Stress
A negative emotional state occurring in response to events that are perceived as taxing or exceeding a person’s resources or ability to cope
Health psychology
The branch of psychology that studies how biological, behavioral, and social factors influence health, illness, medical treatment, and health-related behaviors
Biopsychosocial model
The belief that physical health and illness are determined by the complex interaction of biological, psychological, and social factors
Stressors
Events or situations that are perceived as harmful, threatening, or challenging
Daily hassles
Everyday minor events that annoy and upset people
Conflict
A situation in which a person feels pulled between two or more opposing desires, motives, or goals
Acculturative stress
The stress that results from the pressure of adapting to a new culture
Fight-or-flight response
A rapidly occurring chain of internal physical reactions that prepare people either to fight or take flight from an immediate threat
Catecholamines
Hormones secreted by the adrenal medulla that cause rapid physiological arousal; include adrenaline and noradrenaline
General adaptation syndrome
Selye’s term for the three-stage progression of physical changes that occur when and organism is exposed to intense and prolonged stress. The three stages are alarm, resistance, and exhaustion
Corticosteroids
Hormones released by the adrenal cortex that play a key role in the body’s response to long-term stressors
Immune system
Body system that produces specialized white blood cells that protect the body from viruses, bacteria, and tumor cells
Lymphocytes
Specialized white blood cells that are responsible for immune defenses
Psychoneuroimmunology
An interdisciplinary field that studies the interconnections among psychological processes, nervous and endocrine system functions, and the immune system
Optimistic explanatory style
Accounting for negative events or situations with external, unstable, and specific explanations
Pessimistic explanatory style
Accounting for negative events or situations with internal, stable, and global explanations.
Type A behavior pattern
A behavioral and emotional style characterized by a sense of time urgency, hostility, and competitiveness
Social support
The resources provided by other people in times of need
Coping
Behavioral and cognitive responses used to deal with stressors; involves efforts to change circumstances, or your interpretation of circumstances, to make them more favorable and less threatening
Problem focused coping
Coping efforts primarily aimed at directly changing or managing a threatening or harmful stressor
Emotion-focused coping
Coping efforts primarily aimed at relieving or regulating the emotional impact of a stressful situation
Robert Ader (b. 1932)
American psychologist who, with immunologist Nicholas Cohen, first demonstrated that immune system responses could be classically conditioned; helped establish the new interdisciplinary field of psychoneuroimmunology
Walter B. Cannon ( )
American physiologist who made several important contributions to psychology, especially in the study of emotions. Described the fight-or-flight response, which involves the sympathetic nervous system and the endocrine system
Janice Kiecolt-Glaser (b. 1951)
American psychologist who, with immunologist Ronald Glaser, has conducted extensive research on the effects of stress on the immune system
Richard Lazarus (b. 1922)
American psychologist who helped promote the cognitive perspective in the study of emotion and stress; developed the cognitive appraisal model of stress and coping with co-researcher Susan Folkman
Martin Seligman (b. 1942)
American psychologist who conducted research on explanatory style and the role it plays in stress, health, and illness
Hans Selye ( )
Canadian endocrinologist who was a pioneer in stress research; defined stress as “the nonspecific response of the body to any demand placed on it” and described a three- stage response to prolonged stress that he termed the general adaptation syndrome