Stress and Coping

Question 1

adjustment domain

Answer 1

• personality plays key role in how we cope, adapt, adjust, to daily life
• linked to: health outcomes, problems in coping, adjustment

Question 2

stress

Answer 2

• 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

Question 3

primary and secondary appraisal

Answer 3

• refer to notebook for diagram

Question 4

models of personality - stress connection

Answer 4

• interaction model
• transactional model
• health behaviour mode
• predisposition model
• illness behaviour model

Question 5

interaction model

Answer 5

• 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

Question 6

transactional model

Answer 6

• personality has 3 potential effects
  1. coping
  2. how a person appraises events
  3. the events themselves
  REFER TO NOTEBOOK FOR DIAGRAM

Question 7

health behaviour model

Answer 7

REFER TO NOTEBOOK FOR DIAGRAM

Question 8

predispositional model

Answer 8

• 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

Question 9

illness behaviour model

Answer 9

• 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

Question 10

varieties of stress

Answer 10

• acute stress
• episodic acute stress
• traumatic stress (e.g. PTSD)
• chronic stress
  stress has additive effects

Question 11

stress response

Answer 11

• 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)

Question 12

major life events - social readjustment rating scale

Answer 12

refer to slide 14 of powerpoint

Question 13

major life events - student stress model

Answer 13

refer to slide 15 of powerpoint

Question 14

daily hassles

Answer 14

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%)

Question 15

coping strategies and styles

Answer 15

• positive strategies
• attributioinal styles
• optimism and physical well-being
• management of emotions
• disclosure

Question 16

positive coping strategies

Answer 16

• positive reappraisal
• problem focused coping
• relationship focused coping
• creating positive events

Question 17

attributional style construct: optimism-pessimism

Answer 17

• people who make stable, global and internal explanations for bad events = pessimists
• people who make unstable, specific, external explanations for bad events = optimists

Question 18

attributional style construct: dispositional optimism

Answer 18

expectation that good events will be plentiful and bad events = rare

Question 19

attributional style construct: self-efficacy

Answer 19

belief that one can do behaviours necessary to achieve desired outcome

Question 20

attributional style construct: optimistic bias

Answer 20

• people generally underestimate their risks, with the average person rating risks as below true average
• optimism predicts good health and health promoting Bs

Question 21

management of emotions

Answer 21

• some theorists suggest that emotional inhibition leads to undesirable consequences
• other theorists see emotional inhibition more positively

Question 22

disclosure

Answer 22

Pennebaker argues that:
- not discussing traumatic, negative, upsetting events can lead to problems
- telling a secret can relieve stress, increases health

Question 23

hardy personality

Answer 23

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

Question 24

psychological resilience

Answer 24

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

Question 25

type A behaviour patterns

Answer 25

• achievement motivation and competitiveness
• time urgency
• multitasking
• hostility and aggressiveness
• hostility component

Question 26

hostility produces fight or flight response… what are the effects

Answer 26

• increase in BP
• constriction of the arteries
• increase in HR and in the amount of blood pumped out with each heartbeat