Unit 13: Health Psychology Flashcards
1
Q
What’s the difference between stress and eustress?
A
- Stress can be negative and often subjective, as different people will find different things stressful (ex. public speaking)
- Eustress is considered positive stress as it helps motivate us to perform well, so in this sense it’s ok to be a little stressed
2
Q
What are common sources of stress?
A
- Major adjustements to life. These can be good or bad, such as caring for a newborn or grieving the loss of a loved one.
- Minor daily hassles that tend to have a compounding effect. Examples include dealing with traffic, stress at work, etc.
3
Q
What are the components of the General Adaptation Syndrome?
A
- Start in homeostasis, move into the alarm stage (fight/flight/freeze response)
- next is the resistance stage (the demand for rest is neglected and you continue to push through, increase in blood pressure)
- then the exhaustion stage (systems collapse, such as your immunity, often leads to injury and illness).
4
Q
What is primary and secondary appraisal?
A
- Primary appraisal - Whether an individual percieves something as threatening or non-threatening (subjective)
- Secondary appraisal - Whether the individual believes the situatio is controllable
- Threatening and uncontrollable can lead to major stress
5
Q
How is personality tied to appraisals?
A
- Optimism - “‘l’ll get through this”
- Anxiety - “What if…”
- Depression - “I can’t do it”
- Perfectionist - “I must”
- Hostility - “It’s their fault”
- Impulsivity - “I can’t deal with this”
6
Q
What are the various coping strategies when it comes to dealing with stress?
A
- Externalizing - blaming other for your problems, often involves physical and social aggression. Many health risks due to the increased stress, such as cardiovascular disease, and poor relationship outcomes. Leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy
- Internalizing - Blaming only yourself for your stress. Constantly ruminating on events, which can lead to avoidance of certain scenarios that you think may make you uncomfortable again. Health risks include nail biting and hair loss, substance use, overeating and obesity.
7
Q
What’s the mesolimbic Pleasure Center?
A
- Reward system in the brain (tied to dopamine release)
- Distractions that provide us with short-term pleasure to distract us from long-term stress (psychological addictions)
8
Q
What are examples of prosocial positive coping methods?
A
- Physical - relaxation and breathing, low-stress diet, and time management
- Emotional - Social support, good communication, and assertiveness
- Cognitive - constructive thinking, distraction, task oriented mindset
9
Q
What’s positive psychology?
A
- Psychology centered around goodness as it predicts who is going to flourish
- The science of being good
- Studies why some people are happy and healthy
10
Q
What’s the difference between conditional and unconditional positive regard?
A
- Conditional - the understanding that if you please others, then you will gain a positive relationship from them, and will change behaviour if not being rewarded from them
- Unconditional - the understanding that the people in your life will love you no matter what. They accept you, but not your bad behvaiours
11
Q
What does it mean to have disruptions in congruence?
A
- When there’s a discrepency between your portrayed self and true self.
- occurs when you’re only doing things for others interests and not your own.
- Conditional positive regard
12
Q
What’s self-actualization?
A
- Occurs when yu have a realization of your true talents and growth occurs
- Ability to express your inner self
- When portrayed self and true self match up
- Similar to Maslows Hierarchy of needs
13
Q
What are characteristics that self-actualizers have?
A
- Self-acceptance, honesty, non-controlling, non-dramatic, comfortable with solitude, high intimacy, helpful, compassionate, creative, etc.
