Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik

Module 21: Health, Stress & Coping

Module 21

Health, Stress & Coping

Psychology Department
Stillwater High School
Spring Term 2007
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 21: Health, Stress & Coping

• Primary appraisals
– refers to our initial, subjective
evaluation of a situation, in APPRAISAL
which we balance the demands
of a potentially stressful
situation against our ability to
meet these demands
– Three different primary
appraisals
• irrelevant: mostly
nonstressful
• positive: mostly
nonstressful because it
makes you feel good
• stressful: overtaxes your
emotional and
psychological recourses
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 21: Health, Stress & Coping

APPRAISAL (CONT.)

• Primary appraisals
– Harm/loss
• means that you have
already sustained
some damage or
injury
• elicits negative
emotions, such as
fear, depression,
fright, and anxiety
• feel stressed
• more stressful, the
more overwhelming
the situation will seem
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 21: Health, Stress & Coping

APPRAISAL (CONT.)
• Primary appraisals
– Threat
• means that the
harm/loss has not yet
taken place but you
know it will happen in
the near future
• elicits negative
emotions, such as fear,
anxiety, and anger
• event or situation
seems especially
stressful
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 21: Health, Stress & Coping

APPRAISAL
•
(CONT.)
Primary appraisals
– Challenge
• means that you have the
potential for gain or
personal growth
• need to mobilize your
physical energy and
psychological resources
to meet the challenging
situation
• elicits positive emotions,
such as eagerness or
excitement
• usually less stressful than
harm/loss or a threat
appraisal
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 21: Health, Stress & Coping

APPRAISAL (CONT.)

• Appraisal and stress level

– Galvanic skin response
• measure of how much a person’s hand sweats due to
physiological arousal and not to normal temperature
changes
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 21: Health, Stress & Coping

APPRAISAL (CONT.)

• Same situation, different

appraisals
– people do not agree on
which situations are
stressful
– level of stress depends
not only on the kind of
situation but also on the
kind of primary appraisal
one makes
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 21: Health, Stress & Coping

p483 STRESS SITUATION CHART

Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 21: Health, Stress & Coping

PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSES

• Fight-flight response
– directs great resources of
energy to the muscles and
the brain
– can be triggered by either
physical stimuli that threaten
our survival or psychological
situations that are novel,
threatening, or challenging
– involves numerous
physiological responses that
arouse and prepare the body
for action
– fight or flight
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 21: Health, Stress & Coping

PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSES (CONT.)

• Sequence for activation of the fight-flight

response
– appraisal
• physically or psychologically
threatening stimuli can trigger
the fight-flight response and
negative emotional feelings
• fear, rage
– hypothalamus
• simultaneously activates two
stress-related responses: it
triggers the pituitary gland to
release a stress fighting
hormone called ACTH
(adrenocorticotropic hormone)
• activates the sympathetic
division of the autonomic
nervous system
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 21: Health, Stress & Coping

PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSES (CONT.)

• Sequence for activation of the

fight-flight response
– sympathetic division
• activated by
hypothalamus
• triggers a number of
physiological responses
• Parasympathetic division
– activated by the
hypothalamus
– returns the body to
a more relaxed,
calm state
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 21: Health, Stress & Coping

PHYSIOLOGICAL
• Sequence for activation
of the fight-flight RESPONSES (CONT.)
response
– fight-flight
response
• increases heart
rate, blood
pressure,
respiration,
secretion of
excitatory
hormones, and
many other
responses
• prepares body
to deal with
impending
threat
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 21: Health, Stress & Coping

p485 FIGHT-FLIGHT CHART

Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 21: Health, Stress & Coping

PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSES (CONT.)

• Psychosomatic symptoms
– real, sometimes painful, physical symptoms
– headaches, muscle pains, stomach problems, and increased susceptibility to
colds and flu
– cause, by worry, stress, and anxiety
– psychosomatic is derived from:
– psyche meaning “mind”
– soma meaning “body”
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 21: Health, Stress & Coping

p486 COMMON PSCYHOSOMATIC SYMPTOMS

Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 21: Health, Stress & Coping

PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSES (CONT.)

• Development of symptoms
– Genetic predisposition
• most of us inherit a tendency that targets a particular
organ or bodily system for weakening or breaking
down
• heart, blood vessels, stomach lining, or immune
system
• different individuals who are in similar stressful
situations experience different kinds of psychosomatic
symptoms
– Lifestyles
• smoking, being overweight, not exercising, or taking
little time for relaxing
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 21: Health, Stress & Coping

PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSES (CONT.)

• Development of symptoms
– Threat appraisals
• some of us are more likely to appraise situations as threatening.
• elicit negative emotions
• trigger fight-flight response
• psychosomatic symptoms
• poor lifestyles and too many threat appraisals
• can damage or break down body organs that may have already been weakened
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 21: Health, Stress & Coping

• General adaptation
syndrome (GAS)
– refers to the
PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSES
body’s (CONT.)
reaction to
stressful
situations
during which it
goes through
a series of
three stages
– alarm
– resistance
– exhaustion
– gradually
increases the
chances of
developing
psychosomati
c symptoms
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 21: Health, Stress & Coping

PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSES (CONT.)

• General adaptation syndrome

– Alarm stage
• initial reaction to stress and is marked by
activation of the fight-flight response
• causes physiological arousal
– Resistance stage
• the body’s reaction to continued stress during
which most of the physiological responses
return to normal levels but the body uses up
great stores of energy
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 21: Health, Stress & Coping

PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSES (CONT.)

• General adaptation
syndrome
– Exhaustion stage
• the body’s reaction
to long-term,
continuous stress,
marked by actual
breakdown in
internal organs or
weakening of the
infection-fighting
immune system
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 21: Health, Stress & Coping

PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSES (CONT.)

• Mind-body connection
– refers to how your thoughts, beliefs, and emotions
can produce physiological changes that may be
either beneficial or detrimental to your health and
well-being
• Mind-body therapy
– based on the finding that thoughts and emotions
can change physiological and immune responses
– uses mental strategies, such as relaxation,
meditation, and biofeedback
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 21: Health, Stress & Coping

PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSES (CONT.)

• Immune system
– body’s defense and
surveillance network of cells
and chemicals that fight off
bacteria, viruses, and other
foreign or toxic substances
– psychoneuroimmunology
– study of the relationship
among three factors
– central nervous system
– endocrine system
– psychosocial factors
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 21: Health, Stress & Coping

STRESSFUL EXPERIENCES

• Kinds of stress
– Hassles
• small, irritating, frustrating events that we face daily
and that we usually appraise or interpret as
stressful experiences
– Uplifts
• small pleasurable, happy, and satisfying
experiences that we have in our daily lives
– Major life events
• potentially disturbing, troubling, or disruptive
situations, both positive and negative, that we
appraise as having a significant impact on our lives
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 21: Health, Stress & Coping

p490 SOCIAL READJUSTMENT RATING SCALE

Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 21: Health, Stress & Coping

STRESSFUL EXPERIENCES (CONT.)

• Situational stress
– Frustration
• the awful feeling that
results when your
attempts to reach
some goal are blocked
– Burnout
• refers to being
physically
overwhelmed and
exhausted, finding the
job unrewarding and
becoming cynical or
detached, and
developing a strong
sense of
ineffectiveness and
lack of
accomplishment in this
particular job
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 21: Health, Stress & Coping

• Situational stress
– Violence
STRESSFUL • posttraumatic stress
EXPERIENCES (CONT.) disorder
• a disabling condition that
results from personally
experiencing an event
that involves actual or
threatened death or
serious injury, or from
witnessing such and
event, or hearing of such
an event happening to a
family member or close
friend
• number of psychological
symptoms
• recurring and disturbing
memories
• terrible nightmares
• intense fear and anxiety
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 21: Health, Stress & Coping

STRESSFUL EXPERIENCES (CONT.)

• Conflict
– the feeling you experience
when you must choose
between two or more
incompatible possibilities or
options
• Approach-approach conflict
– involves choosing between
two situations that both
have pleasurable
consequences
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 21: Health, Stress & Coping

STRESSFUL EXPERIENCES (CONT.)

• Conflict
– Avoidance-avoidance conflict
• involves choosing between two situations that
both have disagreeable consequences
– Approach-avoidance conflict
• involves a single situation that has both
pleasurable and disagreeable aspects
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 21: Health, Stress & Coping

STRESSFUL EXPERIENCES (CONT.)

• Conflict
– Five styles of dealing with
conflict
1. Avoidance
– by avoiding or
ignoring conflict, it
will disappear or
magically go
away
2. Accommodation
– hate conflicts and
tend to please
people and worry
about approval
3. Domination
– go to any lengths
to win, even if it
means being
aggressive and
manipulative
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 21: Health, Stress & Coping

STRESSFUL EXPERIENCES (CONT.)

• Conflict
– Five styles of dealing with
conflict
4. Compromise
– recognize that others
have different needs
and try to solve
conflicts through
compromise
5. Integration
– try to resolve conflicts
by finding solutions to
please both partners
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 21: Health, Stress & Coping

STRESSFUL EXPERIENCES (CONT.)

• Anxiety
– unpleasant state characterized by feelings of
uneasiness and apprehension as well as increased
physiological arousal, such as increased heart rate
and blood pressure
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 21: Health, Stress & Coping

PERSONALITY & SOCIAL FACTORS

• Hardiness
– combination of three personality traits:
• control
• commitment
• challenge