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Psychology in Modules
by Saul Kassin
Section 18:
Health and Well-Being
Health and Well-Being
Mind Over Matter
The Self and Well-Being
Stress and Health
Coping with Stress
©2006 Prentice Hall
What’s Your Prediction?
Does Stress Lower Resistance?
 Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI)

A new subfield of psychology that
examines the interactions among
psychological factors, the nervous system,
and the immune system
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Mind Over Matter
 “For a wide range of afflictions, 30 to 40
percent of patients experience relief after
taking a placebo.”

Walter A. Brown
 Placebo Effect

A placebo is any medical intervention
designed to improved one’s condition merely
via the power of suggestion.
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The Self and Well-Being
The Self-Awareness “Trap”
 Self-Awareness Theory

Self-focused attention leads people to
notice their shortcomings, thus motivating
a change in behavior or an escape from
self-awareness
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The Self and Well-Being
Positive Illusions
Unrealistic Optimism
 Regarding their future, students tend to rate their own
chances as above average for positive events and below
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average for negative events.
Stress and Health
 Health Psychology
The study of the links
between psychological factors
and physical health and illness

Stress and Health
Leading Causes of Death, 1900-2000
 Since 1900, heart
disease, cancer, and
strokes have replaced
infectious diseases as the
major causes of death.
 Behavioral factors
contribute to each of
these leading causes of
death.
©2006 Prentice Hall
Stress and Health
The Sources of Stress
Stress and Coping
 Stress: An aversive state of arousal triggered by the
perception that an event threatens the ability to cope
effectively.
 Although stressful events have effects on the body, the way
people cope can promote health or illness.
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Stress and Health
The Sources of Stress
 Catastrophes

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

An anxiety disorder triggered by an extremely
stressful event, such as combat
 Major Life Events
 Microstressors

Result in the most significant source of stress
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Stress and Health
The Physiological Effects of Stress
General Adaptation Syndrome
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Stress and Health
The Physiological Effects of Stress
Personality & Coronary Heart Disease
 Type A Personality
Characterized by an
impatient, hard-driving,
and hostile pattern of
behavior
 Type B Personality
 Characterized by an
easygoing, relaxed
pattern of behavior
 People with Type A personality
are more prone to coronary
heart disease (CHD).

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Stress and Health
The Physiological Effects of Stress
Pathways From Stress to CHD
 Under stress, people engage in behaviors that are
less healthy and they are more physiologically
reactive.
 Both of these contribute to coronary heart disease.
©2006 Prentice Hall
Stress and Health
The Immune System

A biological surveillance system that
detects and destroys “nonself” substances
that invade the body
 Lymphocytes

Specialized white blood cells that secrete
chemical antibodies and facilitate the
immune response
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Stress and Health
The Immune System
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Stress and Health
The Immune System
Immune System Components
B cell migrates
to a blood
vessel
Killer T-cell
attacks a tumor
cell
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Macrophage traps
and ingests a
bacterium
Stress and Health
The Immune System
Pathways From Stress to Illness
 Negative emotional states (stress) can lead to
unhealthy behaviors and trigger the release of
hormones that suppress immune system
activity.
©2006 Prentice Hall
Stress and Health
The Immune System
 Volunteers were
Stress Duration and
interviewed about life
Illness
stressors, then infected
with cold virus.
 As length of stress
increased, so did the
likelihood of catching the
cold.
 Stress impairs immune
system functioning.
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 Two general types of coping strategies
Coping
With Stress
Problem-focused
coping, which is designed

to reduceStrategies
stress by dealing with the problem
Coping
Emotion-focused coping, in which one tries
to manage the negative emotions

Thought Suppression
 Can be maladaptive
 Distraction works better

 Relaxation
 Aerobic Exercise
Coping With Stress
Coping Strategies
 Heart attack patients
Relaxation and the
were taught to relax
Heart
their pace.

A control group
received standard
medical care.
 After three years,
relaxation-trained
patients suffered 50%
fewer second heart
attacks.
©2006 Prentice Hall
Coping With Stress
The “Self-Healing Personality”
 Hardiness


It acts as a buffer against stress.
It is a personality style characterized by
commitment, challenge, and control.

Commitment
 Sense of purpose in work, family, and life

Challenge
 Openness to new experiences and change

Control
 Belief that one has the power to influence
important future
outcomes
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Coping With Stress
The “Self-Healing Personality”
Hopelessness
and
the
Risk
of
Death
 In Finland, middle-age
men were rated for
hopelessness.
 Six years later, higher
ratings of
hopelessness
predicted risk of
overall death, cancer,
and heart attack.
©2006 Prentice Hall
Coping With Stress
Social Support
 Much evidence shows that social support has
therapeutic effects.


Women with breast cancer who joined support
groups lived an average of eighteen months
longer than women who did not join these
groups.
Across gender, age, income level, and
ethnicity, social support lowers mortality rates.
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Acquired Immune Deficiency
Syndrome
Estimated number of adults and children living with
AIDS at the start of 2000
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