AP Psychology - Mental and Physical Heath Vocab

eustress

moderate or normal psychological stress, interpreted as being beneficial (like a new job or challenging workout)

debilitating stress

an intense, overwhelming level of stress or fear that severely impairs daily functioning (like financial struggle or grief)

ACES or adverse childhood experiences

abuse or other traumas that can influence long-term stress responses and negatively impact health and well-being (like abuse, neglect, and mental illnesses)

GAS or general adaptation system

Selye’s concept of the body’s adaptive response to stress in three phases - alarm, resistance, and exhaustion

alarm

your sympathetic nervous system is activated, heart rate increases, blood is diverted, you are now ready to fight back (REACTION)

resistance (fight or flight)

temperature, blood pressure, and nervous system are high; endocrine pumps epinephrine and norepinephrine, you are fully activated for a challenge (ADAPTATION)

exhaustion

the body’s reserves dwindle and become for vulnerable to illness or even collapse/death (DEPLETED)

tend-and-befriend

under stress, people (typically women) may nurture themselves by befriending others

problem-focused coping

attempting to alleviate stress directly, by challenging the stressor or the way we interact with the stressor (can change the situation, tackle directly)

emotion-focused coping

attempting to alleviate stress by avoiding or ignoring a stressor and attending to emotional needs related to our stress reaction (stressors are uncontrollable, manage feelings)

positive psychology

the scientific study of resilience, positive emotions, strengths, and virtues that help individuals and communities thrive

gratitude

an appreciative emotion people often experience when they benefit from the actions of others or recognize their own good fortune

signature strengths or virtues

a classification system to identify positive traits; organized into categories of wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance, and transcendence

heath psychology

a sub-field of psychology that explores the impact of psychological, behavioral, and cultural factors on health and wellness

psychoneuroimmunology

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

approach and avoidance motives

the drive to move forward (approach) or away from (avoid) a stimulus

stress

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

coronary heart disease

the clogging of the vessels that nourish the heart muscle; the leading cause of death in many developed countries

type a

competitive, hard-working, impatient, aggressive, and easily angered (Friedman and Rosenman)

type b

relaxed and easy going (Friedman and Rosenman)

catharsis

the idea that “releasing” aggressive energy (through action or fantasy) relieves aggressive urges

personal control

our sense of controlling our environment rather than feeling helpless

learned helplessness

the hopelessness and passive resignation humans and other animals learn when unable to avoid repeated aversive events

external locus of control

the perception that outside factors beyond our personal control determine our fate

internal locus of control

the perception that we control our own fate

subjective well-being

self-perceived happiness or satisfaction with life

adaptation-level phenomenon

our tendency to form judgments (of sounds, of lights, of income) relative to a neutral level defined by our prior experience

relative deprivation

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