Emotions, Stress, and Health

Question 1

aerobic exercise

Answer 1

sustained exercise that increases heart and lung fitness; may also alleviate depression and anxiety.

Question 2

subjective well-being

Answer 2

self-perceived happiness or satisfaction with life. Used along with measures of objective well-being (for example, physical and economic indicators) to evaluate people’s quality of life.

Question 3

psychoneuroimmunology

Answer 3

the study of how psychological, neural, and endocrine processes together affect the immune system and resulting health.

Question 4

adaptation-level phenomenon

Answer 4

our tendency to form judgments (of sounds, of lights, of income) relative to a neutral level defined by our prior experience.

Question 5

facial feedback effect

Answer 5

the tendency of facial muscle states to trigger corresponding feelings such as fear, anger, or happiness.

Question 5

problem-focused coping

Answer 5

attempting to alleviate stress directly- by changing the stressor or the way we interact with that stressor.

Question 6

psychophysiological illness

Answer 6

literally, “mind-body” illness; any stressrelated physical illness, such as hypertension and some headaches.

Question 8

complementary and alternative medicine (CAM)

Answer 8

as yet unproven health care treatments intended to supplement (complement) or serve as alternatives to conventional medicine, and which typically are not widely taught in medical schools, used in hospitals, or reimbursed by insurance companies. When research shows a therapy to be safe and effective, it usually then becomes part of accepted medical practice.

Question 8

stress

Answer 8

the process by which we perceive and respond to certain events, called stressors, that we appraise as threatening or challenging.

Question 9

catharsis

Answer 9

emotional release. In psychology, the catharsis hypothesis maintains that “releasing” aggressive energy (through action or fantasy) relieves aggressive urges.

Question 10

Type A

Answer 10

Friedman and Rosenman’s term for competitive, hard-driving, impatient, verbally aggressive, and anger-prone people.

Question 11

polygraph

Answer 11

a machine, commonly used in attempts to detect lies, that measures several of the physiological responses (such as perspiration and cardiovascular and breathing changes) accompanying emotion.

Question 12

general adaptation syndrome (GAS)

Answer 12

Selye’s concept of the body’s adaptive response to stress in three phases-alarm, resistance, exhaustion.

Question 12

two-factor theory

Answer 12

the Schachter-Singer theory that to experience emotion one must (1) be physically aroused and (2) cognitively label the arousal.

Question 14

health psychology

Answer 14

a subfield of psychology that provides psychology’s contribution to behavioral medicine.

Question 15

feel-good, do-good phenomenon

Answer 15

people’s tendency to be helpful when already in a good mood.

Question 16

coping

Answer 16

alleviating stress using emotional, cognitive, or behavioral methods.

Question 17

coronary heart disease

Answer 17

the clogging of the vessels that nourish the heart muscle; the leading cause of death in many developed countries.

Question 18

lymphocytes

Answer 18

the two types of white blood cells that are part of the body’s immune system: B lymphocytes form in the bone marrow and release antibodies that fight bacterial infections; T lymphocytes form in the thymus and other lymphatic tissue and attack cancer cells, viruses, and foreign substances.

Question 19

James-Lange theory

Answer 19

the theory that our experience of emotion is our awareness of our physiological responses to emotion-arousing stimuli.

Question 20

emotion-focused coping

Answer 20

attempting to alleviate stress by avoiding or ignoring a stressor and attending to emotional needs related to one’s stress reaction.

Question 22

emotion

Answer 22

a response of the whole organism, involving (1) physiological arousal, (2) expressive behaviors, and (3) conscious experience. emotion-focused coping

Question 23

Type B

Answer 23

Friedman and Rosenman’s term for easygoing, relaxed people.

Question 24

tend and befriend

Answer 24

under stress, people (especially women) often provide support to others (tend) and bond with and seek support from others (befriend).

Question 25

Cannon-Bard theory

Answer 25

the theory that an emotion-arousing stimulus simultaneously triggers (1) physiological responses and (2) the subjective experience of emotion.

Question 26

relative deprivation

Answer 26

the perception that one is worse off relative to those with whom one compares oneself.