Chapter 14

Question 1

Health psychology

Answer 1

A subfield of psychology that emphasizes psychology’s role in establishing and maintaining health and preventing and treating illness.

Question 2

Behavioral medicine

Answer 2

An interdisciplinary field that focuses on developing and integrating behavioral and biomedical knowledge to promote health and reduce illness; overlaps with and is sometimes indistinguishable from health psychology.

Question 3

Health behaviors

Answer 3

Practices that have an impact on physical well-being.

Question 4

The Stages of Change Model

Answer 4

Theoretical model describing a five-step process by which individuals give up bad habits and adopt healthier lifestyles.

Question 5

Precontemplation

Answer 5

occurs when individuals are not yet genuinely thinking about change.

Question 6

Contemplation

Answer 6

people acknowledge the problem but may not be ready to commit to change

Question 7

Preparation/Determination

Answer 7

people are getting ready to take action.

Question 8

Action/willpower

Answer 8

people commit to making a real behavioral change and enate an effective plan.

Question 9

Maintenance

Answer 9

people successfully avoid temptation and consistently pursue healthy habits.

Question 10

Relapse

Answer 10

A return to former unhealthy patterns.

Question 11

General adaptation syndrome (GAS)

Answer 11

Selye’s term for the common effects of stressful demands on the body, consisting of three stages: alarm, resistance, and exhaustion.

Question 12

Alarm

Answer 12

temporary state of shock during which resistance to illness and stress fall below normal limits.

Question 13

Resistance

Answer 13

glands throughout the body manufacture different hormones that protect the individual.

Question 14

Exhaustion

Answer 14

wear and tear take a toll and the individual might collapse in exhaustion, and vulnerability to disease increases.

Question 15

Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA axis)

Answer 15

The complex set of interactions among the hypothalamus, the pituitary gland, and the adrenal glands that regulate various body processes and control reactions to stressful events.

Question 16

Psychoneuroimmunology

Answer 16

A new field of scientific inquiry that explores connections among psychological factors (such as attitudes and emotions), the nervous system, and the immune system.

Question 17

Type A behavior pattern

Answer 17

A cluster of characteristics—including being excessively competitive, hard-driven, impatient, and hostile—that is related to a higher incidence of heart disease.

Question 18

Type B behavior pattern

Answer 18

A cluster of characteristics—including being relaxed and easygoing—that is related to a lower incidence of heart disease.

Question 19

Type D behavior pattern

Answer 19

A cluster of characteristics—including being generally distressed, having negative emotions, and being socially inhibited—that is related to adverse cardiovascular outcomes.

Question 20

Stress and cancer

Answer 20

Stress has been related to cancer risk. It sets in motion biological changes involving the autonomic, endocrine, and immune systems. If the immune system is not compromised, it appears to help provide resistance to cancer and slow its progression.

Question 21

Health disparities

Answer 21

refer to often preventable differences in physical functioning (including disease, injury, and violence) and psychological functioning (including depression and anxiety) that are experienced by socially disadvantaged groups.

Question 22

Cognitive appraisal

Answer 22

Individuals’ interpretation of the events in their life as harmful, threatening, or challenging and their determination of whether they have the resources to cope effectively with the events.

Question 23

Primary:

Answer 23

individuals interpret whether an event involves harm or loss that has already occurred, a threat of some future danger, or a challenge to be overcome.

Question 24

Secondary:

Answer 24

people evaluate their resources and determine how effective they can be marshaled to cope with the event.

Question 25

Coping

Answer 25

Managing taxing circumstances, expending effort to solve life’s problems, and seeking to master or reduce stress.

Question 26

Problem-focused coping

Answer 26

The coping strategy of squarely facing one’s troubles and trying to solve them.

Question 27

Emotion-focused coping

Answer 27

The coping strategy that involves responding to the stress that one is feeling—trying to manage one’s emotional reaction—rather than focusing on the root problem itself.

Question 28

Positive reappraisal

Answer 28

Reinterpreting a potentially stressful experience as positive, valuable, or even beneficial

Question 29

Optimism

Answer 29

refers to looking on the bright side and having positive expectations for the future.

Question 30

Hardiness

Answer 30

A personality trait characterized by a sense of commitment rather than alienation and of control rather than powerlessness; a perception of problems as challenges rather than threats.

Question 31

Stress management programs

Answer 31

A regimen that teaches individuals how to appraise stressful events, how to develop skills for coping with stress, and how to put these skills into use in everyday life.

Question 32

Alice F. Chang, Ph.D.

Answer 32

Alice F. Chang, PhD, is a scientist-practitioner and founder of the Academy for Cancer Wellness, a nonprofit organization benefiting individuals diagnosed with cancer, and their relatives and friends. She was born in Ithaca, New York. In 1973, she earned a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Most notably, she was the first ethnic minority woman to serve on the American Psychological Association (APA) Board of Directors.