Steven Wang Period 3 3/19/14 AP Psychology Current Event#3: How to stop sweating the small stuff 1. Summary: From small incidences, we can distinguish two types of people: the ones who sigh in frustration out of small mistakes and those who promptly deal with them without uttering any more than a single complaint or sigh. According to Michael D. Robinson(PHD at North Dakota State University), how we cope with these most dull incidents can reveal a lot about us as humans and our temperaments. In fact, this small deviation in behavior can prove detrimental to our health long term. Just as significantly stressful events can cause stress hormones to flood throughout our body, these small incidents can harm us according to Nancy Nicolson(associate professor of psychiatry and psychology at Maastricht University). Furthermore, Nicolson points to a 10-15% increase in cortisol levels for such small annoyances, which may be small compared to the 100% increase that we usually experience from greatly stressful events such as tests, but when accumulated over time, can lead to a bad combined effect. Carmen Sandi further states that feeling chronically stressed can weaken the immune system and increase heart disease. Rosalind S. Dorlen adds on, claiming that mental strategies can be practiced to help us exercise the brain region responsible for reasoning as long as we train ourselves to deal with this persistent tissue. Next, the article lists 5 signs of stress and how to deal with them. Often, we feel inconvenienced about a situation such as when a bus comes late and view our waiting of it as a “waste of time”. Perhaps, Dorlen concludes, we should try to see why the bus may have been late and take the issue from their perspective such as a maj... ... middle of paper ... ... up on the examples that the author presents for dealing with the 5 problems, these are all examples of coping or methods to help decrease stress with different ways. For example, when the author mentions trying to think up a way to solve the problem, since this is a direct approach to dealing with the stress, we would categorize it as problem-focused coping(trying to directly impact the stressor to reduce stress). The other example is emotion-focused coping(focusing on emotional circumstances related to a stressful reaction and trying to avoid the stressor) because the author specifically mentions that we can deal with feelings of being disrespected by adopting a more uplifting tong. Overall, the article does a great job in connecting with what I have learned from chapter 14 and provides ample opportunity for me to apply this information when I reflect back on it.
Chapter 4 discusses the several states of consciousness: the nature of consciousness, sleep and dreams, psychoactive drugs, hypnosis, and meditation. Consciousness is a crucial part of human experience, it represents that private inner mind where we think, feel, plan, wish, pray, omagine, and quietly relive experiences. William James described the mind as a stream of consciousness, a continuous flow of changing sensations, images thoughts, and feelings. Consciousness has two major parts: awareness and arousal. Awareness includes the awareness of the self and thoughts about one's experiences. Arousal is the physiological state of being engaged with the environment. Theory of mind refers to individuals understanding that they and others think,
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION AND REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE Each bodily physiological system has an individual established set point, or level of balance; however, some fluctuations in these levels are tolerated. The balance of any system can be, and regularly is, disturbed by internal and/or external events of the mechanical, physical, chemical, biological, and/or social types. When this balance is disrupted, and involuntary mobilizations of biological processes are not able to re-establish it, an alarm reaction is activated (Schedlowski and Tewes, 1999). This reaction is referred to as a stress response, and the activating agent is the stressor (Selye, 1936). Recently, studies of stress have shifted from demonstrating relationships between psychological factors and somatic outcomes, to investigations of the mediational pathways involved in these associations. For example, (Cohen and Williamson, 1991) have built on the work of Lazarus’ model by suggesting that once an environmental event is encountered, it is appraised, and an affective response is made.
Buddha, Confucius, and other lesser known Hebrew scholars philosophized on the mind in an expansive sense.
To complete this experiment, we used Sprague Dawley rats that were obtained from a breeding company entitled Envigo. We used a total of twelve rats. The rats used in this experiment are all 2.5 years old. The rats were each pair-housed in a temperature controlled room at approximately 22 C. All rats are maintained on a 12:12 hour light dark cycle. For the sake of the experiment, we water restricted the rats as a way to contribute to their motivational state.
Crying is important in infant development, as it’s infants’ way of communicating with the world surrounding them. The types of crying an infant does is thus important to understand, to know what the infant needs as he/she cannot explain themselves with the spoken language. Furthermore, crying is important to know whether or not the infants lungs have filled with air, since they couldn’t be crying without that, but also crying infants render signs that, for an example tells whether the newborn baby’s central nervous system works and functions. There are three types of cries: a basic cry, anger cry, and an in pain cry. The basic cry is what some experts
There are two kinds of problem focused coping which are Effective and ineffective problem focused coping. Effective focused coping for example, an individual plans to host Thanksgiving dinner for 27 people, but finds the thought of preparing such a feast extraordinarily stressful. Problem-focused coping has the potential to resolve her stress. By evaluating options, seeking
The Boy who couldn’t stop Washing written by DR. Judith Rapoport, published by Penguin books in 1989, containing 292 pages, deals with obsessive compulsive disorder. Dr. Rapoport is a psychiatrist who specializes in obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). In this, book she reveals new drug treatments, new methods in diagnosis and behaviorist therapies. This is done through the study of her patients and their disorders. Rapoport has revealed this secret disease and hopes to bring and understanding about it to all that may suffer from it and to anyone who may want to be informed. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning about OCD. It may help those who face this disease everyday of their lives, and make them realize they are not alone. Also will aid in those who do not know much about this disease and give them and understanding and be aware that it surrounds us.
They refer to active coping and define it as “the process of taking active steps to try to remove or circumvent the stressor or to ameliorate its effects”, it further involves taking direct action and can be compared to Lazarus’s problem focussed coping strategy but with “additional distinctions” which include:
After completing the reading on chapter 8, emotions, I was intrigued on how our emotions can alter our feelings and also how they are sometimes hard to manage as they can interfere with what we are trying to accomplish. One of the positives that I took from the chapter was the idea of the fallacy of perfection which is the ability for someone to handle a situation with confidence. With this idea it is important for us to admit that we are not perfect and that we do have flaws. From this we can better ourselves emotionally and socially because as the book says no one likes a know it all. Also, it is good to admit that you are wrong every once to show that yourself it is ok to be wrong. At my job I have told a customer that "I don't know" or
Since I am not positive on the best way of doing field notes, I have decided to explain what every point from the task list means and then go more in depth with some of them after the readings and my daily experience.
My paper is based on an article from the text’s web site (chapter 9) entitled “Lack of sleep ages body’s systems.” The basic claim of the article is that sleep deprivation has various harmful effects on the body. The reported effects include decreased ability to metabolize glucose (similar to what occurs in diabetes) and increased levels of cortisol (a stress hormone involved in memory and regulation of blood sugar levels). The article also briefly alludes (in the quote at the bottom of page 1) to unspecified changes in brain and immune functioning with sleep deprivation.
“You need to relax.” This phrase is one that most individuals hear weekly, and sometimes daily. It is hard to deal with situations that put a mental strain on the body, such as problems in a relationship, at work, or at home. In order to try and adapt to the situation, the body goes into panic mode. If the emotions that are associated with these occurrences remain constant, they can begin to impact physical health as well as mental health. The physical symptoms put an even greater strain on mental health because the individual begins to worry about them. The individual becomes lost in a vicious cycle.
People deal with stress in their lives daily. Temporary and moderate stress can help to remind people of the seriousness of certain situations and push them to work hard. This stress is also very rewarding due to the relief that follows when the important task is completed. On the other hand, constant and excessive stress can have many negative effects in a person’s bodily and mental health.
Hargreaves, G. (1998). Stress management: the essential guide to thinking and working smarter. New York: Amacon.
It is in our human nature to react negatively to stressful situations. We over think ourselves into depression and many other illnesses while doing so. In the article 7 Facts about the Mind-Body Connection, Caroline Bearden says, “If we are constantly thinking negative, self-destructive thoughts, our bodies will follow suit. Emotional and mental imbalance can start as something like stress-induced headaches, tight shoulders, and a sore upper back, and lead to unhealthy weight gain or loss, insomnia, and high blood pressure.” (1) This is saying that when we put negative thoughts in our head, our bodies take the fall for it. What you believe in your head comes to physical form and if you continue to let stress take over your body, then your body will eventually fall into a state of illness that will be hard to get out. When our body and mind are out of balance it makes it hard to function on the daily. However, maintaining a positive mindset clears the way for you to live a healthy life. Being able to cope with stress can greatly help the human body system in ways you couldn’t imagine. Bearden states, “On the other hand, we can make a conscious effort to think more positively and to develop healthy coping mechanisms for life’s stress and trials. Over time, the state of our emotional and mental health can hurt or help the body’s immune system.”