Stress Physiology, Coping, and Psychoneuroimmunology

Flashcards defining core concepts, studies, hypotheses, and physiological mechanisms related to stress, social hierarchies, coping, and immune function.

Glucocorticoids

Steroid stress hormones (such as cortisol) that are neurotoxic in high concentrations, causing neurodegeneration, synaptic reduction, and hippocampal shrinkage in conditions like PTSD, while also hampering the cardiovascular, digestive, reproductive, and immune systems.

Whitehall Study

A study of British civil servants demonstrating that individuals placed lower in the social hierarchy experience higher rates of hypertension, cancer, and early cognitive decline due to chronic stress hormone activation.

Perceived Stress Scale

A psychological instrument used to evaluate an individual's perceived stress levels over the previous month.

Distressors

Unusually negative events that act as sources of stress, triggering increases in arousal and the production of cortisol.

Eustressors

Unusually positive events (such as graduating, landing a dream job, or winning the lottery) that nonetheless elevate arousal and cortisol levels by presenting new life demands and adjustments.

Problem-Focused Coping

A coping mechanism that directs effort toward identifying practical strategies and actionable solutions to resolve the challenges presented by a stressor.

Emotion-Focused Coping

A coping approach characterized by concentrating on, or wallowing in, the discomfort, dread, and difficult feelings elicited by stressors rather than pursuing active solutions.

Social Analgesia Hypothesis

The hypothesis proposing that the presence, comforting touch, and social support of friends and family mitigates pain sensitivity, producing a protective physiological effect comparable to a dose of aspirin.

Kibali Forest Chimpanzees

A population of common chimpanzees with rigid hierarchies and intense social competition, where subordinate, low-ranking individuals display lower testosterone, chronically elevated cortisol, suppressed immunity, and higher loads of intestinal parasites.

Minoritized Groups

A designation emphasizing that adverse health disparities and heightened psychiatric symptoms arise from external systems of racialization and othering rather than intrinsic, trait-related characteristics of a demographic group.

Diseases of Despair

Physical health conditions (such as asthma, headaches, hypertension, and heart disease) that develop and proliferate in biological environments primed by chronic stress, structural oppression, and systemic inflammation.

Psychoneuroimmunology

The study of how extrinsic psychological and environmental experiences alter internal physiology and adaptive behaviors specifically through their interactions with the immune system.

Clutch Metaphor (Immune System)

An analogy describing the immune system as a vehicle clutch that dictates energy allocation, shifting resources toward acute inflammation and innate defense for fight-or-flight while disengaging adaptive immunity, tissue repair, growth, and reproduction.

Corticosterone Releasing Factor (CRF)

A neuroendocrine factor (also known as corticotropin-releasing hormone) that drives adrenal glucocorticoid secretion; it can be driven into an inactive refractory period by behaviors such as laughter.