Psychology 202Chapter 11: Health and Well-BeingMonday, January 14, yPsychology 202Chapter 11: Health and Well-BeingCan Psychosocial Factors Affect Health?-Behaviors and attitudes affect one’s health-Health psychology: A field that integrates research on health and psychology; it in-volves the application of psychological principles to promote health and well-being-Launched when psychologists came to appreciate the importance of lifestyle factors to physical health-Health psychologists apply their knowledge of psychological principles to promote health and well-being, instead of thinking about health merely as the absence of dis-ease-Well-being: A positive state that includes striving for optimal health and life satisfac-tion-We must participate in health-enhancing behaviors in order to obtain optimal health-Psychologists who study health and well-being rely on the relationship between thoughts, actions, and physical and mental health-Research address issues that will help people like a healthier life-Also affect how these relationships affect our actionsThe Biopsychosocial Model of Health Incorporates Multiple Perspectives for Under-standing and Improving Health-Biopsychosocial model: A model of heath that integrates the effects of biological, behavioral, and social factors on heath and illness1Monday, January 14, y-Research that integrates these levels of analysis helps to identify strategies that may help prevent disease and promote health-Our thoughts and actions affect the environments we choose to interact with, and those environments, in turn, affect the biological underpinnings of our thoughts and actions-The biopsychosocial model is central to understanding the difference between tradi-tional medical model and the approach taken by health psychologists-Understanding individuals thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are central to under-standing and improving heathBehavior Contributes to the Leading Causes of Death-People are more likely to die from causes of their own behavior-Obesity, lack of exercise, smoking, high-fat diets, and certain personality traits contrib-ute to this cause of death-Lifestyle behaviors that begin in childhood and the teen years may decrease health oreven lead to death-Violence, accidents obesity, lack of exercise, risky sexual behavior, the use and abuseof drugs — all negative factors associated strongly with young peoplePlacebos Can Be More Powerful Medicine-Scientists often study a drug or treatment by comparing it with a placebo-Research participants are typically randomly assigned the placebo or the actual drug-Placebo effect: An improvement in health following treatment with a placebo — that is, with a drug or treatment that has no apparent physiological effect on the health condition for which it was prescribed2Monday, January 14, y-The placebo effect is a good example of the biopsychosocial model at work-The belief that the medication is will work is a psychological factor and it affects the body in ways similar to those of medicationHow Do We Cope with Stress?-Stress is a basic component of our daily lives-It results from ways we directly think about events in our lives-Stress: A pattern of behavioral, psychological, and physiological responses to events when the events match or exceed the organisms ability to respond in a healthy way-Stressor: An environmental event or stimulus that threatens an organism-Coping response: Any response an organism makes to avoid, escape from, or mini-mize an averse stimulus -When too much is expected of us, or when we are scared, we perceive discrepancy between demands of the situation and the resources of our biological, psychological, and social systems-Stress is often into two parts-Eustress: Stress from positive events-Distress: Stress from negative events-Major life stressors are changes or disruptions that strain central areas of peoples lives-Major life stressors include choices made by individuals, not just things that happen tothem3Monday, January 14, y-Daily hassles are small, day-to-day irritations and annoyances, such as driving in heavy traffic-They pose a threat to coping responses by slowly wearing down personal resourcesStress Has Physiological Components-Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal: The biological system responsible for the stress re-sponse-Stress begins in the brain with the perceptions of some stressful event-In the HPA axis, the hypothalamus sends a chemical message to the pituitary gland-The pituitary gland secretes the hormone ACTH which travels through the blood-stream and eventually reaches the adrenal glands-The adrenal gland then secrete cortisol which increases the amount of glucose in the bloodstream-The adrenal glands also release norepinephrine and epinephrine which activate the sympathetic nervous system increasing blood pressure and heart rate-Stress affects organs after the stressor has been removed because stress has a long time affect-Stressful event > Various brain areas > Hypothalamus > Pituitary gland > Adrenal gland > CortisolThere are Differences in How We respond to Stressors-The psychological and behavioral responses with accompany stress help mobilize re-sources to deal with danger4Monday, January 14, y-Fight-or-flight: The physiological preparedness of animals to deal with danger-The response to a stressor allows the organism to direct all energy to dealing with the threat at hand-Tend-and-befriend: Females tendency to protect and care for their offspring and formsocial alliances rather than flee or fight in response to threat-Oxytocin: A hormone that is important for mothers in bonding to newborns and may encourage affiliation during social stress-Its a hormone produced in the hypothalamus and released into the bloodstream through the pituitary gland-Levels of oxytocin is high for women, and not as much for menThe General Adaption Syndrome Is a Bodily Response to Stress-Hans Selye: Studied sex hormones by injecting rats with hormones from other ani-mals. • Selye’s results were enlarged adrenal glands, decreased levels of lymphocytes (specialized white blood cells) in the blood, and stomach ulcers-The decreased lymphocytes resulted from damaged lymphatic structures from dam-age to part of the immune system-Immune system: The body’s mechanism for dealing with invading microorganisms, such as allergens, bacteria, and viruses-Selye concluded that these responses are the hallmarks of a nonspecific stress re-sponse-General adaption syndrome: A consistent