PSY 150 11, 12, 14, 15

Stress

A person’s response to events or stimuli that are threatening or challenging

Cataclysmic Events

• Typically affect many people at the same time

• Typically begin suddenly and end suddenly

• Can cause psychological problems long after the event (PTSD, anxiety, depression)

Personal Stressors

• Major life events

Daily Hassles

• Everyday irritations

• Highly correlated with adverse health issues than the other categories

Conflicts

• Having to choose between 2 or more things

Approach approach

• When we have to choose between 2 equally positive things

• Least stressful of all the conflicts because it’s a win win situation

Avoidance avoidance

• When we have to choose between 2 equally negative things

• This is a lose-lose situation

Approach avoidance

• When we’re faced with choices that have both positive and negative aspects

• Most stressful especially when there are multiple postive and negative aspects

General Adaptation Syndrome

Hans Selye

Alarm Reaction

• HPA system turns on and activates the sympathetic nervous system

• Epinephrine (adrenalin) and corticosteroids (like cortisol) are released

Resistance

• Body starts slowing down; physical and psychological resources start to diminish

Exhaustion

• This is when we get sick!

• Gastrointestinal problems

• Depression and anxiety problems

• Cardiovascular problems

• Decreased immune system

How to relieve stress

• Exercises

• Relaxation and breathing exercises

• Meditation

• Develop a good social support system

• Be optimistic

• Laugh

• Manage your time wisely

Psychoanalytic Perspective

• Sigmund Freud

• The unconscious

Major tenets/assumptions

• We have powerful but large unconscious motivations that have been with us since childhood

• Personality is determined by conflict between conscious and unconscious forces

Human Psyche

• Id

• Superego

• Ego

Id

• Operates according to the pleasure principle

• Immediate gratification

Superego

• Moral compass

• Operates according to the moral principle

• Delayed gratification

• Always fighting with Id because they want diff. things

Ego

• Operates according to the reality principle

• Tries to find socially acceptable ways to satisfy the Id

Trait

Enduring tendencies that cause us to behave in certain ways

Major tenets/assumptions:

• Personality traits are relatively stable across time

• Personality traits are consistent in different situations

• Individual differences are the result of differences in the degree and combination of the degrees of the traits

The Big Five

Social Cognitive

Major tenet/assumption:

• Our personalities are formed from how we perceive and interpret our environment

Locus of Control

Our perceptions of how much control we have over our own lives

Humanistic Perspective

• Carl Rogers

We strive to be the very best person we can be

Actualizing tendency

Major tenets/assumptions

• The most important thing is subjective experience

• To have a healthy personality, the person must experience unconditional positive regard

Unconditional Positive Regard

Unconditionally accepting the person for who they are

Confederate

Someone in on the research study, reports back to researcher

Cognitive Dissonance

Bad feeling we get when our thoughts don’t match our behavior

Foot in door

Agree to small requests first, more likely to accept a large request

Door in face

Agree to large requests first, more likely to accept a small request

Reciprocity

If people are nice to us, we feel like we should be nice to them

Perpetual Contrast

Notice the huge diff. between the 1st & 2nd request

Norm

Rules or laws that govern a groups behavior

Cohesiveness

How much we value being in the group, desire to maintain membership

Conforming

Change our behavior to avoid breaking the norms

Normative Conforming

Change behavior but not thoughts, beliefs, attitudes

Informative Conforming

Change behavior and beliefs, thoughts, attitudes, because of cognitive dissonance

Abnormal Psychology

Scientific study of psychological disorders

Abnormal

• Deviance from statistical norms (statistical infrequency)

• Deviance from social or cultural norms

• Personal distress

• Level of impairment

Diathesis Stress Model of Mental Illness

In order to get a psychological disorder, a person needs both (a diathesis and stress)

Diathesis

A biological or psychological predisposition (vulnerability), genes

DSM-5

Includes how to diagnose psychological disorders, what symptoms must be present for a person to be diagnosed with a particular disorder

• Also includes other information

• Comorbidity

• Risk factors

• Prevalence

Comorbidity

Other disorders that commonly co-occur with a particular disorder

Risk Factors

Things that precede a psychological disorder and are correlated with it; they make it more likely that someone will get a psychological disorder

Prevalence

What percentage of the population has a particular disorder in a given time period

Depressive Disorders

Characterized by a depressed mood or a loss of interest in activities that the person typically enjoys

• Major depression (Major Depressive Disorder)

• Must experience at least 5 of the symptoms everyday for at least 2 weeks

Bipolar Disorders

• Previously called manic depressive disorder

• Person typically cycles between depression and mania

Mania

Euphoria, decreased need for sleep; more talkative than usual, getting involved in risky behaviors without thinking about the consequences

Anxiety Disorders

• Characterized by extreme anxiety in situations that typically do not cause severe anxiety

Panic disorder

Recurrent panic attacks for no obvious cause

Phobias

Intense, irrational fears

Obessive Compulsive and Related disorders

• Obsessions are unwanted irrational thoughts, urges, or images that occur repeatedly

• Compulsions are behaviors or mental acts done to reduce the anxiety caused by the thoughts, urges, or images

• Hoarding disorder

• OCD

Psychotic Disorders

• Schizophrenia

Psychosis

A break from reality

Social referencing

In an ambiguous situation, we look to others to help determine what we should do

Pluralistic Ignorance

In a situation where we think that someone may need help, we social reference. If no one else looks concerned, we second-guess ourselves so we don’t help. We remain ignorant of the fact that someone needs help because of everyone else

Diffusion of responsibility

The more people there are at a scene where someone needs help, the more diffuse (spread out) our sense of responsibility to help is.

Latane and Darley (1969)

• Participants alone in the room

• Participants with confederates who were instructed to act like there is no problem

What they found:

• Participants alone: 75%

• Participants with confederates: 10%