AP Psych Unit 5: Mental and Physical Health

Psychoneuroimmunology

The study of how psychological, neural, and endocrine processes together affect our immune system and resulting health 

Stress

The process by which we perceive and respond to certain events, called stressors, that we appraise as threatening or challenging 

Approach and Avoidance Motives

Problem-focused coping

attempting to alleviate stress directly by changing the stressor or the way we interact with that stressor 

Emotion-focused coping

attempting to alleviate stress by avoiding or ignoring the stressor and attending to emotional needs related to our stress reaction. Strategies that are emotion focused may include deep breathing, meditation, or taking meds

General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)

the body’s adaptive response to stress in three phases: fight-flight-freeze response

Tend-and-befriend Response

under stress, people (especially women) may nurture themselves and others (tend) and bond with and seek support from others (befriend) 

Coronary Heart Disease

Feel-good, do-good phenomenon

people’s tendency to be helpful when in a good mood

Resistance Phase

Fight-flight-freeze response

Coping

Exhaustion Phase

Hypertension and stress

Immune Suppression

Eustress v. Distress

stressors that can be viewed as motivation vs stressors that can be viewed as debilitating 

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE)

Catharsis

Resilience

Gratitude

Virtues

a classification of character strengths has been developed around 6 categories

Wisdom

 creativity, curiosity, open-mindedness, love of learning, perspective 

Courage

bravery, perseverance, honesty set 

Humanity

kindness, love, social intelligence

Justice

fairness, leadership, teamwork

Temperance

forgiveness, humility, prudence, self-regulation

Transcendence

appreciation of beauty, gratitude, hope, humor, spirituality

Positive Psychology

the scientific study of human flourishing, with the goals of promoting strengths and virtues that foster well-being, resilience, and positive emotions, and that help individuals and communities to thrive

Signature strengths

People who exercise their signature strengths/virtues report higher levels of positive subjective experiences such as happiness and subjective well-being

Positive subjective experiences

Posttraumatic growth

a positive subjective experience, may result after the experience of trauma or stress

Relative deprivation

the perception that we are worse off relative to those whom we compare ourselves

Mindfulness meditation