PSYC 330 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Negative Affectivity, Peripheral Nervous System, Myocardial Infarction
28 Jun 2018
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Health psychology - psychological and behavioral factors can have important health consequences
Stress - subjective feeling produced by events that are uncontrollable or threatening
Models of Personality-Illness Connection (FIG 18.1 and 18.2)
Interactional model
oObjective events happen to people and their personality traits determine the impact of
these events by influencing people's ability to cope
oPersonality is assumed to influence the relationship between stress and illness
oPersonality factors make a person more or less vulnerable to events
oIf a person has a cold virus but has a hard-driving personality, they will refuse to take the
day off and become very ill and the cold could turn fatal
oLimitations -
Unable to identify stable coping responses that were consistently adaptive or
maladaptive
Transactional Model - events influence people but people also influence events
oPersonality can influence coping, like the interactional model
oPersonality can influence how the person appraises or interprets the events - somebody
stuck in traffic might either get frustrated or use that time to relax
oPersonality can influence the events themselves - people create situations through their
choices and actions - a high neuroticism person may complain all the time which can lead to
people avoiding him
Health behavior model
oPersonality affects health indirectly through health-promoting or health-degrading
events
oPerson low in conscientiousness engage in health-damaging behaviors such as smoking,
unhealthy eating
Predisposition Model
oAssociations exist between personality and illness because of a third variable, which is
causing them both
oEnhanced sympathetic nervous system activity might be the cause of all illness AND
certain behaviors that lead a person to be neurotic
oThere is a genetic cause for novelty seeking and this gene also makes a person more
likely to develop an addiction to drugs
Illness behavior model
oIllness behavior is the action that people take when they think they have an illness such
as complaining, taking a day off
oPersonality influences the degree to which a person perceives and pays attention to
bodily sensations and the degree to which the person interprets and labels those sensations
as an illness
oPersonality trait of neuroticism is associated with a tendency to complain about physical
symptoms
Stress
Events that cause stress are called stressors and have common attributes -
Stressors are extreme - they produce a state of feeling overwhelmed or overloaded
Stressors often produce opposing tendencies such as wanting or not wanting an activity or
object
Stressors are uncontrollable, outside our power to influence
find more resources at oneclass.com
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Stress Response
When a stress appears, people experience emotional and physiological reactions
This reaction called fight or flight response - increase in sympathetic nervous system activity
General Adaptation System - Hans Selye
oAlarm stage - consists of fight or flight in response to sympathetic nervous system and
peripheral nervous system reactions
oResistance stage - if stressor continues, then body uses its resources at an above
average rate to resist
oExhaustion stage - if stressor still continues, then the person enters the last stage where
he is the most susceptible to illness and disease as his physiological resources are depleted
Major Life events
Require people to make major adjustments in life
Death of someone close, divorce of parents, starting college - major stress events - shows they
can be positive too
Holmes and Rahe - persons with the most stress points were most likely to have a serious illness
during that year
Another study where participants were made to rate the events for stress points and then half
of them were infected with a cold by using nose drops - participants with more negative life
events in past year and indicated more life stress were more likely to develop a cold than
participants with fewer life stressors
Stress is thought to lower the functional ability of the immune system
Daily Hassles
Daily hassles are minor but can be chronic and repetitive
People with lot of minor stress suffer more than expected from psychological and physical
symptoms
Types of Stress
Acute stress
oSudden onsets of demands
oTension headaches, emotional upsets, pressure
Episodic acute stress
oRepeated episodes of acute stress
oMigraines, hypertension, anxiety, depression
Traumatic stress
oMassive instance of acute stress which can reverberate for years or even a lifetime
oDiffers from acute stress in terms of symptoms
oCollection of symptoms called PTSD - when someone experiences or witnesses life
threatening
oIntense flashbacks, nightmares, feeling detached
Chronic stress
oStress that does not end until our resistance is gone
oDiabetes, decreased immune system functioning
Stress has additive effects - the effects of stress add up and accumulate in a person over time
Primary & Secondary Appraisal
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Health psychology - psychological and behavioral factors can have important health consequences. Stress - subjective feeling produced by events that are uncontrollable or threatening. Models of personality-illness connection (fig 18. 1 and 18. 2) Interactional model: objective events happen to people and their personality traits determine the impact of these events by influencing people"s ability to cope o o o. Personality is assumed to influence the relationship between stress and illness. Personality factors make a person more or less vulnerable to events. If a person has a cold virus but has a hard-driving personality, they will refuse to take the day off and become very ill and the cold could turn fatal o. Unable to identify stable coping responses that were consistently adaptive or maladaptive. Transactional model - events influence people but people also influence events o o. Personality can influence coping, like the interactional model.
