Unit 7 Study Questions

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Define stress. Discuss the relationship between the severity of stress and its effects. (pp. 597-598) Stress is any circumstance that threatens or is perceived ththreaten one's well-being and that thereby tax one's coping abilities. While Major stressful events such as an earthquake or tsunami causes stress, minor stresses such as waiting in line, car troubles, misplacing your phone, etc. all contribute to one's level of stress. Minor stressors may have significant harmful effects on mental and physical health.

Comment: Selye believed that stress was a stimulus external to the organism. In laymen’s terms, he used the term stress to refer to the harmful or unpleasant stimuli themselves and the term strain

to refer to the body’s response to those stimuli. Lazarus and Folkman

(1993), on the other hand, believed that stress resulted in the person’s

appraisal or evaluation of the relationship between these

stimuli and the person’s ability to meet, mitigate, or alter the demands

to his or her well-being. This difference of opinion led to a great

deal of research, and much of it has supported Lazarus’s position.

Describe the four principal types of stress discussed in Weiten and McCann (2013). (pp. 599-602) The four major types of stress are the following: Frustration (occurs in any situation in which the pursuit of some goal is thwarted), Conflict (occurs when two or more incompatible motivations or behavioural impulses compete for expression), Change (life changes are any noticeable alterations in one's living circumstances that require adjustment), and Pressure (involves expectations or demands that one behave in a certain way).

Identify the three basic types of conflict. (Figure 13.1, p. 600) Approach-approach (a choice is made between two attractive goals), Avoidance-avoidance (a choice needs to be made between two unattractive goals), and Approach-avoidance (a choice must be made about whether to pursue a goal that had both attractive and unattractive aspects.

Describe the relationship between emotional arousal and task performance. (p. 605) If you were to look at a graph, you would see what would look like an inverted-u, which depicts the relationship between emotional arousal and task performance. as emotional arousal increases, it increases performance on a task, until it hots a certain point, then any additional arousal becomes detrimental to task performance. The lower the complexity, the more aroused one can be, where as the more complex the task, the less aroused you can be before it hits the top of the inverted-u, and it becomes a detriment.

Describe the three stages of the General Adaptation Syndrome. (pp. 606-607) The general adaptation syndrome is a model of the body's stress response, consisting of three stages: alarm (similar to the Fight-or-flight response), resistance (when stress is prolonged; physiological changes stabilize as coping efforts get under way), and exhaustion (when stress continues for a substantial period of time, when then the body's resources become depleted from trying to deal with the stress).

Discuss the two major pathways along which the brain sends signals to

the endocrine system in response to stress. (Figure 13.7, p. 607) The first major pathway is routed through the autonomic nervous system. In response to stress, the hypothalamus activates the sympathetic division of the ANS, which stimulates the central part of the adrenal glands, which then releases catecholamines into the bloodstream (activates fight-or-flight). The second pathway involves the hypothalamus sending signals to the pituitary gland, which then secretes ACTH that stimulates the outer part of the adrenal glands to release corticosteroids (they stimulate the release of chemicals that help increase energy and help inhibit tissue inflammation in case of injury).

Describe and evaluate aggression and self-indulgence as behavioural responses to stress. (pp. 609-610) Aggression is any behaviour that is intended to hurt someone, either physically or verbally. Often, people divert their anger onto a substitute target (displacement), and it is a maladaptive way of coping with stress. Initially it was thought that acting aggressively would be a form of catharsis (release of emotional tension), but acting aggressively only harbours more anger and aggression. Stress sometimes leads to reduced impulse control, or self-indulgence. When troubled by stress, people may excessively consume food, alcohol, smoking, drugs, excessive spending, gambling, etc. Self-indulgence is easy to execute, and highly pleasurable, thus it is often used to combat the negative, unpleasurable feelings of stress.

Discuss defensive coping and constructive coping as mechanisms for dealing with stress. (pp. 610-612) Defensive coping employs the use of defence mechanisms (largely unconscious reactions that protect a person from unpleasant emotions such as anxiety and guilt), which relies on varying degrees of self-deception in order to bend reality in self-serving ways, as a means of shielding an individual from the emotional discomfort associated with stress (there is evidence to support however, that positive illusions can promote well-being through having a more positive self-image). Constructive coping refers to the relatively helpful efforts that people make to deal with stressful events. While there is no guarantee of success, constructive coping is the forms of coping that has the least amount, if any negative side-effects. Constructive coping (1) involves confronting problems directly, (2) is based on reasonably realistic appraisals of your stress and coping resources, and (3) involves learning to recognize and/or regulate potentially disruptive emotional reactions to stress.

Define post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and describe its symptoms. What types of stress are likely to cause PTSD? (pp. 613-614) Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) involves enduring psychological disturbance attributed to the experience of a major traumatic event. PTSD was first noticed in the large amount of soldiers who came home from the Vietnam war in 1975, and has since been attributed to those who work in other public sector jobs, such as police officers, firefighters, ambulance attendance, paramedics, etc. PTSD can manifest in anyone who suffers from trauma, which can also include those who've suffered incidents of rape, assault, witnessing a death, etc.

Define psychosomatic diseases. Describe the Type A behaviour

pattern. Summarize the evidence linking Type A behaviours to coronary

heart disease. (pp. 616-617) Psychosomatic diseases were genuine physical aliments that were thought to be cause in part by stress and other psychological factors. The type A personality includes three elements: (1) a strong competitive orientation, (2) impatience and time urgency, and (3) anger and hostility. There is a modest correlation between type A personality and increased coronary risk. Looking at anger and hostility specific however, tells us that those who display those traits are almost three times more likely to experience a coronary event vs. the low-anger subjects.

Describe the relationship between emotional reactions, depression, and heart disease. (pp. 617-618) Laboratory experiments with cardiology patients have shown that brief periods of mental stress can trigger acute symptoms of heart disease, and the evidence suggests that mental stress can elicit cardiac symptoms in 30-70% of patients with stable coronary disease. As well, elevated rates of depression have been found among patients suffering from heart disease, which was caused by the emotional dysfunction of depression.

Evaluate the evidence linking stress to immunosuppression and a variety of physical illnesses. (pp. 619-620) The link between stress and many types of illness raises the possibility that stress may undermine immune functioning. The immune response is the body's defensive reaction to invasion by bacteria, viral agents, or other foreign substances. Induced stress can impair immune functioning in animals, and Janice Kiecolt-Glaser have related stress to suppressed immune systems in humans. As well, with stress that has been induced for an inordinate amount of time can cause chronic inflammation, and while the effects are still being studied, chronic inflammation has proven to induce a host of diseases.

Discuss how social support, optimism, and conscientiousness moderate individual differences in stress tolerance. (pp. 621-622) Social support refers to various types of aid and emotional sustenance provided by members of one's social networks. Studies have shown positive correlations between high social support and greater immune functioning, while social isolation was found to predict reduced immune responding. Solid social support increases people's odds of survival by roughly 50%. Optimism is a general tendency to expect good outcomes. There is a correlation between optimism and good physical health, more effective immune functioning, cope with stress in more adaptive ways than pessimists, engage in action-oriented and problem-focused coping, more willing to seek social support, and are more likely to emphasize the positive in their appraisals of stressful events. Conscientiousness, one of the big 5 personality traits, may have an impact on health, and is related to longevity (better life habits).

Discuss the negative impact of smoking, poor nutrition, lack of

exercise, and alcohol and drug use on physical health. (pp. 622-625) The negative effects of smoking is related to the 13-14 year life shortening, and the large range of diseases one can be infected by. Lung cancer and heart disease are the highest in smokers, but oral, bladder, kidney, larynx, esophagus and pancreas cancers are also prevalent, as well as other diovascular and pulmonary diseases. Considerable evidence links the lack of exercise and sedentary activities to poor health and obesity, due to the shortening of longevity and increased physiological response to stress. Heavy consumption of alcohol increases one's risk for a host of diseases, and recreational drug use is another common health-impairing habit, due to that these substances can kill instantly when taken in overdose or if they impair a user long enough to cause an accident, and there are elevated risks for infectious diseases, respiratory, pulmonary, and cardiovascular diseases, among others.

Discuss the relationship between behaviour and AIDS. What behavioural changes minimize the risk of acquiring AIDS? (pp. 625-626) Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a disorder in which the immune system is gradually weakened and eventually disabled by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Being infected with HIV is not the equivalent to having AIDS, AIDS is the final step in the HIV infection process. HIV is transmitted through person-to-person contact involving the exchange of bodily fluids (semen and blood) through sexual contact, and the sharing of needles by intravenous (IV) drug users. Behavioural changes needed to lower the risk of contracting HIV involve not taking IV drugs that are not within a hospital setting, having fewer sexual partners, and using condoms to control the exchange of semen.

Explain how health-impairing lifestyles develop. (pp. 626-627) (1) Many health-impairing habits creep up on people slowly (drug use may grow or exercise may decline over a period of years), (2) many health-impairing habits involve activities that are quite pleasant at the time (eating favourite foods, smoking cigarettes, ]or getting "high" are potent reinforcing events), (3) the risks associated with most health-impairing habits are chronic diseases such as cancer that usually lie 10, 20, or 30 tears down the road (easy to ignore risks that lie in the future), and (4) people have a curious tendency to underestimate the risks that accompany their own health-impairing behaviours while viewing the risks associated with others' self-destructive behaviours much more accurately.

Discuss individual differences in willingness to seek medical

treatment and to comply with medical advice. What factors affect

communication between patients and their health-care providers? (pp.

627-628) The decision to seek medical advice differ depending on whether one is more aware of their bodily sensations, and whether one is higher in neuroticism. As well, people tend to delay getting professional consultation due to long wait times in Canada, and a host of personal reasons (reluctant to disrupt their plans, doesn't want to waste time to trivial matters, etc). Economic realities make appointments short, doctors use too much medical jargon that the average people don't understand, and others are upset or evasive of what's really going on, so they don't share more details in the fear of being diagnosed with a deadly disease. Do not be a passive consumer of medical services. Passive resistance to a treatment regimen can backfire, as a physician may abandon a proper diagnosis in favour of an inaccurate one. Others may just forget the details of the regimen. Patients may forget the instructions as given, the plans difficulty lowers adherence, and any negative feelings toward the interaction with the physician may negatively effect adherence.

Explain how Chapter 13 highlights two of the unifying themes in

Weiten and McCann (2013): multifactorial causation and the subjectivity

of experience. (p. 629) Multifactorial causation was apparent in that while stress does impact health negatively, it alone only accounts for health modestly, as health is governed by a dense network of factors such as inherited vulnerabilities, physiological reactivity, exposure to infectious agents, health-impairing habits, reactions to symptoms, treatment-seeking behaviour, compliance with medical advice, personality, and social support. Subjectivity of experience was demonstrated by the frequently repeated point that stress lies in the eye of the beholder. When it comes to stress, objective reality is not nearly as important as subjective perceptions.

Summarize Albert Ellis’s ideas about controlling one’s emotions.

Describe four coping strategies for managing stress. (pp. 630-633) Albert Ellis believed people can short-circuit their emotional reactions to stress by altering their appraisals of stressful events. Rational-emotive therapy is an approach that focuses on altering clients' patterns of irrational thinking to reduce maladaptive behaviours and emotions. "you feel the way you think." Catastrophic thinking involves unrealistic negative appraisals of stress that exaggerate the magnitude of one's problems. Ellis uses an A-B-C sequence to explain his ideas: A: Activating event (event that produces stress, such as a car accident, cancelling a date, etc.), B: Belief system (belief about the event or appraisal of the stress [catastrophic thinking]), and C: Consequence (of your negative thinking, usually emotional distress). One must detect and challenge catastrophic thinking to lower stress. The use of humour moderates the impact of stress. "If persons do not regard themselves too seriously and do not have an inflated sense of self-importance, then defeats, embarrassments, and even tragedies should have less pervasive emotional consequences for them.: Stress often leads to emotional arousal, and when people inhibit expressions of various emotions, it can increase stress and autonomic arousal, and ultimately have one experience more negative emotions than positive ones. Writing or talking about life's difficulties are effective in dealing with stress. Hostility is related to increased heart attacks and other types of illness. Hostility usually arises when one feels wronged, and they may respond with revenge against, or avoidance of the transgressor. Forgiving someone involves counteracting these natural tendencies and releasing the person from further liability from the transgression (which leads to better adjustment and well-being). Relaxation is a valuable stress management technique that can soothe emotional turmoil and reduce problematic physiological arousal.

Describe three factors that facilitate a critical evaluation of

statistics on health risk. Summarize the approach to thinking through

health decisions that is presented in the Critical Thinking Application

section. (pp. 634-635) The three factors to consider when evaluating health statistics are the following: (1) Correlation is no assurance of causation, (2) statistical significance is not equivalent to practical significance, and (3) base rates should be considered in evaluating probabilities. Thins you need to consider when evaluating health decisions: (1) seek information to reduce uncertainty, (2)make risk-benefit assessments, and (3) list alternative courses of action.