Chapter 13 Study Guide Questions: Answers:

Chapter 13 Study Guide
Questions:
Chapter 13 Study Guide: Stress
1. Discuss the impact of minor stressors.
2. Describe the nature of our appraisals of stress.
3. Describe frustration as a form of stress.
4. Identify the three basic types of conflict and discuss which types are most troublesome.
5. Summarize evidence on life change and pressure as forms of stress.
6. Identify some common emotional responses to stress and discuss the effects of emotional
arousal.
7. Describe the fight-or-flight response and the three stages of the general adaptation syndrome.
8. Discuss the two major pathways along which the brain sends signals to the endocrine system in
response to stress.
9. Describe and evaluate aggression and self-indulgence as behavioral responses to stress.
10. Discuss the adaptive value of defensive coping and positive illusions.
11. Discuss the effects of stress on task performance and the burnout syndrome.
12. Discuss posttraumatic stress disorder and other psychological problems and disorders that may
result from stress.
13. Describe the Type A behavior pattern and summarize the evidence linking it to coronary heart
disease.
14. Describe evidence linking emotional reactions and depression to heart disease.
15. Discuss the evidence linking stress to immunosuppression and a variety of physical illnesses.
16. Describe the Featured Study on stress and the common cold.
17. Discuss how social support moderates the impact of stress.
18. Discuss how personality and physiological factors are related to stress tolerance.
19. Discuss the negative impact of smoking, poor nutrition, and lack of exercise on physical health.
20. Discuss the relationship between behavioral factors and AIDS.
21. Explain how health-impairing lifestyles develop.
22. Discuss individual differences in the willingness to seek medical treatment.
23. Describe some barriers to effective patient-provider communication and ways to overcome these
problems.
24. Discuss the extent to which people tend to adhere to medical advice.
25. Explain how this chapter highlighted two of the text's unifying themes.
26. Summarize Albert Ellis's ideas about controlling one's emotions.
27. Discuss the adaptive value of humor and releasing pent-up emotions.
28. Discuss the adaptive value of relaxation and exercise.
29. Describe some important considerations in evaluating health statistics and making health
decisions.
Answers:
1. Most often major stressors set of a chain of minor stressors for example a divorce might trigger a search for and
attorney, and moving which simply add to the stress of the divorce.Minor stresses are important because it is the
accumulation of stress that causes most problems
2. This is the way in which people interpret what is going on around them. What is stressful to some maybe considered
routine for others.
3. Frustration occurs in any situation in which the pursuit of some goal is thwarted. Failure and losses are the best
example, and everyday things such as traffic jams can even affect people's mood and blood pressure.
4) Approach-approach conflict - a choice must be made between two attractive
goals
Avoidance-Avoidance conflict - a choice must be made between to unattractive
goals
Approach-avoidance conflict - a choice must be made about whether to pursue
a single goal that has both attractive and unattractive aspects
The avoidance-avoidance conflict is the hardest to choose between becasue

oth options are bad for you.
5) Life changes are life changes, they require a person to adapt to
something they're not used to. Holmes and Rahe found that many tuberculosis
patients got the disease after many happy changes in their lives. Even
though they were happy, they were still changes, and the changes created
stress that made them more vulnerable to disease.
Pressure is the way expectations demands one to behave. Holmes and Rahe
also found that pressure can cause even more psychological symptoms than
change. Many people choke under pressure and can't perform.
6. When stress increases, the mood becomes negative. There are strong links
between specific cognitive reactions to stress (appraisal) and specific
emotions
(a) Annoyance, anger and rage
(b) Apprehension, anxiety and fear
(c) Dejection, sadness and grief
Lazarus says that the five others are guilt, shame, envy, jealousy and
disgust.
7. The fight - or -flight response is a physiological reaction to threat in which the autonomic nervous system mobilizes
the organism for attacking (fight) or fleeing (flight) an enemy
Alarm Reaction - organism recognizes the existence of a threat.
Stage of Resistance - physiological change stabilizes as copying get under way
Stage of Exhuastion - resistance declines, exhuasted, depleted
8. Discuss the two major pathways along which the brain sends signals to the endocrine system in response to stress.
*The hypothalamus is the brain structure that appears to initiate action along the two pathways
(1)- The first pathway is through the autonomic nervous system. As a response to stress, the hypothalamus activates the
sympathetic division of the ANS. Large amounts of catecholamines are released into the bloodstream when the central
part of the adrenal gland is stimulated. When these hormones go through the body, the fight-or-flight response occurs.
Heart rate and blood flow increase, and more blood is pumped into the brain and muscles. Respiration and oxygen
consumption speed up, which facilitates alertness. The pupils also dilate to increase visual sensitivity.
(2)- The second pathway is a more direct communication between the brain and the endocrine system. When the
hypothalamus sends signals to the pituitary gland, it secretes a hormone (ACTH) that stimulates the outer part of the
adrenal glands to release another important set of hormones the corticosteroids which stimulate the release of fats and
proteins to increase energy. They also mobilize chemicals that help inhibit tissue inflammation in case of injury.
9. Describe and evaluate aggression and self-indulgence as behavioral responses to stress.
*Coping refers to active efforts to master, reduce, or tolerate the demands created by stress.
*Aggression is any behavior that is intended to hurt someone, either physically or verbally. The frustration-aggression
hypothesis holds that aggression is always caused by frustration. Freud, however, theorized that behaving aggressively
could get pent-up emotion out of one’s system. He used the term catharsis to refer to the release of this emotional
tension.
*Stress may lead to self-indulgence which causes many people to engage in excessive consummatory behavior—unwise
patterns of eating, drinking, smoking, using drugs, spending money, internet addiction, etc. when things are going poorly
in one area of people’s lives, they may try to compensate by pursuing substitute forms of satisfaction.
10. Defensive Coping: Defense Mechanisms:largely unconscious reactions that protect a person from unpleasant emotions
such as anxiety and guilt. Help to shield individual from emotional discomfort elicited by stress.
Positive Illusions: normal people tend to have overly favorable self-images. May be adaptive for mental health and well
being.
11. Baumeister's research shows that pressure can interfere with performance. While stress is not always bad and can
motivate us, it can sometimes cause unneeded impairment, Research with Baseball finals shows that the home team is
under much more stress than the opponent, hoping to win at home. Studies with " normal" people shows that choking
under pressure is not uncommon.

Burnout: involves physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion that is attributable to long-term involvement in emotionally
demanding situations. Physical: chronic fatigue, weakness and low energy. Mental: highly negative attitude towards
oneself, ones work, and life. Emotional: feeling hopeless, helpless, and trapped.
12. Discuss posttraumatic stress disorder and other psychological problems and disorders that may result from stress.
The posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) involves enduring psychological disturbance attributed to the experience of a major
traumatic event. Though posttraumatic stress disorders are widely associated with the experiences of Vietnam veterans, they are
also seen as a result of other disturbing cases, including rape, robbery, assault, serious automobile accidents, witnessed death,
and major natural disasters. Common symptoms of PTSD include reexperiencing the traumatic event in the form of nightmares
and flashbacks, emotional numbing, alienation, problems in social relations, and elevated arousal, anxiety, and guilt. Chronic
stress may also contribute to poor academic performance, insomnia, nightmares, sexual difficulties, alcohol abuse, drug abuse,
and unhappiness. Stress has also been linked to the development of various psychological disorders, including depression,
schizophrenia, anxiety disorders, and eating disorders.
13. Describe the Type A behavior pattern and summarize the evidence linking it to coronary heart disease.
The Type A personality includes three elements: (1) a strong competitive orientation, (2) impatience and time urgency, and (3)
anger and hostility. Type A's are ambitious, hard-driving perfectionists who are exceedingly time-conscious. They routinely try to
do several things at once, and they typically live a fast-paced, competitive, and achievement-oriented life. Research has shown
that there is an apparent relationship between cynical hostility (characteristic of a Type A personality) and coronary disease,
hypertension, and early mortality. Due to their overactive physiological reactivity, their ability to create stress in their lives, their
antagonistic ways of relating to others, and their cynical tendency to push themselves to work hard (perhaps too hard), Type A
personalities are particularly subject to developing serious heart conditions and shortened longevity.
14. Emotional Reactions and Depression
Lab experiments with cardiology patients have shown
that brief periods of mental stress can trigger acute
symptoms of heart disease, such as myocardial ischemia
(inadequate blood flow to the heart) and chest pain.
Studies have shown that the likelihood of myocardial
ischemia increases two- or three-fold when people
experience negative emotions. Also, they found that
stress management training can reduce the likelihood
of a second heart attack in cardiology patients.
In a recent study examining a large group of people
over 13 years found that people who were depressed in
the beginning of the experiment were more likely than
others to experience a heart attack during the next 13
years. Since their depressive disorders preceded
their heart attacks, this correlation cannot be
attributed to the heart attacks causing the
depression.
15. The immune response is the body's defensive
reaction to invasion by bacteria, viral agents, or
other substances and depends heavily on actions
initiated by specialized white blood cells called
lymphocytes. Studies have shown that induced stress
can impare immune functioning in animals. Stressors
such as crowding, shock and restraint reduce various
aspects of lymphocity reactivity in lab animals. This
evidence has also been shown in humans, such as
stressed out students during finals week. This
immunosuppression leaves the body vulnerable to a
variety of diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis,
vaginal infections, genital herpes, periodontal
disease, and inflammatory bowel disease.
16.) 154 men and 266 women ranging from age 18-54 were given naasl drops that contained either a respiratory virus or
a harmless saline solution. This double-blind procedure resulted that psychological stress is associated with increased
susceptibility to biologically verified infectious disease processses.

17.) Social support refers to various types of aid and succor provided by members of one's social networks. Many studies
have found evidence that social support is favorably related to physical health. Social support also seems to be good
medicine for the mind as well as the body.
18.) Optimistic people are more likely to engage in action-oriented, problem-focused coping. They are more willing than
pessimists to seek social support, and therefore are more able to react positively to stress and have a higher stress
tolerance.
19. If you have poor nutrition it will cause a negative impact with stress
tolerance. It high cholesterol level resulting in heart disease, high salt or
caffeine intake leads to development of hyper tension, and high fat can lead to
cancer. Lack of exercise causes a problem as well. Exercise helps you live
longer, strengthen the cardiovascular cycle, reduce risk of obesity or diabetes,
and decrees risks of cancers. Also, Smoking is a problem due to its nicotine
and tar buildup. It has a high percentage to leading to cancer and death.
20. Aids is derived from the virus HIV and there are many behaviors
associated with the transmission of it. In the United states 80% of AIDS
transmissions have occured either among gay men or intavenous drug users,
yeilding a common misconception in the united states. Heterosexual contact
is to blame for the most transmissions of HIV worldwide and it has been
discovered taht stress might have somethign to do with the progression of
AIDS.
21 Health-impairing lifestyles develop because of the fact that they creep up on people slowly, and they normally include
activities that are quite pleasant. Risks that are associated with it are normally 10 to 20 to 30 years down the road.
22 Some people see the same unpleasant situations as symptoms while others just see them as a nuisance. So those
that see them as symptoms like people that are high in anxiety and neurotic ism rush off to a physician more often.
23. There are several things you can do to overcome the patient-provider
communication barrier. One thing you can do is arriving on time with your
questions ready in advance. Don’t be embarrassed if you don’t understand
some of the terms and ask the doctor to clarify. Voice your doubts about the
suitability or feasibility of your doctors recommendations.
# 24.
Evidence shows that people do not adhere to medical advice 30-60% of the
time. There are several reasons for this but three main factors are failure
to understand instructions, difficult or routine breaking instructions, and
a negative attitude towards your physician.
25. Explain how this chapter highlighted two of the text’s unifying themes.
(1.) Behavior and health are influenced by multiple causes.
(2.) Experience is highly subjective, as stress lies in the eye of the beholder.
26. Summarize Albert Ellis’s ideas about controlling one’s emotions.
He believes that people can short-circuit their emotional reactions to stress by altering their appraisals of stressful
events. The insights about stress appraisal are the foundation for a widely used system of therapy that he devised. He
emphasizes the importance of reappraising stressful situations to detect and dispute catastrophic thinking. According to
Ellis, emotional distress is often due to irrational assumptions that underlie one’s thinking. Refer to page 561 for chart of
Ellis’s view.
27. Discuss the adaptive value of humor and releasing pent-up emotions.
Humor may be useful in efforts to redefine stressful situations. In some cases, it may pay to release pent-up
emotions. Talking it out may help drain off negative emotions.
28. Discuss the adaptive value of relaxation and exercise.

Relaxation techniques, such as Benson’s relaxation response (chart on pg. 562), can reduce the wear and tear of
stress. Getting adequate sleep, consuming a nutritionally sound diet, and controlling overeating and drug use may also
reduce physical vulnerability.
29. Describe some important considerations in evaluating health statistics and making health decisions.
Evaluating Statistics on Health Risks:
(1.) Correlation is no assurance of causation
(2.) Statistical significance is not equivalent to practical significance
(3.) Base rates should be considered in evaluating probabilities
Thinking Systematically about Health Decisions
(1.) Seek info to reduce uncertainty
(2.) Make risk-benefit assessments
(3.) List alternative courses of actions
It is important to keep in mind that not all statistics on health risks
are exact since everything people do, touch, or consume can cause illness.
Studies are done to a large amount of people also which loves validity and
reliability. It is important to gather information when making heath decisions in
order to qualify the degree of uncertainty. Also, list all the possible outcomes
and course of action so no risks will stand in the way of decision making.