Chapter 12: Emotions, Stress, and Health - Cottone

Emotion

a response of the whole organism, involving (1) physiological arousal, (2) expressive behaviors, and (3) conscious experience

James-Lange Theory

the theory that our experience of emotion is our awareness of our physiological responses to emotion-arousing stimuli

Cannon-Bard Theory

the theory that an emotion-arousing stimulus simultaneously triggers (1) physiological responses and (2) the subjective experience of emotion

two-factor theory

Schachter-Singer's theory that to experience emotion one must (1) be physically aroused and (2) cognitively label the arousal.

polygraph

a machine, commonly used in attempts to detect lies, that measures several of the physiological responses accompanying emotion

catharsis

emotional release. In psychology, the catharsis hypothesis maintains that "releasing" aggressive energy (through action or fantasy) relieves aggressive urges.

feel-good, do-good phenomenon

people's tendency to be helpful when already in a good mood

subjective well-being

self-perceived happiness or satisfaction with life. Used along with measures of objective well-being (for example, physical and economic indicators) to evaluate people's quality of 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 one is worse off relative to those with whom one compares oneself

behavioral medicine

an interdisciplinary field that integrates behavioral and medical knowledge and applies that knowledge to health and disease

health psychology

a subfield of psychology that provides psychology's contribution to behavioral medicine

stress

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

general adaptation theory

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

coronary heart disease

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

Type A

Friedman and Rosenman's term for competitive, hard-driving, impatient, verbally aggressive, and anger-prone people

Type B

Friedman and Rosenman's term for easygoing, relaxed people

psychophysiological

literally "mind-body" illness; any stress-related physical illness, such as hypertension and some headaches

psychoneuroimmunology

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

lymphocytes

the two types of white blood cells that are part of the body's immune system: B lymphocytes form in the bone marrow and release antibodies that fight bacterial infections; T lymphocytes form in the thymus and other lymphatic tissue and attack cancer cells, viruses, and foreign substances.

coping

alleviating stress using emotional, cognitive, or behavioral methods

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 a stressor and attending to emotional needs related to one's stress reaction

aerobic exercise

sustained exercise that increases heart and lung fitness; may also alleviate depression and anxiety

biofeedback

a system for electronically recording, amplifying, and feeding back information regarding a subtle physiological state, such as blood pressure or muscle tension.

complementary and alternative medicine

as yet unproven health care treatments intended to supplement or serve as alternatives to conventional medicine, and which typically are not widely taught in medical schools, used in hospitals, or reimbursed by insurance companies. When research shows a therapy to be safe and effective, it usually then becomes part of accepted medical practice.