Exam 3 Flashcards
Stress
physical and psychological response to internal or external stressors
Internal stressor example
stressful thoughts
External stressor ex.
job/school
Stressors
events or chronic pressures that place demands on a person or threatens their well being
HPA
hypothalamus, pituitary gland, adrenal gland;
fight or flight emotional and physiological response to react to emergency by increasing readiness to take action
general adaptation syndrome (GAS); Selye’s 3 phase stress response
- alarm phase
“fight-or-flight” response - resistance phase
longest phase coping with stress/ recovery phase - exhaustion
reserves depleted; burnout after dealing with chorinic stress
What stress inducing factor increases risk of heart health
hostility
-used to think it was type A personality
What can stressors due to hormone levels?
increase hormone levels, flooding the brain and wearing down immune system, making it less able to fight invaders
**hormones: glucocorticoids
Stress management: cognitive stress interpretation
-primary appraisal: interpretation of whether stimuli is stressful or not
-secondary appraisal: decide whether or no it is in your control (more stress when out of control)
Stress management: coping
-repressive/avoidant coping: avoid situation/stressor; artificially positive feeling
-rational coping: facing stressor and working/planning to get through
Stress management: Reframing
finding a new way to think about the stressor to reduce its threat;
-Stress Inoculation Training (SIT): therapy that helps people cope with stress by developing positive thinking/ reframing skills (ex. mindfulness)
Stress management: body stress management (3)
-relaxation therapy: consciously relaxing muscles
-> relaxation response (relaxed muscles, slower heart rate and breath, blood pressure regulation)
-Biofeedback: use of external device to obtain feedback about body (breathing, blood pressure, etc) and gain physical control
-aerobic exercise: increase serotonin and endorphins
Stress management: situation management
-social support: aid from others
*tend and befriend response (seek support from others under stress; women more likely)
-Humor
Personality and Stress response: health promoting factors
-low stress reactivity
-dispositional optimism
-high hardiness (bounce back/resilience)
-High self efficacy
-high emotional stability
Personality and Stress response: health inhibiting factors
-high stress reactivity
-low self efficacy
-low emotional stability
-low hardiness
-negative affective style/neural circulity
Optimism
notice the good in the bad; more likely to rebound from a stressor more quickly
Hardiness
ability to bounce back/ more relient; better at handling stress
Health psychology
psychological factors influence causes and treatment of physical illness and maintenance of health
Oxytocin
stress hormone released in stress response that makes people seek support/ connection to deal with stress
Positive Psychology; positive psychotherapy
treatment of depression/mental illness that focuses on increasing positive emotions, engagement and meaning instead of targeting negative symptoms
positive psychotherapy methods
-write your own obituary/biography to set goals and find what your desired meaning is
-savoring; slowing down and appreciating mundane
-gratitude; journal, write letter, thank someone you appreciate
Gratitude
a warm sense of appreciation; sense of goodwill; *disposition to act positivity from appreciation and goodwill
GQ-6
-test to measure gratitude by asking true or false questions;
ex. i have so much in my life to be grateful for
-high sores: more positive emotion, life satisfaction, vitality, optimism and lower depression and stress
Social Psychology
branch of psychology concerned with how other influence the way a person thinks, feels and behaves; how people are influenced by social structures and environments
Social Psychology: key 2 points
1) we vastly underestimate power of situation in shaping behavior of ourselves and others
2)a great deal of mental activity occurs implicitly/ automatically outside of conscious awareness
Fundamental Attribution Error
idea that personality matters more than situation regarding a person’s behavior
Actor-observer discrepancy
forgiving ourselves for a behavior (being aware of situational factors that influence) that we would not forgive others for (blame on their person)
Just World Hypothesis
justify something that happens to someone by saying they deserved it/ in some way something they did prompted it
*victim blaming
Stereotypes
cognitive schemas that organize info about people based on certain group membership
Confirmation Bias and steroytypes
because of this bias, people will think of something they see as being outside of their stereotype as an exception instead of reforming their stereotype
prejudice
emotional/attitudinal response associated with a stereotype; stereotypes influence perception implicitly or explicitly
Ingroup/outgroup bias
development of negative associations between a negative event and members of an outgroup; ingroup favoritism
Outgroup homogeneity effect
idea that everyone in an outgroup is the same
ex. maine Shooting (don’t by someone with schizophrenia)
-idea that everyone with major mental illness is dangerous