KLA210 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Open Plan, Personnel Selection, Terminal Illness
Social Psychology week 12: Social Psychology in the Real World
- Health psychology: the application of psychology to the promotion of physical
health and the prevention and treatment of illness
oTwo main areas:
Improve health by applying things we know from behavioural
science: prevention
Working out how people make sense in coping with illness
What role does social factors have on health patterns
oBut isn’t physical illness a purely biological event?
Equally psychology and biological
oStress: an unpleasant state of arousal that arises when we perceive that
the demands of an event threaten out ability to cope effectively
oMismatch in what we think a situation demands and what we perceive
as our resources and abilities
oSubjective appraisal of the situation determines:
How we will experiences the stress
What coping strategies we will use
Individual differences: determine in the first place whether we
think of something as stressful or not
2 day deadline might be stressful for some but not
others
Speaking in public
oAppraisal is the process by which people make judgments about the
demands of potentially stressful events and their ability to meet those
demands
Is this stressful? Do I have the means to cope with it?
oCoping is an effort to reduce stress
Anything that we do to reduce stress
Directed at the problem or cause of stress, or at how we
experience it
Problem focus vs. emotion focus
oIn Australia:
We are getting more stress
People say that it is impacting their physical and mental health
Social media, food, sleeping to reduce stress and cope
Financial stress: 52%
FAMILY ISSUES: 47%
Personal health issues: 43%
Maintaining healthy lifestyle: 41%
Less interested in their jobs, less motivated by their work
Workplace factors have increased even since last year
Perception factors
Many people work situation hasn’t changed
Just a change in how we interpret the situation
oPotentially stressful event - appraisal – coping
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oPersonal and situational background factors – the stress and coping
process (above) - health outcomes
Socioeconomic status is included in personal factors
Depending on what coping we use health outcomes will vary
oWhat causes stress:
1967 life events stress indicator: Holmes and Rahe
life change units: the more units it has the worse it is
came up with this scale by looking at lifestyle of sample and
the impact on their health
if you sum up the total of these:
>300 high risk of illness, <150 reduced risk of illness
individual differences:
for some people divorce is a positive thing
major life events:
all of these event require us to change something
means we need to adapt and learn something new
is change positive or negative, necessarily harmful
ono support that positive stressors are as harmful
as negative stressors
oImpact of change depends on person and how
change is interpreted
oall of these stressors depends on how we
interpret them and our individual factors before
and after the event
Usually one off events
That are relatively defined
Micro-stressors: daily hassles
Most common source of stress arises from the daily
hassles that irritate us
ofor example environmental factors, family
Micro-stressors place a constant strain on us
othe accumulation of daily hassles contribute
more to illness than do major life events
ojob, commuting, paying the bills
Impact is relatively undefined
Difficult to put finger on it, so difficult ot go through
appraisal stage
oGeneral adaptation syndrome
Three stage bodily response to stress
Alarm: burden on physiological resources
oCortisol: makes it easy for you to mobilize
physiological responses
oBlood sugar levels provide us with more energy
oMost of our stressors don’t help by having blood
sugar
oCortisol is an immune suppressant:
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Eg. Skin irritation cream contains
cortisol
So chronic levels in blood stream is
harmful
Resistance
Exhaustion: susceptible to illness
Why don’t we stop once stress is gone:
Type a behaviour pattern: competitive and hostile, sense
of urgency, aggression
oAll behaviours likely to increase stress
oBlood pressure increases
oPay less attention to others things happening in
body
oMight end up drinking more, smoking, etc.
oPsycho-cardiology: is a new field that has
emerged from this research examining the links
between mind and heart health
stress may be a short term reaction to a threat, but over time it
compromises health and well-being
oStress and the immune system:
Stress compromises body immune system
Short term:
Cortisol is a good thing
Adaptive
Allow us to do something very quickly
Wouldn’t have this response if it wasn’t reactive and
helpful
Not dealing with the same things anymore
Long term:
Bad, it is an immune suppressant
Count of white blood cells: acute stress, count goes up
Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI): a subfield of psychology that
examines the links among psychological factors, the brain, and
nervous system, and the immune system
oAttributions and explanatory styles:
Seligman: depression results from learned helplessness
Generalize low control to a range of circumstances
Learning that you don’t have control
Abramson et al: depression is a state of hopelessness brought
on by the negative self attributions people make for failure
Depressive explanatory style
Pair these factors produces this
If you have these factors then you are more likely to
interpret situation as stressful and think you don’t have
the resources
Self-efficacy
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Document Summary
Social psychology week 12: social psychology in the real world. Health psychology: the application of psychology to the promotion of physical health and the prevention and treatment of illness: two main areas: Improve health by applying things we know from behavioural science: prevention. Working out how people make sense in coping with illness. Individual differences: determine in the first place whether we think of something as stressful or not. 2 day deadline might be stressful for some but not others. Speaking in public: appraisal is the process by which people make judgments about the demands of potentially stressful events and their ability to meet those demands. Do i have the means to cope with it: coping is an effort to reduce stress. Anything that we do to reduce stress. Directed at the problem or cause of stress, or at how we experience it. Problem focus vs. emotion focus: in australia:
