Exam 12: B: Stress,coping,and Health
Explain how hardiness,optimism,spirituality,and rumination may influence responses to stress.
Answers will vary but should contain the following information for full credit.
Hardiness: Resilient people possess a set of attitudes called hardiness.Hardy people view change as a challenge rather than a threat,are committed to their life and work,and believe they can control events.Hardy individuals have the courage and motivation to confront stressors and engage in problem solving to contend with them.In addition,people with attitudes toward life reflected high levels of control,commitment,and challenge remained healthier than those whose attitudes didn't.
Optimism: Optimistic people are more productive,focused,persistent,and better at handling frustration than pessimists.Optimism is also associated with a lower mortality rate,a more vigorous immune response,lower distress in infertile women trying to have a child,better surgical outcomes,and fewer physical complaints.
Spirituality: Spirituality is a search for the sacred,which may or may not extend to belief in God.Compared with nonreligious people,religious people have lower mortality rates,improved immune system functioning,lower blood pressure,and a greater ability to recover from illnesses,likely because of a prohibition of health risk behaviours in various religions (e.g. ,drinking,smoking,unsafe sex),social support from religious groups,and having a sense of purpose in life may enhance coping.
Rumination: Some of us spend a great deal of time ruminating-focusing on how bad we feel and endlessly analyzing the causes and consequences of our problems.Individuals who ruminate tend to have higher heart rates and blood pressure following stressors,problems in romantic relationships,and higher rates of depression (especially in women).
Describe and discuss the probable reasons for the apparent effectiveness of homeopathy and other unsupported alternative medical treatments.
Answers will vary but should contain the following information for full credit.
Not surprisingly,homeopathic remedies haven't been shown to be effective for any medical condition.Nevertheless,some people who try homeopathic remedies claim to reap considerable benefits from them,as well as from other medical treatments that have little or no scientific support.Why is this so? Here are five probable reasons for the apparent effectiveness of homeopathy and other unsupported alternative medical treatments:
(1)They produce a placebo effect.They instil hope but not much else.
(2)People may assume that natural products like herbs and megavitamins improve their health because they perceive no adverse effects to counter this belief.
(3)The symptoms of many physical disorders come and go,so consumers may attribute symptom relief to the treatment,rather than to changes in the natural course of the illness.
(4)When alternative treatments accompany conventional treatments,people may attribute their improvement to the alternative treatment rather than to the less dramatic or interesting conventional treatment.
(5)The problem may be misdiagnosed in the first place,so the condition isn't as severe as initially believed.
First,provide a clear definition of stress.Next,compare and contrast stress as a stimulus,stress as a transaction,and stress as a response.
Answers may vary but should contain the ideas listed below to earn full credit.
Stress is the tension,discomfort,or physical symptoms that arise when a situation strains the ability to cope effectively.
CONTRAST:
--Stress as a stimulus: focuses on identifying types of stressful events (i.e. ,natural disasters,breakups,or retirement)
--Stress as a transaction: examines how people interpret (i.e. ,primary appraisal and secondary appraisal)and cope (i.e. ,problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping)with stressful events
--Stress as a response: revolves around links between psychological and physical reactions to stressful situations
COMPARE:
--They are all types of stress (i.e. ,tension,discomfort,or physical symptoms that arise when a situation strains the ability to cope effectively).
Discuss Selye's general adaptation syndrome (GAS)and include the three stages of adaptation.
Discuss the role of stress and socioeconomic factors in coronary heart disease (CHD).
Identify and describe the five methods of gaining control over stressful situations.
Identify and discuss the two approaches to measuring stress,including the scales associated with each approach,their relation to health,and problems with the approaches.
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