Exam 2 Flashcards
Stressor
Any event or situation that triggers coping adjustments.
Stress
The process by which we perceive and respond to events (stressors) that we appraise as threatening or challenging.
Population Density
A measure of crowding based on the total number of people in an area of limited size.
Crowding
A psychological state in which people believe that they do not have enough space to function as they wish.
Social-Evaluative Threat
A stressor in which people fear negative evaluation by others of their appearance or ability.
Employee Engagement
Work environments that satisfy one’s need to belong by offering positive relationships with colleagues energize employees. The extent to which workers feel involved and enthusiastic and identify with their jobs.
Stereotype Threat
The experience of threat in a situation where a person’s ability, appearance, or other characteristics has the potential to confirm a negative viewpoint about his or her social group.
Scarcity Hypothesis
Because they only have so much time and energy, women with competing demands suffer from role overload (balancing several different jobs at the same time) and conflicts.
Role Overload
Having so many roles in society, such as being a mother, employee, daughter, wife, etc.
Enhancement Hypothesis
Argues that the benefits of meaningful work in enhancing a worker’s self-esteem outweigh the costs.
Burnout
A job-related state of physical and psychological exhaustion. Especially for jobs that involve the responsibility for others appear to have higher burnout levels like police officers, doctors, social workers, etc.
Role Ambiguity
Occurs when workers are unsure of their jobs or the standards used to evaluate their performances.
Role Conflict
When a worker receives mixed messages about these issues from different supervisors/co-workers.
Shiftwork
Continuous staffing of a workplace by groups of employees who work at different times.
Acculturation
The process by which a member of one ethnic or racial group adopts the values, customs, and behaviors of another.
Sympatho-adreno-medullary (SAM) System
The body’s initial, rapid-acting response to stress (fight-or-flight), involving the release of epinephrine/adrenaline and norepinephrine/noradrenaline from the adrenal medulla under the direction of the sympathetic nervous system.
Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) System
The body’s delayed response to stress, involving the secretion of corticosteroid hormones from the adrenal cortex. Functions to restore the body back to its baseline state (homeostasis). Activated by messages relayed from the CNS to the hypothalamus, which in turn secretes corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), which stimulates the production of ACTH by the pituitary gland, which activates the adrenal gland to secrete corticosteroids.
Homeostasis
The tendency to maintain a balanced or constant internal state; the regulation of any aspect of body chemistry, such as the level of glucose in the blood, around a particular set point.
Corticosteroids
Hormones produced by the adrenal cortex that fight inflammation, promote healing, and trigger the release of stored energy.
Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA)
A method of measuring stress that involves repeated sampling of people’s behaviors and experiences in real time, and in their natural environment.
Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI)
The field of research that emphasizes the interaction of psychological, neural, and immunological processes in stress and illness and how it effects our health.
Stressor->Appraisal->Thoughts->Feelings->Brain Signals->Hormonal Action->Immune Suppression->Risk of Illness.
Direct Effect Hypothesis
Stress directly influences the nervous, endocrine, and immune systems, each of which can lead to disease. Immunosuppression is part of the body’s natural response to stress.
Indirect Effect Hypothesis
Suggests that immunosuppression is an aftereffect of the stress response.
Allostatic Load (Allostasis)
The cumulative long-term effects of the body’s physiological response to stress.
Glucocorticoid Receptor (GCR) Resistance Model
The idea that chronic stress promotes development and progression of disease by reducing the sensitivity of immune system receptors to glucocorticoid hormones such as cortisol, thereby interfering with the body’s ability to regulate the inflammatory response.
Immunosuppression Model
Stress reduces immunity by a) activating ANS fibers that descend from the brain to the immune tissue, b) triggering the secretion of hormones that bind to WBCs and alter their functioning, and c) inducing immunosuppressive coping behaviors, such as poor diet and substance abuse.
General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)
Selye’s term for the body’s reaction to stress, which consists of three stages: alarm (mobilize coping resources and resistance to stress is suppressed temporarily), resistance (continue coping with stressor but become more irritable and there is an increase in resistance to stress), and exhaustion (resources depleted and increase in vulnerability to health problems).
Transactional Model
Lazarus’ theory that the experience of stress depends as much on the individual’s cognitive appraisal of a potential stressor’s impact as it does on the event or situation itself.
Cognitive Appraisal Involves Assessing
1) Whether a situation or event threatens our well-being, 2) Whether there are sufficient personal resources available for coping with the demand, and 3) Whether our strategy for dealing with the situation/event is working.
Primary Appraisal
A person’s initial determination of an event’s meaning, whether irrelevant, benign-positive, or threatening.
Secondary Appraisal
A person’s determination of whether his or her own resources and abilities are sufficient to meet the demands of an event that is appraised (assessed) as potentially threatening or challenging.
Increase in threat/challenge + decrease in coping resources = stress.
Cognitive Reappraisal
The process by which potentially stressful events are constantly reevaluated.
Diathesis-Stress Model
The model that proposes that two interacting factors determine an individual’s susceptibility to stress and illness: predisposing factors in the person (such as genetic vulnerability) and precipitating factors from the environment (such as traumatic experiences).
Reacitivity
Our physiological reaction to stress, which varies by individuals and affects our vulnerability to illness.