Psychology 50: Meeting Life Challenges

These flashcards provide vocabulary and key concepts from Chapter 3 of the Psychology 50 textbook, covering the nature, types, and sources of stress, the General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS), and various coping and management strategies.

Stress

The pattern of responses an organism makes to stimulus event that disturbs the equilibrium and exceeds a person’s ability to cope.

Eustress

The level of stress that is good for you and is one of a person’s best assets for achieving peak performance and managing minor crisis.

Distress

The negative manifestation of stress that causes the body’s wear and tear.

Strictus

A Latin root word for stress meaning tight or narrow.

Stringere

A Latin verb root for stress meaning to tighten.

Stressors

Events that cause our body to give the stress response, such as noise, crowding, or a bad relationship.

Strain

The reaction or response to external stressors.

Hans Selye

The father of modern stress research who defined stress as the non-specific response of the body to any demand.

Primary Appraisal

The perception of a new or changing environment as positive, neutral, or negative in its consequences.

Secondary Appraisal

The assessment of one’s coping abilities and resources to determine whether they will be sufficient to meet the harm, threat, or challenge of an event.

Harm

The assessment of damage that has already been done by an event during primary appraisal.

Threat

The assessment of possible future damage that may be brought about by an event during primary appraisal.

Challenge

An appraisal associated with confident expectations of the ability to cope with a stressful event and the potential to profit from it.

Catecholamines

Epinephrine and norepinephrine released by the adrenal gland into the blood stream during the fight-or-flight response.

Corticosteroid (Cortisol)

A hormone secreted by the pituitary gland that provides energy during a stress reaction.

Physical Stress

Demands that change the state of our body, such as overexertion, lack of nutrition, injury, or lack of sleep.

Environmental Stress

Aspects of surroundings that are disruptive, including unavoidable factors like pollution and noise, or catastrophic events like earthquakes.

Psychological Stress

Internal sources of stress generated in our minds, including frustration, conflicts, and internal and social pressures.

Frustration

A stress source resulting from the blocking of needs and motives by something or someone that hinders achieving a desired goal.

Conflict

Stress occurring between two or more incompatible needs or motives, or a conflict of values.

Internal Pressures

Stress stemming from beliefs based upon self-expectations to perform perfectly or achieve unrealistically high standards.

Social Stress

Stress induced externally by interaction with other people, such as death in the family or strained relationships.

Presumptive Stressful Life Events Scale

A self-rating questionnaire for the Indian population developed by Singh, Kaur and Kaur to measure stress through $51$ life changes.

Hassles

Personal stresses endured due to daily life happenings, such as commuting, traffic snarls, or electricity shortages.

Traumatic Events

Extreme events such as accidents or natural disasters whose effects may persist as anxiety, flashbacks, and intrusive thoughts.

Examination Anxiety

A phenomenon involving feelings of tension or uneasiness before, during, or after an exam, also characterized as evaluative apprehension.

Burnout

A state of physical, emotional, and psychological exhaustion caused by prolonged stress where environmental demands exceed available support.

General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)

Selye's model of bodily response to prolonged stress involving three stages: alarm reaction, resistance, and exhaustion.

Alarm Reaction Stage

The first stage of GAS where the adrenal-pituitary-cortex system triggers hormones for fight or flight.

Resistance Stage

The second stage of GAS where the parasympathetic nervous system calls for cautious use of body resources as the organism tries to cope.

Exhaustion Stage

The final stage of GAS where continued stress drains body resources, leading to ineffective physiological systems and susceptibility to diseases.

Psychoneuroimmunology

The study of the links between the mind, the brain, and the immune system.

Antigens

Foreign bodies, such as viruses, that the immune system identifies and destroys.

Leucocytes

White blood cells within the immune system that identify and destroy antigens.

T cells

Specific white blood cells that destroy invaders; T-helper cells increase immunological activity.

B cells

White blood cells that produce antibodies to fight foreign bodies.

Natural Killer Cells

White blood cells involved in the body's defense against both viruses and tumours.

Lifestyle

The overall pattern of decisions and behaviours that determine a person’s health and quality of life.

Coping

A dynamic situation-specific reaction to stress consisting of concrete responses intended to resolve problems and reduce stress.

Task-oriented Strategy

A coping strategy involving obtaining information about a situation, deciding priorities, and acting directly to deal with the stressor.

Emotion-oriented Strategy

A coping strategy involving efforts to maintain hope, control emotions, or vent feelings of anger and frustration.

Avoidance-oriented Strategy

A coping strategy involving the denial or minimisation of a situation's seriousness or using self-protective thoughts.

Problem-focused Strategies

Coping methods designed to gain information and alter the event or belief to reduce the threat value of a stressor.

Emotion-focused Strategies

Coping methods designed to limit the degree of emotional disruption caused by an event with minimal effort to alter the event itself.

Biofeedback

A procedure to monitor and reduce physiological aspects of stress by providing feedback about current activity, often in three stages.

Creative Visualisation

A subjective stress management technique that uses imagery and imagination to turn an imagined scene into reality.

Stress Inoculation Training

An approach developed by Meichenbaum that replaces negative and irrational thoughts with positive and rational ones.

Hardiness

A stress-resistant personality trait consisting of the 'three Cs': commitment, control, and challenge.

Life Skills

Abilities for adaptive and positive behaviour that enable individuals to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life.

Assertiveness

The ability to communicate feelings, needs, and thoughts clearly and confidently, including the ability to say no.

Rational Thinking

The process of challenging distorted thinking and irrational beliefs to manage stress-related problems.

Resilience

A dynamic developmental process referring to the maintenance of positive adjustment and the capacity to 'bounce back' in the face of adversity.

Positive Health

A state of complete physical, mental, social, and spiritual well-being comprising a healthy body, quality relationships, and mastery of life’s tasks.

Optimism

The inclination to expect favourable life outcomes, linked to better psychological and physical well-being.

Social Support

The availability of people on whom we can rely, who care for and love us; categorized into tangible, informational, and emotional support.