Chapter 12: Stress, Adjustment, and Health Differences This multimedia product and its contents are protected under copyright law. The following are prohibited

Chapter 12:

Stress, Adjustment, and Health Differences

This multimedia product and its contents are protected under copyright law. The following are prohibited by law: (1) Any public performance or display, including transmission of any image over a network; (2) Preparation of any derivative work, including the extraction, in whole or in part, of any images; (3) Any rental, lease, or lending of the program.

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Disease-Prone PersonalitiesHealth Behaviors

◦Activities and actions that have implications for health

◦People with certain personalities take greater risks with their health

◦Smoking is related to rebelliousness, aggressiveness, low self-esteem, and impulsivity


Links between Personality and Health


Health Behaviors--Risk TakingRisk taking and sensation

seeking are related to personality

Zuckerman's sensation seeking

Farley’s Type T theory (“Thrill”)◦Psychobiological need for stimulation


The Sick RoleCertain people respond to stressful

life events by entering the sick role◦e.g., see a doctor, don’t go to

work/school, act moody, stay in bed, take medication

Behaviorist explanations◦Rewards of the sick role

Cognitive explanations◦Interpretations of bodily sensations

Neuroticism and negative mood increase illness reporting


Disease-Caused Personality Changes

Somatopsychic effect

from soma (body) to psycheDisease or genetic

predispositions to illness can affect personality◦oxygen deprivation◦Down syndrome◦Angelman syndrome


Personality Disorders

Personality disorders include ongoing patterns of behavior that impair the person's functioning and well-being

“Borderline personality disorder” ◦serious problems of impulsive, self-

destructive behavior, fragile self-identity, and stormy relationships


Diathesis-Stress

Diathesis—the predisposition of the body to a disease or disorder

However, the disease or disorder does not materialize unless it is also elicited from the environment (stress)


Diathesis-Stress


Sudden Cardiac DeathBernard Lown’s model:

◦Electrical instability (Diathesis)

◦A pervasive negative emotional state (Diathesis)

◦A triggering event (Stress)


Personality and Coronary-Proneness

Type A Behavior Pattern

◦A tense, competitive style that is especially likely to be associated with coronary heart disease

◦Hostility and “struggle” are harmful to health


The Human Termites

Longitudinal study of 856 males and 672 females that Lewis Terman started in 1921

Followed throughout their lives, from 1921 to the present

Provides insight into which aspects of personality are related to longevity


The Human Termites: Conscientiousness

Children who were conscientious lived significantly longer than their unconscientious peers◦30% less likely to die in any given

year◦Less likely to suffer an early death

from injury◦Less likely to engage in unhealthy

habits


The Human Termites: Sociability

Many theories emphasize the importance of psychosocial factors and health

The Terman study found NO link between sociability and longevity


The Human Termites: CheerfulnessChildren who were more cheerful

died sooner

◦These children grew up to be more likely to smoke, drink, and take risks

◦Cheerfulness might be good for handling stress, but harmful if it leads to careless or carefree behavior


The Human Termites:Stressed Termites

Parental divorce

Children whose parents divorced before they were 21 were more likely to:◦Die sooner◦Have their own marriages end in

divorce


Effects of Parental Divorce on Longevity in the Terman Study


The Human Termites:Mental Health

Males who experienced mental health problems or difficulties in adjustment were at an increased risk for early mortality


Blaming the VictimIt is unfair to place too much

responsibility on individuals for their illnesses

We tend to do this because:◦It is reassuring to assume we are

different from those who are ill◦We want to believe in a predictable

world


The Self-Healing Personality

Control◦ Do not feel powerless in the face of

external challengesCommitment

◦ Feel committed to something important and meaningful

Challenge◦ Respond to life with excitement and energy


Two Type of Self-Healing Personalities

1) The active healthy personality◦Functions best in a somewhat

stressful environment◦Outgoing and spontaneous

2) The relaxed healthy personality ◦Functions best in a low-stress

environment◦Calm and philosophical


Humanistic and Existential Aspects of Self-Healing

Growth Orientation◦Characteristics associated with self-

actualization are related to the self-healing personality

Broaden-and-build model◦Positive emotions broaden possible

actions◦Allows building greater social resources

Identity and Purpose◦Life philosophies often change after a

serious illness or traumatic experience


Humanistic and Existential Aspects of Self-Healing

Sense of Coherence◦Part of Antonovsky’s salutogenesis

(how people stay healthy)◦Belief that the world is

understandable and meaningful is central to health

◦Associated with longer life


Health and the Eight Aspects of Personality

Perspective Implications for Health

Psychoanalytic Repressed conflicts in the unconscious can show themselves in medical symptoms; this idea was the basis for the development of psychosomatic medicine.

Neo-Analytic/Ego

Child-rearing practices and resulting degrees of attachments and securities direct children towards healthy patterns or unhealthy patterns.


Health and the Eight Aspects of PersonalityPerspective Implications for Health

Biological A person with stress or with unhealthy habits like alcoholism is seen as having a disease; treatment usually therefore involves administration of pharmaceuticals that affect hormones or neurotransmitters.

Behaviorist

Healthy and unhealthy habits are learned through conditioning reinforcement; health promotion involves changing the reward contingencies.




Cognitive As a function of how people process information, they come to understand how their behavior affects their health, and how to best maintain health.

Trait and Skill Certain traits such as conscientiousness are seen as healthy whereas other traits such as impulsivity, cynicism, and sensation-seeking can prove unhealthy.




Humanistic-Existential

Self-actualization, personal growth, and sense of coherence are related to self-healing. Good, altruistic social relations are integral to health.

Interactionist Health is optimized when the individual achieves a good match between self and environment, thus maximizing homeostasis.


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Chapter 12: Stress, Adjustment, and Health Differences This multimedia product and its contents are protected under copyright law. The following are prohibited