1.
adaptation level phenomenon: our tendency to form judgements relative to a neutral level defined by our prior experience.
2.
aerobic exercise: sustained exercise that increases heart and lung fitness; may also alleviate depression and anxiety
3.
biofeedback: a system for electronically recording, amplifying, and feeding back information regarding a subtle physiological state, such as blood pressure or muscle tension
4.
cannon bard theory: the theory that an emotion arousing stimulus simultaneously triggers physiological responses and the subjective experience of emotion
5.
catharsis: emotional release. in psychology the catharsis hypothesis maintains that releasing aggressive energy relieves aggressive urges
6.
complementary and alternative medicine: unproven health care treatments not taught widely in medical schools, not used in hospitals, and not usually reimbursed by insurance companies.
7.
coronary heart disease: the clogging of the vessels that nourish the heart muscle; the leading cause of death in many developed countries
8.
emotion: a response of the whole organism, involving physiological arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious experience
9.
feel good do good phenomenon: peoples tendency to be helpful when already in a good mood
10.
general adaptation syndrome: Selye's concept of the body's adaptive response to stress in three stages, alarm, resistance, exhaustion
11.
health psychology: a subfield of psychology that provides psychology's contribution to behavioral medicine
12.
james lange theory: the theory that our experience of emotion is our awareness of our physiological responses to emotion arousing stimuli
13.
lymphocytes: the two types of white blood cells that are part of the body's immune system; B lymphocytes form in the bone marrow and release antibodies that fight bacterial infections; t lymphocytes form in the thymus and among other duties attack cancer cells, viruses and foreign substances
14.
polygraph: a machine commonly used in attempts to detect lies, that measures several of the physiological responses accompanying emotion.
15.
psychophysiological illness: literally mind body illness; any stress related physical illness such as hypertension and some headaches
16.
relative deprivation: the perception that one is worse off relative to those with whom one compares oneself
17.
stress: the process by which we perceive and respond to certain events, called stressors, that we appraise as threatening or challenging
18.
subjective well being: self perceived happiness or or satisfaction with life. Used along with measures of objective well being
19.
two factor theory: schachter's theory that to experience emotion one must be physically aroused and cognitively label the arousal
20.
type a: Friedman and rosenman's term for competitive, hard-driving impatient verbally aggressive and anger prone people
21.
type b: Friedman and Rosenman's term for easygoing, relaxed people
