaluation apprehension
- When deindividuation is combined with the high states of arousal, and diffusion of responsibility created by being in a crowd, these factors can disinhibit violent or unacceptable behaviors
What is Cognitive Dissonance and how does one reduce it
- cognitive dissonance is an aversive state that can arise when our attitudes and our behaviors are not consistent.
- We can reduce dissonance by either changing our behaviors to fit our attitudes or adjusting our attitudes to be consistent with our behaviors
In the Aronson and Mills (1959) sex group study discussed in class, how did the researchers get women to come back to the group?
- subjects in the experimental condition were given an embarrassing initiation into the group, thus making them more likely to feel that the group was interesting and useful in order to justify the effort the subjects made to get into the group.
Describe Richard Lazarus’ modern view of stress
- stress is a transaction between a person and their environment
- There is a primary appraisal that determines if something is benign or stressful based upon one’s subjective determination of the demands of the situation and the resources available to deal with the situation
- Then there is a secondary appraisal where we determine how to deal with the stressor
Describe three ways that we influence the impact of a stressor and provide examples for each
- Behaviourally: e.g., using drugs or practicing meditation
- Cognitively: e.g., engaging in repression or denial, or doing cognitive restructuring or using affirmations
- Emotionally: e.g., falling into despair, self-pity and hopelessness, or being optimistic and hopeful