Psych-Chapter 10

Escape or withdrawal

leaving the presence of a stressor, either literally or by a psychological withdrawal into fantasy, drug abuse, or apathy.

Natural killer cell

(NK) immune-system cell responsible for suppressing viruses and destroying tumor cells.

General adaptation syndrome

(GAS) the three stages of the body’s physiological reaction to stress, including alarm, resistance, and exhaustion.

Multiple approach–avoidance conflicts

conflict in which the person must decide between more than two goals, with each goal possessing both positive and negative aspects.

Stress

the term used to describe the physical, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral responses to events that are appraised as threatening or challenging.

Type D

“distressed” personality type; person who experiences negative emotions such as anger, sadness, and fear and tends not to share these emotions in social situations out of fear of rejection or disapproval.

Mindfulness meditation

a form of concentrative meditation in which the person purposefully pays attention to the present moment, without judgment or evaluation.

Resistance

occurring when a patient becomes reluctant to talk about a certain topic by either changing the subject or becoming silent.

Type A

person who is ambitious, time conscious, extremely hardworking, and tends to have high levels of hostility and anger as well as being easily annoyed.

Social-support system

the network of family, friends, neighbors, coworkers, and others who can offer support, comfort, or aid to a person in need.

Secondary appraisal

the second step in assessing a stressor, which involves estimating the resources available to the person for coping with the threat.

Yerkes-Dodson law

law stating that when tasks are simple, a higher level of arousal leads to better performance; when tasks are difficult, lower levels of arousal lead to better performance.

Social Readjustment Rating Scale

(SRRS) assessment that measures the amount of stress resulting from major life events over a 1-year period in a person’s life.

Pressure

the psychological experience produced by urgent demands or expectations for a person’s behavior that come from an outside source.

Burnout

negative changes in thoughts, emotions, and behavior as a result of prolonged stress or frustration, leading to feelings of exhaustion.

Catastrophe

an unpredictable, large-scale event that creates a tremendous need to adapt and adjust as well as overwhelming feelings of threat.

College Undergraduate Stress Scale

(CUSS) assessment that measures the amount of stress in a college student’s life over a 1-year period resulting from major life events.

Psychoneuroimmunology

the study of the effects of psychological factors such as stress, emotions, thoughts, and behavior on the immune system.

Hardy personality

a person who seems to thrive on stress but lacks the anger and hostility of the Type A personality.

Type 2 diabetes

disease typically occurring in middle adulthood when the body either becomes resistant to the effects of insulin or can no longer secrete enough insulin to maintain normal glucose levels.

Frustration

the psychological experience produced by the blocking of a desired goal or fulfillment of a perceived need.

Distress

the effect of unpleasant and undesirable stressors.

Acculturative stress

stress resulting from the need to change and adapt a person’s ways to the majority culture.

Meditation

mental series of exercises meant to refocus attention and achieve a trancelike state of consciousness.

Homeopathy

the treatment of disease by introducing minute amounts of substances that would cause disease in larger doses.

Health psychology

area of psychology focusing on how physical activities, psychological traits, stress reactions, and social relationships affect overall health and rates of illnesses.

Problem-focused coping

coping strategies that try to eliminate the source of a stress or reduce its impact through direct actions.

Hassles

the daily annoyances of everyday life.

Coping strategies

actions that people can take to master, tolerate, reduce, or minimize the effects of stressors.

Coronary heart disease

(CHD) the buildup of a waxy substance called plaque in the arteries of the heart.

Displaced aggression

taking out one’s frustrations on some less threatening or more available target.

Emotion-focused coping

coping strategies that change the impact of a stressor by changing the emotional reaction to the stressor.

Approach–avoidance conflicts

conflict occurring when a person must choose or not choose a goal that has both positive and negative aspects.

Stressors

events that cause a stress reaction.

Eustress

the effect of positive events, or the optimal amount of stress that people need to promote health and well-being.

Type C

pleasant but repressed person, who tends to internalize his or her anger and anxiety and who finds expressing emotions difficult.

Type B

person who is relaxed and laid back, less driven and competitive than Type A, and slow to anger.

Immune system

the system of cells, organs, and chemicals of the body that responds to attacks from diseases, infections, and injuries.

Double approach–avoidance conflict

conflict in which the person must decide between two goals, with each goal possessing both positive and negative aspects.

Optimists

people who expect positive outcomes.

Avoidance–avoidance conflicts

conflict occurring when a person must choose between two undesirable goals.

Aggression

actions intended to harm physically or psychologically.

Approach–approach conflict

conflict occurring when a person must choose between two desirable goals.

Primary appraisal

the first step in assessing stress, which involves estimating the severity of a stressor and classifying it as either a threat or a challenge.

Concentrative meditation

form of meditation in which a person focuses the mind on some repetitive or unchanging stimulus so that the mind can be cleared of disturbing thoughts and the body can experience relaxation.