PSYCH 139 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Perceived Control, Autonomic Nervous System, Drive Theory
Document Summary
Anxiety: a negatively emotional state characterized by nervousness, worry, and apprehension and associated with activation or arousal of the body: although anxiety is perceived as negative or unpleasant, it does not necessarily affect performance negatively. Trait anxiety: part of the personality, an acquired behavioral tendency or disposition that influences behavior. Defining stress and understanding the stress process: stress: a substantial imbalance between demand (physical and/or psychological) and response capability, under conditions, where failure to meet that demand has important consequences, four stages of stress, environmental demand. Some type of demand is placed on an individual: physical or psychological, perception of demand. The individual"s perception of the demand: the amount of psychological/physical threat perceived. Person"s level of trait anxiety influence how one perceives the world: high-trait-anxious people tend to perceive more situations --especially evaluative/competitive ones--as threatening > lower-trait-anxious people, stress response.
