1. Stress & Health Psychology
CHAPTER 3
Stress & Health Psychology
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2. Lecture Overview Understanding Stress Stress & Illness
Health Psychology in Action
Health & Stress Management
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3. Understanding Stress What is stress?
Nonspecific response of the body to any demand made on it;
the arousal, both physical & mental, to situations or events that we perceive as threatening or challenging
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4. Understanding Stress: Sources of Stress
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5. Understanding Stress: Sources of Stress (Continued)
Life Changes:
life events that require some adjustment in behavior or lifestyle
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7. Understanding Stress: Sources of Stress (Continued)
Chronic Stress: state of ongoing arousal in which the parasympathetic system cannot activate the relaxation response
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8. Understanding Stress: Sources of Stress (Continued)
Job Stress: work related stress, including role conflict & burnout
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9. Understanding Stress: Sources of Stress (Continued)
Job Stress
Role conflict: forced choice between two or more different & incompatible role demands
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10. Understanding Stress: Sources of Stress (Continued)
Job Stress
Burnout: state of psychological & physical exhaustion resulting from chronic exposure to high levels of stress & little personal control
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11. Understanding Stress: Sources of Stress (Continued)
Hassles: small, everyday problems that accumulate to become a major source of stress
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12. Pause & Reflect: Psychology at Work
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13. Understanding Stress: Sources of Stress (Continued)
Frustration: unpleasant tension resulting from a blocked goal
Conflict: forced choice between two or more incompatible goals or impulses
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14. Understanding Stress: Sources of Stress (Continued)
Three Types of Conflict
Approach-Approach: forced choice between two or more desirable alternatives
Avoidance-Avoidance: forced choice between two or more undesirable alternatives
Approach-Avoidance: forced choice between two or more alternatives both having desirable & undesirable results
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15. Pause & Reflect: Assessment
Assuming this man is attracted to one of these three women, is he experiencing an approach-approach, approach-avoidance, or avoidance-avoidance conflict?
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16. Understanding Stress: Sources of Stress (Continued)
Cataclysmic Events: stressors that occur suddenly & generally affect many people simultaneously
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17. Understanding Stress: Effects of Stress (Continued)
SAM System (Sympatho-Adreno-Medullary): initial, fast-acting stress response
HPA Axis (Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenocortical): Body’s delayed stress response, which if extended may lead to impairment of the immune system and increased vulnerability to disease
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18. Understanding Stress: Effects of Stress
HPA Axis
SAM System
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19. Understanding Stress: Effects of Stress (Continued)
Stress & Cognitive Functioning: Stress can interfere with retrieval of memories, laying down of new memories, & general information processing
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20. Understanding Stress: Effects of Stress (Continued)
Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)
Alarm
Resistance
Exhaustion
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21. Understanding Stress: Effects of Stress (Continued)
Psychoneuro immunology: interdisciplinary field that studies the effect of psychological & other factors on the immune system
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22. Stress & Illness
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): anxiety disorder following extraordinary stress
Gastric Ulcers: caused by bacteria or stress? Or both?
Cancer: related to genetic predisposition & environmental factors
Cardiovascular Disorders: related to stress hormones, personality types, & certain behaviors
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23. Stress & Illness--PTSD (Continued)
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24. Table 3.5 PTSD (Continued)
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25. Pause & Reflect: Assessment
Briefly describe Selye’s three stage General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS).
_____ is an anxiety disorder following extraordinary stress.
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26. Health Psychology in Action
Biological
Health Psychology: studies how biological, psychological, & social factors interact in health & illness (the biopsychosocial model)
Social
Psychological
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27. Health Psychology in Action
Major Health Risks:
Tobacco
Alcohol & Binge Drinking
Chronic Pain (lasting over months)
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28. Pause & Reflect: Psychology at Work
Smokers often overestimate their risk of dying from homicide & traffic accidents, while greatly underestimating their risk from smoking. Studying Chapter 3 helps overcome these faulty beliefs.
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29. Health & Stress Management
Two initial steps in coping with stress: Primary Appraisal & then Secondary Appraisal
Two choices after secondary appraisal:
Emotion-Focused (managing one’s emotional reactions to stress)
Problem-Focused (dealing directly with a stressor to decrease or eliminate it)
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30. Health & Stress Management— Cognitive Appraisal & Coping
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31. Resources for Healthy Living
Health & Exercise
Positive Beliefs
Social Skills
Social Support
Material Resources
Control (Internal Locus of Control)
Relaxation
Sense of Humor
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32. Pause & Reflect: Critical Thinking
Considering these eight resources for health & stress management, which resource do you most often use? Which one do you use least often? Why?
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33. Stress & Health Psychology
End of CHAPTER 3
Stress & Health Psychology
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