Chapter Fourteen: Stress, Lifestyle, and Health

Question 1

What is the process whereby an individual perceives and responds to events that they appraise as overwhelming or threatening to their well-being?

Answer 1

Stress

Question 2

What are demanding or threatening events called?

Answer 2

Stressors

Question 3

What is the judgment about the degree of potential harm or threat to well-being that a stressor might entail?

Answer 3

Primary Appraisal

Question 4

What is the judgment of the options available to cope with a stressor, and perceptions of how effective those options will be?

Answer 4

Secondary Appraisal

Question 5

What is the good kind of stress?

Answer 5

Eustress

Question 6

What is the bad kind of stress?

Answer 6

Distress

Question 7

What is the subfield of psychology devoted to understanding the importance of psychological influences on health, illness, and how people respond when they become ill?

Answer 7

Health Psychology

Question 8

What are the reactions that occur when a person experiences very strong emotions, especially those associated with a perceived threat?

Answer 8

Flight-or-Fight Response

Question 9

What are the body’s nonspecific physiological responses to stress?

Answer 9

General Adaption Syndrome

Question 10

What is the body’s immediate reaction upon facing a threatening situation?

Answer 10

Alarm Reaction

Question 11

When the initial shock wears off and the body adapts to the stressor yet the body remains alert, it is called:

Answer 11

Stage of Resistance

Question 12

When a person no longer adapts to the stressor and the body depletes the resistance to illness, disease, and damage, it is called:

Answer 12

Stage of Exhaustion

Question 13

The ____ ____ ____ _____ and the ____ ____ ____ are involved in the physiological mechanisms of stress.

Answer 13

Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis and Sympathetic Nervous System

Question 14

What is the stress hormone that provides a boost of energy when encountering a stressor?

Answer 14

Cortisol

Question 15

What are the 43 life events that require varying degrees of personal readjustment?

Answer 15

Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS)

Question 16

What are the minor irritations that are part of our everyday lives?

Answer 16

Daily Hassles

Question 17

What is a work situation that combines excessive job demands and workload with little discretion in decision-making or job control?

Answer 17

Job Strain

Question 18

What is the general sense of emotional exhaustion and cynicism in relation to one’s job?

Answer 18

Job Burnout

Question 19

What are the physical disorders or diseases whose symptoms are brought about or worsened by stress and emotional factors?

Answer 19

Psychophysiological Disorders

Question 20

What is the body’s surveillance system from invading toxins and microorganisms?

Answer 20

Immune System

Question 21

What is the decreased effectiveness of the immune system?

Answer 21

Immunosupression

Question 22

What is the field that studies how psychological factors like stress influence the immune system and immune functioning?

Answer 22

Psychoneuroimmunology

Question 23

Stress hormones inhibit the production of ____ or white blood cells.

Answer 23

Lymphocytes

Question 24

What is the main focal point due to the cardiovascular system’s centrality in the stress response?

Answer 24

Cardiovascular Disorders

Question 25

A ____ ____ person is an intensively driven workaholic.

Answer 25

Type A

Question 26

A ____ ____ person is relaxed and laid back.

Answer 26

Type B

Question 27

What is the tendency to experience distressing emotional states involving anger, contempt, disgust, fear, and nervousness?

Answer 27

Negative Affectivity

Question 28

What is the chronic disease in which the airways become obstructed, leading to great difficulty expelling air from the lungs?

Answer 28

Asthma

Question 29

What are the mental and behavioral efforts that we use to deal with problems relating to stress, including its presumed cause and the unpleasant feelings it produces?

Answer 29

Coping

Question 30

What are our beliefs about our personal capacity to exert influence over and shape outcomes and major implications for health and happiness?

Answer 30

Perceived Control

Question 31

What is the soothing impact of friends, family, and acquaintances?

Answer 31

Social Support

Question 32

What combines relaxation and transcendental meditation with four components: sit upright with feet on the ground, be in a quiet environment with closed eyes, repeat a mantra, and focus on pleasant thoughts?

Answer 32

Relaxation Response Technique

Question 33

What uses electronic equipment to measure a person’s neuromuscular and autonomic activity to develop strategies to gain control of involuntary bodily processes?

Answer 33

Biofeedback

Question 34

What is the enduring state of mind consisting of joy, contentment, and other positive emotions?

Answer 34

Happiness

Question 35

What is the science of happiness to identify and promote qualities that lead to greater fulfillment in our lives?

Answer 35

Positive Psychology

Question 36

What is the pleasurable engagement with the environment?

Answer 36

Positive Affect

Question 37

What is the general tendency to look on the bright side of things?

Answer 37

Optimisms

Question 38

What is a particular experience that is so engaging that it becomes worth doing for its own sake?

Answer 38

Flow