Chapter 14

Question 1

Smoking

Answer 1

Tobacco use → One the most widely studied health behaviors.

Associated with: Lung, mouth, throat cancer, heart disease, pulmonary diseases.

Life expectancy: 7-14 years shorter.

Question 2

Why do people smoke?

Answer 2

Media exposure.
Exposure to movies featuring smoking
associated with smoking in adolescence.

Increase in prevalant smoking in movies –> increase in smoking adolescent smoking rate. Opposite pattern is observed when smoking in movies decrease.

Question 3

Efforts to prevent smoking

Answer 3

Banning smoking in public places: reduce the risk of second-hand exposure.

Increasing taxes on tobacco: raises funds for healthcare and anti-smoking campaigns.

Text/pictorial warnings on packaging: pictures are mor effective, 40% of the Canadians quit smoking afterwords.

Question 4

Social contagion

Answer 4

Spreading of a behavior as a result of social
interactions.

Usually subtle, unintentional. Can apply to various health-related behaviors.

Question 5

Poverty

Answer 5

Positive correlation btw health and wealth.

Increased stress associated with poverty, discrimination, and other social stressors.
Higher rates of depression, anxiety, and
other health problems.

Question 6

Prejudice and discrimination associated with…

Answer 6

Increased blood pressure, heart rate –> cardiovascular diseases.

Greater influence of unhealthy behaviors.

Prolonged stress response, increased levels of stress hormones.

Question 7

Family and social environment influences

Answer 7

Long-term isolation can be as dangerous as smoking, obesity, high blood pressure.

Proven long-term health benefits of marriage, but increased marital/relationship issues associated with higher rates of depression and physical illness.

Question 8

Social resilience

Answer 8

Ability to keep positive relationships and to endure, recover from social isolation and life stressors.

Question 9

Stress

Answer 9

Psychological and physiological reaction that occurs when perceived demands exceed existing resources to meet those demands.

Stressor: The event/ stimulus
Stress response: The experience in response to the event.

Question 10

Cognitive Appraisal Theory of Stress
(Lazarus & Folkman, 1984)

Answer 10

Appraisal → Cognitive act of assessing and evaluating the potential threat and demands of an event.

1. Primary appraisal –> Perception of potential threat → “Is this a threat?”
   No: no stress
   Yes: Physiological stress reaction, emotional reaction
2. Secondary appraisal –> “How do I cope with this threat?”
   Adequate coping: no more stress
   Inadequate coping: More stress

Question 11

General Adaptation Syndrome

Answer 11

Theory of stress responses involving alarm, resistance, and exhaustion.

Question 12

Brain and disease

Answer 12

Stress impairs the body’s ability to respond to vaccinations –> complicates long-term vaccinations.

Stress levels affect cancer progression.
Norepinephrine supports cancer cell growth. Cortisol magnifies norepinephrine’s influence on cancer cell growth.

Question 13

Personality and Heart Disease

Answer 13

Type ‘A’ Personality
* Describes people who tend to be impatient and worry about time, are easily
angered, competitive, and highly motivated.

• More likely to have heart attacks

Type ‘B’ Personality
* Describes people who are more ‘laid-back’ and characterized as being patient,
easygoing, and relaxed.

Question 14

Coping

Answer 14

Processes used to manage demands, stress, and conflict.

Problem focused coping –> 1. Define the problem, 2. Work toward a solution.

Emotion-focused coping –> Finding ways to reduce negative effects of emotions.

Question 15

Positive psychology

Answer 15

Uses scientific methods to study human strengths and potential.

Focus on positive emotions.

Question 16

Broaden-and-Build Theory of Positive Emotions

Answer 16

Positive emotions help people broaden their thought processes and build new intellectual, social, and physical resources.

***Positive emotions can affect how we perceive and think about the world.

***Positive emotions increase the rate at which our heartrate returns to normal
following a fearful stimulus

Question 17

Positive and negative emotions

Answer 17

Positive emotions: positive emotions help people broaden their thought processes and build new intellectual, social, and physical resources.

Negative emotions: narrow attentional focus

Question 18

Optimism

Answer 18

Tendency to have a favorable, constructive view on situations and to expect positive outcomes.

Correlated with better physical health, lower rates of coronary heart disease.

Question 19

Pessimism

Answer 19

Tendency to have a negative perception of life and expect negative outcomes.

Correlated with increased mortality rate.

Question 20

Pessimistic Explanatory Style

Answer 20

Tendency to interpret and explain negative events as internally based and as a constant, stable quality.

Question 21

Negative Affectivity

Answer 21

Tendency to respond to problems with a pattern of anxiety, hostility, anger, guilt, or nervousness.

Question 22

Resilience

Answer 22

Ability to effectively recover from illness or adversity.

Factors contributing to resilience:
*Financial and social resources
* Opportunities for rest and relaxation
* Generally positive experiences, circumstances.

But, a person’s personality and emotional characteristics (e.g. optimism) will also contribute to their resilience.

Question 23

Post traumatic growth

Answer 23

Capacity to grow and experience long-term positive effects in response to
negative events.

Often associated with feelings of vulnerability, followed by increased feelings of inner-strength, appreciation, spirituality…

Growth occurs during coping.

Question 24

Coping strategies

Answer 24

Meditation–> procedure that involves a shift in consciousness to a state in which an individual in highly focused, aware, and in control of mental processes.

***Focused attention meditation, open monitoring meditation.

Yoga –> directed breathing while moving body into specific poses.

Exercise –> can cause increases in dopamine, epinephrine, and BDNF.

Question 25

Meditation

Answer 25

Farb et al. (2007)
When trained meditators focus on thoughts and bodily reactions to a word in an fMRI → Increase in areas related to perception of bodily senses, and larger decrease in activity in the medial prefrontal cortex.

Helps us separate ourselves from our own self-narratives.

Question 26

Stress and performance

Answer 26

Easy tasks: Moderate/high arousal helps.
Difficult tasks: Low arousal helps

Question 27

Individual Zone of Optimal Functioning

Answer 27

A range of emotional intensity in which a person is most likely to perform at
their best.