Chapter 16 Stress and Health
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19 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Health psychology | The study of how biological, psychological, environmental and cultural factors are involved in physical health and prevention of illness |
| stress | People's physical and psychological reactions to demanding or threatening situations |
| Stressors | The demanding or threatening situations that produce stress |
| General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) | Hans Selye's model of stress as a general, non-specific reaction that occurs in three phases: alarm reaction, resistance, and exhaustion |
| Cognitive appraisal | The idea that to feel stress you need to perceive a threat and come to the conclusion that you may not have adequate resources to deal with the threat |
| environmental psychology | A specialty area in psychology devoted to the study of environmental effects, such as crowding or noise, on behaviour and health |
| Hardy personality | The set of traits, attitudes and skills that make an individual vulnerable to stress |
| Perceived control | The amount of influence you feel you have over a situation and your reaction to it |
| Type A | An enduring pattern of behaviour linked to coronary heart disease; the tendency to be hard driving, ambitious, easily annoyed, and impatient all seem to derive from the trait of hostility |
| Type B | People who lack the Type A personality traits-they experience less stress and therefore have better health outcomes |
| lymphocytes | Specialized white blood cells that have the job of attacking foreign substances such as viruses and bacteria |
| Post-traumatic stress disorder | A trauma-based anxiety disorder characterized by flashbacks, avoidance of stimuli associated with traumatic event and chronic arousal symptoms |
| burnout | A state of physical, emotional and mental exhaustion created by long-term involvement in an emotionally demanding situation |
| coping | Efforts to mange or master conditions of threat or demand that tax resources |
| Biofeed back | specific psychological feedback that people are given about the effectiveness of their relaxation efforts |
| Social support | The resources that individuals receive from other people or groups often in the form of comfort, caring or help |
| aerobic exercise | High intensity activities such as running, and swimming that increase both heart heart and oxygen consumption |
| alcohol myopia | A state induced by alcohol intoxication that results in more extreme social behaviours |
| AIDS | Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, a disease that gradually weakens and disables the immune system (death occurs) |
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