Coping



Fear can be addictive

  • Triggers SNSS

-Adrenaline rush and dopamine 



  • Contributes to fear-based worldview



Lifestyle choices and social circles reinforce it 

  • Extreme sports

  • Negative news

  • Disasters (and disaster tourism)



Limit exposure to anxiety-inducing stimuli

  • Fear in the media

  • Other people with unhealthy habits 




Positive thinking 



Reframing

  • Create a positive mindset 



Show gratitude 

  • Journaling 



Acceptance 

  • Recognize what you can control

  • And what you can’t control



Affirmations

  • Use “I am” statements.

  • Use affirmative statements 

  • Use the present tense.



Words of encouragement

  • Come from others

  • From self



  • Realtime stress buffer



Making order out of chaos

  • Poetry (or hobbies)



Stress Management (Coping)



Relaxation

  • Systematic tensing and relaxation of muscles 



Meditation 

  • Relaxation through focused attention



Biofeedback

  • Tells you of your own physiological state

  • Awareness of unconscious processes 



Positive emotions 



Psychological dimension of affect

  • Positive -  Negative

  • Joy - Sadness



Receive praise or attention

  • Elevates mood



Defamation/criticism/rejection

  • Lowers mood



Affective state

  • The mood you are in right now

  • Mood constantly changing

  • Mood goes up and down




Affective disposition

  • Personality base 

  • Long-term

  • Whether you are a negative or positive person



Affective displays (Positive - negative)

  • Communicate state or disposition to others 



The smile

  • Innate

  • Universal across cultures

  • Infants smile within hours of birth (reflextive)

-Smile for pleasure after 4 months

- Can show appeasement (to deal with threat)

The “Duchenne Smile”

  • Contraction of two facial muscle groups 

  • Zygomatic major muscle

  • Orbicularis oculi muscle 



  • The non-Duchenne Smile



  • The False smile 



Expression and age estimates (Nivea study)

  • Facial expression influences age estimates by observer

  • 2000 subjects observe 12 models

-Frown, neutral, smiling

-Estimate age 



Laughter 



  • Expressing joy through voice



Strongly mediated by social context

  • 30x more likely to laugh with others than when alone



Highly contagious 



Reactive (involuntary) laughter 

  • Driven by external events

  • Jokes or humor

Controlled (voluntary) laughter 

  • Driven by communicative acts 



Most laughter occurs during conversations 




  • Hearing laughter activated sensorimotor cortices 



More than expression of emotion



  • Linked to physiological reduction of stress response

  • Releases endorphins

  • Improves immune function



Women laugh more than men

  • But men more often instigate the laughter (telling jokes)



Women rate humor as important in relationships 



Couples with highest marital satisfaction

  • Laugh the most

  • Use positive emotion (laughter) to regulate negative emotions 



Incorporate Humour into life



Learn not to take yourself too seriously 

  • You know you're having a bad day when…

  • E.g. own death

  • “I'm renewing my life insurance on a weekly basis”



Find at least one humorous thing per day 

  • The more you look for it, the more you will find

  • Elevates mood

  • “Clean up earth, not uranus”



Collect things that make you laugh

  • Scrapbook

  • Jokes, cards, cartoons, photos, etc.



Learn to exaggerate in stories 

  • Draw attention to ironic or off parts of life