Intro to Psychology Areas and Applications - Chapter 14: Stress, Coping, Health

Chronic Disease (Modern Context)

Diseases that are more prevalent today because people are living longer while frequently engaging in unhealthy behaviors.

Mind-Body Relationship

The concept that 'everything psychological is simultaneously biological,' where brain functioning allows the mind to emerge, and the mind can change the brain's structure and function.

Brain Composition (Average Human)

Consists of approximately $86$ billion neurons, $85$ billion glial cells, and trillions of synapses.

Brain Energy Consumption

The brain utilizes $20\%$ of the body's oxygen and up to $60\%$ of the body's glucose as fuel.

Ketones

The alternative fuel source the brain utilizes during fasting or when following a ketogenic diet.

Atherosclerosis

A condition that can damage blood vessels and reduce blood flow to the brain, increasing the risk of stroke, cognitive decline, and vascular dementia.

Action Potential Electrolytes

The electrical signals of neurons that depend critically on sodium ($Na^+$) and potassium ($K^+$) obtained from the diet.

Neurotransmitter Precursors

Amino acids obtained from food, such as:

• Tryptophan (from soy, seafood, beef)

• Phenylalanine

• Glutamine (from meat, poultry, eggs)

Evolutionary Biases in Infants

Innate survival aids, such as the universal rejection of bitter tastes and the preference for the mother's body odor and breast milk.

Evolutionary Trade-offs

The principle that every body feature is a compromise;

e.g A thinner radius bone allows for wrist mobility and tool use but is susceptible to the Colles fracture.

Neural Tube

The structure that begins to form in the third week of embryonic development.

Brain Volume at Age 6

The point at which the brain reaches $90\%$ of its adult volume.

Traditional Medicine (Approach)

Focuses on the breakdown of the body and its defenses, often treating specific parts rather than the 'whole person' (mind, social status, culture).

Health Psychology

A new interdisciplinary field focusing on the role of psychology in maintaining health and preventing/treating illness, including topics like anger management and medical compliance.

Sympathetic Nervous System

The division of the autonomic nervous system that prepares the body for action by dilating pupils, increasing heart rate, and inhibiting digestion.

Parasympathetic Nervous System

The division of the autonomic nervous system that promotes relaxation by constricting pupils, decreasing heart rate, and stimulating digestion.

Stress

An uncomfortable emotional experience accompanied by predictable biochemical, physiological, and behavioral changes.

Stress (con’t)

Any circumstances that threaten or are perceived to threaten one’s well-being and that thereby tax one’s coping abilities

e.g. Threats to physical safety, long-range security, self-esteem, reputation, peace of mind, etc

Stress and disasters

People may think of tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes when they hear the word stress

Stress and disasters (con’t)

Studies conducted in the aftermath of natural disasters typically find elevated rates of psychological problems and physical illness in the communities affected by them

e.g. The 2019 Australian bushfires and the 2020 Newfoundland blizzard

Stress and everyday events

Tasks such as losing your phone, car trouble, and gift shopping can be stressful

Stress and everyday events (con’t)

They can have a considerable impact on mental health and are predictive of vulnerability to obsessive-compulsive disorders, depressive disorders, and a variety of anxiety disorders

Perceived Stress Scale (PSS)

The most widely used psychological instrument for measuring how much life situations are perceived as unpredictable, uncontrollable, and overloaded.

Health effects of stress

Psychopathology, increased risk for memory loss, heart disease, arthritis, ulcers, asthma, and migraines

Emotional responses

Feelings such as

• Annoyance, anger, and rage

• Apprehension, anxiety, and fear

• Dejection, sadness, and grief

Positive emotions and lifespan

People who experience a high level of positive emotions appear to live longer than others and have protection against heart disease

Cohen et al. (1991) Study Result

Research demonstrating that when exposed to a cold virus, participants with higher levels of stress were more likely to develop a cold.

Emotion-Focused Coping Skills

Strategies to manage the emotional response to stress, such as exercise, meditation, taking a bath, or giving yourself a pep talk.

Problem-Focused Coping Skills

Strategies that address the stressor directly, such as time management, asking for support, and creating a to-do list.

Locus of Control

The extent to which people believe they have power over events in their lives.

Autogenic Training

A stress management technique developed by Johannes Heinrich Schultz in 1932 using visual imagery and body awareness to activate the parasympathetic nervous system.

Biopsychosocial model

A perspective suggesting that physical illness results from the interaction of psychological, biological, and sociocultural factors.

Health psychology

A field of study concerned with how psychological factors influence health promotion and maintenance, and the prevention of disease.

The subjectivity of stress

How one chooses to notice, appraise or interpret a stressful situation

e.g.Many people find flying in an airplane somewhat stressful, but frequent fliers may not be bothered at all

Cognitive appraisals

Personalized perceptions of threats, categorized into primary and secondary appraisals, which determine how a person experiences stress.

Primary appraisal

An initial evaluation of whether an event is:

1. Irrelevant to you

2. Relevant but not threatening

3. Stressful

e.g. How one would determine whether you saw an upcoming psychology exam as stressful

Secondary appraisal

An evaluation of your coping resources and options for dealing with the stressful situation

e.g. How one would determine how stressful the exam appeared, in light of your assessment of your ability to deal with the event.

Reappraisal.

When one assesses a stressful situation again

Frustration

A major type of stress that occurs when a goal is blocked or a desire is left unmet. (when you want something and you can’t have it)

e.g. Traffic jams, difficult commutes, and annoying drivers

Conflict

A major type of stress that occurs when two or more incompatible motivations compete for expression.

Change

A type of stress involving the need to adapt to new situations or life challenges.

Life changes

Any substantial alterations in one’s living circumstances that require readjustment

Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS)

Assigns numerical values to 43 major life events meant to reflect the magnitude of the readjustment required by each change

Criticisms of the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS)

It doesn’t measure change exclusively, and rather assesses a wide range of varied kinds of stressful experiences

Pressure

A type of stress involving expectations or demands to behave in certain ways.

e.g. Salespeople are usually under pressure to move merchandise. Stand-up comedians are under intense pressure to make people laugh

Approach-approach conflict

A type of conflict in which a person is torn between two positive goals; is the least stressful type of conflict

e.g. choosing between pizza and spaghetti.

Avoidance-avoidance conflict

A type of conflict in which a person is torn between two negative goals; are most unpleasant and highly stressful

e.g. choosing between unemployment and a painful backache.

Approach-avoidance conflict

A type of conflict in which only one goal is under consideration, but it has both positive and negative aspects,

e.g. a date with an attractive person that may lead to rejection.

Vacillation

When one goes back and forth, beset by indecision

Coronary heart disease

A reduction in blood flow in the coronary arteries, which supply the heart with blood.

Coronary heart disease (con’t)

Accounts for about 90 percent of heart-related deaths

Risks for coronary heart disease (con’t)

Smoking, lack of exercise, high cholesterol levels, and high blood pressure

High blood pressure (hypertension) statistics in Canada

One-quarter of Canadians between the ages of 20 and 79 suffer from high blood pressure, with 20% being unaware they had it

Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS)

A scale developed by Holmes and Rahe that assigns mean life event values to various stressors, such as the death of a spouse ($100$), divorce ($73$), and marriage ($50$).

Inverted-U-hypothesis

The hypothesis that increased arousal is associated with improved performance up to an optimal level, after which higher arousal leads to poorer performance.

Inverted-U-hypothesis (con’t)

When performance is plotted as a function of arousal, the resulting graphs approximate an upside-down U

Inverted-U-hypothesis (III)

As a task becomes more complex, the optimal level of arousal (for peak performance) tends to decrease

Fight-or-flight response

A physiological reaction to threat proposed by Cannon that mobilizes the organism for action for attacking (fight) or fleeing (flight) an enemy

Tend-and-befriend

When people form strong social connections so that when they are stressed they can call on said connections for help

General adaptation syndrome

Selye’s model of the body’s physiological response to stress; is divided into three phases: alarm, resistance, and exhaustion.

Alarm reaction

The first phase of the general adaptation syndrome in which the body mobilizes its resources for resistance after a brief initial shock.

Stage of resistance

The second phase of the general adaptation syndrome in which physiological arousal stabilizes and levels off, eventually beginning to decline.

Stage of exhaustion

The third phase of the general adaptation syndrome in which the body's resources are depleted, leading to health problems (diseases of adaptation).

Catecholamines

Hormones secreted by the adrenal medulla during stress that increase cardiovascular response, respiration, perspiration, and blood flow to active muscles.

Effects of catecholamines

The body is mobilized for action

e.g. Respiration and oxygen consumption speed up, pupils dilate, digestive processes are inhibited

Corticosteroids

Hormones secreted by the adrenal cortex that increase protein and fat mobilization, access to energy stores, and decrease inflammation in the event of an injury

Coping

The term used for behavioural responses to stress, which can range from giving up to constructive problem-solving.

e.g. If one is failing a class, they might increase their study efforts, get help, or give up

Learned helplessness

A passive behavioural response to stress, identified by Seligman, involving giving up and blaming oneself

Learned helplessness (con’t)

Produced by exposure to unavoidable aversive events beyond one’s control

Catastrophic thinking

A term introduced by Ellis for a response to stress characterized by unrealistically negative appraisals of and problematic responses to a situation.

Negative self-talk

Can contribute to the development of depressive disorders

Self-indulgence

When stressed-out people engage in unwise patterns of eating, drinking, spending money, and so forth

Internet addiction

Excessive gaming, preoccupation with sexual content, or obsessive socializing

Internet addiction traits

1. Excessive time online

2. Anger and depression when thwarted from being online

3. An escalating need for better equipment and connections

4. Adverse consequences, such as arguments and lying about Internet use, social isolation, and reductions in academic or work performance

Internet addiction statistics

Around 6 percent of the population

Defence mechanisms

Are largely unconscious and ineffective reactions that shield individuals from the unpleasant emotions so often elicited by stress

Self-deception or denial

Are how defence mechanisms are accomplished through distorting reality so it doesn’t appear so threatening.

Constructive coping

Relatively healthful efforts that people make to deal with stressful events through:

• Confronting problems directly

• Reasonably realistic appraisals of your stress and coping resources

• Learning to recognize, and in some cases regulate, potentially disruptive emotional reactions to stress

The effectiveness of coping

No strategy of coping can guarantee a successful outcome, and is simply meant to connote a healthful, positive approach, without promising success

Optimism

A general tendency to expect good outcomes, which leads to relatively good physical health, more effective immune functioning, increased longevity, etc

Why’s optimism beneficial to health

Optimists cope with stress in more adaptive ways than pessimists do, such as taking action, maintaining social connections, and emphasizing the positives in their appraisals of stressful events

How does conscientiousness promote longevity?

1. People who are high in conscientiousness are less likely than others to exhibit unhealthy habits, such as excessive drinking, drug abuse, dangerous driving, smoking

2. People tend to rely on constructive coping strategies, and they’re persistent in their efforts, so they may handle stressors better than others.

How does conscientiousness promote longevity? (con’t)

3. It appears to promote better adherence to medical advice and more effective management of health problems

4. It’s associated with higher educational attainment and job performance, which both foster career success and increased income, leading to higher socioeconomic status

Hardiness

A constellation of attitudes, beliefs, and behavioural tendencies that consists of three components: commitment, control, and challenge

Hardiness (con’t)

People tend to approach difficult tasks as challenges, they viewed their work as important, and they were committed to it, and they saw themselves as in control of their time and efforts.

Burnout

A syndrome composed of three components: exhaustion, cynicism, and lowered self-efficacy, often caused by work overload and lack of control.

Exhaustion

Includes chronic fatigue, weakness, and low energy

Cynicism

Is s manifested in highly negative attitudes toward oneself, one’s work, and life in general

Reduced self-efficacy

Involves declining feelings of competence at work, which give way to feelings of hopelessness and helplessness

Burnout and the workplace

Is associated with increased absenteeism and reduced productivity at work, as well as increased vulnerability to a variety of health problems

Causes of burnout

• Overload

• Struggling with interpersonal conflicts at work

• Lack of control over work responsibilities and outcomes

• Inadequate recognition for one’s work

• Too many demands or work hours

Causes of burnout (con’t)

• For those who make $100,000 per year or more, their jobs are the main cause of their stress.

• For those who make less than $100,000, it is finances that are the major source of stress

Burnout and school

Trying to balance the demands of performing well at school, easing financial pressures, and maintaining a personal life puts students at risk for burnout

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

A disorder characterized by symptoms such as flashbacks, emotional arousal, nightmares, anxiety, and guilt related to a major traumatic event

e.g. Sexual assault, physical assault, witnessing a death, or witnessing a natural disaster such as a wildfire

PTSD and childbirth

Women who witnessed the events of 9/11 when they were pregnant and those who gave birth during the Holocaust had children with smaller heads, a thinner cortex, and lower cortisol levels

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) statistics

Nearly $45\%$ of surveyed first responders report symptoms of it.

Type A personality

A personality pattern featuring three elements: strong competitiveness, impatience and time urgency, and anger and hostility.

Type A personality (con’t)

Are ambitious, competitive, and hard-driving perfectionists who are exceedingly time-conscious and drive themselves with many deadlines

Type A personality (III)

They’re more irritable and hostile, as well as quick to anger; their risk of coronary disease is 2 - 3 times higher

Type B personality

Relatively relaxed, patient, easygoing, amicable behaviour