Psych 9 Study Guide for Final
3) Why and how does the term "Fight or Flight" get used? What is the control center for stress reactions?
It is a physiological reaction that occurs in response to a perceived harmful event, attack, or threat to survival. It is also important to note that the response can be triggered due to both real and imaginary threats. Specifically, the hypothalamus is the control system for stress reactions.
57) What is the functional difference between "I" and "you" statements?
A. "You" statements attack the other person generally result in defensiveness and counterattacks. "I" statements clarify what you think, feel and want. "I" statements do this without attacking the other person.
54) What are helpful strategies for reducing or avoiding conflict?
A. 1) Collaborative resolution - Talking together can bring a disagreement out in the open in a friendly manner so both parties can understand one another and can conclude mutually. 2) Fight - individuals will argue back and forth until one side wins. 3) Submit - One side gives up the argument, and ends the disagreement often sad and depressed. 4) Flight - individuals run away from the conflict by busying themselves with other activities. 5) Freeze - individuals both do not talk about the conflict.
2) Who are Hans Selye, Walter Cannon, Holmes and Rahe, A. Beck, and A. Ellis? What body of work is each known for?
A. 1) Hans Selye was an endocrinologist that described three predictable stages the body uses to respond to stressors, called general adaptation syndrome (GAS). The first stage is the alarm stage, which provides a burst of energy. In the second stage, known as the resistance stage, the body attempts to resist or adapt to the stressor. The last stage is known as the exhaustion stage because energy is depleted. 2) Physiologist Walter Cannon is the one who came up with the term "Fight or Flight" response. 3) Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe are the individuals who developed a questionnaire called the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS) for identifying major stressful life events and use life change units. 4) Cognitive Distortions are exaggerated or irrational thought patterns that are believed to perpetuate the effects of psychopathological states, especially depression and anxiety. Was first proposed by Aaron Beck but popularized by David Burns. 5) Albert Ellis was a psychologist that developed the rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) a form of cognitive behavior therapy. He is also responsible for the ABC model of behavior. Antecedent, Believe, and Consequence. Antecedent is something that triggers stress. Believing is if something triggers stress and you take it to heart. Consequence is feeling.
53) What are each of the steps to effective goal setting and problem solving?
A. 1) identify the goal 2) Assess current actions 3) increase good, decrease unhelpful actions 4) What else can I do? 5) Make personal choices of best options for you 6) Assess progress & modify as needed
38) What defines depression?
A. A depressive disorder is an illness that involves the body, mood, and thoughts. Includes loss of interest, pessimism, sleep more than usual, fatigue, change in appetite, social isolation, suicidal ideation, apathy, irritable, and low self-esteem.
45) How is stress hardiness defined? What are the three C's of stress hardiness?
A. A personality structure comprising the three related general dispositions of commitment, control, and challenge that functions as a resistance resource in the encounter with stressful conditions.
8) What is the difference between active and palliative coping?
A. Active coping - problem focused, and anticipatory coping (directed at source of problem). Palliative coping - emotion focused, two ways to feel better (healthy and unhealthy) healthy includes exercising and good nutrition while unhealthy is the opposite.
58) What stress management strategies go best with certain types of problems, e.g with interpersonal conflicts versus minor hassles?
A. Active coping - problem focused, and anticipatory coping(directed at source of problem). Palliative coping - emotion focused, two ways to feel better (healthy and unhealthy) healthy includes exercising and good nutrition while unhealthy is the opposite. Ineffective coping - lack of containment, when one problem spills over to other areas of one's life.
56) What are active listening skills and why do they help?
A. Active listening entails paying attention to the other person's nonverbal cues as well as spoken words. It not only aids understanding on the part of the receiver, but also helps the sender feel validated and understood.
31) What is the difference between aerobic and anaerobic exercise, and what are common examples of each?
A. Aerobic exercise is sometimes known as "cardio"-exercise that requires pumping of oxygenated blood by the heart to deliver oxygen to working muscles, while Anaerobic exercise is defined as short duration, high intensity exercise lasting anywhere from merely seconds up to around two minutes. Examples of aerobic exercise include running, walking, and using the elliptical. Examples of anaerobic exercises include heavy weight training, sprinting (running or cycling) and jumping.
41) What are the differences between biofeedback, progressive muscle relaxation, autogenics, diaphragmatic breathing exercises, visualization exercises, mindfulness practice, and "savoring", and what are the benefits to each?
A. Biofeedback is a technique you can use to learn to control your body's functions, such as your heart rate. With biofeedback, you're connected to electrical sensors that help you receive information (feedback) about your body (bio). Benefits include helping with many different health conditions such as chronic pain, high blood pressure, and anxiety. B. Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR) is a technique for learning to monitor and control the state of muscular tension. Benefits include controlling stress and anxiety, relieving insomnia, and reduce symptoms of certain types of chronic pain. C. Mindfulness is a state of active, open attention on the present. When you're mindful, you observe your thoughts and feelings from a distance, without judging them good or bad. Benefits are self-control, objectivity, affect tolerance, enhanced flexibility, equanimity, improved concentration and mental clarity, emotional intelligence and the ability to relate to others and one's self with kindness, acceptance and compassion. D. Autogenics-is a technique that teaches your body to respond to your verbal commands such as "telling" your body to relax and control breathing, blood pressure, heartbeat, and body temperature. The goal of AT is to achieve deep relaxation and reduce stress. E. Diaphragmatic Breathing Exercises are breathing techniques that are intended to help you use the diaphragm correctly while breathing. Benefits include reduces the risk factors for heart disease, improves mental focus. F. Visualization Exercises- exercises that improve your visualization skills. Benefits include stress relief, joy, improved focus, and inspiration. G. Savoring is the use of thoughts and actions to increase the intensity, duration, and appreciation of positive experiences and emotions.
60) What best predicts someone likely to be high in life satisfaction?
A. Close relationships, positive outlook, maintaining sense of meaning, purpose & control. Good self-esteem, positive leisure pursuits, and absence of chronic distress or drug abuse.
12) What is "cognitive restructuring" and what are the basic principles that apply to all forms of models of modifying what people say to themselves?
A. Cognitive restructuring is a technique drawn from cognitive therapy that can help people identify, challenge and alter stress-inducing thought patterns and beliefs. Basic principles include 1) becoming aware of our automatic negative thoughts, 2) identifying stressful thinking errors, 3) challenging stressful thinking errors, and 4) replacing stressful thinking errors with realistic alternatives.
34) What are core dietary recommendations. What are fats, proteins, and carbohydrates, and how do they relate to healthy eating and weight management?
A. Core Dietary Recommendations include: -Follow a healthy eating pattern across the lifespan. -Focus on variety, nutrient density, and amount. -Limit calories from added sugars and saturated fats and reduce sodium intake. -Shop wisely and eat less processed foods. -Shift to healthier food and beverage choices -Support healthy eating patterns for all Carbohydrates, proteins, and fats supply 90% of the dry weight of the diet and 100% of its energy. All three provide energy (measured in calories). They relate to healthy eating and weight management because depending the amount or what kind of intake it can affect your weight and your health.
36) What is the only weight loss program found to work long-term?
A. Eating healthy and exercising.
47) What are non-verbal forms of communication?
A. For passive communication, using a tone, volume, and body language that is inconsistent with or undermines what you really think and feel. For assertive communication using tone, volume, and body language consistent with the message that you want to convey. For aggressive communication using tone, volume, and body language that is threatening or demeaning to the other person. B. Facial expressions, gestures, eye contact, posture, and tone of voice
55) What are goal characteristics that predict better success and satisfaction?
A. Goal characteristics are goals that are meaningful, acceptable, challenging but attainable, specific and quantifiable. They are conscious goals that people use to energize them and direct their thoughts and behaviours toward a particular end.
22) What skills and traits should every student ideally get from a college education?
A. Having good communication/interpersonal skills, being able to problem solve/critically think, and having a good attitude and work ethic.
52) What is the most dangerous element of Type A behavior in terms of heart disease?
A. Hostility that leads to stress and health issues.
61) Why doesn't having a high income predict high life satisfaction?
A. In the beginning one might be very happy with a lot of money, but eventually the happiness settles and it becomes normal. That is why many rich individuals are not happy even though they are wealthy. If they do not have close relationships, positive outlooks, and maintain meaning in their lives
17) What is the difference between an "internal" vs and "external" locus of control?
A. Internal locus of control believes that he or she can influence events and their outcomes, while someone with an External locus of control blames outside forces for everything.
19) What are intrinsic and extrinsic rewards as they apply to job satisfaction?
A. Intrinsic; interest, content, social status, relationships, growth Extrinsic; money, benefits
43) What are the benefits to active spiritual and religious involvement?
A. It allows for people to have meaning and purpose in their lives and they have more of a social support group than those who are not involved.
29) How does exercise aid weight control?
A. It allows for people to maintain a healthy weight and stay fit, whether they are trying to lose weight or not.
49) How do thinking styles influence emotion and communication?
A. It may affect the way a person feels and how they communicate to others.
33) What are "leisure time physical activities"?
A. Leisure time physical activities are physical activities that you do on your free time such as walking, dancing, gardening, hiking, swimming, running, and house hold chores.
18) What are the primary causes of stress within families?
A. Many including poverty, sibling rivalry, toxic family, and health issues.
40) How does the media influence our perceptions and self-esteem related to bodies?
A. Mass media provides a significantly influential context for people to learn about body ideals and the value placed on being attractive. Research is increasingly clear that media does indeed contribute and that exposure to and pressure exerted by media increase body dissatisfaction and disordered eating.
32) What diseases do exercise and healthy eating habits help prevent?
A. Most diseases and degenerative diseases such as, heart disease, cancers, high blood pressure, and many more.
30) How does metabolic rate affect weight management, and how does muscle to fat ratios affect metabolic rates?
A. Muscle cells use more metabolic cells at higher metabolic rates.
21) What are the primary causes and consequences of occupational stress? What is burnout?
A. Occupational stress is stress related to one's job. Causes of it include working conditions, workload, job roles/skills you have/need to obtain to keep it, economic factors, and work-related injuries. Consequences of these include developing emotional, behavioral, mental, and physical health issues. A burnout is physical or mental collapse caused by overwork or stress.
14) What are the two pathways by which stress affects health?
A. One pathway would be the physiological, and the second pathway being behavioral. A few examples of how pathway one affects stress related health problems is increased workload on the heart, blood pressure, muscle tension, cholesterol levels, and disruption of digestive processes. A few examples of the second pathway would be diet, exercise, smoking, substance use, and sleep deprivation.
10) What defines optimism and pessimism?
A. Optimism is defined as having a positive outlook/expectations, while pessimism is having a poor outlook.
39) What are the defining characteristics of different anxiety disorders?
A. Panic Disorder- feelings of terror that strike suddenly and repeatedly with no warning. Agoraphobia- fear and avoidance of places and situations that might cause feelings of panic, entrapment, helplessness, or embarrassment. Phobia Disorders- persistent, irrational fears and avoidance of the situations or objects that induce these fears. They may be the most common form of anxiety. OCD- Excessive thoughts (obsessions) that lead to repetitive behaviors (compulsions) PTSD- A disorder characterized by failure to recover after experiencing or witnessing a terrifying event. Generalized anxiety disorder- Severe, ongoing anxiety that interferes with daily activities.
46) What is the difference between passive, assertive, and aggressive communication?
A. Passive Communication is failing to verbalize directly in words what we want, think, and feel. Assertive Communication is expressing our thoughts, desires, and feelings directly while showing consideration for others' rights and feelings. Aggressive Communication is communicating what we want, think, and feel without consideration for the rights and feelings of others.
23) What are the primary causes of college stress...what is unique to college?
A. Primary causes of college stress include academic performance/grades, financial status, relationships, and deciding what career you want to pursue. What is unique about college is it is a time where you're deciding what you want to do in life.
44) What is self-esteem, how is it developed and improved upon?
A. Self-esteem is how someone feels about his/her self and how well they like themselves. It is developed at an early age/early life experiences/in childhood. Some influences of self-esteem include parents/parenting styles, academic competence, personal mastery, attractiveness and social/ peer popularity. Ways to improve self-esteem include developing a positive inner dialogue, establishing goals that energize & challenge you, having positive social relationships, communicating assertively, and developing yourself in ways that you will feel good about.
20) What are the leading predictors of job satisfaction?
A. Sense of meaningfulness and accomplishment associated with one's work, sense of growth and challenge, sense of control within our work roles, and rewarding relationships that share goals/experience.
27) What is the difference between sexism and sexual harassment? Know examples.
A. Sexism is the prejudice or discrimination against someone based on her sex/gender while, sexual harassment involves the making of unwanted sexual advances or obscene remarks. An example of sexism would be a hiring committee not hiring a man/woman based only on their gender rather than their qualifications. And an example of sexual harassment would be touching someone inappropriately without their consent or asking for sexual favors in return for something.
28) What are short vs long-term stress mgt. benefits to exercising?
A. Short Term- increased mood, sleep, wake up call, and decreased stress/tension Long Term-Weight Mgt, increased self-esteem, energy, health, and overall longevity.
4) What are the primary nervous and endocrine systems involved in a stress response?
A. Specifically, the Sympathetic NS in the Autonomic NS.
13) What are the steps (per handout) for developing a more positive outlook and inner dialogue?
A. Step 1) Become aware of what you're currently saying to yourself, Step 2) Ask yourself if the current way you're thinking about something is helping you take corrective measures, or whether you're thinking is helping you feel better, Step 3) Identify what you can say to yourself that would help you feel better and/ or lead to more constructive action, Step 4) Implement your adaptive thinking in place of the former negative thoughts.
1) What is the definition of stress? What are the four dimensions of a stress reaction?
A. Stress is the constellation of emotional, behavioral, mental, and physiological reactions to perceived demands & threats. A. Physiological; Tense, Startled, Sweat, Increased heart rate. B. Emotional; Anger & Fear C. Cognitive; Increased alertness & focus D. Behavioral; Anything observable including health habits CAUSES Major Events; natural disaster, relationships ending, loss of job, deaths Minor Hassles; happen frequently to everyone & many overreact. Ongoing; health problems
50) What are various ways to decrease procrastination?
A. Taking breaks in between big projects/work or do it when you know you have free time.
9) What is the Yerkes-Dodson Law and how does it work?
A. The Yerkes-Dodson law is an empirical relationship between arousal and performance and it states that too little or too much stress can impair performance.
51) What is "time management" and how is it accomplished?
A. The ability to use one's time effectively or productively and is accomplished by completing important tasks first, and learning to say no so that you're not overwhelming yourself with too many things to do, and making yourself a schedule for things.
6) What do the two adrenal glands do and effect?
A. The adrenal glands secrete the hormones called Glucocorticoids (primarily cortisol), which serves as to mobilize energy sources, increase blood vessel sensitivity, inhibit inflammation, and inhibits immune response, and Mineralocorticoids (primarily aldosterone), causes water retention to increase blood volume and pressure. They are both activated by the release of corticotropin-releasing hormone(CRH) and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH).
5) What happens when the sympathetic system is turned on? What does the parasympathetic nervous system affect?
A. The autonomic nervous system includes the sympathetic nervous system and parasympathetic nervous system. The sympathetic NS is involved with energy expanding/stress response (or the stimulation of the body's fight or flight response) , while the parasympathetic NS is involved with energy conserving/relaxation response (or responsible for regulating the body's unconscious actions)
15) What is the primary reason people vary so much in their health and longevity?
A. The reason why people vary in their health and longevity is because of the lifestyle choices they make.
37) What are anorexia and bulimia?
A. They are both eating disorders. People with anorexia have a real fear of weight gain and a distorted view of their body size and shape, as a result, they eat very little and can become dangerously underweight. While Bulimia is similar to anorexia. With bulimia, people might binge eat (eat to excess) and then try to compensate in extreme ways, such as making themselves throw up or exercising all the time, to prevent weight gain.
16) Why do minor hassles add so much stress to the lives of many people?
A. They happen frequently to everyone & many overreact.
48) What are conflict management techniques/skills?
A. Use active/reflective listening skills, avoid attacks, use "I" statement instead of "you" statements, set a time to talk, stay focused on a single issue, use the "broken record technique" (is a technique used in an argument. It means to repeat your argument over and over again. By doing this the other person will eventually give up), pick your fights, seek compromise, fight fair, say you're sorry when appropriate and it's meant, keep promises you make, and if you find you can't discuss why openly, acknowledge positives in the other person or their perspective rather than focus on the negatives, postpone when needed, develop yourself in to a nice, reasonable person, and develop relationships with people who are the same.
7) What defines positive stress, or eustress?
A. When you perceive a stressful situation as an opportunity that will lead to a good outcome.
11) What does it mean to have a positive outlook? What are its defining features?
A. You look for the good in things, and not the bad. Defining features include making yourself have positive thoughts which would in turn change into positive feelings instead of negative ones.
35) How does healthy eating benefit stress management?
A. Your diet and nutrition choices can make your stress levels go up or down.
24) What do most people look for in a friend, and what are the implications?
A. confident, loyal, supportiveness, affection, frankness, sense of humor, willingness to make time for me, independence, good communicator, intelligent, social conscience, and acceptance. Implications include developing ourselves into the kind of person we're looking for in a friend.
25) What do most people look for in a long-term romantic partner, and what are the implications?
A. kindness/consideration, honesty, humor, emotionally stable, easygoing, friendly, warmth, gentleness, integrity, confidence, and the ability to love. Implications include you will typically find that they are similar along many dimensions such as age, race, religion, values, education, and social economic status.
26) What best predicts the long-term success of romantic relationships?
A. shared values & religion, social economic status/education, age, and length of courtship/relationship.
42) How are spiritually and religion separately defined?
A.Spiritually- is more personal, and a person's own values and feelings. B.Religion- is institutional/an organization, that follows a certain belief system
59) What is the two-dimensional model of emotional well-being, and what are the implications of it?
A.Two-factor model of well-being shows two factors that heavily impact our sense of well-being. These two are positive and negative emotional states. By fully understanding both emotional states one will have a overall better well-being.
