Health, stress and coping (chapter 14)

Question 1

What does health psychology study?

Answer 1

It studies both negative and positive impacts that human behaviour and decisions have on their health, survival and well-being.

Question 2

What causes premature death?

Answer 2

Lifestyle factors such as tobacco use, alcohol, obesity, and inactivity.

Question 3

What are the efforts to prevent smoking?

Answer 3

Non-smoking laws, warning on packages, vaping and e-cigarettes (may not be safer than the traditional cigarette).

Question 4

General knowledge on Obesity

Answer 4

• Obesity is associated with detrimental health consequences such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and osteoarthritis.
• 27% of Canadians are obese

Question 5

Body Mass Index (BMI)

Answer 5

A statistic commonly used for estimating a healthy body weight given an individuals height

Question 6

Set Point:

Answer 6

A hypothesized mechanism that serves to maintain the body weight around a physiology-programmed level
- Your initial set point is controlled by genetic mechanisms but your actual weight is modified by environmental factors (how much you eat).

Question 7

Positive Emotions

Answer 7

Positive emotions aid in weight loss. Thinking positively about oneself can lead to lower weight, BMI, and smaller waists.

Question 8

Social Resilience

Answer 8

The ability to keep positive relationships and to ensure and recover from social isolation and life stressors.

Question 9

Social Contagion

Answer 9

The often subtle, unintentional spreading of behaviour as a result of social interactions.
Examples: Smoking, food consumption, and weight loss

Question 10

Stress

Answer 10

A psychological and physiological reaction occurs when perceived demands exceed existing resources to meet those demands.
- stress can come from both acute and chronic events

Question 11

The Cognitive Appraisal Theory of Stress

Answer 11

Theory of emotion
Stress involves 2 steps: an evaluation of whether a stimulus or event is a threat, and whether you have recourses to cope with that threat

Question 11

Arousal and Performance

Answer 11

Performance is related to two factors; the difficulty of the task and the level of arousal/stress while it is being performed.
- For easy tasks, moderately high arousal helps, for difficult tasks, lower levels of arousal are optimal.

Question 11

Fight or Flight Response

Answer 11

A set of physiological changes that occur in response to physchlogcal or physical threats.

Question 12

General Adaption Syndrome (GAS)

Answer 12

A theory of stress responses involving stages of alarm; resistance and exhaustion.
- Fast Alarm reaction
- Resistance
- Gas exhaustion

Question 12

Oxytocin

Answer 12

A hormone involved in reproduction, childbirth, and social bonding, is especially crucial for a woman’s evolutionary survival in stress-coping.

Question 13

Psychoneuroimmunology

Answer 13

The study of the relationship between the immune system and nervous system functioning

Question 14

Type A Personalities

Answer 14

Easily angered, competitive, and highly motivated

Question 15

Type B Personalities

Answer 15

Patient, and easy going

Question 16

Coping

Answer 16

The process used to manage demands, stress, and conflict

Question 17

Coping Approaches (there’s 2)

Answer 17

Problem Focused and Emotion Focused

Question 18

Optimism

Answer 18

The tendency to have a favourable, constructive view of situations and to expect positive outcomes

Question 19

Pessimism

Answer 19

The tendency to have a negative perception of life and expect negative outcomes

Question 20

Pessimism Explanatory Style

Answer 20

The tendency to interpret and explain negative events as internally based and as a constant stable quality

Question 21

Negative Affectivity

Answer 21

The tendency to respond to problems with a pattern of anxiety, hostility, anger, guilt, and or nervousness.

Question 22

Appraisal

Answer 22

Refers to the cognitive act of assessing and evaluating the potential threat and demands of an event

Question 23

Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor

Answer 23

A protein in the nervous system that promotes survival, growth, and formation of new synapses.

Question 24

Coronary Heart Disease

Answer 24

A condition in which plaques form in the blood vessels that supply the heart with blood and oxygen, resulting in restricted blood flow.

Question 25

Cortisol

Answer 25

A hormone secreted by the adrenal cortex (the outer part of the adrenal gland) that prepares the body to respond to stressful circumstances

Question 26

Individual Zone of Optimal Functioning (IZOF)

Answer 26

A range of emotional intensity in which an individual is most likely to perform at their best

Question 27

Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal (HPA) Axis

Answer 27

A neural and endocrine circuit that provides communication between the nervous system (the hypothalamus) and the endocrine system (pituitary and adrenal glands)

Question 28

Resilience

Answer 28

The ability to effectively recover from illness or adversity

Question 29

Compensatory Control

Answer 29

Psychological strategies people use to preserve a sense of non-random order when personal control is comprised.

Question 30

Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF)

Answer 30

A protein in the nervous system that promotes survival, growth, and the formation of new synapses.

Question 31

Learned Helplessness

Answer 31

An acquired suppression of avoidance or escape behaviour in response to unpleasant, uncontrollable circumstances

Question 32

Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)

Answer 32

Is a structured relaxation program based on elements of mindfulness meditation