Lecture 9 (Chapter 18 + 13) Flashcards
Discuss some research findings on the mechanisms underlying the link between personality and health.
- The coronary-prone personality is characterized by hostility and aggressiveness.
- Conscientiousness associated with better health behaviours and longer life expectancy
- Good health and longevity are more likely in cases of higher extraversion, higher agreeableness, and higher openness to experience.
- Neuroticism, higher stress reactivity and negative emotion, associated with increased risk of disease and premature death
What are some findings on the relationship between personality traits and COVID-19 health behaviours?
- Dark Personality Traits & Non-Compliance
Dark Tetrad Traits (narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, sadism):
Linked to lower adherence to health precautions (e.g., mask-wearing, social distancing) (Monteiro et al., 2022).
Psychopathy: Callousness and deceitfulness predicted higher risk-taking (Miguel et al., 2021).
- Adaptive Traits & Pro-Safety Behaviors
Conscientiousness:
Associated with greater compliance (e.g., handwashing, following guidelines) (Airaksinen et al., 2021).
Empathy:
Canadians high in dispositional empathy were more likely to follow precautions (Morstead et al., 2021).
- Cultural Orientation Differences
Individualism vs. Collectivism:
Individualists showed lower compliance due to perceived “freedom restrictions” (Maaravi et al., 2021).
Collectivists prioritized group safety, leading to lower COVID-19 mortality rates in some countries.
What is the definition of sress?
The subjective feeling produced by events that are uncontrollable or threatening. A response to the perceived demands of a situation. Stress is not “in” the situation and it does not exist outside of a person.
What does the interactional model suggest about the relationship between personality, stress, and illness?
Objective events happens to a person, but personality factors determine the impact of those events by influencing the person’s ability to cope. This is called the “interactional model” because personality is assumed to moderate the relationship between stress and illness. For example, 逞强的人可能不会因为感冒而休息，并因此病的更厉害。This model was useful in early research, but it has been identified with many limitations later on. Specifically because researchers were unable to identify stable coping responses that were consistently adaptive or maladaptive for any single person.
Can you describe the transactional model?
Developed from interactional model, has three potential effect:
1. It can influence coping (interactional model).
2. It can influence how the person interprets the events. 3. It can influence exposure to the events themselves.
Transactional model argues that the event itself does not causes stress, rather, it is how the event is interpreted by the person. For example, 两个人同时遭遇了堵车，但是急着去面试的那个人会比下班的人更焦虑。
As for the third effect, it refers to the idea that people choose to be in certain kinds of situations by personality trait. For example, Agreeableness 低的人可能会经历更多的争吵和矛盾。In short, this model imply that stressful events don’t just influence people; people also influence events.
What is a moderator?
A variable that influences the direction or degree of relationship between two other variables. For example, if stress is correlated with illness but the correlation is stronger for some people compare to other (Someone high in Neuroticism). Then, we’d say that neuroticism is a moderator of the relationship between stress and illness.
调节变量（Moderator）
作用：调节变量 影响两个变量之间关系的强度或方向。
比如：压力（A）和生病（B）的关系 是否更强/更弱，取决于第三个变量（如神经质水平）。
高神经质的人：压力 → 生病的相关性 更强。
低神经质的人：压力 → 生病的相关性 更弱。
结论：神经质是压力与生病关系的 调节变量。
- Sensation seeking is a moderator between one’s own use and peer use of illegal drugs
What is mediation?
A powerful way to explain how personality effects might work. Similar to moderation, in that both describe specific ways that three variables are related to one another. Mediation is different as it refers to the effect of one variable on another “goes through” a third variable. We might observe a relationship between A and B, but these two variables may actually be related because A leads to C and C leads to B. For example, Conscientious predicts longevity, but the reasoning is conscientiousness are related to healthy behaviour like exercise, which leads to longevity.
中介变量（Mediation）
作用：中介变量 解释“A如何影响B”的机制，即A通过C间接影响B。
比如：责任心（A）→ 长寿（B）的关系，实际上是责任心 通过健康行为（C）（如锻炼）间接导致的。
责任心（A）→ 坚持锻炼（C）→ 长寿（B）。
结论：健康行为是责任心与长寿之间的 中介变量。
What is the health behaviour model?
A model that claim personality does not directly influence the relationship between stress and illness. Instead, this model suggest personality affects health indirectly through health-promoting or health degrading behaviours.
For example, conscientiousness is a trait that is reliably associated with good health and predict longer life time. The reasoning is conscientious people are also conscientious about their health behaviour (Brush their teeth and exercise regularly).
While people low in conscientious may engage in variety of health-damaging behaviors, including smoking, unhealthy eating habits and dangerous driving.
What does the predisposition model suggest?
A model that differs from the three models described earlier. This model suggest that associations exist between personality and illness because of a third variable, which is causing them both. For example, the correlation between the novelty-seeking personality trait and substance abuse may be due to the fact that these two variables are both independently caused by a third variable-genes.
- Enhanced sympathetic nervous system reactivity may be the cause of subsequent illnesses, as well as the cause of the behaviours and emotions that lead a person to be called neurotic
What does the illness behaviour model suggest?
Illness behaviour refers to the action that people take when they think they have an illness, such as going to a doctor, complain to other or taking the day off from school/work. Illness behaviour does related to actual illnesses, but not perfectly (有的人生病了也不愿意休息，有的人无病呻吟).
This model suggest personality influences the degree to which a person perceives and pays attention to bodily sensations, and the degree to which a person will interpret and able those sensations as an illness. For example, neuroticism has been associated with over-using medical services (They have hyper sensation to illness)
What is the role of neuroticism in health/illness?
Neuroticism is a trait that consistently correlated (negatively) with measures of health. Many studies find that neuroticism correlates with objective health outcomes, also, it is correlated with self-reports of health, such as reporting frequencies of different symptoms.
Additionally, studies haven’t always found a positive correlation between neuroticism and mortality (Healthy neuroticism may be one explanation).
What is healthy neuroticism?
A new concept that stresses the potential health benefits of neuroticism. Such benefits may result from increased hyper-vigilance about one’s health, which may lead an individual to seek out care or treatment earlier. Also, there is evidence that neuroticism is healthy when it occurs alongside a high level of conscientiousness. 但是如果一个人高Neuroticism而low conscientiousness的话，可能就有大量焦虑而毫无行动，高conscientiousness的话更可能采取行动。
Are the models discussed just now mutually exclusive?
It’s important to note that models linking personality to physical health are not mutually exclusive. They may all apply depending on the personality trait and the illness under consideration.
For example, Hostility may relate to heart disease because it is a manifestation of the same underlying process - gene, hormone (Predisposition model), conscientiousness may relate to illness through specific health behaviours (the health behaviour model).
What are some common attributes of stress?
Stressors: Events that cause stress, they appear to have several common attributes:
- Stressors are extreme, they produce the feeling of overwhelmed or overloaded.
- Stressors often produce opposing tendencies, such as wanting and not wanting an activity or object (final又想学又尽可能的拖延).
- Stressors are uncontrollable, outside our power to influence, such as an exam we cannot avoid.
What is the general adaption syndrome (GAS)? What are the three stages in this model?
A Syndrome consists three stages encountering a stressors:
Alarm stage: First stage, consists of the flight-or-fight response of the sympathetic nervous system and the associated peripheral nerves in system reactions (Include release of hormones, which prepare our body for challenges).
Resistance stage: Second stage, the body is using its resources at an above average rate to resist the stress (takes a lot of effort and energy), 即便flight-or-fight的临时状态已经平息了.
Exhaustion stage: A person will enter the final stage if the stressor remains constant, which is also the stage when we’re most susceptible to illness and diseases, as our physiological resources are depleted.
What are major life events? What is the effect of stress on health?
Major life events: Events require people make major adjustment in their lives that are likely to evoke stress in most people. Such a death or loss of a spouse, being jailed, and even positive events such as entering university. Positive events may have three characteristics associated with stressors: Intensity, conflict and uncontrollability. In research, the participants had the highest stress points from accumulated major life events in the prior year, were also the most likely to have a serious illness during that year. Furthermore, following research consistently found linkages between major life events and illness.
Researcher conducted an experiment by obtaining reports of stressful life events for participants. Then researchers tried to infect half of the participants with a cold by giving them nose drops containing the cold virus. The result is, participants with more negative life events in the previous year, were more likely to develop a cold after being given the cold virus than people with fewer stressors in their lives. A pattern consistent with the GAS: People under chronic stress eventually deplete bodily resources and become vulnerable to microbial infections.
What are daily hassles? How do they impact our health?
The major sources of stress in most people’s lives are Daily hassles: Despite only minor, daily hassles can be chronic and repetitive (Chronically irritating). For example, daily hassles include having too much to do all the time, regularly stuck in heavy traffic, having an unpleasant boss at work. The results of research on daily hassles reveals that, people with a lot of minor stressors in their lives suffer more than expected from psychological and physical symptoms (similar to major life events).
What are four varieties of stress identified by psychologists?
- Acute stress (急性压力): Acute stress is a short-term response to sudden demands, often causing headaches, emotional upset, or physical discomfort. It may not always be visible to others but can significantly impact emotional regulation. For example, social stress can impair children’s emotional processing while others may not notice that.
- Episodic acute stress (反复急性压力): Episodic acute stress involves frequent, repeated stress episode, like monthly deadlines or weekend jobs. It is more serious than acute stress and can lead to health problems like migraines, high blood pressure, anxiety, depression, or digestive issues.
- Traumatic stress (创伤压力): Traumatic stress (massive instance of acute stress) results from extreme, life-threatening events (sexual assault, disasters, war). It may lead to PTSD, a syndrome marked by nightmares or flashbacks, difficulties sleeping, emotional numbing, and detachment. PTSD can impair relationship and job performance, especially in high-risk professions like paramedics (辅助医护).
- Chronic stress (慢性压力): Chronic stress is ongoing and wears down the body over time. It occurs when stress never stops, leading to serious illnesses such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or immune system decline.
Health psychologists believe that stress has Additive effects: Effects of stress add up and accumulate in a person over time.
What are primary and secondary appraisals? How are personality traits related to stress appraisal?
According to psychologists Richard Lazarus, two cognitive events must occur in order to evoke stress in a person. First, Primary appraisal - the perception that the event is a threat to one’s personal goals or is demanding in some way. Second, Secondary appraisal - the determination that one does not have the resources to cope with the demands of the threatening events. If either of these appraisals is absent, then stress is not evoked. For example, 如果一个考试对一名学生的long-term goal不重要，即便没有好好复习他可能也不紧张（Primary appraisal）。另一方面，若是一个学生well-prepared for an exam，那他更可能视其为挑战而不是threat or stress，因为拥有resources to cope with the exam 所以没有压力。
Not surprisingly, neuroticism is highly correlated with stress appraisal and stress reactivity. People high in neuroticism tend to appraise events more like threats rather than challenges, and interpret stressful events more severe compared to people low in neuroticism. People high in extraversion, are the exact opposite - they are more likely to appraise stress as challenges to overcome, and less likely to overweight the stressfulness of an event. Although less significant, high levels of agreeableness, conscientiousness and openness have also associated with lower stress appraisal.
What are people’s explanatory styles? What is attributional optimism? What is dispositional optimism?
Explanatory style (attributional style) is a dispositional way of explanations the causes of events (three dimension: internal/external, stable/unstable, global/specific).
Researchers further conducted new term for explanatory style, Attributional optimism: An explanatory style in which people make unstable, specific, and external explanations for bad events.
Dispositional optimism: Different from attributional, it emphasizes the expectation that good events will be plentiful in the future while bad events will be rare.
What is one bias related to optimism? How is being optimistic related to health outcomes?
Optimistic bias: The bias that most people generally underestimate their risks, with the average person rating risk (heart attack, plane crush) as below what is true average. Which may actually lead people in general to ignore or minimize the risks inherent in life (may take more risks than they should).
Optimism is linked to better health outcomes, including faster recovery, lower illness risk, and healthier behaviours like exercising and eating well. Optimists also tend to have stronger social support (因为Optimists的support network更diverse).
In contrast, pessimists —especially men—are more likely to experience accidental or violent deaths, possibly due to risky behaviour (Initially, the greatest difference of mortality between Optimists and pessimists was expected to be cancer and heart disease). Though the exact mechanisms are unclear since it’s correlation, optimism seems to improve both physical health and stress coping, which has led to programs that teach optimistic thinking to enhance mental well-being.
