chapter 18 stress, coping, adjustment, and health © 2015 m. guthrie yarwood 1

© 2015 M. GUTHRIE YARWOOD 1

Chapter 18STRESS, COPING, ADJUSTMENT, AND HEALTH


Part VI. Adjustment Domain

Personality helps us adjust to the challenges and demands of life.

Two Areas of Adjustment:

(1) Physical Health◦ Optimism/Pessimism and Health◦ Coping with Stress

(2) Mental Health◦ Personality Disorders

Introductory Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wF8km4rk4GU

© 2015 M. GUTHRIE YARWOOD

4 Views of Optimism

Optimism-pessimism; Learned Optimism (Peterson, 2000; Seligman): ◦ Pessimists - make stable, global, and internal explanations for bad events◦ Optimists - unstable, specific, external explanations for bad events termed “optimists”

Dispositional optimism (Scheier & Carver, 2000): ◦ Expectation that good events will be plentiful and bad events rare in future

Optimistic bias (Weinstein): ◦ People generally underestimate their risks, with the average person rating risks as

below true average

Self-efficacy (Bandura, 1986): ◦ Belief that one can do behaviors necessary to achieve desired outcome

3


Learned Optimism

•Did I or an outside force cause this event?

Internal vs. External

•Will this good or bad event happen again?

Stable vs. Unstable

•Is this good or bad event a reflection of my global self or a specific life domain?

Universal vs. Specific


Bad Event

•External

•Unstable

•Specific

Optimist

•Internal

•Stable•Univers

al

Pessimist


Good Event

•Internal

•Stable•Univers

al

Optimist

•External

•Unstable

•Specific

Pessimist


For each statement:1=Strongly disagree

2=Moderately disagree 3=Neutral - neither disagree nor agree

4=Moderately agree 5=Strongly agree

1) In uncertain times, I usually expect the best. (O)2) [It's easy for me to relax.]3) If something can go wrong for me, it will. (P)4) I'm always optimistic about my future. (O)5) [I enjoy my friends a lot.]6) [It's important for me to keep busy.]7) I hardly ever expect things to go my way. (P)8) [I don't get upset too easily.]9) I rarely count on good things happening to me. (P)10) Overall, I expect more good things to happen to me than bad. (O)

(LOT-R; Scheier, Carver, & Bridges, 1994)

[ ] = filler item

Dispositional Optimism


Optimism and Health•Fewer doctors visits

•After heart attack, survive longer

•Deal more effectively with AIDS and cancer

•Better immune system functioning

•Faster rehab after breast cancer surgery

•Exercise more, avoid fatty foods, drink in moderation, better response to colds

•Higher life satisfaction/well-being

•Longer life


Pessimism and Health•Learned Helplessness•More likely to die at an earlier age•Lower well-being/life satisfaction•More depression


Do you think….. A) Depression causes pessimism? B) Pessimism causes depression?


Causal Direction: Does pessimism cause depression? Or vice versa?

•Time 1: September of Fall Semester• Tested all students for depression and explanatory style

•October: Asked “What counts as failure on an exam?”• Average Answer = B+

•1 Week after October question• Took Midterm Exam

•Time 2: Following Exam Week: received grades


Pessimism and Depression: Causal Direction•70% of people: Pessimists + Failed (B+) •Became depressed from Time 1 to Time 2

•Pessimism combined with perceptions of failure causes depression


Pessimism and Depression: Causal Direction•Before and after incarceration• **People who entered with high level of pessimism showed highest levels of

depression upon leaving incarceration

•Children over 4-year period (3rd grade to 6th grade)• Pessimists in 3rd grade mostly likely to be depressed and remained depressed

later on.• When bad events occurred (e.g., divorce), pessimistic children experienced

greatest depression.


Do you think….. A) Cancer causes pessimism? B) Pessimism causes cancer?


Pessimism as a Cause for Cancer

•Implanted sarcoma cells on each rat’s flank before shocks

•Manipulation #1: • 1) Mild Inescapable Shock – Learned Helplessness• 2) Mild Escapable Shock • 3) No Shock

•DV: % who lived


Inescapable Escapable No Shock0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%73%

30%

50%

27%

70%

50%

Died Lived


Does childhood pessimism determine cancer in adulthood?

•Manipulation #1: Young rats placed in one of same three conditions

• 1) Mild Inescapable Shock 2) Mild Escapable Shock and 3) No Shock

• Now, implanted sarcoma in adulthood after shocks given in childhood

• Rats with learned helplessness failed to reject tumors as adults

• Most rats who mastered shocks rejected tumors as adults


Pessimism as a Cause of Cancer: Why? What happens?

•For helpless rats, immune system weakens

•T-Cells• Recognize specific invaders, such as measles; then, T-cells quickly multiple to kill

invaders

•Natural Killer Cells (NK; white blood cells): • Kill anything foreign they come across


Pessimism as a Cause of Cancer: Why? What happens?

•Replicated with adults

•Senior Citizens, average age 71• Gave interviews about nutrition, health, and blood sample• Optimists had better immune activity than pessimists• Pessimism was strongest predictor of lower immune activity (not depression or

health)

•May be that pessimists have weakened immune response to tumors/cancer cells, which prevents them from warding off cancer• Not necessarily that pessimists experience more cancer


How does optimism lead to better health?

1. Optimists experience fewer episodes of learned helplessness, which keeps immune defenses stronger

2. Optimists stick to health regimens and seek medical advice

3. Optimists experience a smaller number of bad life events◦ Pessimists less likely to take active steps to avoid bad events

4. Optimists have better social support

At the beginning of an illness, optimistic people have a better chance of survival.


Advantages Disadvantages

Pessimism

Optimism


Oh no! I’m a pessimist what do I do?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wF8km4rk4GU


You can change your explanatory style!

•Martin’s Seligman’s Research• http://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/resources.aspx

•Focuses on changing explanatory style using cognitive approaches

•Typical cognitive therapy focuses on reducing the number of negative thoughts, but not on increasing the number of positive thoughts.

•Reducing negative thoughts does not automatically lead to an increase in positive thoughts.

http://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/resources.aspx


Does changing explanatory style cure cancer?

•Cognitive Therapy as boost to immune system

•40 patients diagnosed with melanoma and colon cancer• Continued with chemotherapy and radiation

•Received Cognitive Therapy: Once a week for 12 weeks• Recognizing automatic thoughts, distraction, disputing pessimistic

explanations, relaxation training for stress

•2 years later:• Experimental cancer patients higher NK activity (vs. control)

• Future research needs to look at association between CBT and recovery from cancer.


But, should I become more optimistic?

Is optimism always a good thing?


Unrealistic Optimism Optimists believe they are less likely to experience negative events than average person

Optimists believe that they are more likely to experience positive events than the average person


Defensive Pessimism

•Strategy: • Anticipate Failure• So, mentally over-prepare for negative

outcomes

•Should we make pessimists more like optimists?


Origins of Optimism: What are the causes of optimism?•Parents’ and Teachers’ Attributions

•Life Crises

•Personality Traits

•Frontal Assymetry

•Genetics


Origins of Optimism: What are the causes of optimism?

Parents’ Explanatory Style◦ Pessimistic Child: If parents’ reasons for bad events are internal, pervasive,

and permanent◦ Optimistic Child: If parents’ reasons for bad events are specific, temporary,

and external

Adult’s (Parents’ and Teachers’) Attributions◦ Boys: “You weren’t paying attention, “You didn’t try hard enough”

◦ Incremental View – More Optimism

◦ Girls: “You’re not good at math” “You never check your work”◦ Entity View – More Pessimism (Learned Helplessness)

Life Crises◦ Families who showed greater recovery during Great Depression had children

who showed more optimism in old age


Origins of Optimism: What are the causes of optimism?•Genetics!• 500 same-sex pairs, identical and fraternal, middle-age• ½ reared together; ½ reared apart• Heritability for Opt = 24%;Heritability for Pess = 29%• Shared Environment for Optimism = 13%• Determined optimism, but not pessimism

•Possibly Our Big Five Traits:◦ Optimism positively correlated with Extraversion,

Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness◦ Optimism negatively correlated with Neuroticism


Left Frontal Lobe = More behavioral activation than

behavioral avoidance

Right Frontal Lobe = More behavioral avoidance than

behavioral activation

Anger and Happiness

Fear

Neuroticism

(Hecht, 2013)

Extraversion?

Optimism; High Self-Esteem

Pessimism; Low Self-Esteem


Negative images (e.g., car accident) shown in right

visual field.

During cognitive reappraisal, fMRI showed

greater brain activity in LH vs. RH.

chapter 18 stress, coping, adjustment, and health © 2015 m. guthrie yarwood 1

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