Midterm
- Short answers
o Composed of 3 parts
o Define, list, provide examples
o A choice of short answer section
- 70-80 MC
- Matching
- Concentrate on theory, concept, method
- Experimental examples aren’t tested specifically
- Finite amount of adaptive energy; every time we encounter a stressor, we use the adaptive energy
- If person is stressed all the time, the energy is used, no time to replenish, psyc body wear/tear
- The straw that breaks the camel’s back = crossing the threshold (just 1 more thing is enough to collapse it)
Chapter 4
1. Life change, stress, and illness: life events may range from mild to severe (depending on the person’s
perception). Too many severe changes in too short a period of time lead to recycling of the “gas” (general
adaptation syndrome) pattern. Life changes have been correlated with illness. Illnesses cluster around certain
periods of an individual’s life when social environment makes too many demands / large (emotional demands).
Life changes seem to cluster about 2 years prior to illness. Changes in life do predict later illness (prospective
studies) (many stressors are social in nature currently, minimized historical physical stressor)
a. Distress = negative; related to disease (we have to adapt)
b. Eu-stress = positive; lead to revitalization (we have to adapt)
c. Developmental stages in life span when social demands are made, individuals need to cope:
i. Young adults = university / new affiliation / moving away from home
ii. Teenagers = puberty / bodily changes
iii. Adults = unforeseen physical illnesses
2. Personality style buffering the effects of stress:
a. Hardiness as a style is composed of 3 components: commitment, control, challenge. With these 3
components person sees stress as a challenge; something he can control, and change is natural. Such an
attitude keeps stress arising from life change perspective
3. Social support theory: social relationships buffer effects of stress through practical help, emotional support,
giving meaning and coherence to life
4. Explanatory style: the way we explain events:
a. Pessimistic style = attributing events to stable, global, internal factors, predicted later health problems
i. Stable = it will never change, nothing will change
ii. Global = everything is a problem
iii. Internal = it is largely my fault, I am responsible
iv. Clinically depressed have these symptoms
b. Optimistic style = events occur because of unstable, specific, external factors, was predictive of health
c. External attribution = projection – I am not responsible, it is their fault
5. Expressive style: use of humour as coping mechanism helped
a. Convert inconveniences in life into humour
6. Selye & Knowledge as curative: remove the mystery and try to understand the process of the stress response
makes it less frightening
a. Individual diagnosed with illness, individual be proactive by investigating and treating it 7. Looking beyond the moment: not becoming overly involved with current frustrations but looking into the future
(tale of two cities)
a. Not overwhelmed by the darkness of the moment, there is a light at the end of the tunnel
b. Over-frustration = over focused on ourselves and the circumstances, hard to look beyond it
8. Benson and the relaxation response: through mediation, one reduces over-activation of the sympathetic
nervous system
a. Activation of SNS easily stimulated into action, individual has to learn to calm it by relaxation
b. Frequency of various coping strategies by adults:
i. Direction action, acceptance, distraction, situation redefinition, catharsis (release of emotion /
blowing off of steam), relaxation, social support, religious strategies
Chapter 8: Hedonism & Sensory Stimulation
- Hedonism = pleasure and pain
- Sensory stimulation = provide both pleasure and pain
o Interpretation of sensory stimulation is important, to whether we experience pleasure or pain
1. Concept of hedonism: the avoidance of pain and pursuit of pleasure has a long history in philosophy and
psychology. We behave in order to achieve pleasure, so said Democritus. Hedonism is guided by the principle of
association that says that cues or stimuli that have been associated with pleasure or pain take on significance
and motivate behaviour
a. Leads to arousal, which leads to motivation
b. Pavlov: presented the tone and food – the tone was neutral (did not arouse animal into pleasure/pain),
food was not neutral (aroused pleasure)
i. Associating the tone and food, tone as cue that take on significance
ii. When presented cue itself, it anticipates the pleasure
c. Double bind = lead to detrimental psychological consequences
i. Child is both accepted and rejected in a very unpredictable way, causes extreme confusion /
anxiety, which produces disturbed motor behaviour / speech, cognitive disorganization
Hobbes: all actions are motivated by the desire to obtain pleasure and avoid pain. We are self-centered
pleasure seekers. In order for individual to achieve pleasure, individual must come into
contact/interaction with others. Individuals form social contract (we cooperate to fulfill our own selfish
needs, reciprocal activity we engage in)
Spencer: pleas
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