Chapter 12: Emotions, Stress and Health

Question 1

Emotion

Answer 1

a response of the whole organism, involving (1) physiological arousal, (2) expressive behaviours, and (3) conscious experience

Question 2

James-Lange theory

Answer 2

the theory that our experience of emotion is our awareness of out physiological responses to emotion-arousing stimuli

Question 3

Cannon-Bard theory

Answer 3

the theory that an emotion-arousing stimulus simultaneously triggers (1) physiological responses and (2) the subjective experience of emotion

Question 4

Two-factor theory

Answer 4

the Schachter-singer theory that to experience emotion one must (1) be physically aroused and (2) cognitively label the arousal

Question 5

facial feedback effect

Answer 5

the tendency of facial muscle states to trigger corresponding feelings such as fear, anger, or happiness

Question 6

behaviour feedback effect

Answer 6

the tendency of behaviour to influence our own and others thoughts, feelings, and actions

Question 7

catharsis

Answer 7

emotional release. In psychology, the catharsis hypothesis maintains that “releasing” aggressive energy (through action or fantasy) relieves aggressive urges

Question 8

feel-good, do-good phenomenon

Answer 8

people’s tendency to be helpful when already in a good mood

Question 9

positive psychology

Answer 9

the scientific study of human flourishing, with the goals of discovering and promoting strengths and virtues that help individuals and communities to thrive

Question 10

subjective well-being

Answer 10

self-perceived happiness or satisfaction with life. Used along with measures of objective well-being (for example, physical and economic indicators) to evaluate people’s quality of life

Question 11

adaptation-level phenomenon

Answer 11

our tendency to form judgments (of sounds, of lights, of income) relative to a neutral level defined by our prior experience

Question 12

relative deprivation

Answer 12

the perception that one is worse off relative to those with whom one compares onself

Question 13

stress

Answer 13

the process by which we perceive and respond to certain events, called stressors, that we appraise as threatening or challenging

Question 14

general adaptation syndrome (GAS)

Answer 14

Selye’s concept of the body’s adaptive response to stress in three phases - alarm, resistance, exhaustion

Question 15

coronary heart disease

Answer 15

the clogging of vessels that nourish the heart muscle; the leading cause of death in many developed countries

Question 16

Type A

Answer 16

Freidman and Rosenman’s term for competitive, hard-driving, impatient, verbally aggressive, and anger-prone people

Question 17

Type B

Answer 17

Freidman and Rosenman’s term for easygoing, relaxed people

Question 18

coping

Answer 18

alleviating stress using emotional, cognitive, or behavioural methods

Question 19

problem-focused coping

Answer 19

attempting to alleviate stress directly - by changing the stressor or the way we interact with that stressor

Question 20

emotion-focused coping

Answer 20

attempting to alleviate stress by avoiding or ignoring a stressor and attending to emotional needs related to our stress reaction

Question 21

learned helplessness

Answer 21

the hopelessness and passive resignation an animal or human learns when unable to avoid repeated aversive events

Question 22

external locus of control

Answer 22

the perception that chance or outside forces beyond our personal control determine our fate

Question 23

internal locus of control

Answer 23

the perception that we control our own fate

Question 24

self-control

Answer 24

the ability to control impulses and delay short-term gratification for greater long-term rewards