14.3 Coping and resilience Flashcards
coping
our ability to manage stress responses and the negative events that generate those responses
problem focused coping
developing and action plant to meet the challenge that is the cause of stress
emotional focused coping
engaging in strategies to reduce one’s negative emotional reactions
positive psychology
the area of psychology that highlights what make us strong in the face of challenges, failure, and tragedy
Barbara frederickson
how we perceive the world depends if we are in a positive or negative mood
- broaden and build theory of positive emotions
- found that arousal responses from watching horror movie clips returned to normal faster when participants watched a happy movie after viewing the clips
broaden and build theory of positive emotions
experiencing a positive mood provides mental resources that enable us to respond more effectively to life’s challenges
-positive mood is essential for creativity in thinking and problem solving
being in a negative mood seems to narrow attention
and directs our focus to picky details
being in a positive mood seems to broaden attention
enabling us to become sensitive to new associations and the big picture
optimism
a person tends to expect positive things to happen even when they find themselves in a difficult situation
-optimistic explanatory style
pessimism
a person expects bad things to happen even when things are going well
-pessimistic explanatory style
the mayo clinic found that ppl who were optimistic in the 1960s were 19% more likely to be ____ in the 1990s
alive
the nun study
nuns have basically the same lifestyle on all dimensions
-the nuns with more emotionally positive journal entries in their early 20s lived longer than nuns with fewer positive entries
personality and coping
higher neuroticism, lower coping
affective negativity can present and obstacle to healthy coping
higher extraversion, higher coping
higher agreeableness, higher coping
higher conscientiousness, higher coping ->better at distancing
higher openness to experience, higher coping
distancing
involves controlling negative emotional reactions to stressful events
more open ppl tend to develop a …
better understanding of themselves and better control over their negative emotions
-that self-understanding also makes ppl high on openness better at distancing
resilience
ppls capacity to adjust to and recover from the most tragic and traumatizing of human experiences
Dr. Frankl
psychiatrist who was sent to a concentration camp by the nazis during ww2
noticed that prisoners did not tend to survive unless they found some meaning in their life, despite their horrific situation
post traumatic growth
major life challenges can:
1) give ppl wisdom and skill
2) help them realize how strong and capable they are, and
3) help them value life more
biofeedback
involves developing skill in controlling stress reactions by using recording devices to view ones physiological responses
simple relaxation methods are better than biofeedback for stress reduction
so is focused attention (or concentrative) meditation
and so is open monitoring (or mindfulness) meditation
mindfulness-based stress reduction (or MBSD)
the idea is to increase the association bw ones thoughts and the physiological processes occurring throughout ones body
enhances meaningfulness
integrated mind-body training (or IMBT)
inspired by Yoga, it involves stress reduction by maintaining specific body postures and engaging in breathing exercises
enhances attentional control
yoga is also great for stress reduction and health
getting any kind of regular exercise is a great way to improve health and manage stress
participants who were required to sprint in advance of a vocabulary test performed 20% better
the students who sprinted also had higher levels of mentally energizing substances like dopamine and norepinephrine and brain derived neurotrophic factor (or BDNF)
BDNF
BDNF is a protein that supports the creation of new synapses in the brain
optimism is very much related to
perceived control over our own destiny
martin seligman
ones perception of having control over events is an important factor in human physical and mental health
- he put dogs into a harness and applied electric shocks to them
- half of the dogs could escape the shock by pressing a button, but the other half could not
- later, the dogs were places in another box with two regions separated by a divider
- on each trial, seligman presented a tone or dimmed a light before the platform the dog was standing on became electrified
- dogs who were previously able to control the shock easily learned to jump to the other side when they heard the tone
- the dogs who had no control were much more likely to passively receive the shock and sadly wait for it to be over
learned helplessness
is behaviour typical of an organisms that has endured repeated painful or otherwise aversive stimuli which it was unable to escape or avoid. after such experience, the organisms often fails to learn escape or avoidance in new situations where such behaviour would be effective
pessimistic and depressed individuals don’t feel as though their actions will improve their situation,..
so in that way these conditions are related to learned helplessness
-learned helplessness can also occur in ppl who experience physical or sexual abuse, or other human rights abuses, without a way to escape
compensatory control
strategies for bringing a sense of order and meaning when it seems as though events are random and chaotic
-participants completed a task in which they relied on computer feedback to help them generate their responses, for half of the participants, the computer provided accurate feedback to help them learn the pattern. for the other half of the participants the computer provided random feedback. after the participants were shown pics, some had faint meaningful images and some did not. those who were discombobulated by random feedback were more likely to perceive faint meaningful images in pics that contained only random patterns
such efforts to construct order from random events are also a likely basis for ppl developing superstitious beliefs and conspiracy theories
james pennebaker
studied a group of 60 laid off workers by having on half of them write about their deep emotional experiences and the impact that their job loss had on their life. the other half were instructed to merely write about their future plans. after a few 20 min writing sessions, those who wrote about their emotional reactions were more likely to find new jobs
life is complex
and managing our reaction to it isn’t easy
