Chapter 4

Question 1

Explain

Giving Up– Explain what happens in Learned helplessness: Include animal example

Answer 1

Learned helplessness is passive behavior produced by exposure to unavoidable aversive events.

Animals were shocked with no chance of escaping, they then were given a chance to escape but many animals didn’t even try to learn the escape response.

Question 2

Acting Aggresively: What happens when a person uses Displacement?

What is Catharsis?

What did experimental research conclude about the effect of Catharsis on Aggression?

What has research shown on the effect of viewing and playing violent video games?

Answer 2

A person takes out their anger on a substitute target.

Catharsis: Freud’s term to refer to the release of emotional tension.

Most studies find that behaving in an aggressive manner tends to fuel more anger and aggression.

Playing violent games was related to increased aggression, physiological arousal, and aggressive thoughts and to decreased pro-social behavior. Desensitizes to violent acts and encourages aggressive self-views and automatic aggressive responses.

Question 3

Indulging Yourself.

Give examples.

Answer 3

When things are going poorly in one area of your life, you try to compensate by pursuing substitute forms of satisfaction.

Shopping spree
Drinking, Smoking, Gambling, Drug use

Question 4

Describe internet addiction

People who exhibit this syndrome feel what when they are not online?

Answer 4

Consists of spending an inordinate amount of time on the internet and an inability to control online use.

Anxious, depressed, or empty.

Question 5

Blaming Yourself- Explain how catastrophic thinking is shown by negative self-talk

Answer 5

People often unreasonably attribute their failures to personal shortcomings,

Focus on negative feedback while ignoring favorable feedback,

Make unduly pessimistic projections about the future.

Question 6

Defense Mechanisms
What do they defend against?
How do they work?

Answer 6

Largely unconscious reactions that protect a person from unpleasant emotions such as anxiety and guilt

They defend against emotional discomfort.

They work through self-deception

Question 7

Defense Mechanisms
Denial:
Fantasy:
Isolation:
Undoing:

Answer 7

Denial: Refusal to acknowledge or face up to unpleasant realities in one’s life

Fantasy: Fulfilling conscious or unconscious wishes and impulses in one’s imagination

Undoing: Attempting to counteract feelings of guilty through acts of atonement

Question 8

What are positive illusions? How do they work?

Answer 8

An example is individuals diagnosed with AIDS show that those with unrealistically optimistic expectations of the course of their disease actually experience a less rapid course of illness.

Positive illusions are illusions that can actually help the person having them.

Question 9

There are three major types of Constructive coping Tactics. List them.

Answer 9

Appraisal-focused strategies

Problem-focused strategies

Emotion-focused strategies

Question 10

Appraisal-Focused Constructive Coping

What is Ellis’ Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy?

Answer 10

An approach to therapy that focuses on altering clients’ patterns of irrational thinking to reduce maladaptive emotions and behavior

Question 11

Appraisal-Focused Constructive Coping

What is Catastrophic Thinking?

Answer 11

Involved unrealistic appraisals of stress that exaggerate the magnitude of one’s problems.

Question 12

Appraisal-Focused Constructive Coping

Explain 3 steps in the A-B-C model.

Date example, personal example

Answer 12

A-Activating event. Event that produces stress
B-Belief system. Belief about event/appraisal of the stress
C-Consequence. Consequence of your negative thinking.

A-Stood up on a date
B- “This is terrible, ill never find anyone”
C- Emotional turmoil: Angry, anxious, agitated, dejected

Question 13

Appraisal-Focused Constructive Coping

List any 2 of the 4 common irrational assumptions that people may have

Answer 13

“I must have love and affection from certain people”

“I must perform well in all endeavors.”

“Other people should always behave competently and be considerate of me”

“Events should always go the way I like”

Question 14

Appraisal-Focused Constructive Coping

One way to reduce catastrophic thinking is to avoid using which words?

Answer 14

Should, ought, always, never, and must.

Question 15

Appraisal-Focused Constructive Coping

Example of using humor as a stress reducer.

Answer 15

a

Question 16

Explain Positive Reinterpretation and give the example of searching for something good in a bad experience.

Answer 16

Engaging in a mindset such as
“Things could be worse”

Or looking for the good in a bad experience.
for example, you lose your job but realize that you now have a lot more free time for your hobbies.

Question 17

Problem-Focused Constructive Coping

How would you use Systematic Problem Solving? What is brainstorming?

Answer 17

Clarify the Problem
Generate Alternative Courses of Action
Evaluate Your Alternatives and Select Course of Action
Take Action While Maintaining Flexibility

Brainstorming: Generating as many ideas as possible while withholding criticism and evaluation. Part of Stage 2

Question 18

Problem-Focused Constructive Coping

Seeking help—How might cultural factors play a role?

Answer 18

Especially seen in who seeks social support.
Asians are less likely to seek support than Europeans

Different cultures are more collectivist than others.

Culture may also be a factor in what kind of support you want

Question 19

Emotion-Focused Constructive Coping

Emotional Intelligence includes 4 essential components. What are they?

Answer 19

Emotional Intelligence: Consist of ability to 
perceive and express emotion, 
use emotions to factilitate thought, 
understand and reason with emotion, 
and regulate emotion.

Question 20

What did Pennebaker find when he ha students write three essays about their college difficulties?

Answer 20

Those who write about personal problems is associated with improved mood, more positive self-perceptions, fewer visits to physicians, and enhanced immune functioning.

Talking about personal issues can be beneficial.

Question 21

What does research show about forgiving?

Answer 21

Forgiving is an effective emotion-focused coping strategy associated with better adjustment and well-being. Also a lower chance for heart attacks and other types of illnesses.

Question 22

What type of problems can be helped with regular exercise?

Answer 22

Emotions related to stress.
An outlet for frustration
Distraction from stressor
Benefits physical and psychological health

Question 23

Explain how meditation works. Is it possible to attain similar results with other relaxation techniques?

Answer 23

Meditation: A family of mental exercises in which a conscious attempt is made to focus attention in a nonanalytical way.

Works due to increase in positive emotions brought on by meditative techniques.

Four essential factors
Quiet Environment
Mental Device
Passive Attitude
Comfortable Position

Question 24

Koenig and others have found that spirituality has been linked to

Which type of religious involvement is detrimental to mental health?

Answer 24

Better physical and mental health.

Religious involvement that focuses on punishments or guilt.

Question 25

Explain how the following is a problem in time management

Inability to:
Stick to priorities
Say "No"
Delegate Responsibility
Throw things away
Avoid Interruptions
Accept anything less than perfection

Answer 25

People deal with routine, trivial tasks ahead of larger and more difficult tasks.

People end up fulfilling others’ priorities instead of their own

People who cant delegate waste a lot of time on trivial work or other’s work

End up reshuffling the same paper, rereading the same mail, resorting same files, and so on.

Friends stop by when we are studying, coworkers want to chat while we are working under deadlines, family emergencies arise, etc.

People expect their work to be flawless, cant let go, they dwell on minor problems and make microscopic changes in the papers, projects.

Question 26

Problem of procrastination–Why do people procrastinate?

Answer 26

Desire to minimize time on a task
Desire to optimize efficiency
Close proximity to reward.

Its also related to low self-efficacy, low conscientiousness, lack of self-control, poor organization, low achievement motivation, and high distractability

Question 27

Tice & Baumeister found time management was a better predictor of college GPA than ___

Answer 27

SAT scores

Question 28

Explain how each of the following time-saver suggestions works

Handle paper once
Tackle one task at a time
Group similar tasks together
Make use of your downtime

Answer 28

If a letter or email gets to you it should not be stashed away to be read again and again before you deal with them. Deal with it immediately

Jumping from one problem to another is inefficient. Stick with one till done.

Good idea to bunch up small tasks that are similar

In downtime situations try to get some of your easier work done.