Stress, Lifestyle, and Health

Flashcards covering the definitions of key terms from the lecture on Stress, Lifestyle, and Health, including cognitive appraisals, physiological responses, and coping mechanisms.

Stress

A process whereby an individual perceives and responds to events he appraises as overwhelming or threatening to his well-being.

Primary appraisal

A judgement about the degree of potential harm or threat to well-being that a stressor might entail, classified as either a threat or a challenge.

Secondary appraisal

A judgement of the options available to cope with a stressor and perceptions of how effective such options will be.

Eustress

A positive form of stress that can motivate individuals to do things in their best interests and is associated with optimal health and performance.

Distress

Bad stress that causes people to feel burned out (fatigued and exhausted), leading to a decline in performance.

Health psychology

A subfield of psychology devoted to understanding psychological influences on health, illness, and how people respond when they become ill.

Fight-or-flight response

A set of physiological reactions identified by Walter Cannon that occur when an individual encounters a perceived threat, produced by the sympathetic nervous system and the endocrine system.

General adaptation syndrome

Hans Selye's model of the body's nonspecific physiological response to stress, consisting of three stages: alarm reaction, stage of resistance, and stage of exhaustion.

Alarm Reaction

The first stage of general adaptation syndrome, which is the body's immediate reaction upon facing a threatening situation or emergency.

Stage of Resistance

The second stage of general adaptation syndrome where the body has adapted to the stressor but remains alert and prepared to respond with less intensity.

Stage of Exhaustion

The third stage of general adaptation syndrome where the person can no longer adapt to the stressor, leading to the depletion of physical resources and potential illness or death.

Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis

A physiological system where the hypothalamus releases corticotrophin-releasing factor, causing the pituitary gland to release ACTH, which then activates the adrenal glands to release cortisol.

Cortisol

A stress hormone that provides a boost of energy when first encountering a stressor, though continuous elevated levels can weaken the immune system.

Chronic stressors

Events that persist over an extended period of time, such as long-term unemployment.

Acute stressors

Brief events that sometimes continue to be experienced as overwhelming well after the event has ended.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

A chronic stress reaction resulting from traumatic events, characterized by intrusive memories, jumpiness, and persistent negative emotional states.

Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS)

A scale developed by Holmes and Rahe consisting of $43$ life events that require varying degrees of personal readjustment, measured in Life Change Units (LCU).

Daily hassles

Minor irritations and annoyances of everyday life that can build up and serve as better predictors of physical and psychological health than life change units.

Job strain

A work situation combining excessive job demands and workload with little discretion in decision making or job control.

Job burnout

A general sense of emotional exhaustion and cynicism in relation to one's job, frequent among human service workers.

Psychophysiological disorders

Physical disorders or diseases whose symptoms are brought about or worsened by stress and emotional factors, such as hypertension or irritable bowel syndrome.

Immunosuppression

The decreased effectiveness of the immune system, making people more susceptible to infections, illness, and disease.

Psychoneuroimmunology

The field that studies how psychological factors, such as stress, influence the immune system and immune functioning.

Negative affectivity

A tendency to experience distressed emotional states involving anger, contempt, disgust, guilt, fear, and nervousness.

Type A

A personality pattern characterized by being extremely competitive, intensely driven, impatient, rushed, and hostile toward others.

Type B

A personality pattern characterized by being relaxed and laid back.

Problem-focused coping

A coping style where an individual attempts to manage or alter the problem causing them stress by identifying solutions and taking proactive action.

Emotion-focused coping

A coping style consisting of efforts to change or reduce negative emotions associated with stress, often used when stressors are perceived as uncontrollable.

Learned helplessness

An acquired belief identified by Martin Seligman describing the state where an individual feels powerless to do anything about a situation after repeated exposure to inescapable painful events.

Biofeedback

A stress reduction technique using electronic equipment to measure involuntary activity and provide feedback to help a person gain voluntary control over those processes.

Happiness

An enduring state of subjective well-being consisting of joy, contentment, and the sense that one's life has meaning and value.

Positive psychology

A field urged by Martin Seligman in $1998$ that seeks to identify and promote qualities leading to greater fulfillment, such as optimism, hope, and forgiveness.

Flow

A state of effortless concentration and focus in an experience so engaging that it becomes worth doing for its own sake, often causing the feeling that time passes quickly.