Health, stress and coping (chapter 14) Flashcards
What does health psychology study?
It studies both negative and positive impacts that human behaviour and decisions have on their health, survival and well-being.
What causes premature death?
Lifestyle factors such as tobacco use, alcohol, obesity, and inactivity.
What are the efforts to prevent smoking?
Non-smoking laws, warning on packages, vaping and e-cigarettes (may not be safer than the traditional cigarette).
General knowledge on Obesity
- Obesity is associated with detrimental health consequences such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and osteoarthritis.
- 27% of Canadians are obese
Body Mass Index (BMI)
A statistic commonly used for estimating a healthy body weight given an individuals height
Set Point:
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).
Positive Emotions
Positive emotions aid in weight loss. Thinking positively about oneself can lead to lower weight, BMI, and smaller waists.
Social Resilience
The ability to keep positive relationships and to ensure and recover from social isolation and life stressors.
Social Contagion
The often subtle, unintentional spreading of behaviour as a result of social interactions.
Examples: Smoking, food consumption, and weight loss
Stress
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
The Cognitive Appraisal Theory of Stress
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
Arousal and Performance
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.
Fight or Flight Response
A set of physiological changes that occur in response to physchlogcal or physical threats.
General Adaption Syndrome (GAS)
A theory of stress responses involving stages of alarm; resistance and exhaustion.
- Fast Alarm reaction
- Resistance
- Gas exhaustion
Oxytocin
A hormone involved in reproduction, childbirth, and social bonding, is especially crucial for a woman’s evolutionary survival in stress-coping.
Psychoneuroimmunology
The study of the relationship between the immune system and nervous system functioning
Type A Personalities
Easily angered, competitive, and highly motivated
Type B Personalities
Patient, and easy going
Coping
The process used to manage demands, stress, and conflict
Coping Approaches (there’s 2)
Problem Focused and Emotion Focused
Optimism
The tendency to have a favourable, constructive view of situations and to expect positive outcomes
Pessimism
The tendency to have a negative perception of life and expect negative outcomes
Pessimism Explanatory Style
The tendency to interpret and explain negative events as internally based and as a constant stable quality
Negative Affectivity
The tendency to respond to problems with a pattern of anxiety, hostility, anger, guilt, and or nervousness.
Appraisal
Refers to the cognitive act of assessing and evaluating the potential threat and demands of an event
Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor
A protein in the nervous system that promotes survival, growth, and formation of new synapses.
Coronary Heart Disease
A condition in which plaques form in the blood vessels that supply the heart with blood and oxygen, resulting in restricted blood flow.
Cortisol
A hormone secreted by the adrenal cortex (the outer part of the adrenal gland) that prepares the body to respond to stressful circumstances
Individual Zone of Optimal Functioning (IZOF)
A range of emotional intensity in which an individual is most likely to perform at their best
Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal (HPA) Axis
A neural and endocrine circuit that provides communication between the nervous system (the hypothalamus) and the endocrine system (pituitary and adrenal glands)
Resilience
The ability to effectively recover from illness or adversity
Compensatory Control
Psychological strategies people use to preserve a sense of non-random order when personal control is comprised.
Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF)
A protein in the nervous system that promotes survival, growth, and the formation of new synapses.
Learned Helplessness
An acquired suppression of avoidance or escape behaviour in response to unpleasant, uncontrollable circumstances
Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)
Is a structured relaxation program based on elements of mindfulness meditation
