Chapter 10

Question 1

health psychology

Answer 1

an interdisciplinary field that investigates the links among behavior, cognition, and physical health

Question 2

biopsychosocial model

Answer 2

a way of understanding what makes people healthy by recognizing that biology, psychology, and social context all combine to shape health outcomes

Question 3

Biopsychosocial model and stress

Answer 3

uncertainty, lack of control, and concern with being evaluated

Question 4

3 components of health

Answer 4

Biology, Psychology, and Social Context

Question 5

Stress

Answer 5

a physiological response to an environmental event that is perceived as taxing or even exceeding one’s ability to adapt

Question 6

general adaptation syndrome

Answer 6

a broad-based physiological response to a physical threat that unfolds in three stages: alarm, resistance, and exhaustion

Question 7

Sympathetic-adreno-medullary (SAM) axis

Answer 7

a physiological system that governs the body’s immediate response to a stressful event, enabling the ability to flight or flight

Question 8

Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis

Answer 8

a physiological system that governs the body’s prolonged response to a stressful event, enabling the conservation of energy

Question 9

challenge reactivity

Answer 9

a cardiovascular pattern of responding to a situation whereby the heart pumps out more blood and the vasculature dilates, allowing efficient circulation through the body

Question 10

threat reactivity

Answer 10

a cardiovascular pattern of responding to a situation whereby the heart pumps out more blood but the vasculature constricts, preventing efficient circulation through the body

Question 11

cortisol

Answer 11

a hormone produced by the adrenal cortex that is often elevated in response to stressful events

Question 12

allostatic load

Answer 12

the sustained activation of many physiological systems in response to frequent or chronic stressors

Question 13

gene x environment interactions

Answer 13

The interaction between environmental factors and person’s genetic predispositions that determine the unique phenotypes expressed in personality

Question 14

diathesis-stress model

Answer 14

a model of clinical disorders suggesting that genes provide a susceptibility for a disorder that will manifest as symptoms only under certain levels of stress

Question 15

differential sensitivities hypothesis

Answer 15

the idea that some people have a genetic predisposition to be more strongly affected by variation in their environment, especially during early childhood

Question 16

epigenetics

Answer 16

the study of how life events can change how genes are expressed