Health Lecture Flashcards
Health Psychology
Psychology → health/illness
Designing, implementing, evaluating health programs
Matt Lierberman: Social isolation = physical pain
The areas of the brain being highlighted when being isolated (excluded) in MRI when playing cyberball and getting excluded
Social pain = physical pain OR
Physical pain = social pain?
Both subjectively hurt?
Negative
DeWall et al 2010
Participants took Tylenol for 21 days straight
Assessed their hurt feelings
The idea that tylenol blunts pain and social isolation
Not statistically significant - could have happened by chance
Both positive and negative is blunted by Tylenol
Since Tylenol targets the brain (CNS)
Holmes & Rahe Stress Scale 1967
People adapt, but if there is a life change event, it can be stressful
Death of spouse, divorce, detention in jail, major injury or illness, marriage, marital reconciliation, pregnancy, trouble with in-laws
Alia Crum Study: Cleaning = Exercise
Participants are told that their cleaning is equal to exercise, and it has made people healthier than the control group
What are mundane source of stress?
Daily hassles
It can take a greater toll on your health than major events
More numerous - hard to adapt to
Accompany major events
Require action
Have to do something about it
What’s stressful?
Depends on perception (appraisal)
It didn’t have to happen Study
Workers are getting injured while working in the factory
Some watched the film and others were told to take a more intellectual stance when watching the video
Intellectual stance produces the least stress response
Perception is everything, do not make the same response
Stress
Negative feelings when can’t cope
Autonomic nervous system
Sympathetic and Parasympathetic
Sympathetic nervous system
Fight or flight - emergency response
Heart speeds up
No digestion
Bladder relaxes - can’t pee
Ejaculation
Parasympathetic nervous system
relaxing, para (stop) response
Heart slows
Digestion
Bladder contracts
Erection
What are some bodily effects of stress response?
High blood pressure
Cardiovascular disease
Diabetes
Ulcers
Slowing of growth
HPA axis
Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal glands
Distress system
Cortisol release - suppression (inhibition) of immune system to deal with stressor
Stress effects on Immune System
Poor health practices (diet, not getting enough sleep)
Direct innervation (nerves connected to immune structures)
Hormonal suppression
What are limitations of studies on stress?
Lab studies
Mild stress
Short duration
Field studies
Self-report - can’t control stress
Retrospective
Correlational
Scalpel wounds to the mouth of dental students Study
Once during summer and another three days before midterm
8 days to heal before start of semester
11 days during midterms
Thus takes longer to heal during stressful feelings
On Vacation with rhinovirus study
High stress: 47% get colds
Low stress: 27% get colds
The immune system goes down when stressed, so higher chance of getting cold
View humorous or sad movies Study
Sad movies, immune function goes down
Funny movies, immune function goes up
Langer & Rodin 1976 Perceived Control
Went to nursing homes, enlisted nursing assistants
Experimental group: you want a plant but you have to take care of it
Baseline group: everything it taken care of for you
15% experiment vs 30% baseline died, 18 months later
Could have happened due to chance because of the sample size
Seligman Learned Helplessness
Exposed dogs to inescapable shocks
Then dogs learned to jump to escape shocks (another condition)
But dogs exposed before inescapable shocks before, don’t make the association and stay there
People have already learned helplessness
Explanatory Style
Cause for a negative event
Internal vs external
Stable vs unstable
Global vs specific
The idea of pessimist vs optimism
Predicts colds, accidents, and worse
Rumination vs distraction
Rumination focuses on especially on wallowing on your bad emotions/mood
When something happens, they focus on the bad experience
More women than men
Prolongs, intensifies depression (with rumination)
Interferes with problem solving
Nolen Rumination Study
Had people ruminate on induction or distract induction (neutral)
Depressed people (mildly, not clinically ) or non-depressed participants
Think about your feelings with cards, and then think about problems and what they will do to solve the problem
People who are depressed and ruminate offer horrible solutions
People who are depressed and distracted are offered the same level of solutions as those who are not depressed
