Psychology In Your Life; Chapter 11

Health Psychology

A field that integrates research on health and on psychology; it involves the application of psychological principles in promoting health and well-being.

Well-being

A positive state that includes striving for optimal health and life satisfaction

Biopsychiosocial Model

A model of health that integrates the effects of biological, behavioral, and social factors on health and illness

Body Mass Index (BMI)

A ratio of body weight to height, used to measure obesity

Overeating

Most individuals who lose weight through dieting eventually regain it

Restrictive Dieting

Most diets fail primarily because of the body's natural defense against weight loss

Anorexia Nervosa

An eating disorder characterized by excessive fear of becoming fat and therefore restricting energy intake to obtain a significantly low body weight.

Bulimia Nervosa

An eating disorder characterized by dieting, binge eating and purging

Binge-eating Disorder

An eating disorder characterized by binge eating, which causes significant distress

Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs)

Infections that can be, but are not always , transmitted from one person to the next through sexual contact

Safe Sex

Sexual behaviors that decrease the likelihood of contracting an STI

Stress

A group of behavioral, mental, and physical processes occurring when events match or exceed the organism's ability to respond in a healthy way.

Stressor

An environmental event or stimulus that threatens an organism

Stress Responses

Physical, behavioral, and psychological responses to stressors

Major Life Stressors

Large Disruptions, especially unpredictable and uncontrollable catastrophic events, that affect central areas of people's lives.

Daily Hassles

Everyday irritations that cause small disruptions, the effects of which can add up to a large impact on health

Immune system

The body;s mechanism for dealing with invading microorganisms, such as allergens, bacteria, or viruses

General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)

A consistent pattern of physical responses to a stress that consists of three stages

-Alarm

-Resistance

-Exhaustion

Fight-or-Flight response

The physiological preparedness of animals to deal with danger

Tend-and-befriend response

Female's tendency to respond to stressors by protecting and caring for their offspring and forming social alliances

Negative Stress Responses

When people are stress, they also eat junk food, smoke cigarettes, use drugs, and drink

Type A behavior pattern

Personality traits characterized by competitiveness, achievement orientation, aggressiveness, hostility, restlessness, impatience with others and an inability to relax.

Type B behavior pattern

Personality traits characterized by being noncompetitive, relaxed, easygoing, and accomodating

Primary appraisals

Part of coping that involves making decisions about whether a stimulus is stressful

Secondary appraisals

The aspect of coping that involves deciding how to manage and respond to a stressful stimulus

Emotion-focused coping

A type of coping in which people try to prevent an emotional response to a stressor.

Problem-focused coping

A type of coping in which people take direct steps to confront or minimize a stressor

Positive Psychology

The study of the strengths and virtues that allow people and communities to thrive