PSYCH 41-44

How does stress make us more vulnerable

to disease?

• Psychoneuroimmunologists study mind-body interactions,

including psychophysiological illnesses, such as

hypertension and some headaches.

• Stress diverts energy from the immune system, inhibiting

the activities of its B and T lymphocytes, macrophages, and

NK cells.

• Stress does not cause diseases such as AIDS and cancer,

but by altering our immune functioning it may make us

more vulnerable to them and influence their progression.

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Multiple-Choice Questions

Why are some of us more prone than others

to coronary heart disease?

• Coronary heart disease, North America’s number one cause

of death, has been linked with the reactive, anger-prone

Type A personality.

• Compared with relaxed, easygoing Type B personalities,

Type A people secrete more of the hormones that

accelerate the buildup of plaque on the heart’s artery

walls.

• Chronic stress also contributes to persistent inflammation,

which heightens the risk of clogged arteries and

depression.

What events provoke stress responses, and

how do we respond and adapt to stress?

• Stress is the process by which we appraise and respond to

stressors (catastrophic events, significant life changes, and

daily hassles) that challenge or threaten us.

• Walter Cannon viewed the stress response as a “fight-or-

flight” system.

• Later researchers identified an additional stress-response

system in which the adrenal glands secrete glucocorticoid

stress hormones.

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• Hans Selye proposed a general three-phrase (alarm-

resistance-exhaustion) general adaptation syndrome (GAS).

• Prolonged stress can damage neurons, hastening cell

death.

• Facing stress, women may have a tend-and-befriend

response; men may withdraw socially, turn to alcohol, or

become aggressive.

How do we communicate nonverbally? How

do the genders differ in this capacity?

• Much of our communication is through body movements,

facial expressions, and voice tones. Even seconds-long

filmed slices of behavior can reveal feelings.

• Women tend to read emotional cues more easily and to be

more empathic.

How are nonverbal expressions of emotion

understood within and across cultures?

• The meaning of gestures varies with culture, but facial

expressions, such as those of happiness and fear, are

common the world over.

• Cultures also differ in the amount of emotion they

express.

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How do our facial expressions influence our

feelings?

• Research on the facial feedback effect shows that our facial

expressions can trigger emotional feelings and signal our

body to respond accordingly.

• We also mimic others’ expressions, which helps us

empathize.

How do arousal and expressive behaviors

interact in emotion?

• Emotions are psychological responses of the whole

organism involving an interplay among physiological

arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious experience.

• Theories of emotion generally address two major

questions: (1) Does physiological arousal come before,

after, or at the same time as emotional feelings, and

(2) how do cognition and feeling interact?

• The James-Lange theory maintains that emotional feelings

follow our body’s response to emotion-inducing stimuli.

• The Cannon-Bard theory proposes that our body responds

to emotion at the same time that we experience the

emotion (one does not cause the other).

To experience emotions, must we

consciously interpret and label them?

• The Schachter-Singer two-factor theory holds that our

emotions have two ingredients, physical arousal and a

cognitive label, and the cognitive labels we put on our

states of arousal are an essential ingredient of emotion.

• Lazarus agreed that many important emotions arise from

our interpretations or inferences.

• Zajonc and LeDoux, however, believe that some simple

emotional responses occur instantly, not only outside our

conscious awareness, but before any cognitive processing

occurs. This interplay between emotion and cognition

illustrates our dual-track mind.

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Multiple-Choice Questions

What is the link between emotional arousal

and the autonomic nervous system? How

does arousal affect performance?

• The arousal component of emotion is regulated by the

autonomic nervous system’s sympathetic (arousing) and

parasympathetic (calming) divisions.

• Performance peaks at lower levels of arousal for difficult

tasks, and at higher levels for easy or well-learned tasks.

Do different emotions activate different

physiological and brain-pattern responses?

• Emotions may be similarly arousing, but some subtle

physiological responses, such as facial muscle movements,

distinguish them.

• More meaningful differences have been found in activity

in some brain pathways and cortical areas and in the

hormone secretions associated with different emotions.

How effective are polygraphs in using body

states to detect lies?

• Polygraphs, which measure several physiological indicators

of emotion, are not accurate enough to justify widespread

use in business and law enforcement. The use of guilty

knowledge questions and new forms of technology may

produce better indications of lying.