Health Psychology

Question 1

Stress

Answer 1

• Psychological Effect; all in your head
• An unpleasant state of arousal in which people perceive the demands of an event or situation as taxing or exceeding their ability to satisfy those demands

Question 2

Causes of Stress

Answer 2

• Crises and Catastrophes
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
• Major Life Events (graduation, having babies, divorce, buying a new house)
• Microstressors (little annoyances)
• Burnout

Question 3

Stress and It’s Effect on the Body: General Adaptation Syndrome

Answer 3

Three-stage process (alarm, resistance, and exhaustion) by which the body responds to stress

Question 4

Stress and Its Effect on the Body: Fight-or-Flight Response

Answer 4

• General adaptation syndrome is designed through evolution to help mobilize a “fight-or-flight” response in acute emergencies only (run away from the bear, pumping oxygen and nutrients into your blood stream to either run away or fight your stressor)
• The response gets activated often in humans and for prolonged periods of time because of continued daily stress (your body can only resist for so long, then you start to become exhausted)
• Results in illness, anxiousness, compromised immune system, hypertension, ulcers, etc.

Question 5

Stress and the Heart

Answer 5

• Coronary heart disease: narrowing of blood vessels that carry oxygen and nutrients to the heart muscle
• Causes by hypertension, smoking, high cholesterol, and psychological stress
• Stress causes the body’s heart to work harder and longer
• Stressed people also tend to engage in unhealthy behaviors which damage the heart

Question 6

Stress and the Immune System

Answer 6

• Stress also weakens the immune system and makes us more susceptible to illness and infection.
• Negative emotional states–>unhealthy behaviors and stress hormones–>weakened immune system–>Illness

Question 7

Resisting Stress and Illness

Answer 7

-Some people show greater resiliency against stress and illness than others

Question 8

Resisting Stress and Illness: Hardiness

Answer 8

(Kobasa) -Look for individual differences in resiliency-a personality trait of hardiness

Question 9

Hardiness: Commitment

Answer 9

A sense of purpose regarding one’s work, family, and other domains (getting out of bed to do something meaningful) (high in commitment-high in hardiness-there’s meaning to your life)

Question 10

Hardiness: Challenge

Answer 10

An openness to new experiences and changes (how open are you to those changes?)

Question 11

Hardiness: Control

Answer 11

The belief that one has the power to influence future outcomes (self-efficacy and locus of control) (You can get things done, you’re able to influence what happens to you)

Question 12

Resisting Stress and Illness: Be optimistic!

Answer 12

• Always look on the bright side of life!

- People with an optimistic disposition tend to show greater resiliency against stress and illness

Question 13

Resisting Stress and Illness: Biological Optimists

Answer 13

Optimists exhibit a stronger immune response than do pessimists

Question 14

Resisting Stress and Illness: Behavioral Optimists

Answer 14

Optimists are more open to new experiences, more likely to see future outcomes as under their control, more active copying styles

Question 15

Resisting Stress and Illness: Unrealistic Optimism

Answer 15

• Optimistic views should not be grossly unrealistic
• People who are unrealistically optimistic about their situation can experience greater depression if negative events do occur.
• The lows can seem even lower

Question 16

Coping with Stress: Problem-Focused Coping

Answer 16

• Efforts to alter a stressful situation or resolve the source of the stress. (Trying to get the stressor out of your life, eliminate this stressor)
• Confronting a stressor head on:
• Doing poorly at school? Hire a tutor!
• Rocky marriage? See a marriage counselor!
• Problems at work? Confront your boss or get a new job!

Question 17

Coping with Stress: Emotion-focused coping

Answer 17

-Efforts to reduce the distress caused by stressful situations
-Can suppress unwanted negative thoughts
-Distraction
Does have the potential to backfire (Don’t think of a white bear)
-Can confront the distressing feelings: Opening up to others (psychologists, therapists-venting)

Question 18

Coping with Stress: Proactive Coping

Answer 18

• Up-front efforts to warm off or modify the onset of a stressful event (cut off stress before it starts)
• Having financial and material resources (people with money aren’t usually as stressed because they don’t have to worry about medical bills, they know they can pay them)
• Social support: Those with more social support and social relationships are healthier and less prone to stress and illness (having friends and family make stressful events seem less stressful)
• Religious Support: Religion tends to fill people with hope and optimism (which has positive effects on health) (Personal relationship with God)

Question 19

Loneliness

Answer 19

• Can have negative effects on an individual:
• Depression
• Low self-esteem
• Self-blame
• Decreased resiliency to stress and illness (lonely people don’t have the social support network, they have no one to lean on or no one to fight for them)

Question 20

“Aloneness”

Answer 20

Loneliness does not coincide with “aloneness”

-One can be surrounded by people and still feel lonely (and experience the negative side effects of loneliness)

Question 21

Gender Differences in Feeling Alone

Answer 21

• Women feel lonely when they lack close one-on-one relationships
• Men feel lonely by a lack of group interactions