AP Psychology Unit 5

Health Psychology

Subfield of psychology exploring psychological, behavioral, and cultural factors on health.

Psychoneuroimmunology

Study of how psychological, neurological, and endocrine processes affect the immune system.

Eustress

Positive and motivating stress.

Distress

Negative and debilitating stress.

Stress

Process by which we perceive and respond to stressors with two appraisals.

Approach and Avoidance Motives

Drives to move towards (Approach) or away (Avoidance) from a stimulus.

General Adaptation Syndrome

Concept of the body’s adaptive response in three phases, alarm, resistance, and exhaustion.

Tend-and-Befriend Response

When under stress, tendency for people — especially women — to nurture themselves or others (tend), and bond/seek support (befriend).

Coronary Heart Disease

Clogging of blood vessels leading to the heart, top cause of death in developed countries, and also implicated with stress.

Type A

Descriptor for people who are competitive, impatient, anger prone, etc.

Type B

Descriptor for people who are easygoing and relaxed.

Catharsis

Idea that relieving aggressive energy relieves aggressive urges.

Coping

Process of alleviating stress.

Problem-Focused Coping

Attempting to alleviate stress by directly changing a stressor or how we interact with it.

Emotion-Focused Coping

Attempting to alleviate stress by avoiding or ignoring a stressor, instead tending to associated emotions.

Personal Control

A person’s sense of control over their environment.

Learned Helplessness

Hopelessness and passive resignation learned when a person or animal is unable to avoid repeated aversive stimuli.

External Locus of Control

Perception that outside forces beyond our control determine our fate.

Internal Locus of Control

Perception that we control our own fate.

Self-Control

Ability to delay gratification and control impulses for long term rewards.

Positive Psychology

Scientific study of human flourishing, helping individuals thrive.

Subjective Well-Being

Self perceived happiness or satisfaction with life.

Feel-Good, Do-Good Phenomenon

People’s tendency to be helpful when in a good mood.

Adaptation-Level Phenomenon

Tendency to form judgements relative to a neutral level defined by prior experience.

Relative Deprivation

Perception that we are worse off than who we compare ourselves to.

Broaden-and-Build Theory

Theory that positive emotions broaden our awareness which helps us build novel skills and improve resilience.

Character Strengths & Virtues

Classification system in which positive traits are organized into categories of wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance, and transcendence.

Resilience

Personal strength helping people cope with stress and recover.

Mindfulness Meditation

Reflective practice in which people attend to current experiences in an accepting manner.

Gratitude

Appreciative emotion people experience when they benefit from other’s actions.