psych 5.1-5

Health Psychology

The field exploring how biological, psychological, and social factors influence health and illness.

Behavioral Factors

Components such as diet, physical activity, substance use, and adherence to medical recommendations that affect health.

Cognitive Factors

Processes that influence health behaviors and outcomes through beliefs, attitudes, and perceptions.

Stress

A physiological and psychological response to challenges or demands that exceed coping abilities.

Eustress

Positive stress that motivates individuals to achieve goals and enhances well-being.

Distress

Negative stress that leads to anxiety, frustration, or overwhelm when it exceeds coping ability.

General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)

A model describing the body's physiological response to stressors in three stages: alarm, resistance, and exhaustion.

Alarm Stage

The initial response to a stressor, activating the fight-or-flight response.

Resistance Stage

The phase where the body attempts to adapt and cope with ongoing stress.

Exhaustion Stage

The final phase when resources are depleted, leading to impaired coping and potential illness.

Tend-and-Befriend Theory

The idea that individuals, especially women, seek social connections and nurture others in response to stress.

Problem-Focused Coping

Strategies aimed at managing or altering stressful situations directly.

Emotion-Focused Coping

Regulating emotional responses to stressors rather than altering the stressors themselves.

Positive Psychology

The study of human strengths and well-being, emphasizing factors that promote thriving.

Expressing Gratitude

Recognizing and appreciating positive aspects of life to enhance well-being.

Positive Psychology Virtues

Core virtues identified in positive psychology that include wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance, and transcendence.

Posttraumatic Growth

Positive psychological change following highly challenging life circumstances.

Psychological Disorders

Conditions characterized by abnormal thoughts, feelings, and behaviors causing distress or impairment.

Level of Dysfunction

The extent to which thoughts, feelings, and behaviors interfere with daily activities.

Perception of Distress

The subjective experience of emotional or psychological pain indicative of psychological disorders.

Deviation from Social Norms

Behaviors or feelings that significantly differ from societal or cultural norms.

Diagnosing Psychological Disorders

A systematic assessment of symptoms for identifying mental disorders.

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)

A classification system for diagnosing mental disorders published by the American Psychiatric Association.

International Classification of Diseases (ICD)

A global health standard maintained by the WHO that includes diagnostic criteria for mental health conditions.

Eclectic Approach

A therapeutic strategy that integrates elements from various psychological theories and techniques.

Behavioral Perspective

Views psychological disorders as maladaptive behaviors learned through conditioning.

Psychodynamic Perspective

Focuses on unconscious conflicts and childhood experiences as causes of psychological disorders.

Humanistic Perspective

Emphasizes personal growth and self-actualization, viewing disorders as barriers to these processes.

Cognitive Perspective

Considers psychological disorders as resulting from distorted thinking patterns.

Evolutionary Perspective

Explains disorders in terms of adaptive functions that have become maladaptive in modern environments.

Sociocultural Perspective

Emphasizes the role of societal and cultural influences on psychological disorders.

Biological Perspective

Attributes psychological disorders to biological factors such as genetics and brain abnormalities.

Biopsychosocial Model

Posits that psychological disorders arise from the interplay of biological, psychological, and social factors.

Diathesis-Stress Model

Suggests psychological disorders develop from a combination of predisposition and environmental stressors.

Diathesis

An underlying vulnerability or predisposition to a psychological disorder.

Stress

Environmental factors that can trigger the onset of a disorder when combined with a diathesis.