The Emotion-Health Connection

Emotion, Stress, and Health

• Emotions are adaptive responses that include bodily arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious experiences.
• Theories of emotion address whether physiological arousal comes before or after emotional feelings and how feeling and cognition interact.
• Historical emotion theories include the James-Lange theory, Cannon-Bard theory, and Schachter and Singer two-factor theory.
• Emotions have subtle indicators, and brain scans and EEGs reveal different brain circuits for different emotions.
• People can detect nonverbal cues and threats and read emotional cues more easily and be more empathic.
• Women tend to express more emotion with their faces, and people attribute female emotionality to disposition and male emotionality to circumstance.
• Stress is the process by which we perceive and respond to certain events called stressors that we appraise as threatening or challenging.
• Stressors include catastrophes, significant life changes, and daily hassles.
• The stress response includes a “fight-or-flight” system and a general three-phase (alarm-resistance-exhaustion) general adaptation syndrome (GAS).
• Stress hormones suppress the immune system, and chronic stress triggers persistent inflammation that increases the risk of heart disease and depression.
• Coping strategies include problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping, and self-control requires attention and energy but predicts good adjustment, better grades, and social success.
• Social support helps fight illness by calming the cardiovascular system and fostering stronger immune functioning, and aerobic exercise, relaxation, and meditation may help lessen stress effects.

Emotion, Stress, and Health

• Emotions are adaptive responses that include bodily arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious experiences.
• Theories of emotion address whether physiological arousal comes before or after emotional feelings and how feeling and cognition interact.
• Historical emotion theories include the James-Lange theory, Cannon-Bard theory, and Schachter and Singer two-factor theory.
• Emotions have subtle indicators, and brain scans and EEGs reveal different brain circuits for different emotions.
• People can detect nonverbal cues and threats and read emotional cues more easily and be more empathic.
• Women tend to express more emotion with their faces, and people attribute female emotionality to disposition and male emotionality to circumstance.
• Stress is the process by which we perceive and respond to certain events called stressors that we appraise as threatening or challenging.
• Stressors include catastrophes, significant life changes, and daily hassles.
• The stress response includes a “fight-or-flight” system and a general three-phase (alarm-resistance-exhaustion) general adaptation syndrome (GAS).
• Stress hormones suppress the immune system, and chronic stress triggers persistent inflammation that increases the risk of heart disease and depression.
• Coping strategies include problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping, and self-control requires attention and energy but predicts good adjustment, better grades, and social success.
• Social support helps fight illness by calming the cardiovascular system and fostering stronger immune functioning, and aerobic exercise, relaxation, and meditation may help lessen stress effects.

Emotion, Stress, and Health

• Emotions are adaptive responses that support survival and have three components: bodily arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious experiences.
• Theories of emotion address whether physiological arousal comes before or after emotional feelings and how feelings and cognition interact.
• Historical emotion theories include James-Lange theory, Cannon-Bard theory, and Schachter and Singer two-factor theory.
• The autonomic nervous system's sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions regulate the arousal component of emotion, affecting performance in different ways depending on the task.
• Different emotions have subtle indicators, and brain scans and EEGs reveal different brain circuits for different emotions.
• People can often detect nonverbal cues and threats, and women tend to read emotional cues more easily and to be more empathic.
• Facial expressions can trigger emotional feelings and signal the body to respond accordingly, and people mimic others' expressions, which helps them empathize.
• Anger is most often evoked by misdeeds that we interpret as willful, unjustified, and avoidable, and chronic hostility is one of the negative emotions linked to heart disease.
• Pessimists are more likely than optimists to develop heart disease, and social support helps fight illness by calming the cardiovascular system and fostering stronger immune functioning.
• Stress is a process by which we perceive and respond to certain events, called stressors, that we appraise as threatening or challenging, and extreme or prolonged stress can cause harm.
• Stressors include catastrophes, significant life changes, and daily hassles, and the stress response involves a "fight-or-flight" system or a general adaptation syndrome.
• Stress hormones suppress the immune system, and chronic stress triggers persistent inflammation, increasing the risk of heart disease and depression. Coping strategies include problem-focused and emotion-focused coping, personal control, and self-control.

Emotion, Stress, and Health

• Emotions are adaptive responses that support survival and have three components: bodily arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious experiences.
• Theories of emotion address whether physiological arousal comes before or after emotional feelings and how feelings and cognition interact.
• Historical emotion theories include James-Lange theory, Cannon-Bard theory, and Schachter and Singer two-factor theory.
• The autonomic nervous system's sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions regulate the arousal component of emotion, affecting performance in different ways depending on the task.
• Different emotions have subtle indicators, and brain scans and EEGs reveal different brain circuits for different emotions.
• People can often detect nonverbal cues and threats, and women tend to read emotional cues more easily and to be more empathic.
• Facial expressions can trigger emotional feelings and signal the body to respond accordingly, and people mimic others' expressions, which helps them empathize.
• Anger is most often evoked by misdeeds that we interpret as willful, unjustified, and avoidable, and chronic hostility is one of the negative emotions linked to heart disease.
• Pessimists are more likely than optimists to develop heart disease, and social support helps fight illness by calming the cardiovascular system and fostering stronger immune functioning.
• Stress is a process by which we perceive and respond to certain events, called stressors, that we appraise as threatening or challenging, and extreme or prolonged stress can cause harm.
• Stressors include catastrophes, significant life changes, and daily hassles, and the stress response involves a "fight-or-flight" system or a general adaptation syndrome.
• Stress hormones suppress the immune system, and chronic stress triggers persistent inflammation, increasing the risk of heart disease and depression. Coping strategies include problem-focused and emotion-focused coping, personal control, and self-control.