What Is Stress?
What happens when we surpass stresses optimal level?
When stress exceeds this optimal level, it is no longer a positive force- it becomes excessive and debilitating, or what Selye termed distress.
For an individual to experience stress, they must first encounter a ________ stressor. In general, stressors can be placed into one of two broad categories:_____ and _____.
potential; chronic; acute
What is the field that studies how stress influences the immune system and immune functioning?
Who distinguished two fundamental kinds of coping: problem-focused coping and emotion coping?
Lazarus and Folkman
What is the definition of coping?
Mental or behavioral efforts used to manage problems relating to stress.
What is the difference between stimulus-based and response-based definitions of stress?
Stimulus-based definitions characterize stress as a stimulus that causes certain reactions.
Response-based definitions describe stress as a response to environmental conditions.
What would be some examples of a police officer's stressors?
physical dangers, excessive paperwork, dealing with court system, tense interactions, life-or-death decision making
Name four types of Psychophysiological Illnesses/Disorders that are caused by stress.
Cardiovascular, Gastrointestinal, Respiratory, Musculoskeletal, & Skin
What term describes our beliefs about our personal capacity to exert influence over and shape outcomes, and has major implications for our health and happiness?
Perceived control
What is the definition of happiness?
Enduring state of mind consisting of joy, contentment, and other positive emotions; the sense that one’s life has meaning and value.
Define what occurs after a primary appraisal.
The perception of a threat triggers a secondary appraisal, which is the judgment of options available to cope with a stressor, as well as perceptions of how effective such options will be.
Fill in the blank: ___ ______ appears to be one of the greatest risk factors leading to job burnout, which is most commonly observed in workers who are older (ages 55-64), unmarried, and whose jobs involve manual labor.
Job strain
What major health problems can arise from having hypertension?
Heart attack, stroke, blindness, kidney or heart failure, etc.
Fill in the blank: When we lack a ______ over the events in our lives, particularly when those events are threatening, harmful, or noxious, the psychological consequences can be profound.
sense of control
What are lymphocytes?
White blood cells that circulate in the body’s fluids and are especially important in the body’s immune response.
Fill in the blank: ______ psychology emerged as a discipline in the 1970s, a time during which there was increasing awareness of the role behavioral and lifestyle factors play in the development of illnesses and diseases.
According to the chapter, health psychology emerged as a discipline in the 1970s...
Many potential stressors we face involve events or situations that require us to make changes in our ongoing lives and require time as we adjust to those changes.
What are some situational examples of this?
death of a close family member, marriage, divorce, and moving
What did the 1998 Cohen study conclude about the link between stress and the immune system?
People with higher stress levels are more likely to develop an illness compared to those with lower stress levels.
Who reformulated the original learned helplessness model of depression?
Seligman and colleagues
What are stressors?
Environmental events that may be judged as threatening or demanding; stimuli that initiate the stress process.
Would a 48-year-old white man with a high school education and a part-time job who made $22,000 in 1983 have a higher mean stress score than a Hispanic woman who is 53 years old in 2009 with an advanced degree who is retired and has an income of $75,000.13 with 3 cats?
No, the Hispanic woman would have a higher mean stress score, according to Figure 14.6 in the chapter.
White man- 13.5
Hispanic woman- 15.333
Name the top 6 Stressors on Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS).
- death of a close family member
- personal injury or illness
- dismissal from work
- change in financial state
- change to different line of work
- outstanding personal achievement
Who are the two cardiologists that developed the theory of the Type A Behavior Pattern(TABP)?
Meyer Friedman & Ray Rosenman
List the 4 components of the relaxation response technique.
1. Sitting upright on a comfortable chair with feet on the ground and body in a relaxed position.
2. Being in a quiet environment with eyes closed.
3. Repeating a word or a phrase—a mantra—to oneself, such as “alert mind, calm body,”
4. Passively allowing the mind to focus on pleasant thoughts, such as nature or the warmth of your blood nourishing your body.
What is a fight-or-flight response?
Set of physiological reactions (increases in blood pressure, heart rate, respiration rate, and sweat) that occur when an individual encounters a perceived threat; these reactions are produced by activation of the sympathetic nervous system and the endocrine system.