1. Chapter 12 Personality Stress, Adjustment, and Health Differences
Sixth edition
Chapter 12
Stress, Adjustment, and Health Differences

2. Modules
Introduction: Stress, Adjustment, and Health Differences 12.1: Disease-Prone Personalities 12.2: Personality, Coronary-Proneness, and Other Disease 12.3: The Human Termites 12.4: Blaming the Victim 12.5: The Self-Healing Personality 12.6: The Humanistic and Existential Aspects of Self-Healing Conclusion: Stress, Adjustment, and Health Differences

3. Learning Objectives (1 of 2)
12.1: Analyze whether personality can be a risk factor for disease 12.2: Evaluate the link between personality type and proneness to heart diseases 12.3: Appraise the study on intelligence research conducted on Lewis Terman's termites 12.4: Inspect the tendency of blaming the victim for diseases

4. Learning Objectives (2 of 2)
12.5: Assess how constructively challenged personalities are generally healthier 12.6: Describe the Rogerian therapy approach to helping and treating patients

5. Introduction: Stress, Adjustment, and Health Differences
Relations among personality, stress, adjustment, and health
Understanding individuals in a real-world social context

6. 12.1: Disease-Prone Personalities
Objective: Analyze whether personality can be a risk factor for disease
Psychosomatic medicine
Concept of unconscious inner conflict and struggle leading to diseases
Point 1- Psychosomatic medicine
Based on the idea that the psyche (mind) affects the soma (body)
Importance of psychodynamic theorizing of Sigmund Freud
Point 2- Concept of unconscious inner conflict and struggle leading to diseases
False starts
Ambiguities
Unfairly blaming victims for their terrible diseases

7. 12.1.1: Health Behaviors and Healthy Environments
People in unhealthy situations
Conscientiousness
Point 1- People in unhealthy situations
Impulsive
Depressed
Isolated
Angry
Psychologically impaired
Point 2- Conscientiousness
Strong and reliable predictor of health and longevity
It predicts healthier behaviors
It predicts healthier situations

8. 12.1.2: The Sick Role Behaviors of sick role
Factors of symptom perceptions
Point 1- Behaviors of sick role
Go see a doctor
Stay home from work
Be uncomfortable
Act grumpy or moody
Avoid strenuous activity
Point 2- Factors of symptom perceptions
Person’s attention to bodily sensations
What he or she thinks about the sensations

9. 12.1.3: Disease-Caused Personality Changes
Somatopsychic effect
Personality differences in health
Point 1- Somatopsychic effect
Disease can affect personality
Body affects the mind
Alzheimer’s disease
Point 2- Personality differences in health
May begin before birth
May be influenced by genetic–environmental interactions throughout life

10. 12.1.4: Diathesis–Stress Overview Bernard Lown’s insights
Point 1- Bernard Lown’s insights
Predisposition of the body to a disease or disorder
This might come from genetics or upbringing
Point 2- Bernard Lown’s insights
Focused on the emotional reactions of the individual
Most potent stress relates to the recall of emotionally charged experiences
Such psychological stress is uniquely individual

11. 12.1.5: Personality Disorders
People with borderline personality disorder
Characteristics of personality disorders
Point 1- People with borderline personality disorder
Impulsive
Self-destructive behavior
Fragile self-identity
Moody, stormy relationships
Point 2- Characteristics of personality disorders
Excessively suspicious
Exceptionally emotional
Markedly anxious

12. 12.2: Personality, Coronary-Proneness, and Other Disease
Objective: Evaluate the link between personality type and proneness to heart diseases
Psychosomatic medicine
Concept of unconscious inner conflict and struggle leading to diseases
Point 1- Overview
Link between stressful activity and the development of coronary heart disease
Heart disease characteristic of those with repressed aggressive tendencies
Point 2- Type A behavior pattern
Proposed by Meyer Friedman and Ray Rosenman
Heart patients literally sit on edges of seats

13. 12.2.1: Type A Behavior Pattern and Choleric Struggle
Characteristics of Type As
Heightened risks of coronary disease
Point 1- Characteristics of Type As
Hasty
Impatient
Impulsive
Hyperalert
Potentially hostile and very tense
Point 2- Heightened risks of coronary disease
Constant struggle
High levels of neuroticism
Low levels of agreeableness

14. 12.2.2: Giving Up Overview Key elements of a healthy personality
Point 1- Overview
Individuals learn to be helpless
Individuals make no efforts at controlling their surroundings
Point 2- Key elements of a healthy personality
Refusing to give up
Persistence instead of helplessness

15. 12.2.3: Other Diseases Meta-analysis Effects of emotional states
Point 1- Meta-analysis
A statistical technique
Combines results of various studies to see what they say when taken together
Point 2- Effects of emotional states
On arthritis
On asthma
On headaches
On ulcers

16. 12.3: The Human Termites Lewis Terman Survival analysis
Objective: Appraise the study on intelligence research conducted on Lewis Terman's termites
Lewis Terman
Survival analysis
Point 1- Lewis Terman
One of the leading intelligence researchers of the twentieth century
Developed the well-known Stanford-Binet IQ test
Participants of his study nicknamed themselves Terman’s “Termites”
Point 2- Survival analysis
Developed from six personality dimensions from Terman’s scales
To predict longevity
To predict cause of death throughout their lives

17. 12.3.1: Conscientiousness Characteristics conducive to longevity
Characteristics of conscientious people
Point 1- Characteristics conducive to longevity
Prudent
Conscientious
Truthful
Free from vanity
Point 2- Characteristics of conscientious people
Engage in better health habits
Engage in fewer risky activities
Physiologically predisposed to health
Conscientious personality leads them into much healthier situations and relationships

18. 12.3.2: Sociability Overview Termite scientists Point 1- Overview
An aspect of extroversion
Strongly and directly related to health and longevity
Point 2- Termite scientists
Much less sociable early in life than the nonscientists
Scientists tended to live longer
Having a very sociable personality did not by itself forecast a long life

19. 12.3.3: Cheerfulness Characteristics of cheerful Termites
Characteristics of optimistic individuals
Point 1- Characteristics of cheerful Termites
More likely to smoke
More likely to drink
More likely to take risks
Point 2- Characteristics of optimistic individuals
Set goals
Self-regulate
Persist longer despite challenges and setbacks

20. 12.3.4: Stressed Termites Children of divorce
Outcomes of family stress
Point 1- Children of divorce
Greater risk for observable behavior and adjustment problems
Lack of social dependability or ego control
Neuroticism 
Point 2- Outcomes of family stress
Smoking
Drug use
Poor psychological adjustment

21. 12.3.5: Mental Health Predictors of premature mortality
Features of mental stability
Point 1- Predictors of premature mortality`
Undependability
Impulsivity
Family instability
Point 2- Features of mental stability
Dependability
Trust
Lack of impulsivity

22. 12.4: Blaming the Victim Tuberculosis Reasons for blaming the victim
Objective: Inspect the tendency of blaming the victim for diseases
Tuberculosis
Reasons for blaming the victim
Point 1- Tuberculosis
Once thought to be the result of a weak or romantic personality
Used to be seen as caused by the character of the afflicted
Viewpoint changed dramatically when the TB-causing tubercle bacillus was discovered
Point 2- Reasons for blaming the victim
Most people have some concrete concerns about their own health and mortality
Cause-and-effect predictability

23. 12.5: The Self-Healing Personality
Objective: Assess how constructively challenged personalities are generally healthier
Mahatma Gandhi
Inspiration of personality researchers studying health
Point 1- Mahatma Gandhi
One of the greatest workaholics of all time
Not sickly even though he spent over 2,300 days in prison
Endured numerous self-imposed fasts
Not blindly optimistic
People who are constructively challenged find it easier to remain healthy
Point 2- Inspiration of personality researchers studying health
Humanistic approach
Existential approach

24. 12.5.1: Control, Commitment, and Challenge
Features of healthy executives under stress
Emphasis of subsequent research on personality
 Point 1- Features of healthy executives under stress
They had a sense of power
Their commitment to something they felt was important and meaningful
Responded to life with excitement and energy
Point 2- Emphasis of subsequent research on personality
Turning stresses into growth and development
Social relationships and work situations are often challenging
Psychologically thriving individuals immerse themselves in these challenges

25. 12.5.2: Trust and Devotion Locus of control
Characteristics of trusting people
Point 1- Locus of control
Some people feel pushed around by external forces
Other people feel the locus of control over their lives is within themselves
Point 2- Characteristics of trusting people
Less likely to be unhappy, conflicted, or maladjusted
More dependable and have more friends
Not necessarily more gullible; just less cynical
They are healthier

26. 12.6: The Humanistic and Existential Aspects of Self-Healing
Objective: Describe the Rogerian therapy approach to helping and treating patients
Rogers’s work
Rogerian therapy
 Point 1- Rogers’s work
Called scientific attention to personal growth and fulfillment
Each person has an inherent tendency to grow
Fully functioning persons live up to their potential
Point 2- Rogerian therapy
Involves helping patients clarify their feelings
Helps people integrate their unique life experiences into their self-concept

27. 12.6.1: Growth Orientation Features of self-actualized people
Broaden-and-build model
Point 1- Features of self-actualized people
Spontaneous and creative
Good problem solvers
Have close relationships to others
Have a playful sense of humor
Point 2- Broaden-and-build model
Positive emotions broaden people’s modes of thinking and responding
They bring more possible actions to mind 

28. 12.6.2: Identity, Morality, and Purpose
People’s sense of dignity
Steps for enhanced mental and physical health
Point 1- People’s sense of dignity
Psychological and ethical importance
An aspect of health
Point 2- Steps for enhanced mental and physical health
Seek a sense of meaning or purpose in life
Engage fully in life

29. 12.6.3: Sense of Coherence Overview Self-healing personalities
Point 1- Overview
People’s confidence that the world is understandable, manageable, meaningful
Salutogenesis
Point 2- Self-healing personalities
Life matters to them
Individuals come to a view of life as ordered and clear

30. Conclusion: Stress, Adjustment, and Health Differences
Study of individuals in a real-world social context
Links between personality and health
Diathesis