Chapter 14

Question 1

Define stressor

Answer 1

specific events or chronic pressures that place demands on a person or threaten the person’s well-being

Question 2

Define stress

Answer 2

the physical and psychological response to internal or external stressors

Question 3

Define health psychology

Answer 3

the subfield of psychology concerned with ways psychological factors influence the causes and treatment of physical illness and the maintenance of health

Question 4

What is the relationship between stress and whether or not you have perceived control?

Answer 4

perceived control leads to less stress i.e. when participants were given task and loud noise played sporadically, they did worse than group that was told they could use button to turn off noise; also crowding

Question 5

What is the biological path initiated during stress referred to as the HPA axis?

Answer 5

1) hypothalamus activates
2) pituitary gland to release
3) ACTH, which travels through the
4) bloodstream to activate the
5) adrenal glands atop the kidneys to release
6) catecholamines (epinephrine and norepinephrine) which increase sympathetic nervous system activation and decrease parasympathetic n.s; inc. respiration and blood pressure
7) and cortisol, which inc. concentration of glucose in blood to make fuel available to muscles

Question 6

What is General Adaptation Syndrome?

Answer 6

a three-stage physiological response that appears regardless of the stressor that is encountered; nonspecific

Question 7

What are the three phases of General Adaptation Syndrome?

Answer 7

1. Alarm Phase- body mobilizes resources to respond to threat; fight-or-flight
2. Resistance Phase- body adapts to high state of arousal as it tries to cope w/stressor; shuts down unnecessary processes like digestion and growth
3. Exhaustion Phase- resistance collapses; body susceptibility to infection, aging, etc. increases

Question 8

What are telomeres?

Answer 8

caps at the end of the chromosomes that prevent the chromosomes from sticking to each other

Question 9

What is telomerase?

Answer 9

an enzyme that rebuilds telomeres at the tips of chromosomes

Question 10

What are Type A individuals?

Answer 10

a tendency toward easily aroused hostility, impatience, a sense of time urgency, and competitive achievement strivings

Question 11

How are Type A and Type B individuals different in their proclivity to experience heart attacks?

Answer 11

2/3s of men who had heart attacks after study were Type A

Question 12

Define primary appraisal and use example experiment

Answer 12

interpretation of a stimulus as stressful or not i.e. when ppl viewed circumcision w/no context were more stressed vs group told a/b its traditional aspect

Question 13

Define secondary appraisal and use example

Answer 13

determining whether the stressor is something you can handle or not; threat vs. challenge i.e. midterm exam is challenge if well prepared, threat if didn’t study

Question 14

Define burnout

Answer 14

a state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion resulting from long-term involvement in an emotionally demanding situation and accompanied by lowered performance and motivation i.e. teacher

Question 15

What are three ways in which an individual can cope with stress?

Answer 15

1) repressive coping
2) rational coping
3) reframing

Question 16

What is repressive coping?

Answer 16

avoiding feelings, thoughts, or situations that are reminders of a stressor and maintaining an artificially positive viewpoint

Question 17

What is rational coping?

Answer 17

facing the stressor and working to overcome it; acceptance, exposure, understanding

Question 18

What is reframing?

Answer 18

finding a new or creative way to think about a stressor that reduces its threat i.e. stress-inoculation training (SIT)

Question 19

What is the evidence that meditation helps coping?

Answer 19

lengthens telomerase (reduces adverse affect of stress)
less mind-wandering, more emotional control

Question 20

What is biofeedback?

Answer 20

the use of an external monitoring device to obtain information about a bodily function and possibly gain control over that function i.e. heart rate, breathing, brain electrical activity, skin temp