Final Exam Flashcards
Stress
A response elicited when a situation overwhelms a person’s perceived ability to meet the demands of a situation.
Fight or Flight
Fight: Triggered by aggression and evolved to defend territorial boundaries or attack aggressors.
Flight: Induced by fear and evolved to enable prolonged movement to run away or hide/withdraw from threat.
(Walter Cannon)
General Adaptation Syndrome
3 inherent stages to body’s reaction to stress: alarm,resistance and exhaustion.(Hans Selye)
Alarm Phase
The theat is perceived and the nervous system is triggered for survival.
Resistance Phase
Body tries to recover and revert back to the state of physiological calm or homeostatis, by resisting the alarm.
Exhaustion Phase
Final stage in which one or more target organs show signs of dysfunction.
The SNS Response
Is the activation of the Sympathetic Nervous System.
The Endocrine Response
Two pathways: SAM and HPAC.
SAM: Sympathadreno-Medulary System- Sympathetic Nervous System, Adrenal Medulla, Catecolamines(Epinephrine, Norepinephrine)-Fight or Flight.
HPAC: Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal-Cortical-Sympathetic Nervous System,Hypothalamus,Pituitary gland, Adrenal cortex-cortisol-increased energy & protection from tissue inflammation.
Internal Locus of Control vs External Locus of Control
Internal Control:Belief that a person is responsible for what happens to them.
External Locus of Control:Belief that a person’s life is controlled by luck, fate, or other people.
Primary vs Secondary Control
Primary Control: An effort to modify reality by changing other people, the situation, or events. Primarily in Western Cultures. “Fighting Back” Philosophy.
Secondary Control: An effort to accept reality by changing your own attitudes,goals, or emotions. Primarily in Eastern Cultures. “ Learn to live with it” Philosophy.
Hostility and Heart Disease
The higher the hostility the higher rate of heart disease later on in life. Hostility is more hazardous than a heavy workload.
Risk Factors of Illness
Environmental: Poverty, Exposure to Toxins ,Crime.
Experiential: Childhood neglect, Traumatic Events, Chonic Job Stress, Unemployment.
Biological: Viral or Bacterial Infections, Disease, Genetic Vulnerability.
Psychological: Hostility,Chronic Major Depression, Pessimism, Feeling Powerless.
Behavioral: Smoking, Poor Diet, Lack of Exercise, Lack of Sleep, Alcohol Abuse.
Social: Lack of Supportive Friends, Bitter Relationship.
Coping with Stress
Ways of dealing with stress. For example problem focused and emotional focused.
Problem Focused Coping: Involves thoughts and actions towards solving the problems causing distress.
Emotional Focused Coping: Is aimed at reducing the negative emotions associated with the problem.
Expressive Writing
An effective form of expression. A way of confiding undisclosed secrets. Enables to form a coherent narrative of the traumatic experience. Reframing and requires no feedback. Revealing pent-up thoughts is liberating. ( James Pennebaker)
Psychosomatic Theory
Idea that emotional factors can lead to the occurrence or worsening of illness.
Physiological Reactivity Model
Examines how sustained physiological activation associated with the stress response can affect body systems to increase illness.
Psychological Risk Factors for Heart Disease
Type A and Anger: People with Type A Behavior Pattern are at greater risk for heart disease- Impatient, Competitive, Rushed for Time & Hostile.
Lifestyle Choices as a Health Risk
Smoking, Drinking Alcohol raise your health risks.
For example smoking reduces life expectancy by an average of 10 years. Secondhand smoke can carry as much risk as actively smoking.
Alcohol is a depressant and in excess can cause cirrhosis. Moderate consumption may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease.
Personality
The unique and relatively enduring set of behaviors, thoughts, motives, and emotions that characterize an individual over time and across different situations.
Trait
A characteristic of an individual, describing a habitual way of behaving, thinking and feeling.
Psychodynamic Theories
Theories that explain behavior and personality in terms of unconscious energy dynamics within the individual.
Psychoanalysis
A theory of personality and a method of psychotherapy developed by Sigmund Freud. Emphasizes unconscious motives and conflicts.
Id
Operates according to the pleasure principle. Primitive, unconscious part of personality.
Ego
Operates according to the reality principle. Mediates between id and superego.
Superego
Moral ideals, conscience.
Defense Mechanisms
Methods used by the ego to prevent unconscious anxiety or threating thoughts from entering consciousness.
Repression
Threating idea, memory, or emotion is blocked from consciousness.
Projection
Person’s own unacceptable feelings are repressed and then attributed to someone else.
Denial
Refusal to admit that something unpleasant is happening as a way to protect self image or illusion of invulnerability.
Displacement
When people direct their emotions(especially anger) toward things, animalsm or other people that are not the real object of their feelings.
Sublimation
A form of displacement in which sexual urges are rechanneled in to productive nonsexual activities.
Undoing
A form of unconscious repentance. Involves making up for an unacceptable action or thought with a second action or thought.
Reaction Formation
Thinking or behaving in a way that is the extreme opposite of unacceptable urges or impulses.
Rationalization
Justifying one’s actions or feelings with socially acceptable explanations rather than consciously acknowledging inner desires.
Regression
When a person reverts to a previous phase of psychological development.
Psychosexual Stages
Oral(birth to age 1): Mouth is primary focus of pleasure/gratification
Anal(ages 1 to 3): Anus is the primary focus of pleasure/gratification
Phallic(ages 3-6): Genitals are the primary focus of pleasure/gratification
Latency(ages 7-11) Sexual impulses are dormant as the child develops same sex friendships with peers, and focuses on school
Genital(adolescence): Genitals are the primary focus of pleasure/gratification; person seeks to sastify heterosexual relationships
Collective Unconscious
The universal memories, symbols, and experiences of the human kind, represented in the archetypes or universal symbolic images that appear in myths, art,stories, and dreams.
Archetypes
Universal, symbolic images that appear in myths, art, stories, and dreams; archetypes reflect the collective unconscious, SHADOW, ANIMA, ANIMUS. (Carl Jung)
The Object-Relations School
A psychodynamic approach that emphasizes the importance of the infant’s first two years of life and the baby’s formative relationships, especially with their mother. Central problem in life is to find the balance between the need for independence and the need for others. Mental representation of the parent-kind or fierce, protective or rejecting- unconsciously affect the personality throughout life.
Objective Tests (Inventories)
Standardized questionnaires requiring written responses. Typically include scales on which people are asked to rate themselves. Assumes that you can accurately report. No right or wrong answers. Well constructed inventories have enabled identification of hundreds of traits. Inventories are generally more reliable and valid than either projective methods or subjective clinical judgements.
The Big Five Personality Traits
Openess to experience vs resistance to new experience( extent to which people are curious, imaginative, questioning and creative or conforming, unimaginative, predictable, and uncomfortable with novelty.)
Conscientiousness vs impulsivity(extent to which people are responsiblem persevering, steadfast, tidy, self disciplined versus undependable, quick to give up, fickle, careless, impulsive)
Extroversion vs introversion(extent to which people are outgoing or shy)
Agreeableness vs antagonism(extent to which people are good natured, cooperative, secure versus irritable, abrasive, suspicious/jealous.)
Neuroticsim vs emotional stability( negative emotionally versus emotional stability)
Social Cognitive Theory
Theory of personality which emphasizes on observational learning conscious cognitive processes, social experiences, self-efficacy beliefs, and reciprocal determinism.
Reciprocal Determinism
Two-way interaction between aspects of the environment and aspects of the individual in the shaping of personality traits.
Self-Efficacy
A person’s belief that he or she is capable of producing desired results, such as mastering new skills and reaching goals. Our beliefs influences our capabilities of completing and persevering in tasks.
Temperaments
Physiological dispositions to respond to the environment in certain ways: present in infancy, assumed to be innate. Relatively stable over time.(Reactivity, Soothability, Positive and negative emotionality)
Influence of Parents
The shared environment of the home has little influence on personality
The Power of Peers
Peers play a tremendous roule in shaping our personality traits and behavior, causing us to emphasize some attributes or abilities and downplay others. Our temperaments and dispositions also cause us to select particular peer groups instead of others, and our temperaments influence how we behave within the group.
Cultural Influences on Personality
A Culture is a program of shared rules that govern the behavior of members of a community or society. A set of values, beliefs, and attitudes shared by most members of that community.
Individualist Culture
Cultures in which the self is regarded as autonomous and individual goals and wishes are prized above duty and relations with others.