Stress and Coping Flashcards
adjustment domain
- personality plays key role in how we cope, adapt, adjust, to daily life
- linked to: health outcomes, problems in coping, adjustment
stress
- subjective feeling produced by events perceived as uncontrollable and threatening
- normally, the body is in a state of balance (homeostasis)
- anything that disrupts homeostasis is a stressor
primary and secondary appraisal
- refer to notebook for diagram
models of personality - stress connection
- interaction model
- transactional model
- health behaviour mode
- predisposition model
- illness behaviour model
interaction model
- objective events happen to a person
- BUT personality determines the impact of events by influencing a person’s ability to cope
- REFER TO NOTEBOOK FOR DIAGRAM
transactional model
- personality has 3 potential effects
1. coping
2. how a person appraises events
3. the events themselves
REFER TO NOTEBOOK FOR DIAGRAM
health behaviour model
REFER TO NOTEBOOK FOR DIAGRAM
predispositional model
- associations may exist between personality and illness because of a third variable that is influencing both
- association found between illness and personality because of some predispositions that underlies both
- REFER TO NOTEBOOK FOR DIAGRAM
illness behaviour model
- personality influences the degree to which a person perceives and attends to bodily sensations
- degree to which a person interprets + labels sensations as illness
- REFER TO NOTEBOOK FOR DIAGRAM
varieties of stress
- acute stress
- episodic acute stress
- traumatic stress (e.g. PTSD)
- chronic stress
stress has additive effects
stress response
- startle, heart beats fast, BP increases, sweaty palms and soles of feet
- general adaptation syndrome (GAS)
1. alarm (fight or flight response)
2. resistance (depletion of bodily resources)
3. exhaustion (susceptibility to illness and disease)
major life events - social readjustment rating scale
refer to slide 14 of powerpoint
major life events - student stress model
refer to slide 15 of powerpoint
daily hassles
provide greatest stress in most people’s lives: top 3 most common hassles
1. concern about weight (52%)
2. health of a family member (48%)
3. rising prices of common goods (43%)
coping strategies and styles
- positive strategies
- attributioinal styles
- optimism and physical well-being
- management of emotions
- disclosure
positive coping strategies
- positive reappraisal
- problem focused coping
- relationship focused coping
- creating positive events
attributional style construct: optimism-pessimism
- people who make stable, global and internal explanations for bad events = pessimists
- people who make unstable, specific, external explanations for bad events = optimists
attributional style construct: dispositional optimism
expectation that good events will be plentiful and bad events = rare
attributional style construct: self-efficacy
belief that one can do behaviours necessary to achieve desired outcome
attributional style construct: optimistic bias
- people generally underestimate their risks, with the average person rating risks as below true average
- optimism predicts good health and health promoting Bs
management of emotions
- some theorists suggest that emotional inhibition leads to undesirable consequences
- other theorists see emotional inhibition more positively
disclosure
Pennebaker argues that:
- not discussing traumatic, negative, upsetting events can lead to problems
- telling a secret can relieve stress, increases health
hardy personality
are better able to resist the effects of stress and cope more effectively over time
1. control
- one can influence events/outcomes through own actions
2. commitment
- involve oneself in activities and relationships
3. challenge
- change is normal part of life and opportunity to grow
psychological resilience
positive adaptation and successful coping after stressful or adverse situation
1. high self-esteem
- high subjective emotional evaluation of own worth
2. high optimism
- positive look on life
3. sense of personal control
- ability to control events in own’s life
type A behaviour patterns
- achievement motivation and competitiveness
- time urgency
- multitasking
- hostility and aggressiveness
- hostility component
hostility produces fight or flight response… what are the effects
- increase in BP
- constriction of the arteries
- increase in HR and in the amount of blood pumped out with each heartbeat
