Flashcards in ch 15 Deck (46):
1
Stressors
stimuli or events that place strong demands on us
2
Microstressors
daily hassles and everyday annoyances
3
Catastrophic events
often occur unexpectedly and typically affect large numbers of people (e.g. natural disaster)
4
Stress
pattern of cognitive appraisals, physiological responses, and behavioural tendencies that occurs is response to a perceived imbalance between situational demands and the resources needed to cope with them
• Can weaken the immune system`
5
Life event scales
quantify amount of life stress that a person has experienced over a given period
6
4 aspects of appraisal process
1) Appraisal of demands of the situation (primary appraisal)
2) Appraisal of resources available to cope with it (secondary appraisal)
3) Judgements of what the consequences of the situation could be
4) Appraisal of the personal meaning; what outcome might imply about us
7
General adaptation system (GAS)
1) Alarm reaction – sudden activation of sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) and release of stress hormones by the endocrine system
2) Resistance – body’s resources continue to be mobilized so that person can function despite presence of stressor
3) Exhaustion – when stressor is too intense and persists for too long, body’s resources are dangerously depleted
o Body has increased vulnerability to disease
8
Cortisol
- stress hormone that increases blood sugar, in part by acting on liver
- Hippocampus (learning and memory) is sensitive to cortisol; can lead to deterioration
9
Rape trauma syndrome
for months or even years after the rape, victims may feel nervous and fear another attack by the rapist
10
Neuroticism
– heightened tendency to experience negative emotions and get themselves into stressful situations through their maladaptive behaviours
11
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
severe anxiety disorder caused by exposure to traumatic life events
- Traumas caused by human perpetrators (e.g. rape, war) tend to cause more severe PTSD that natural disasters
12
Residential school syndrome
symptoms experienced by children who were forced to attend residential schools
- Vulnerability factors – increase people’s susceptibility to stressful events (e.g. lack of support network)
13
Vulnerability factors
– increase people’s susceptibility to stressful events (e.g. lack of support network)
14
Protective factors
environmental or personal resources that help people cope more effectively with stressful
events (e.g. coping skills)
• Social support enhances immune system function, is overall really good for stress relief, decreases activity in left amygdala
15
Naomi Eisenberg and colleagues
did experiment testing brain areas (PFC) and association with social support and stress
• Measured social support by signalling participants at random times in the day for 10 days
• When signalled → answered questions about nature of support received in most recent social interaction
• Measured brain activity in game of “cyberball”, game of online catch where the other players were CPU, but participant did not know
• One brain scan done while all 3 players played cooperatively (half throws went to human)
• Another game right after where human got 7 throws at beginning, the no more
• Found that low levels of past social support were associated with larger stress response and change in activity in PFC
• Past social support limits stress response and helps recover from the stress, and suggest involvement of PFC
16
Inagaki and Eisenberger
experiment on effect of giving social support
• Told some to write letter to close friend about any advice they might need right now and some wrote letter explaining their route to work
• Then given 5 min to prepare a 5min speech to deliver in front of judges
• After speech, told to count backwards from 2083 by 13s
• Told their speech and math stuff would be graded
• Those who engaged in providing social support to close friend were less stressed by the situation
17
Hardiness
stress-resistant personality pattern that involves the factors of the 3 C’s: commitment, challenge, control
18
Coping self-efficacy
conviction that we can perform the behaviours necessary to cope successfully
19
Pessimism
- Pessimists had about twice as many illnesses and visits to doctors as did optimists
- Pessimism also predicts poorer health
20
Type A personality
live under great pressure and are demanding of themselves and others
• Rapid talking, moving, walking, and eating
• Exaggerated sense of time urgency and become very irritated at delays or failures to meet their deadlines
• High levels of competitiveness and ambition, as well as aggressiveness and hostility when things get in their way
• Double risk for coronary heart disease
21
type B personality
more relaxed, agreeable, less sense of time urgency
22
Problem-focused coping
confront and deal directly with the demands of the situation, or to change the situation so that it is no longer stressful (e.g. studying for a test)
- Research found problem-focused coping were associated with favourable adjustment to stressors
- Men more likely to use problem-focused coping as first strategy to confront stressor
23
Emotion-focused coping
manage emotional responses that result from it
(e.g. avoidance – have a test? Go to a party, or acceptance – about to die? Accept it)
- Emotion-focused coping predicted depression and poor adjustment
- Women somewhat more likely to report using emotion-focused coping
24
Seeking social support
turning to others for assistance and emotional support in times of stress
- Research found problem-focused coping were associated with favourable adjustment to stressors
- Women more likely to use social support → tend to have larger support networks and higher needs for affiliation
25
Robles and Kiecolt-Glaser
did experiment testing spouse’s physocal support (hand-holding) on self-report and neural responses
• 16 highly satisfied married couples were brought in
• Woman lay in a scanner and were connected to shock electrodes at her ankle
• She had a panel that showed either of the two visual displays: a red X (threat cue) – 20% chance of receiving painful electric shock after 10 sec OR a blue O (safety cue) – would not be shocked
• Random order of 12 threat and 12 safety – this is 1 block; experiment had 3 blocks
• One block holding husband’s hand, one holding stranger’s hand, one holding no hand – all in random order
• At end of each block, woman rated how unpleasant the situation was and how much fear arousal she was experiencing
• When spouses holding hands → found situation less unpleasant compared to holding stranger’s hand or no hand
• Brain’s emotional response significantly lower during safety trials than during threat trials
• fMRI of brain showed social support, especially from spouse, reduces brain’s response to threat
26
Midnfulness
- paying attention in a particular way
- on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally
27
Mindfulness has 3 interrelated components
1) Be fully and deliberately aware of your environment, emotions, thoughts, and actions
2) Focus your attention on current moment rather than ruminating on past or anticipating future
3) Experiencing each moment as is without judgement or bias based on expectations, wishes, or fears
28
Self-medication
use of an unprescribed drug to alleviate stress, anxiety, or other symptoms
29
Self-injury
deliberately harming oneself without suicidal intention; often associated with history of emotional or sexual abuse
30
Denise Sloan and Brian Marx
studied college students who experenced traumatic life trauma
• Some told to write about traumatic event, others told to do an unrelated task
• Those who wrote about their trauma showed lower stress and depression scores, and missed less classes during that month
• Writing or talking about event provides exposure to cues that accompanied trauma and the exposure allows extinction to occur
31
People and coping methods
- North Americans and Europeans tend to use problem-focused coping more than Asian and Hispanics
- Asians and Hispanics tend to use emotion-focused coping and social support
- Asians also tend to avoid the stressful situation, particularly interpersonal stressors → reflects their culture’s emphasis on interpersonal harmony
32
Health psychology
studies psychological and behavioural factors in the prevention and treatment of illness and in maintenance of health
33
Health-enhancing behaviours
serve to maintain or increase health (e.g. exercise, healthy diet, safe sex)
34
Health-compromising behaviours
promote development of illness (e.g. smoking, fatty diets, sedentary lifestyle)
35
Transtheoretical method
6 major stages in change process; does not assume people go through stages in a smooth sequence
1) Precontemplation – no desire to change behaviour; do not recognize there is a problem or their behaviour’s negative consequences
2) Contemplation – perceives problem but not yet decided to take action; aware of their risks, not ready to quit
3) Preparation – decided they want to change behaviour, but have not started changing; started making small changes or identifying conditions that affect the behaviour they want to change
4) Action – actively begin to modify behaviour and environment; this stage requires most commitment of effort and energy; might have to go through this cycle many times
5) Maintenance – avoided relapse and controlled target behaviour for 6 months
6) Termination – change in behaviour is so ingrained and under personal control that original problem will never return
36
Stage-matched interventions
psychologists designed these to move person towards the action, maintenance, and termination stages
• Precontemplators → need consciousness-raising info to convince them there is a problem
• Contemplators → need an emotional experience that increases motivaation to change or cuases them to re-evaluate themselves in relation to behaviour
37
Aerobic exercise
sustained activity (e.g. jogging, biking, swimming) that elevates heart rate and increases body’s need for oxygen
38
Yo-yo dieting
- form of weight monitoring that results in big up-and-down weight fluctuations
- increases risk of dying from cardiovascular disease
39
Motivational interviewing
leads people to own conclusions by asking questions that focus on discrepancies between current state of affairs and individual’s idea self-image, desired behaviours, and desired outcomes
40
Aversion therapy
undesired behaviour associated with aversive stimulus (e.g. shock, bad taste) to create negative emotional response
41
Self-monitoring procedures
help person identify consequences of actions
42
Relapse
return to undesirable behaviour pattern
43
Lapse
one-time “slip”
44
Abstinence violation effect
- reaction that can coccur when substance misusers fail to remain abstinent and view the lapse as proof that they will never be strong enough to resist temptation
- May result in total relapse
45
Harm reduction
– prevention strategy designed to no eliminate a behaviour when it occurs
46