Emotions, Stress, and Health (Modules 35-39)

Question 1

A response of the whole organism, involving (1) physiological arousal, (2) expressive behaviors, and, most importantly, (3) conscious experience resulting from one’s interpretations

Answer 1

Emotions

Question 2

The theory that our experience of emotion occurs when we become aware of our physiological responses to an emotion-arousing stimulus

Answer 2

James-Lange Theory

Question 3

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

Answer 3

Cannon-Bard Theory

Question 4

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

Answer 4

Schachter-Singer Two-Factor Theory (Arousal + Label = Emotion)

Question 5

Some embodied responses happen instantly, without conscious appraisal

Answer 5

Zajonc, LeDoux Theory*

Question 6

Cognitive appraisal (“Is it dangerous or not?”)—sometimes without our awareness—defines emotion

Answer 6

Lazarus Theory*

Question 7

Arousal detectors (not lie detectors); they measure emotion-linked changes in breathing, heart rate, and perspiration

Answer 7

Polygraphs

Question 8

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

Answer 8

Facial Feedback Effect

Question 9

The tendency of behavior to influence our own and others’ thoughts, feelings, and actions

Answer 9

Behavior Feedback Effect

Question 10

10 Basic Emotions (Debatable)

Answer 10

Joy, interest-excitement, surprise, sadness, anger, disgust, contempt, fear, shame, and guilt

Question 11

In psychology, the idea that “releasing” aggressive energy (through action or fantasy) relieves aggressive urges

Answer 11

Catharsis

Question 12

People’s tendency to be helpful when in a good mood

Answer 12

Feel-good, Do-good Phenomenon

Question 13

The scientific study of human flourishing, with the goals of discovering and promoting strengths and virtues that help individuals and communities to thrive

Answer 13

Positive Psychology

Question 14

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

Answer 14

Subjective Well Being

Question 15

Can Money Buy Happiness?

Answer 15

Over time, a rising economic tide has not produced increased happiness or decreased depression

Question 16

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

Answer 16

Adaptation-level Phenomenon

Question 17

The perception that we are worse off relative to those with whom we compare ourselves

Answer 17

Relative Deprivation

Question 18

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

Answer 18

Stress

Question 19

Three Main Types of Stressors

Answer 19

Catastrophe, significant life changes, and daily hassles (including social stress)

Question 20

The drive to move toward (approach) or away from (avoid) a stimulus

Answer 20

Approach and Avoidance Motives

Question 21

A stress response system where our heart rate and respiration increase, our blood is diverted from digestion to the skeletal muscles, our feelings of pain are dulled, and sugar and fat are released from the body’s stores

Answer 21

Fight or Flight

Question 22

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

Answer 22

General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)

Question 23

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

Answer 23

Tend-and-Befriend Response

Question 24

A subfield of psychology that provides psychology’s contribution to behavioral medicine

Answer 24

Health Psychology

Question 25

The study of how psychological, neural, and endocrine processes together affect our immune system and resulting health

Answer 25

Psychoneuroimmunology

Question 26

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

Answer 26

Coronary Heart Disease

Question 27

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

Answer 27

Type A

Question 28

Friedman and Rosenman’s term for easygoing, relaxed people

Answer 28

Type B

Question 29

Alleviating stress using emotional, cognitive, or behavioral methods

Answer 29

Cope

Question 30

Attempting to alleviate stress directly—by changing the stressor or the way we interact with that stressor

Answer 30

Problem-focused Coping

Question 31

Attempting to alleviate stress by avoiding or ignoring a stressor and attending to emotional needs related to our stress reaction

Answer 31

Emotion-focused Coping

Question 32

Our sense of controlling our environment rather than feeling helpless

Answer 32

Personal Control

Question 33

The hopelessness and passive resignation humans and other animals learn when unable to avoid repeated aversive events

Answer 33

Learned Helplessness

Question 34

The perception that outside forces beyond our personal control determine our fate

Answer 34

External Locus of Control

Question 35

The perception that we control our own fate

Answer 35

Internal Locus of Control

Question 36

The ability to control impulses and delay short-term gratification for greater long-term rewards

Answer 36

Self-Control

Question 37

Sustained exercise that increases heart and lung fitness; also helps alleviate depression and anxiety

Answer 37

Aerobic Exercise

Question 38

A reflective practice in which people attend to current experiences in a nonjudgmental and accepting manner

Answer 38

Mindfulness Meditation