CH 10. PYCH: Stress, Health, and Human Flourishing Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, concepts, models, and research findings from Chapter 10 on Health Psychology, Stress, Coping, and Positive Psychology.

A field of study emphasizing the reduction of illness, prevention of illness, and promotion of health based on the belief that lifestyle choices, behaviors, personality, and thought patterns impact health status.

Health Psychology

The model asserting that biological, psychological, and social factors interact to produce an individual's health status.

Biopsychosocial Model

A demand made upon an individual to adapt, cope, or adjust.

Stress

The psychological process of filtering and evaluating life events, where appraising an event as either a threat or a challenge influences the level of stress experienced and the response.

Stress Appraisal

Short-term stressors that occur in the present and have a clear, visible end in sight.

Acute Stressors

Long-term and constant stressors that persist over extended periods.

Chronic Stressors

Stressors centered around uncertainty and worry regarding future events.

Anticipatory Stressors

Unexpected, large-scale disasters, major disruptions, challenges, or threats.

Catastrophic Stressors

Significant events—both positive and negative—such as job changes, marriage, relocation, divorce, or having a child that require lifestyle adjustment.

Life Changes

Small, routine stressors such as bills, chores, and traffic that accumulate to increase overall stress levels.

Daily Hassles

Stress resulting from internal or external expectations to perform or conform.

Pressure

The stress experienced when an individual is prevented from achieving a desired goal.

Frustration

A stress response that mobilizes physiological resources to confront or escape a threat, but depletes energy stores if prolonged.

Fight or Flight

A stress response in which individuals seek social support, band together, and nurture one another.

Tend and Befriend

The framework explaining that stress makes people more vulnerable to disease by influencing physiology (stress hormone release, autonomic nervous system effects, immune suppression) and encouraging unhealthy behaviors.

Stress Vulnerability Model

Attempts made by an individual to reduce, manage, or tolerate stress.

Coping Strategies

Coping responses (such as overeating, avoidance, or aggression) that offer temporary relief but do not resolve the stressor and may generate additional long-term stress.

Limited Value Coping

Healthy methods to manage stress that require active effort, including problem-focused, emotion-focused, and appraisal-focused techniques.

Constructive Coping

Constructive coping directed at directly confronting or changing the source of stress, or altering one's actions to reduce future stress.

Problem-Focused Coping

Coping aimed at recognizing and regulating the negative emotional responses generated by a stressor.

Emotion-Focused Coping

A constructive coping strategy involving changing one's thoughts, attitudes, or framing regarding a stressor.

Appraisal-Focused Coping

Sustained activity that enhances heart and lung fitness, reduces depression and anxiety, and improves overall quality of life and energy levels.

Aerobic Exercise

The experience of feeling loved and encouraged by close relationships, which acts as a buffer against stress by calming blood pressure, lowering stress hormones, and boosting immune functioning.

Social Support

The phenomenon where involvement in a religious collective predicts greater health and longevity through healthy behaviors, social support, and positive emotions.

Faith Factor

Key factors associated with a reduced annual risk of mortality, including weekly religious attendance, regular exercise, and not smoking.

Predictors of Longevity

The scientific study of human functioning focused on identifying and promoting strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive.

Positive Psychology

The psychologist who spearheaded the development and expansion of Positive Psychology starting in the 1990s.

Martin Seligman

The finding that money prevents misery up to a basic needs threshold, but massive growth in personal income over decades does not lead to increases in overall reported happiness.

Income and Happiness Relationship

A state of deep engagement where individuals are absorbed in challenging activities that fully utilize their skills without overwhelming them.

Flow