Chap 10, 12, 13, 14, 15 Flashcards
chapter 10
stress and health
Health psychology
subfield of psychology
• how behavior, cognition, and physical health are interrelated
> causes and treatment of physical illness
> maintenance of health
stress
physical and psychological response
Stressor
specific events or chronic pressures
Types of stressors
can be positive or negative
• catastrophic events (threatening life events, longer-lasting)
• major life events (married, divorce)
• daily hassles (work, exams, projects, finances)
Stress ratings (CUSS)
a significant indicator of future illness (can affect immune system)
Distinction between acute and chronic stressors:
• ACUTE stressors: an event with a due date or clear indication of the beginning, middle, and end (immediate, short-lived) • CHRONIC stressors: worry and anxiety → life-long (allostatic load: cumulative impact) Stress appraisals (perception):
Perceived stress
a subjective evaluation of stress in response to events, depending on appraisal (related to how we cope, challenge→ motivate (adapted), looming→ less motivated)
Stress appraisal theory
appraisal of an event and our role in it shape our emotional experience of it
Psychological reactions:
• Primary appraisal: interpretation of stimulus as stressful or not
• Secondary appraisal: can stressor be handled? (or not?) can we cope?
> negative appraisal = threat (overwhelmed, feeling of not having control) inc BP
> positive appraisal = challenge (positive outcomes) motivating factor
Sympathetic-adreno-medullary (SAM) axis
a physiological system that governs the body’s IMMEDIATE response to a stressful event (fight or flight response)
• mobilizes the sympathetic nervous system
Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis
a physiological system that governs the body’s PROLONGED/CHRONIC response to a stressful event (during resistance phase, after SAM) - more studied (cortisol released, increase BS (help with energy), suppressing the immune system)
Stress effects on the immune system
stressors – hormones (glucocorticoids) flood the brain
• immune system less effective b/c fewer lymphocytes
• release of cytokines
• psychoneuroimmunology
> study of how the immune system responds to psychological variables
> Susan Lutgendorf (tumor environment, effects of stress on cancer, affects immune system and survival rates. Social support as well)
Stress effects on health - heart and circulatory system:
• atherosclerosis
> main cause of coronary heart disease
Intensity, drive, anger, and hostility linked to
increased rates of heart disease
Diathesis-stress model:
(predisposition) - the way you think about things and frame things
Differential sensitivities hypothesis
the idea that some people have a genetic predisposition (makes them more likely) to be more strongly affected by variation in their environment
Stress effects on health - aging
stress significantly accelerates the aging process (high levels of cortisol have an effect on memory) (telomeres)
Telomeres
caps at the end of each chromosome that protect the ends of chromosomes and prevent them from sticking to each other (every time cell divides caps become shorter, cortisol shortens them even more)
• shorter telomeres: increased risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, depression
Perceived control:
• more effective coping
• no control = chronic stress (lack of perceived control)
> learned helplessness = perceived lack of control
Example of perceived control → 3 groups of dogs:
Group 1 put in harnessed (kept from moving) - control group
Group 2 was given electric shocks at random times, pressing bar → stopped shock
Group 3 yoked group - connected to the experiences in group 2 (dog in group 2 got shocked, dog in group 3 got shocked) group three didn’t have the ability to stop shock (overtime those dogs didn’t have the ability to stop shock - had learned they couldn’t do anything to stop it)
Problem-focused coping
approaching stressful situations with a belief that one can proactively solve the problem (people who do think they have control, find a way to cope)
How we cope:
- How we perceive the stress
- Sense of control over the stress
- How people are going to evaluate us
Coping with stress
(personality/ traits) having a GOOD SENSE OF HUMOR does seem to provide health benefits
People with a good sense of humor tend to:
- be more optimistic (see the glass as half full)
- have higher self-esteem
- be less likely to suffer from depression
- see stress as more of a challenge
religiosity & spirituality
Lower pain, and heart disease, and better psychological health (We have a bigger sense of purpose or meaning in our life by having a sense of something that is greater than one’s self) - social support
Finding meaning to cope with stress
spending 20 - 30 mins a day writing about a stressful event can have benefits (helps with PTSD) - helps with psychological functioning
Writing about stressful experiences seems to trigger better immunological functioning by:
- facilitating the growth of T cells
* cuing antibodies that help fight off viruses
Social support to cope with stress
having the network available linked to better survivorship
Social support
the degree to which people believe they can turn to other people for information, help, advice, or comfort
Social support can help us maintain healthier habits:
- supportive spouses might more effectively help their partners
- can buffer us from stressful experiences
- can allow us to feel less alone in our stress
Bodily techniques help manage stress:
- mediation/mindfulness: the practice of intentional contemplation (focusing on present)
- and pets (good for elders - stress can be reduced by petting dogs (dec BP, inc oxytocin (social bonding hormone), inc endorphins (natural opiate-like drugs))
Stress management-mindfulness:
- decrease negative mood and rumination (negative thoughts)
- decrease sympathetic reactivity and amygdala activation to negative stimuli
- increase patterns of left frontal activation
- self-compassion (self-care)
- reducing chronic pain, anxiety, dec reactivity to stress
Self-compassion
being non-judgmental or too hard on yourself (accept yourself)
diet, exercise, and sleep are extremely important to maintaining a healthy lifestyle
• stress makes us crave high energy/carb foods)
• the amount of exercise and BMI
• getting enough sleep
> disruptive sleep can also be a source of stress
> increased activation of stress systems
> the perception of stressful events can be altered
chapter 11
development
Key Questions in Studying Human Development
- Does development happen in stages or continuously?
2. What are the effects of nature and nurture on development?
Developmental psychology
the scientific study of how people change physically, cognitively, socially, and emotionally from infancy through old age
Does development happen in stages or continuously?
Qualitative versus quantitive development (what you’re doing and what you’re looking at) (transitioning into what you’re looking at/ what is facilitating transition)
What are the effects of nature and nurture on development?
Gene x environment interactions (nature and nurture always interacting from birth)
Two challenges when studying development:
- Measures need to be based on age and the abilities of a given age (what can infants do based on a given stimulus)
- Choosing the right research design (cost and benefits)
Cross-sectional
slices of the brain that you’re looking at (looking at an age range and taking slivers of age range to see abilities) (most ideal)
Longitudinal study
study/follow the same group of infants until a certain amount of time
Sequential study
same age ranges, but follow them a few times throughout their life, to capture quantitive changes
Cross-sectional advantages:
- covers a wide age range
- can help understand which abilities are developing at certain points in the lifespan
- good for comparing groups close together in age
Cross-sectional disadvantages:
- cohort effect
- not as good when comparing groups that differ more dramatically in age
- age doesn’t always equal skill
Longitudinal advantages
allows us to be extremely confident that people are indeed changing over time
Longitudinal disadvantages:
- time and resources
- patients withdrawing from the study
- examines one generation or cohort
Sequential advantages:
- high confidence that observed changes are due to development
- observations can generalize across cohorts
Sequential disadvantages:
- costly
* takes time
Germinal stage:
- egg is fertilized and cells begin to divide
- conception to two weeks
- zygote
Zygote
a fertilized egg
• blastocyst
Embryonic stage
2 to 8 weeks // embryo
• placenta
Fetal stage
9th week and until birth
• fetus
Brain development
- CNS
Neural tube
CNS developed from / tubular structure formed early in the embryonic stage
Three identifiable parts of brain:
Brainstem, cerebellum, spinal cord
Brain Development:
two types of cells form - neurons and glia
Gila
guide wires - guide migration of neurons to outer layers (inner to outside)
Neural migration:
Gila create guide wires
After migrating they form
synaptogenesis so electrical communication can form chemical communication
Nervous system organization
- involves several important processes:
- neural proliferation
- synaptic pruning
- myelination of axons
Neural proliferation
new synaptic connections
Synaptic pruning
the trimming back of unnecessary synapses according to a “use it or lose it” principle”
Myelination of axons
efficiency and speed of processing of neural signals by fatty tissue insulating the axons in myelin
Different timing of brain maturation (finish product):
- areas that process sensory information
- motor areas
- areas for language/spatial ability
- frontal lobes
Disruptions to early development:
- genetic and chromosomal problems - down syndrome
* parental environmental issues - teratogens
Down syndrome
a developmental disorder caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21
• affects 1 in 691 babies born each year in the US
Teratogens:
- monster producing (alc mother consumes)
* environmental agents that can interfere with healthy fetal development
(Teratogens-alcohol) fetal alcohol syndrome:
a developmental disorder that affects children whose mothers consumed alcohol during pregnancy
• intellectual disability
• poor attention
• slow physical growth
• overactivity
*also, marijuana, cigarette smoking, other drugs
Early capabilities in the newborn:
reflexes and preferences
Reflexes
automatic patterns of motor responses that are triggered by specific types of sensory stimulation
Preferences
taste/smell/voice & ‘face-like’ stimuli
‘I Was Born Ready’ → Early Capabilities in the Newborn:
CLAIM: newborns imitate faces (newborns vision is foggy)
• infants seem to seek out others and do as they do
• BUT: research has shown that arousal and interest relates to infant tongue protrusion (viewing bright lights and music) is it imitation or arousal
Paradigm to test infants
habituation & dishabituation (high-amplitude sucking behavior and looking behavior) - assessing infants
Habituation
a form of non-associative learning that is shared across a range of species
Dishabituation
renewed interest in new stimulus
Motor development
(born with reflexes - then voluntary motor control starts)
• motor skills develop according to two general rules
> cephalocaudal: motor skills emerge from head to the feet
> proximodistal: emerge from the center of the body the outward, (torso → limbs → hands)
Interindividual variability in the onset of when different abilities emerge - experience and other factors play a role (opportunities they get for practice)
Piaget
grandfather of cognitive development - stage like view of development
Cognitive development - Piaget’s theory:
schemes, assimilation, accommodation
Schemes
concepts or mental models/ representations
Develop via experience with the world and refine them through further experience
Assimilation
use an existing schema to interpret a new experience that is encountered (know what a horse is then see a camel → bring camel into the same scheme as a horse)
Accommodation
revise schemas to incorporate information from new experiences (they eventually revise scheme – to see lumps on the back to create a new scheme for a camel)
Piaget’s stages of cognitive development:
- sensorimotor stage (birth to 2 years)
- preoperational stage (2 to 7 years)
- concrete operational stage (7 to 12 years)
- formal operational stage (12 years and up)
sensorimotor stage (birth to 2 years)
object permanence
• not achieved - out of sight, out of mind
• achieved - the object remains even if they can’t see it
pre-operational stage (2 to 7 years)
symbolic thought/ mental representation (objects, words, gestures stand for other things)
• associated with language development
• egocentrism = focused only on themselves and their view on the world (they can’t know what you see from one side of the room, can only see from their side of the room) each telling their own story but not taking in what the other person said
• Pretend play
concrete operational stage (7 to 12 years)
conservation → understand physical properties of objects will remain constant regardless to change in shape
• Children can take multiple perspectives and can use them & their own mental abilities to solve problems - able to envision and visualize objects when trying to solve them
> Doing a puzzle
formal operational stage (12 years and up)
hypothetical, deductible reasoning abstract thinking and reasoning (can envision problem and reason through in their head)
Forming attachment
attachment & imprinting & Harry Harlow observations of monkeys & John Bowlby
Attachment
strong, enduring, emotional bond between an infant and a caregiver (first moving organism that you see and will follow)
Imprinting
a mechanism for establishing attachment (not in humans but will maintain visual contact when they are in front of (very close with caregiver) but we see an extension of imprinting and development of bonds (important to successful relationships in the future)
Harry Harlow-observations of monkeys:
early attachment figures
• deprived of all early social interactions and resultant behavior
• supported the view that social and emotional development is rooted in early social interactions with adults
• spent most time with contact comfort mother and only minimal time with feeding mother
John Bowlby
children become attached to a caregiver who provides a secure base, a place in which the child feels safe and protected
• use contact comfort → leads them to feel comfortable in their environment, more exploratory behavior and less stress/anxiety
Variations in attachment:
• Mary Ainsworth created the strange situation test (attachment assessment)
• three attachment styles:
> secure
> insecure
- insecure/ avoidant
- insecure/ ambivalent (or resistant)
Strange situation test
stranger makes baby feel anxious/stressed and holds onto mother for security when mother leaves the room (baby cries and tries to follow her, mother returns and baby stops crying)
Attachment classifications (% based on American middle-class)
secure, avoidant-insecure, resistant-insecure
Secure
distressed by parent leaving but easily comforted by return, secure base ~66% of American middle-class children (cannot be comforted by stranger)
Avoidant-insecure
not distressed by parent leaving & avoid contact upon return ~20% (doesn’t matter to them)
Resistant-insecure
initially failure to explore, angry & resistant upon return ~15% (approach parent but resist comfort)
Why do children differ in their attachment styles?
Parental responsiveness to children’s needs and consistency (intervention study) & temperament in child (differences in emotional reactivity, to novel situations (anxiety-provoking)
Temperament
stable individual differences in quality and intensity of emotional reaction, activity level, attention, and emotional regulation
• irritable infants higher likelihood of insecure attachment (get upset more and harder to settle infants - with more difficult temperament)
Mastering other minds
egocentrism & theory of mind
Egocentrism
(Piaget) preoperational children can’t take other’s perspectives/ feelings
Theory of mind
by age 5, children understand that we and other people have minds, that these minds represent the world in different ways
• take others mental perspectives
• Unique to humans
• Language development helps support
• Child who doesn’t pass task → knows where ball is hidden has been moved (child can’t envision that when the girl comes back in what her perspective is)
Learning from the social world
sociocultural view of development & scaffolding
sociocultural view of development (Lev Vygotsky)
social interaction with knowledgeable others (higher level of knowledge or abilities) is key to development
• developing in social context
Scaffolding
actively challenging and supporting children (learning and interaction with objects in world, beyond current abilities)
• helps facilitate cognitive development
Two dimensions of parenting styles:
- how sensitive and responsive they are to their child’s actions or needs
- how demanding or controlling they are of their children’s behavior
Puberty
bodily changes associated with sexual maturity (psychological and social changes)
• primary sex characteristics
• secondary sex characteristics
primary sex characteristics
bodily structures that are directly involved in reproductive
secondary sex characteristics
changes that occur with sexual maturity but aren’t directly involved with reproduction (changes in voice, body hair, etc.)