Final Exam Review 1
Stress Definition: Process of perceiving and responding to stressors (events).
Stressors can be appraised as threatening (negative, long-lasting reactions, health issues) or challenging (short-lived, positive effects on motivation, resilience).
Psychological Responses to Stress:
Primary Appraisal: Initial evaluation of an event as a threat or challenge.
Secondary Appraisal: Evaluation of resources and coping options.
Effects of Stress:
Mobilizes the immune system and can boost life satisfaction/resilience in manageable doses.
Example: A difficult math test.
Appraisal as Threat: Leads to stress, distraction, hindered cognitive performance.
Appraisal as Challenge: Enhances focus, motivation, better performance.
Harmful Effects of Stress:
Risky decisions, unhealthy behaviors.
Extreme stress (especially during pregnancy) can risk unborn children's health.
Daily Hassles: Everyday challenges negatively affect physical and mental well-being, including social stress from conflicts.
Types of Life Stressors:
Catastrophes: Large-scale, unpleasant events causing significant emotional and physical damage (e.g., war, natural disasters).
Significant Life Changes: Personal transitions increasing disease and death risks (e.g., about 50% of people in their 20s report this, 20% of those over 65).
Cluster Crises: Series of significant life changes in quick succession.
Daily Hassles: Small, everyday stressors that accumulate (e.g., approach-avoidance conflict leading to indecision).
Stress Response Systems:
Unified mind and body response.
Flight or Fight Response: Triggered by extreme stimuli, releasing adrenaline (epinephrine, norepinephrine).
Cortisol Response: Additional stress hormones from adrenal glands during prolonged stress.
General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) (Hans Selye):
Alarm Reaction: Body mobilizes resources, recognizes threat.
Resistance: Body copes, uses resources, still under strain.
Exhaustion: Resources depleted, leading to negative health consequences.
Real-World Examples of Stress Response:
Individuals in conflict zones (e.g., volunteer rescuers) risk exhaustion and health issues from chronic stress.
Tend-and-Befriend Response: Common in women, involving nurturing and seeking social support.
Male Responses: May include withdrawal, alcohol use, or aggression.
Stress and Illness Relationship:
Health Psychology: Studies interplay of psychological factors and health; includes subfields like psycho-neuroimmunology.
Stress diverts energy from immune response, increasing vulnerability to physical illnesses (e.g., hypertension, tension headaches).
Stress does not directly cause diseases like AIDS or cancer but can worsen immune responses and disease development.
Immune System Components:
B Lymphocytes: Produce antibodies.
T Lymphocytes: Attack infected/cancerous cells.
Macrophages: Engulf intruders.
Natural Killer Cells (NK Cells): Attack tumor cells and viruses.
Immune malfunctions:
Overreaction: Self-attacking diseases (e.g., lupus, rheumatoid arthritis).
Underreaction: Increased risk of infections, flare-ups of dormant viruses.
Effects of Stress on Healing and Disease Progression:
Slower healing from wounds, higher illness vulnerability.
Academic stress (midterms/finals) correlates with increased sickness due to immune dysfunction.
Cardiovascular Implications of Stress:
Over 99 million deaths annually from coronary heart disease.
Stress contributes to chronic inflammation, a heart disease risk factor.
Personality Type A: Competitive, aggressive; higher risk for heart attacks. Friedman and Rosenman found Type A individuals have higher cholesterol due to stress.
Personality Type B: More relaxed, less prone to cardiovascular issues.
Psychological Factors in Disease:
Pessimism and Depression: Higher risks of heart disease; depression linked to earlier mortality.
Healthy, happy individuals generally have better health outcomes.
Studies on grief show increased heart attack risk after partner's death.
Inflammation from Chronic Stress: Leads to heart disease, asthma, worsened depressive symptoms.
Self-Care Strategies:
Physical activity, yoga, meditation, breaks from screens/social media.
Prioritizing mental health and managing stress is proactive for lasting well-being.
Module 40: Health and Coping
Coping Strategies
Problem-Focused Coping: Directly changing the stressor or one's interaction with it to reduce stress.
Emotion-Focused Coping: Avoiding/ignoring the stressor and addressing emotional needs associated with stress reactions to reduce stress.
Stress Responses
Strongest responses are triggered by uncontrollable threats.
Learned Helplessness: Developed after a series of uncontrollable events, as highlighted by Martin Seligman's research.
Perceived loss of control increases vulnerability to health issues, especially for older individuals.
Poverty: An example of a stressor that reduces life control, leading to heightened stress and health risks.
Loss of Control and Health
Mechanism: Increased stress hormones due to loss of control lead to elevated blood pressure and decreased immune responses.
Improvement Studies: Enhancing control has shown benefits in health and morale in settings like nursing homes and prisons.
The Tyranny of Choice
Excessive choices can cause information overload and stress.
Balancing control and choice is essential for stress management.
Increased feelings of freedom and empowerment lead to better health outcomes.
Locus of Control
External Locus of Control: Belief that external forces determine life outcomes.
Internal Locus of Control: Belief that personal efforts shape one's fate.
Self-Control
Definition: Ability to manage impulses and delay gratification for long-term gains.
Benefits: Linked to improved health, higher income, and better academic performance.
Strengthening: Regular exercise of self-control can enhance overall self-regulation.
Optimism vs. Pessimism
Pessimism: Anticipation of negative outcomes and external attribution of failure.
Optimism: Expectation of control, resilience, and correlation with better health and longevity.
Emotional Regulation
Importance: Managing emotional fluctuations significantly impacts health.
Good emotional regulation leads to increased happiness, enhanced life satisfaction, improved social relations, and decreased depression and anxiety.
Cognitive Therapy: Aims to reshape negative thoughts affecting feelings and moods.
Strategies for Emotional Change (according to Grames Gross)
Situational Selection: Altering the environment to improve emotional state (e.g., changing friends or work environment), leading to greater well-being.
Cognitive Reappraisal: Considering a situation less negatively (e.g., viewing a mediocre exam grade as a passing success), leading to better coping and enhanced social relationships.
Suppression: Containing emotions (e.g., masking feelings post-argument), which may lead to feeling less authentic and poorer stress management.
Tips for Managing Emotions
Acknowledge and accept reactions.
Embrace a diversity of emotional responses.
Construct an emotion roadmap.
Create a supportive environment for emotional health.
Remember emotions are temporary.
Social Support
Health Benefits: Reduces blood pressure, enhances immune function, improves sleep quality, and fosters open communication.
Research: Strong relationships are linked to happiness and health.
Consequences of Loneliness: Decreased lifespan and impacted health outcomes.
Stress Reduction Techniques
Aerobic Exercise: Improves cardiovascular health, lessens stress, elevates mood, and has cognitive benefits, reducing depression more than relaxation techniques.
Relaxation Techniques: Includes massage, mindfulness, and meditation for stress management.
Mindfulness Meditation: Enhances emotional regulation and reduces anxiety; critics suggest potential for self-absorption.
Studies: Heart attack survivors showed significant reductions in future events through lifestyle modifications post-relaxation intervention.
Faith Factor and Longevity
Observation: Increased lifespan in religiously active individuals.
Correlations: Healthy behaviors, social support, and positive emotions correlate with religious participation.
Statistics: Women attending services weekly are 54% less likely to die in a study year compared to non-attenders.
Conclusion: Regular religious involvement promotes healthier lifestyles, stronger social connections, and better health outcomes.
Social psychology explains behavioral variations in different situations, focusing on social interactions.
Fundamental Attribution Theory (Fritz Heider):
Individuals attribute feelings, beliefs, and intentions to understand others' behaviors.
Types of Attribution:
Distributional Attribution: Links behavior to an individual's disposition.
Situational Attribution: Links behavior to the context or situation.
Fundamental Attribution Error:
Tendency to underestimate situational impact and overestimate personal disposition when judging others.
Research findings:
Napolitin and colleagues found students attributed behaviors to traits even when informed of experimental conditions.
Individuals acknowledge situational power when explaining their own behaviors.
Western cultures emphasize individual traits; Chinese and Japanese cultures focus on situational influences.
Implications of Attribution:
Explanations of actions have significant real-world consequences.
Example: In the U.S., political conservatives attribute unemployment to personal disposition; liberals to situational/systemic factors.
Highlights the complexity of attributing blame (e.g., in violent incidents).
Attitudes and Behavior:
Definition: Evaluations of people, objects, or ideas influencing behavior.
Situational factors:
Situational pressures can override the link between attitudes and behaviors (e.g., a politician's vote).
Blake (2021) showed a correlation between hostile attitudes toward women and high rates of domestic violence.
Impact of Actions on Attitudes:
Actions can change attitudes.
Foot-in-the-Door Phenomenon: Complying with small requests increases agreement to larger ones later (e.g., charity donations).
Role Expectations:
Role Attitude: Norms defining how individuals in a social position should behave.
Role-playing shapes attitudes (e.g., wearing scrubs influences identity).
Cognitive Dissonance:
Definition: Discomfort when attitudes don't align with actions.
Resolution:
Individuals reduce discomfort by changing attitudes to match actions.
Influences self-perception and perception of others.
Specific brain areas activate during cognitive dissonance.
Persuasion Techniques:
Types of Persuasion:
Peripheral Route Persuasion: Influences through incidental cues (e.g., speaker attractiveness).
Central Route Persuasion: Focuses on arguments, leading to careful thought.
Effective Persuasion Tips:
Avoid aggressive arguments; listen first.
Identify shared values and goals.
Use vivid messaging and repetition.
Engage the audience to re-engage with the message.
Module 42: Social Influence and Conformity
Overview of Social Influence
Power of Social Influence:
Stems from social norms (understood rules for accepted behavior).
Norms guide proper behavior in various situations.
Social pressure can lead individuals in negative directions.
Transformation from Dissent to Rebellion
Isolated Grievances:
Individuals with shared grievances can become dissenters, then rebels, and in extreme cases, terrorists.
Social Contagion:
Compliance with social pressures leads to suggestibility and mimicry (chameleon effect).
Individuals start behaving like those around them, affecting emotions and leading to mood contagion.
Social networks act as contagious pathways for moods, showing both positive and negative effects.
Conformity Defined
Conformity:
Adjustment of behavior or thinking to align with group standards.
Includes suggestibility and mimicry.
Types of Social Influence:
Normative Social Influence: Driven by desire to gain approval or avoid disapproval.
Informational Social Influence: Occurs when individuals accept others' opinions about reality, driven by the need for accuracy.
Notions of Non-Conformity vs. Conformity
Steven Pinker (2019) Reflection:
Noted irony in students' perception of non-conformity with tattoos and piercings.
Tattoos, once non-conforming, have become a form of fashion conformity, losing radical appeal as they normalize.
Experiments in Social Psychology
Solomon Asch's Conformity Experiment
Overview:
Participants identified which of three comparison lines matched a standard line.
Group Dynamics:
Participant (positioned sixth) faced peer pressure from five accomplices giving incorrect answers.
Typically conformed, choosing the incorrect line.
Conditions Increasing Conformity
Conformity is higher when an individual:
Feels incompetent or insecure.
Is in a group of at least three members.
Faces collective agreement among group members.
Values the attractiveness or high status of the group.
Has no prior commitment to a response.
Is aware of observation by others in the group.
Belongs to a culture favoring respect for social standards.
Milgram's Obedience Experiment
Experiment Setup:
Participants (teachers) administered electric shocks for incorrect answers to accomplices (learners).
Findings:
65% of participants continued administering shocks up to 450 volts despite protests.
Obedience heightened under conditions like:
Proximity to authority figures.
High-status institution backing.
Victim depersonalization (cannot see victim).
Absence of a role model to defy authority.
Implication: Ordinary individuals can commit cruel acts due to strong social influence.
Group Behavior Dynamics
Social Facilitation
Definition: Coined by Norman Triplett; improved performance on well-learned tasks in the presence of others.
Impacts:
Performance on easy tasks improves.
Performance on difficult tasks may decline.
Example: Comedians prefer a lively audience for better performance.
Social Loafing
Definition: Tendency for individuals to exert less effort toward a common goal when in a group than when individually accountable.
Characteristics:
Diminished feelings of responsibility.
Participants may overestimate their contributions and rely on others.
Deindividuation
Definition: Loss of self-awareness and self-restraint in group situations, leading to disinhibited behaviors.
Examples:
Celebratory violence after sports victories (e.g., Philadelphia Eagles Super Bowl 2018, Vancouver Stanley Cup riots) due to anonymity.
Psychological Effects of Group Context
Group Polarization
Overview: Discussions among like-minded individuals strengthen existing beliefs and attitudes.
Internet Influence:
Online algorithms reinforce viewpoints, offering emotional support (e.g., cancer survivors) or amplifying extremist views (e.g., white supremacists).
Groupthink
Definition: Desire for harmony in a decision-making group leads to a lack of realistic appraisal of alternatives.
Individual Influence: A small, consistent minority can sway majority opinions.
Conclusions on Social Influence
Ethical Considerations:
Escalation from minor compliance to harmful behaviors highlights dangers of conformity.
History shows linkage between compliance and ethical violations.
Critical Thinking:
Media and online interactions are social amplifiers, requiring scrutiny of consumed information to avoid polarizing effects and identify non-conformist views.