Personality

Stress

The process by which we perceive and respond to certain events that we perceive as threatening and challenging.

Stress Reaction

Physical and emotional response to a threatening or challenging situation.

Behavioral Medicine

The idea that the mind and body interact; psychological is physiological.

General Adaption Syndrome

The concept that the body’s response to stress occurs in 3 phases.

Telomeres

The DNA at the ends of chromosomes.

What effect does stress have on telomeres?

Stress causes them to wear down/damage.

Tend and Befriend

Under stress, people, especially women, provide support to others and build/seek support.

Oxytocin

Stress modulating hormone associated with social interaction (especially in women).

Health psychology

Psychological attempts to increase healthy behaviors.

Psychoneuroimmunology

A branch of health psychology that studies the interaction between psychological, neural, and endocrine systems and their effect on the immune system and resulting health.

B-lymphocytes

Antibodies that fight bacterial infection.

T-lymphocytes

Cells that attack cancer cells and foreign substances.

Macrophage cell

Cells that eat/ingest harmful invaders.

Natural Killer cells

Cells that attack diseased cells.

Weaken

. Stress can ______ immune systems.

Carcinogen

A cancer-causing agent.

Coronary Heart Disease

Clogging of the vessels which nourish the heart muscle; a leading cause of death.

Type A

Competitive, hard-driving, impatient, aggressive, anger-prone people.

Type B

Easy-going, relaxed people.

Type A.

Which group of people, A or B, is more likely to get a heart attack?

Pessimism, Anger.

______, and ______ are toxic to health.

Cope

Alleviate stress with emotional, cognitive, or behavioral methods.

Problem-Focused Coping

Attempt to alleviate stress directly, by changing the stressor.

Emotion-Focused Coping

Alleviate stress by avoiding, or ignoring a stressor and attending to emotional needs.

Personal Control

Sense of controlling environment rather than feeling helpless.

Learned Helplessness

Hopeless, passive resignation of an animal or person to avoid repeated aversive events.

External Locus of Control

Perception that forces outside our control impact fate.

Internal Locus of Control

Perception that individual has control over their own destiny.

Free Will

Belief of control over own life.

Self-Control

Ability to control impulses and delay short-term gratification for long-term rewards.

Badly.

Pessimists expect things to go ______.

Get better.

Optimists expect things to ______.

Immune function

Social support can foster stronger ______..

Personality

Individual characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting.

Psychoanalytic theory

Proposes the idea that unresolved childhood trauma/sexual aggressions impact personality.

Humanistic Theories

Focus on inner capacities for growth and self-fulfillment.

Trait Theory

Examines characteristic patterns of behavior.

Social-Cognitive Thinking

Interaction between people’s traits and environment

Psychodynamic theory

Theorizes personality with a focus on the unconscious and emphasis on childhood experiences.

Psychoanalysis

Theory of personality and suggested psychological therapeutic treatment.

Unconscious

Reservoir of unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories.

Free association

Method of exploring the unconscious by stating whatever comes to mind.

Conscious awareness

What we acknowledge.

Repress

Block traumatic events.

Id

Demands gratification to satisfy basic drives.

Ego

Works to satisfy the demands of the id.

Reality Principle

Ego operates on this; gratifies id’s impulse realistically.

Superego

The part of personality that represents morals.

Defense Mechanisms

Ego’s protective methods to reduce anxiety by distorting reality.

Repression

Defense mechanism that banishes feelings of anxiety from consciousness.

Regression

Retreat to an earlier age.

Reaction Formation

Switching unacceptable feelings to opposites.

Projection

Disguising own traits as others.

Rationalization

Self-justifying reasons.

Displacement

Shift sexual urges to less threatening objects.

Manifest Content

Remembered content of dreams.

Latent Content

Censored expression of unconscious wishes.

Collective Unconscious

Inherited reservoir of memory from species history.

Projective Tests

A personality test providing ambiguous images to trigger projections.

Thematic Apperception Test

Test where people express internal feelings through stories about ambiguous scenes.

Rorschach Inkblot test

Test using inkblots to analyze inner feelings.

Terror Management Theory

Thinking about terror, like death, can provoke various defenses.

Self-actualization

Process of reaching one’s potential.

Self-transcendence

Meaning and purpose beyond self.

Person-centered response

Belief that people are basically good and self-actualizing.

Unconditional Positive Regard

A caring, accepting, and non-judgmental attitude.

Genuineness

Openness and transparency in feelings.

Empathy

Sharing and mirroring others' feelings.

Self-Concept

All our thoughts and feelings about ourselves.

Life Story Approach

Using interviews to understand unique experiences.

Traits

Characteristic patterns of behavior.

Myers Briggs Type Indicator

A personality test classifying personality using 126 questions.

Factor Analysis

Statistical procedure identifying clusters of test items.

Personality Inventories

Questionnaires gauging emotions, behaviors, and personality.

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory

Widely used personality test to identify emotional disorders.

Empirically Derived

A test created by screening items that discriminate between groups.

Maturity Principle

We become more stable over time.

Social-Cognitive Perspective

Emphasizes interaction of traits and environment.

Reciprocal Determinism

Interaction of behavior, cognition, and environment.

Self

Center of personality including thoughts, feelings, actions.

Possible Selves

Our ideal or feared versions of self.

Spotlight Effect

Overestimating how much others focus on us.

Self-Esteem

One’s feelings of high or low self-worth.

Self-Efficacy

Sense of competence and effectiveness.

Self-Serving Bias

Tendency to perceive oneself favorably.

Narcissism

Excessive self-love and absorption.

Subtly Strategic

Putting oneself down for attention/preparation.

Defensive Self-Esteem

Fragile self-view that can turn aggressive.

Secure Self-Esteem

Less fragile and not contingent on external factors.

Eustress

Normal/beneficial stress.

Distress

Extreme anxiety.

Adverse Childhood Experiences

Traumatic events in childhood.

Deep breathing, meditation, medication.

Strategies for emotion-based coping?

Increases.

Gratitude ______ subjective well-being.

Signature Strengths

Character strengths and virtues fostering well-being.

Wisdom

Cognitive strengths involving the use of knowledge.

Courage

Emotional strengths involving the will to accomplish goals.

Humanity

Interpersonal strengths involving tending and befriending others.

Justice

Civic strengths underlying healthy community life.

Temperance

Strengths protecting against excess.