Chapter 11 Knowledge

What are the different ways that stress damages a person's health?

Both the body and the mind suffer the consequences of stress. The relationship between the body and the mind is bidirectional.

What kinds of changes in thinking and behavior can decrease stress?

People can decrease stress through positive ways of thinking and behaving such as proactive coping, hardiness, and optimism.

What is appraisal, and what is the difference between primary appraisal and secondary appraisal?

Appraisal is how you evaluate the things that happen to you. Primary appraisal determines how stressful the event is, and secondary appraisal determines how capable you are to handle it.

In the podcast, what recommendation does Dr. Comer offer regarding to test taking?

Appraise exams as a challenging opportunity to show what you've learned.

What are some techniques of complementary medicine and alternative medicine that can decrease stress?

Complementary medicine and alternative medicine offer a variety of techniques to decrease stress, including acupuncture, meditation, homeopathic medicine, and biofeedback.

How do psychologists define coping?

Coping is any effort to reduce or manage the experience of stress.

What effect does exercise have on stress?

Exercise, particularly aerobic exercise, reduces stress and the health risks associated with it.

What are hassles, and how do they relate to stress?

Hassles are the minor annoyances or aggravations of day-to-day life that add up to cause significant stress.

How can age influence the experience of stress?

In mainstream U.S. culture, different sources of stress are more likely to impact people at various life stages.

How do males and females experience stress in different ways?

Men and women often experience different types of stressors and get stressed out about different things. Men and women also tend to react differently to the same stressor, with women appraising stressors as more severe than do men.

How do people of different ethnic backgrounds, including individualistic and collectivistic cultures, experience stress differently?

Minority or immigrant groups in the United States are more likely to face certain real-world stressors than people in the majority. People from collectivistic and individualistic cultures often have different experiences of stress.

How do coping styles differ by ethnicity and gender?

People from collectivistic ethnicities tend to cope by changing things within themselves (like their own thoughts and feelings), while people from individualistic ethnicities tend to cope by changing things outside of themselves (like the stressor itself). Women tend to cope by talking with others about their feelings, while men tend to cope by problem solving and by not discussing their emotions.

What are the main characteristics of Type A and Type B personality, and how do they relate to the experience of stress?

People with Type A personality, who are competitive, driven, and hostile, experience more stress-related health consequences than people with Type B personality, who are noncompetitive, easygoing, and relaxed.

How do the personality traits of conscientiousness, extraversion, and neuroticism correlate with stress levels?

People with high levels of the personality traits conscientiousness and extraversion tend to experience less stress, while people with high levels of the personality trait neuroticism tend to experience more stress.

How can mindfulness influence stress levels?

Practicing mindfulness can reduce stress through an increased awareness of moment-to-moment physical and psychological experiences.

What is the difference between problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping?

Problem-focused coping emphasizes changing the stressor itself, while emotion-focused coping emphasizes changing one's emotional reaction to the stressor.

What is the relationship between stress and stressors?

Stressors are the circumstances, such as events or changes in your life, that cause stress.

Your friend, Rosa, is going back to school after being in the workforce for 7 years. She's extremely nervous about tests and also worries that she won't fit in. What would you say if you're trying to help her engage in secondary appraisal?

Remind her she is extremely resilient and has everything she needs to succeed.

Which of the following provides an example of primary appraisal without secondary appraisal?

Shawn is anxious about an upcoming work presentation because he knows the executives are going to ask hard questions.

How can different types of social support be categorized, and what role does social support play in emotional and physical health?

Social support is often categorized in three ways—informational, instrumental, and emotional—and it is important to both emotional and physical health.

How does stress relate to psychological disorders?

Stress can contribute to almost any psychological disorder, including depression, anxiety, eating disorders, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and schizophrenia.

How does stress affect the immune system and contribute to illness?

Stress can wear down a person's immune system, which defends the body against bacteria, viruses, infections, injuries, and anything else that could cause illness or death.

How do psychologists define stress?

Stress is an unpleasant physical or psychological reaction to circumstances that are perceived as challenging.

You really despise your commute every day to work, because people drive with little regard for others on the road. You've noticed lately that the minute you get into your car your heart starts to race and your neck feels tense. How would you label the elements of this scenario?

The commute is the stressor, and your racing heart and tense neck are the stress.

What is the fight-or-flight response?

The fight-or-flight response is an automatic emotional and physical reaction to a perceived threat that prepares you to either attack or run away.

How do acculturation strategies influence stress levels?

The four acculturation strategies tend to produce different outcomes in terms of stress, with integration producing the least stress and marginalization producing the most stress.

What is general adaptation syndrome?

The general adaptation syndrome is a widely accepted understanding of the way bodies respond to ongoing stress, consisting of the sequence of alarm, resistance, and exhaustion.

What are the stages in the stages of change model, and how does this model relate to stress reduction efforts?

The stages of change model—which includes precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance—can explain why people don't always do things that would likely reduce stress.

Which of the following statements is true when it comes to stressors?

What serves as a stressor for one person will not necessarily be a stressor for another person.

What example did Dr. Roberts provide of her own personal experience with general adaptation syndrome?

When traveling back and forth to visit her very ill mother, she ended up getting sick due to reaching the exhaustion phase.

Khanh has recently moved to Vietnam with her parents from the United States where she was born. While she speaks Vietnamese, she often feels anxious reading aloud at school for fear the students will make fun of her. She also feels uncomfortable bringing her lunch, because her mom packs very different items than the other kids. Khanh would be best described as experiencing:

acculturative stress.

Jeri is a costume designer and has weeks when she must work consistently long days with little rest. She starts these periods feeling a bit overwhelmed, then just focuses on getting through the work, and eventually winds up with a cold. According to general adaptation syndrome, when she initially feels overwhelmed, she's in the _____BLANK phase.

alarm

What topic in this chapter does Dr. Comer propose as being useful for even non-psychology students to understand?

coping strategies

Ricky had a troublesome childhood, where he not only grew up in poverty, but was also a victim of physical abuse. As a teen, Ricky has used his difficult childhood experiences as an opportunity to thrive despite obstacles, and he also volunteers as a teen mentor to younger children growing up in poverty. Ricky can best be described as showing:

posttraumatic growth.