Chapter Twelve: Emotion, Stress and Health PDF

Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Chapter Twelve: Emotion, Stress and Health Chapter Overview  Introduction to Emotion  Expressing Emotion  Stress and Illness  Health and Coping Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Emotion: Arousal, Behavior, and Cognition  Emotions are ada...

Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Chapter Twelve: Emotion, Stress and Health Chapter Overview  Introduction to Emotion  Expressing Emotion  Stress and Illness  Health and Coping Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Emotion: Arousal, Behavior, and Cognition  Emotions are adaptive responses that support survival.  Emotional components  Bodily arousal  Expressive behaviors  Conscious experiences Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Emotion: Arousal, Behavior, and Cognition  Theories of emotion generally address two major questions.  Does physiological arousal come before or after emotional feelings?  How do feeling and cognition interact? Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Historical Emotion Theories  James-Lange Theory: Arousal comes before emotion  Experience of emotion involves awareness of our physiological responses to emotion-arousing stimuli  Cannon-Bard Theory: Arousal and emotion happen at the same time  Emotion - arousing stimulus simultaneously triggers (1) physiological responses and (2) the subjective experience of emotion  Human body responses run parallel to the cognitive responses rather than causing them Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Historical Emotion Theories  Schachter and Singer Two-Factor Theory: Arousal + Label = Emotion  Emotions have two ingredients: Physical arousal and cognitive appraisal.  Arousal fuels emotion; cognition channels it.  Emotional experience requires a conscious interpretation of arousal.  Spillover effect: Spillover arousal from one event to the next—influencing a response Arousal from a soccer match can fuel anger, which can descend into rioting or other violent confrontations. Oleg Popov/Reuters/Landov Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images THE SPILLOVER EFFECT Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images EMOTIONS AND THE AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM  The arousal component of emotion is regulated by the autonomic nervous system’s sympathetic (arousing) and parasympathetic (calming) divisions.  In a crisis, the fight-or-flight response automatically mobilized the body for action.  Arousal affects performance in different ways, depending on the task.  Performance peaks at lower levels of arousal for difficult tasks, and at higher levels for easy or well-learned tasks. Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images EMOTIONAL AROUSAL Like a crisis control center, the autonomic nervous system arouses the body in a crisis and calms it when danger passes. Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images PHYSIOLOGY OF EMOTIONS  Different emotions have subtle indicators.  Brain scans and EEGs reveal different brain circuits for different emotions.  Depression and general negativity: Right frontal lobe activity  Happiness, enthusiastic, and energized: Left frontal lobe activity Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Detecting Emotion in Others  People can often detect nonverbal cues and threats, and signs of status.  Nonthreatening cues more easily detected than deceiving expressions  Westerners  Firm handshake: Outgoing, expressive personality  Gaze: Intimacy  Averted glance: Submission  Stare: Dominance Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Gender, Emotion, and Nonverbal Behavior  Women  Tend to read emotional cues more easily and to be more empathic  Express more emotion with their faces  People attribute female emotionality to disposition and male emotionality to circumstance Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Culture - Specific or Culturally Universal Expressions? As people of differing cultures, do our faces speak the same language or different languages? Which face expresses disgust? Anger? Fear? Happiness? Sadness? Surprise? (From Matsumoto & Ekman, 1989.) Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images The Effects of Facial Expressions  Research on the facial feedback effect  Facial expressions can trigger emotional feelings and signal our body to respond accordingly  People also mimic others’ expressions, which help them empathize  A similar behavior feedback effect  Tendency of behavior to influence our own and others’ thoughts, feelings, and actions Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Experiencing Emotion: Anger  Causes  With threat or challenge, fear triggers flight but anger triggers fight—each at times an adaptive behavior.  Anger is most often evoked by misdeeds that we interpret as willful, unjustified, and avoidable.  Smaller frustrations and blameless annoyances can also trigger anger. Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Experiencing Emotion: Anger Consequences of anger • Chronic hostility is one of the negative emotions linked to heart disease. • Emotional catharsis may be temporarily calming, but in the long run it does not reduce anger. • Expressing anger can make us angrier. • Controlled assertions of feelings may resolve conflicts, and forgiveness may rid us of angry feelings. • Anger communicates strength and competence, motivates action, and expresses grief when wisely used. Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Experiencing Emotion: Happiness  State of happiness influences all facets of life  Feel-good, do-good phenomenon  People’s tendency to be helpful when already in a good mood  Subjective well-being  Self-perceived happiness or satisfaction with life  Used along with measures of objective well-being to evaluate people’s quality of life Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Stress and Illness  Stress is process by which we perceive and respond to certain events, called stressors, that we appraise as threatening or challenging  Stressors appraised as threats can lead to strong negative reactions  Extreme or prolonged stress can cause harm Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Stressors: Things That Push Our Buttons  Catastrophes: Unpleasant, large-scale events  Significant life changes: Personal events; life transitions  Daily hassles: Day-to-day challenges Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Stress Response  Cannon viewed the stress response as a “fight- or-flight” system.  Selye proposed a general three-phase (alarm- resistance-exhaustion) general adaptation syndrome (GAS).  Facing stress, women may have a tend-and- befriend response; men may withdraw socially, turn to alcohol, or become aggressive. Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Stress Effects and Health Psychoneuroimmunology: Studies our mindbody interactions Emotions (psycho) which controls the stress hormones that influence your disease-fighting immune system. This field is the study of (ology) those interactions. affect your brain (neuro) Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Stress and Vulnerability to Disease  Immune system is affected by age, nutrition, genetics, body temperature, and stress  When the immune system does not function properly:  Responds too strongly  Underreacts Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Stress Effects and Health: Immune System Malfunctions Reacting Too Strongly Underreacting • Self-attacking diseases • Some forms of arthritis • Allergic reaction • Bacterial infection flare • Dormant herpes virus erupt • Cancer cells multiply Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Stress Effects and Health  Stress hormones suppress immune system  Animal studies: Stress of adjustment in monkeys caused weakened immune systems  Human studies: Stress related to surgical wound healing and development of colds. Low stress may increase effectiveness of vaccinations.  And so…stress does not make people sick but it reduces immune system’s ability to function optimally.  Slower surgical wound healing; increased vulnerability to colds; decreased vaccine effectiveness Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Stress Effects and Health  Stress and AIDS  Stress cannot give people AIDS, but may speed transition from HIV infection to AIDS and the decline in those with AIDS.  Stress and cancer  Stress does not create cancer cells, but may affect growth by weakening natural defenses.  Stress-cancer research results mixed Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Stress and Heart Disease  Stress and heart disease  About 600,000 North American coronary heart disease-related deaths yearly  Stress related to generation of inflammation which is associated with heart and other health problems  Meyer and colleagues  Stress predicted heart attack risk for tax accountants  Type A men more likely to have heart attack  Conley and colleagues  Stress related to everyday academic stressors in students Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Stress and Heart Disease Type A Type B • Friedman and Rosenman’s term for competitive, hard - driving, impatient, verbally aggressive, and anger prone people • Friedman and Rosenman’s term for easy going, relaxed people Type D • Term for people who suppress negative emotion to avoid social disapproval (Grande et al., 2012) Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Stress and Heart Disease  Stress, pessimism, and depression  Pessimists are more likely than optimists to develop heart disease  Depression increases risk of death, especially by cardiovascular disease  Stress and inflammation  Chronic stress triggers persistent inflammation which increases risk of heart disease and depression Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Coping With Stress People deal with stress through the use of several coping strategies.  Problem-focused coping  Emotion-focused coping Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Learned Helplessness Generalized helpless behavior Uncontrollable bad events Perceived lack of control Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Personal Control  Why does perceived loss of control predict health problems?  Losing control produces rising stress hormones blood pressure levels increase immune responses drop  Increasing control has noticeably improved health and morale in prison and nursing home studies  Tyranny of choice can create information overload Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Personal Control  Those who have an external locus of control believe that chance or outside forces control their fate  Those who have an internal locus of control believe they control their own destiny Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Depleting and Strengthening Self-Control  Self-control  Ability to control impulses and delay short-term gratification for greater long-term rewards  Exercising willpower temporarily depletes the mental energy needed for self-control on other tasks.  Self-control requires attention and energy, but it predicts good adjustment, better grades, and social success. Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Explanatory Style: Optimism Versus Pessimism  Pessimists  Expect things to go badly, blame others  Optimists/optimism  Expect to have control, work well under stress, and enjoy good health  Run in families; genetic marker/oxytocin  Danner and colleagues: Optimism-long life correlation study Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Health and Coping  Social support helps fight illness in two ways.  It calms cardiovascular system, which lowers blood pressure and stress hormone levels.  It fights illness by fostering stronger immune functioning.  Close relationships give us an opportunity for “open heart therapy,” a chance to confide painful feelings. Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Reducing Stress  Aerobic exercise, relaxation, meditation, and active spiritual engagement may help us gather inner strength and lessen stress effects. Based on what we have learned so far, can you guess why? Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Reducing Stress  Aerobic exercise  Involves sustained activity that increases heart and lung fitness; reduces stress, depression, and anxiety  Can weaken the influence of genetic risk for obesity  Increases the quality and “quantity” of life (~two years) Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Reducing Stress  Relaxation and mediation  Relaxation: More than 60 studies found that relaxation procedures can provide relief from headaches, high blood pressure, anxiety, and insomnia.  Relaxation training: Training has been used to help Type A heart attack survivors reduce risk of future heart attacks. Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Faith Communities and Health  Faith factor  Religiously active people tend to live longer than those who are not religiously active.  Why?  Possible explanations may include the effect of intervening variables, such as the healthy behaviors, social support, or positive emotions often found among people who regularly attend religious services.