Psychology Chapter on Stress and Appraisal

Primary and Secondary Appraisal

• Primary appraisal is the initial evaluation of a situation to determine its significance.
• Secondary appraisal follows primary appraisal and evaluates one's ability to cope with the situation by assessing available resources and coping mechanisms.

Eustress

• Eustress is a type of positive stress that motivates and energizes individuals.

Stress Response Stages

• Alarm reaction: The initial response to a stressor, activating the "fight or flight" response.
• Resistance stage: The body adapts to the stressor, remaining on high alert but coping.
• Exhaustion stage: Prolonged stress depletes body resources, leading to feelings of fatigue, overwhelm, and inability to cope.

Cortisol

• Cortisol is a stress hormone that increases energy, reduces pain, and enhances immune function for short periods.
• Long-term high cortisol levels impair immune function and are linked to physical and mental health problems.

Locus of Control and Stress

• Internal locus of control: Individuals believe they control their outcomes and proactively manage stress.
• External locus of control: Individuals believe external factors determine outcomes, leading to feelings of less control in stressful situations.
• Internal locus of control is generally better for handling stress.

Types of Lives

• Pleasant life: Focuses on maximizing pleasure and positive emotions.
• Good life: Involves using strengths and talents in engaging activities.
• Meaningful life: Involves contributing to something larger than oneself, exceeding personal fulfillment.

World Happiness Report (2024)

• Top three happiest countries: Finland, Denmark, and Iceland.
• US average happiness score: Note provided (decline in adolescents and young adults).
• US rank in the report: 23rd.
• Measurement method: Gallup World Poll with a life satisfaction rating scale (Cantril ladder).

Happiness and Parenthood

• Initial impact of having children: Transient decrease in well-being.
• Long-term impact of having children: Increased happiness and satisfaction over time.

Happiness and Money

• Money's role in happiness: Money contributes to security and opportunities but isn't the sole factor. Relationships, health, and personal fulfillment also play important roles.

Hedonic Treadmill

• Long-term happiness: People return to a baseline level of happiness after experiencing highs and lows.
• Great events: Potential increase in happiness, but return to baseline.
• Terrible events: Potential decrease in happiness, but return to baseline.
• Hedonic adaptation: The process of returning to a stable happiness level after significant events.

Shawn Achor's Perspective on Happiness

• Long-term happiness: Significantly influenced by mindset and habits; cultivate positive habits and optimism for improved well-being and performance. Happiness is a precursor to success, not a result.
• External factors explanatory power in happiness: Only about 10% of happiness variability is due to external factors.
• Genetic/biological component of happiness: About 40% of happiness variability is due to genetics/biology.
• Behavioral/mindset component of happiness: About 50% of happiness variability is due to behaviors and mindset.
• Positive brain function: Enhanced creativity and problem-solving

Chapter 12: Attribution and Social Psychology

Attribution

• Attribution: The process of explaining the causes of behavior or events.

Dispositionism and Situationism

• Dispositionism: Attributing behaviors to internal characteristics (personality, traits).
• Situationism: Attributing behaviors to external factors (environment, circumstances).

Fundamental Attribution Error

• Fundamental attribution error: Overemphasizing personal characteristics and underestimating situational factors when explaining others' behavior.
• Not necessarily a mistake; interpretation bias.

Videotaped Interrogation Studies

• Bias in viewer perceptions of guilt based on camera perspective.

Just-World Hypothesis

• Belief that people get what they deserve and deserve what they get.

Stanford Prison Experiment

• Highlighted situational influence on behavior.
• Criticized for ethical and methodological issues.

Cognitive Dissonance

• Cognitive dissonance: Mental discomfort from contradictory beliefs, values, or attitudes.
• Triggers: Conflicting beliefs, new information, behavior versus beliefs.
• Reduction: Changing beliefs, changing behavior, rationalization.

Justification of Effort

• Aronson and Mills (1959) study on severe initiation leading to higher perceived value of the group.

Elaboration Likelihood Model

• Central route processing: Careful consideration of message content; detailed evidence evaluation.
• Peripheral route processing: Superficial consideration of message content; influence by irrelevant cues.

Foot-in-the-door Effect

• Small request leads to increased likelihood of agreeing to a larger request later.

Asch Conformity Studies

• Demonstrated the influence of social pressure on conformity; willingness to ignore reality and conform to group.

Social Influence

• Normative social influence: Conform to be liked and accepted.
• Informational social influence: Conform due to perceived information.
• Asch conformity studies: Predominantly normative social influence

Milgram Study

• Investigated obedience to authority.
• 65% of participants administered highest shock level.
• Psychologists predicted far lower obedience.

Groupthink

• Groupthink: Desire for harmony leading to poor/irrational decisions.
• Mitigation: Open dialogue, devil's advocate, smaller group discussions.

Group Polarization

• Group polarization: Intensified attitudes or decisions within a group.

Social Facilitation

• Social facilitation: Enhanced performance on simple/learned tasks in presence of others, impaired performance with complex/new tasks.

Social Loafing

• Social loafing: Reduced effort when working in a group compared to alone.

Homophobia Study (Adams, Wright, and Lohr 1996)

• Investigated homophobia and arousal in heterosexual men.
• IV: Type of sexual interaction (heterosexual, male/male, female/female).
• DV: Penile circumference (sexual arousal).
• Result: Homophobic men showed arousal to male/male videos, while both groups reacted to heterosexual and female/female videos.

Self-fulfilling Prophecy and Confirmation Bias

• Self-fulfilling prophecy: Stereotypes influencing behavior, leading to outcomes that confirm original stereotypes.
• Confirmation bias: Favoring information confirming stereotypes, ignoring contradictory information.

In-group Bias

• In-group bias: Favoring in-group members over out-group members.

Aggression

• Hostile aggression: Aggression driven by anger for causing harm.
• Instrumental aggression: Aggression used to achieve a goal.

Bystander Effect and Diffusion of Responsibility

• Bystander effect: Reduced likelihood of helping in presence of others.
• Diffusion of responsibility: Individuals feel less personal responsibility.
• Minimizing the bystander effect: Increase awareness, assign responsibility, foster empathy & altruism.

Attraction

• Proximity: Leads to attraction due to increased exposure.
• Similarity: Leads to attraction due to shared interests/values.
• Opposites: Less of a factor than similarity for long-term success.
• Matching hypothesis: Tendency to form relationships with similar attractiveness.

Sternberg's Triangular Theory of Love

• Companionate love: Deep intimacy and commitment without passion.
• Romantic love: Intimacy and passion, but not always commitment.

Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination

• Stereotype: Generalized belief about a group.
• Prejudice: Preconceived opinion about a person or group.
• Discrimination: Unfair treatment of individuals based on their group.

Stereotypes vs. Personal Beliefs

• Stereotypes are more automatic; cognitive shortcuts for group categorization.

Fundamental Attribution Error Across Cultures

• Collectivist cultures are less prone to the fundamental attribution error.

Confederate

• Confederate: Individual part of the experiment, pretending to be a participant.

Waist-to-Hip Ratio and Attraction

• Men: Prefer waist-to-hip ratio of 0.7 in women.
• Women: Prefer waist-to-hip and waist-to-chest ratio in men.

T-shirt Attraction Study

• Men wore T-shirts; women rated scent.
• Attraction to dissimilar MHC genes (immune system).
• Oral contraceptives have reversed preference.

Professional Dancers Earnings

• Miller (2007): Dancers earned more money during the estrus phase compared to other phases.

Self-Disclosure and Interpersonal Attraction

• Self-disclosure: Sharing personal information increases liking.

Positive Attitude and Attraction

• Positivity enhances attractiveness by creating welcoming and enjoyable environments, fostering connections, and building trust.

Mere Exposure Effect

• Mere exposure effect: Increased liking for things due to familiarity.

Explore the concepts of primary and secondary appraisal in stress assessment. Learn about eustress, the stages of stress response, and the role of cortisol in the body's reaction to stress. This quiz covers essential psychological principles related to stress management and coping mechanisms.