Paper 2: Options
Written by: Chris Ting 13H
Health Psychology
Table of Contents
Stress .............................................................................................................................. 3
Substance abuse, addictive behavior and obesity ....................................................... 21
Health Promotion......................................................................................................... 35
Page 2
Health Psychology
Stress
Syllabus Question: Describe stressors.
Always refer back to this bit for questions that ask for stress.
Selye (1965) states that stress refers to a failure to respond appropriately to emotional or physical threats.
Stress can be seen in three ways.
I.
An internal bodily response as an automatic biological reaction to external stimuli
II.
An external stimuli that exerts a destructive force upon the organism as a reaction to an environmental threat or demand.
III.
An interaction model looks at both the stimulus and response and the cognitive appraisal of the situation. A stress reaction only occurs if an individual perceives that there is a mismatch between the demands and the situation and their ability to cope with it.
Stress is a response to a stressor, a stressor is an external stimuli or threat that cause stress.
When an over exposure to a stressor is experienced by someone then that stressor will eventually cause stress.
Acute stressors is stress that appear suddenly and require immediate attention but do not last long. Chronic stressors are stressors that last for a long time.
Syllabus Question: Discuss physiological, psychological and social aspects of stress.
Physiological aspects
Physiologically, stress is controlled by the nervous system and the endocrine system mainly the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland. The nervous and endocrine system transmits messages throughout the body. The nervous system uses