Health Psychology Exam 2 Flashcards
Biological Approach to Stress
Our body’s physiological systems react to stress.
Psychological Influence on Stress
How we appraise or think about stressful events can impact how stressed we feel, as well as how that stress impacts our health.
Sociocultural Factors for Stress
Sociocultural factors can impact the types of stressor we are exposed to, how we appraise them, and ultimately how they affect us.
Stress Appraisal
How you interpret a stressor
Are stressors usually psychological or physical?
Psychological
Challenge Appraisal
challenge appraisals are associated with beneficial stress responses
Will challenge our resources but we think we are well prepared and can handle it
Threat Appraisal
Appraisals are associated with maladaptive or harmful stress responses
Holmes and Rah Life Change Units (LCUs) and the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS)
Major life events that draw on our resources can leave ourselves vulnerable to illness
Limitations of LCUs and SRRs
Doesn’t account for individual differences in how stressors are appraised
What are arguably more important for mental health (daily uplifts or daily stressors)?
Daily Uplifts
Which of these is the strongest predictor of health problems: significant life events, frequency of daily uplifts, and persistent hassles?
persistent hassles
3 Features of Stressors
Controllability
Predictability
Persistence
ACEs
Exposure to early life stress and childhood trauma can have adverse consequences on health decades later
What percentage of emerging adults more yearly
more than 30%
What is the avg amount of jobs ppl have in their twenties?
7
What percent of emerging adults report not making as much progress in their careers as they had hoped
70%
What percent of emerging adults move back in with their parents
40%
What percent of young adults spend time living with a romantic partner?
66%
Role Overload
Juggling multiple roles simultaneously (e.g., working parents)
Scarcity Hypothesis
Because of limited time and energy, competing demands of work and family will lead to role overload and role conflict (e.g., for working parents), and thus will have a negative impact on health.
Enhancement hypothesis
The benefits of meaningful work (e.g., for self-esteem, sense of purpose) outweigh the costs, and thus working parents will experience health benefits.
When do workers feel the most stress
When they have little or no control over the procedures, pace, and other aspects of their jobs
Stereotype threat
The expedience of stress in a situation in which a person’s ability, appearance, or other characteristic has the potential to confirm a negative viewpoint about their social group
Role Conflict or Ambiguity
unclear or mixed messages about your work responsibilities or how you will be evaluated
How do our bodies physically react to stress?
Increased heart rate
Dilated pupils
Stress hormones released
Digestion slows
Increased blood flow to the muscles
Stored energy converted to a form that is directly usable by muscles
Function of The Nervous System
The cells of the nervous system are the body’s primary communication system
What is the fast acting endocrine system
Sympatho-Adreno-Medullary (SAM) Axis
Sympathetic nervous system activates adrenal stress hormones epinephrine and norepinephrine
Fight or flight
What is the slow acting endocrine system
Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenocortical (HPA) axis
The body’s delayed response to stress, involving the secretion of corticosteroid hormones from the adrenal cortex
Returns to homeostasis
How does stress make you sick?
Short-term stressors can trigger up-regulation of immune function
Long-term, chronic stressors can have damaging effects by suppressing immunity and increasing inflammation
What does chronic inflammation lead to?
Coronory Artery
Married Couples Study
Took a tiny bit of skin off and then had half of the couples argue, and they found that the arguing couples took longer to heal
Hernia Study
Those who had higher levels of stress took longer to heal after a hernia study
Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI)
Subfield of health psychology that emphasizes the interaction of psychological (psycho), neuroendocrine (neuro), and immunological processes in stress and illness
What happens during an immune response?
A type of white blood cell called lymphocytes expands causing swelling and inflammation (you may have noticed swollen lymph nodes when you are sick)
Direct Effect Hypothesis
Immunosuppression part of body’s natural response to stress
HPA and SAM axes activate release of stress hormones
Stress hormones bind to receptors on T cells, B cells, lymphocytes
Indirect Effect Hypothesis
Stress may encourage maladaptive behaviors that disrupt immune functioning
Substance use, poor sleep, exercise, and nutrition
Allostatic Load
Cumulative long-term effects of the body’s physiological response to stress
Decreased immunity
Increased abdominal fat
Decreased hippocampal size and function
Overproduction of pro-inflammatory cytokines
General Adaption Syndrome
In response to stress, the body enters an alarm phase during which resistance to stress is temporarily suppressed while coping resources are mobilized. Then, it rebounds in a phase of increased resistance to stress as the individual copes with the stressor. This resistance can only last so long and in response to prolonged stressors, the body enters into a third phase of exhaustion. Coping resources are depleted and individuals become more vulnerable to health problems.
Diathesis Stress Model
Individual’s susceptibility to stress and illness is determined by two interacting factors:
Predisposing Factors (in the person)
Precipitating Factors (from the environment)
Coping Definition
The cognitive, behavioral, and emotional ways that people deal with situations that are appraised as stressful
Is coping dynamic of a one time process
dynamic
Engagement Coping
Taking action and confronting the source of stress
Avoidance Coping / Disengagement
Ignoring or escaping stressor
What is more effective in the long term: Engagement or Disengagement Coping?
Engagement
Problem-Focused Coping
Dealing directly with stressful situation either by reducing its demands or by increasing our capacity to deal with the stressor
Emotion Focused Coping
Attempting to regulate our emotional reaction to a stressful event rather than to the stressor itself
Approach Oriented Emotional Coping
Usually involved using cognitive strategies to change the way we appraise a stressor
Avoidance Oriented Emotional Coping
Repressive Coping
Rumination
Thinking repetitively about an upsetting situation
Emotional Cascade
Intense Rumination
Dispositional Affect
The tendency to respond to situations in a predictable way
What does Positive Affect predict?
Better physical and mental health
What does negative affect predict?
Higher Allostatic Load
What does the harm of NA depend on?
Culture
Ex. America vs Japan
What does optimism lead to?
Leads to lower cortisol, blood pressure, inflammation
Psychological Control
The belief that we make our own decision and determine what we do or what we allow others to do to us
Regulatory Control
Our capacity to modulate thoughts, emotions, and behaviors
Resilience
The process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or significant sources of stress
Matching Hypothesis
Different stressful situations create different needs and support that is responsive to these differences is most effective
Social Support Buffering Hypothesis
Social support mitigates stress indirectly by helping us cope more effectively → less likely to ruminate
Social Support Direct Effect Hypothesis
Social support enhances the body’s physical response to challenging situations through better immune functioning, encouraging healthier lifestyles, and better relationships with medical professionals
Relaxation Respnose
Participants assume the meditative state in which metabolism slows and blood pressure lowers
Diaphragmatic Breathing and Visualization
When we’re stressed our breathing is often short and rapid
Cognitive Behavioral Stress Management (CBSM)
multimodal intervention combining relaxation training, visualization, cognitive restructuring, reinforcement, and other techniques
Stages of stress innoculation training
Stage 1: Reconceptualization – changing appraised meaning of stressor
Stage 2: Skills Acquisition – calming yourself down
Stage 3: Follow-through
What two main categories contribute to resillience?
Personal and External Resources
What type of coping does our class do the most of?
Problem focused coping
How do pessimists view life setbacks
Internal, stable, and global
3 Types of Relaxation Therapies
- Progressive Muscle Relaxation
- Relaxation Response
- Diaphragmatic Breathing and Visualization
People who receive strong social support experience
- Faster recoveries and fewer medical complications
- Lower mortality
- Less distress in the face of terminal illness
Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction
- Focuses on using structured meditation to promote moment-to-moment nonjudgmental awareness to override autopilot
- Decreases stress, depression, and anxiety in cancer patients
- Reduces distress and possibly slows disease progression in people with HIV
- Increases activity in prefrontal cortex and other parts of limbic system
- May improve immune functioning and reduce some chronic health risks
What assumption is CBT based on?
Based on the assumption that thoughts intervene between events (such as stressors) and our emotional reactions
What does CBT help with?
Cognitive Behavioral Stress Management has been shown to help people cope with hypertension and with depression associated with chronic illness
What positive health benefits is emotional disclosure associated with?
Emotional disclosure is associated with a variety of positive health benefits
- Lowers cardiovascular mortality
- May increase sources of reinforcement and social support
- Encourages cognitive reappraisal
- More helpful in coping with physical rather than psychological challenges
