Chapter 12 - Part 2: Stress and Health

Question 1

stress

Answer 1

• occurs in any circumstance where there’s a real or perceived threat to someone’s well-being
• process/mobilization by which we appraise and cope with environmental threats/challenges
• can be beneficial in small doses, but harmful if intense or prolonged
• affects our health and body directly and indirectly
• 1/2 of leading causes of death in Canada attributed to behaviours we do while we’re stressed (ie. overeating, smoking, etc.)

Question 2

behavioural medicine

Answer 2

• integrates behavioural knowledge with medical knowledge
• goals: increase life expectancy, reduce suffering, increase life quality
• health psychology: psych’s contribution to behavioural medicine
• psych now plays a large role in health (evidenced by increased number of psychologists in medical school) and in researching stress and health outcomes

Question 3

interpretation of stressors

Answer 3

• if you interpret stressor as a challenge you can overcome, your response will be aroused and focused
• if you interpret stressor as a threat, your response will be stressed and distracted

Question 4

stress response

Answer 4

• fight-or-flight
• outpouring of epinephrine and norepinephrine
• increasing heart and respiration rates
• mobilizing sugar and fat reserves
• dulling pain

Question 5

general adaptation syndrome

Answer 5

• 3-phase stress response
• phase 1: alarm reaction (mobilization of resources) -> stress resistance starts low, then skyrockets
• phase 2: resistance (coping with stressor) -> stress resistance high
• phase 3: exhaustion (reserves depleated) -> stress resistance goes lower and lower and eventually drops below baseline

Question 6

why is stress bad?

Answer 6

• designed to cope with intense, short-lived stressors (short phase 2), but we spend a lot of time in phase 2 (ie. from traffic, work, line-ups, etc.)
• stress can cause shorter lives, alterations in brain structure, depression, sleeplessness, anxiety, disease, coronary heart disease, etc.

Question 7

stress types

Answer 7

• Type A: more stressed, impatient, competitive, angry when things don’t go the way they want; more heart disease
• Type B: more easygoing, relaxed; less heart disease

Question 8

psychophysical illness

Answer 8

• any stress-related physical illness

- ex. hypertension, headaches, etc.

Question 9

immune system

Answer 9

during stress, energy mobilized away from immune system -> immune system more vulnerable

Question 10

stress and AIDS

Answer 10

• stress accelerates progression from HIV to AIDS

- psychosocial programs create behavioural interventions to slow spread of AIDS (ex. ABC)

Question 11

stress and cancer

Answer 11

• unclear if stress influences progression (does not cause)

- avoiding stress does not reverse advanced cancer

Question 12

conditioning immune system

Answer 12

• step 1: giving drug that suppresses immune system
• step 2: giving drug that suppresses immune system as well as sweetened water
• step 3: giving sweetened water now suppresses immune system
• replace the drug in the example with stress -> when stress is tied to activities we do often, those activities end up suppressing our immune system

Question 13

health-related consequences of stress

Answer 13

persistent stressors and negative emotions cause unhealthy behaviours as well as release of stress hormones, which can then cause heart disease, immune suppression, and autonomic nervous system effects (headache, hypertension)

Question 14

2 types of coping

Answer 14

• problem-focused coping

- emotion-focused coping

Question 15

problem-focused coping

Answer 15

• changing events that cause stress

- ex. dropping a stressful class

Question 16

emotion-focused coping

Answer 16

• attending to our own emotional needs when we can’t change a stressful situation
• ex. venting to your friends about your stressful class

Question 17

perceived control

Answer 17

• in rat experiment, “executive” rat and “control” rat equally less likely to develop stomach ulcers -> even though executive rat still got shocked, the fact that it still had control over situation reduced stress
• subordinate rat likely to develop stomach ulcers as it had no control
• therefore, it’s not just the stressor that matters, it’s our perceived control of the stressor

Question 18

optimistic explanatory style

Answer 18

• more control over stressors
• cope better with stressful events
• have better moods
• have stronger immune system

Question 19

3 ways to manage stress and health

Answer 19

• sense of control
• optimistic explanatory style
• social support (declines as we age)
• aerobic exercise

Question 20

4 ways to reduce anxiety/tension

Answer 20

1. biofeedback: hooking someone up to a machine to measure sympathetic response -> patient tries to get number down to lower response
2. relaxation: ex. tensing and relaxing muscles
3. meditation: ex. mindfulness
4. spirituality and faith communities: regular religious attendance = reduced risk of death (leads to healthier behaviours, more social support, more positive emotions, etc.)

Question 21

3 things correlated with lower risk of death

Answer 21

1. not smoking
2. regular exercise
3. weekly religious attendance

Question 22

why do people keep smoking?

Answer 22

• negative reinforcement: removes unpleasant cravings/withdrawal symptoms, takes away stress
• positive reinforcement: nicotine is rewarding (triggers dopamine), social activity

Question 23

tend-and-befriend

Answer 23

under stress, people (especially women) often provide support to others (tend) and bond with/seek support from others (befriend)

Question 24

psychoneuroimmunology

Answer 24

study of how psychological, neural, and endocrine processes affect the immune system and resulting health (mind-body interactions)

Question 25

learned helplessness

Answer 25

hopelessness and passive resignation and animal or human learns when unable to avoid repeated aversive events (ex. subordinate rat in rat experiments)

Question 26

external locus of control

Answer 26

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

Question 27

internal locus of control

Answer 27

perception that we control our own fate

Question 28

self-control

Answer 28

• ability to control impulses an delay short-term gratification for greater long-term rewards
• predicts good health, higher income, and better grades