Chapter 13- Emotion



Chapter 12 – Emotions, Stress, and Health, 20163 components:Theories: James-Lange, Cannon-Bard, Two-Factor AKA Schacter-Singer; spillover effect, spinal injuries-Does cognition always precede emotion? Fear – “low road”, amygdala, emotional hijacking, genetic fears, temperament, “the work of worry”Embodied Emotion – figure 12-3 (465), ANS components, the physiological similarities among specific emotions, the insula, left versus right activity – (dopamine, nucleus accumbens), polygraphs, issues, guilty knowledge test, anterior cingulate cortexExpressed emotion – F.A.C. (E) S. -detecting and computing: Paul Ekman research, liars, natural vs. faked / liars, Rosenthal clips, Body Language, email; microexpressions-gender differences, introverts vs. extraverts; empathy-Culture and expression: Ekman again – universals and degree, social-cultural influences, interpreting-effects: facial feedback system, behavior feedback system --“fake it ‘til you make it” Experienced Emotion: fear, anger, happiness; innates (Izard, pg. 476); two dimensions – arousal level and valence (figure 12.14, pg. 476)-Anger: biggest causes, catharsis and research, long-term effects, what you should do with it-Happiness: Myers; feel-good-do-good phenomenon, subjective well-being, psychology’s failing positive psychology (Seligman); -temporary vs. long-term happiness: wealth and well-being, adaptation-level phenomenon, relative deprivation principle -- true predictors: how to be happyStress and Illness: the problem: “.if endures…physiologically predisposed…unhealthy behaviors” HALF the mortality of the Big Four: heart disease, cancer, stroke, chronic lung disease-stressor, stress reaction, stress, appraisal and coping, threats vs. challenges, distress versus eustress…Stressful Life Events: catastrophes, significant life changes (Holmes-Rahe Scale), DAILY HASSLES (plus perceived control, poverty and inequality, racism)The Stress Response System: 1. Walter Cannon, fight or flight: -sympathetic nervous system stuff, Inner adrenals – epINephrINe, norepINephrINe; Outer adrenals – glucOcOrticOids, cOrtisOl2. Hans Selye: General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS): -alarm, resistance, exhaustion… - telomeres, oxytocinStress and vulnerability to disease: health psychology, psychoneuroimmunology, lymphocytes: B – Bone marrow, T – Thymus and lymphaTic Tissue, macrophage, natural killer (NK) cells -overrespond: arthritis / allergies / multiple sclerosis / lupus; -underrespond: virus / infection / cancer cells to grow / spread-women immunologically stronger fewer infections / more self-attacking-restraint, loss of control, etc. (see “stressful life events” list): immune system less active (closed system: energy diverted to sympathetic arousal…)Stress and AIDS:Stress and Cancer:Stress and Heart Disease: coronary heart disease1. personality (trait) – Friedman and Rosenman: Type A, Type B / Type D, toxic components; atherosclerosis, blood away from organs, cleansing-effects of pessimism and depression, stress and inflammation-susceptibility to disease: psychosomatic versus psychophysiological illness, -hypertensionHealth and CopingCoping with Stress:-problem-focused, emotion-focused-personal control – “executive rat”, learned helplessness, internal versus external locus of control, free will, self-control, explanatory style -- optimism versus pessimism, social support Reducing Stress-aerobic exercise and mood, neurogenesis -relaxation, and meditation -quiet time, lifestyle modification / stress buffers -spirituality and faith communitiesChapter 12 – Emotions, Stress, and Health, 20163 components:Theories: James-Lange, Cannon-Bard, Two-Factor AKA Schacter-Singer; spillover effect, spinal injuries-Does cognition always precede emotion? Fear – “low road”, amygdala, emotional hijacking, genetic fears, temperament, “the work of worry”Embodied Emotion – figure 12-3 (465), ANS components, the physiological similarities among specific emotions, the insula, left versus right activity – (dopamine, nucleus accumbens), polygraphs, issues, guilty knowledge test, anterior cingulate cortexExpressed emotion – F.A.C. (E) S. -detecting and computing: Paul Ekman research, liars, natural vs. faked / liars, Rosenthal clips, Body Language, email; microexpressions-gender differences, introverts vs. extraverts; empathy-Culture and expression: Ekman again – universals and degree, social-cultural influences, interpreting-effects: facial feedback system, behavior feedback system --“fake it ‘til you make it” Experienced Emotion: fear, anger, happiness; innates (Izard, pg. 476); two dimensions – arousal level and valence (figure 12.14, pg. 476)-Anger: biggest causes, catharsis and research, long-term effects, what you should do with it-Happiness: Myers; feel-good-do-good phenomenon, subjective well-being, psychology’s failing positive psychology (Seligman); -temporary vs. long-term happiness: wealth and well-being, adaptation-level phenomenon, relative deprivation principle -- true predictors: how to be happyStress and Illness: the problem: “.if endures…physiologically predisposed…unhealthy behaviors” HALF the mortality of the Big Four: heart disease, cancer, stroke, chronic lung disease-stressor, stress reaction, stress, appraisal and coping, threats vs. challenges, distress versus eustress…Stressful Life Events: catastrophes, significant life changes (Holmes-Rahe Scale), DAILY HASSLES (plus perceived control, poverty and inequality, racism)The Stress Response System: 1. Walter Cannon, fight or flight: -sympathetic nervous system stuff, Inner adrenals – epINephrINe, norepINephrINe; Outer adrenals – glucOcOrticOids, cOrtisOl2. Hans Selye: General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS): -alarm, resistance, exhaustion… - telomeres, oxytocinStress and vulnerability to disease: health psychology, psychoneuroimmunology, lymphocytes: B – Bone marrow, T – Thymus and lymphaTic Tissue, macrophage, natural killer (NK) cells -overrespond: arthritis / allergies / multiple sclerosis / lupus; -underrespond: virus / infection / cancer cells to grow / spread-women immunologically stronger fewer infections / more self-attacking-restraint, loss of control, etc. (see “stressful life events” list): immune system less active (closed system: energy diverted to sympathetic arousal…)Stress and AIDS:Stress and Cancer:Stress and Heart Disease: coronary heart disease1. personality (trait) – Friedman and Rosenman: Type A, Type B / Type D, toxic components; atherosclerosis, blood away from organs, cleansing-effects of pessimism and depression, stress and inflammation-susceptibility to disease: psychosomatic versus psychophysiological illness, -hypertensionHealth and CopingCoping with Stress:-problem-focused, emotion-focused-personal control – “executive rat”, learned helplessness, internal versus external locus of control, free will, self-control, explanatory style -- optimism versus pessimism, social support Reducing Stress-aerobic exercise and mood, neurogenesis -relaxation, and meditation -quiet time, lifestyle modification / stress buffers -spirituality and faith communitiesChapter 13: EmotionEmotion: A response of the whole organism, involving (1) physiological arousal (2) expressive behaviors, and (3) conscious experienceJames-Lange Theory: theory that our experience of emotion is our awareness of our physiological responses to emotion-arousing stimuli. <ex: after losing control of your car and you hit the brakes, you notice you’re racing heart and then, shaking with fright. Your feeling of fear followed your body’s response.>Cannon-Bard Theory: the theory that an emotion-arousing stimulus simultaneously triggers physiological responses and the subjective experience of emotion<one does not cause the other>Cognition and Emotion-Schachter’s Two Factor Theory of Emotion: Two Factor Theory: To experience emotion one must be physically aroused and cognitively label the arousal. Schachter presumed that our experience of emotion grows from our awareness of our body’s arousal. -Spillover Effect: an effect that our arousal response to one event spills over into our response to the next event. <Experiment by Schachter and Singer showed that a stirred-up state can be experienced as one emotion or another very different one, depending on how we interpret and label it> Must cognition precede emotion?One neural pathway shows how we can experience emotion before cognition. This pathway is called the eye-to-amygdala shortcut. This pathway runs from the eye or ear via the thalamus to the amygdala. This shortcut bypasses the cortex and enables our greased-lightning emotional response before our intellect intervenes. -The amygdala sends more neural projections up to the cortex than it receives back. This makes it easier for our feelings to hijack our thinking than for our thinking to rule our feelings. <In a forest, we jump at the sound of rustling leaves nearby, leaving the cortex to decide later whether the sound was made by a predator or just the wind>Two Dimensions of EmotionPleasant vs. Unpleasant, Low arousal vs. High arousalThe valence dimension can be seen in successful Olympic gymnast and in exam takers who –more than their less successful counterparts-label arousal as energizing. <Olympic gymnasts might label that their arousal has a positive valence and those suffering with fright might say their arousal has a negative valence> Terrified is a more negative and aroused state afraid, and enraged is angrier than angry, delighted is happier than happy.Sympathetic Nervous System<arousing>: Pupils dilate, salivation decreases, skin perspires, respiration increase, heart accelerates, digestion inhibits, and adrenal glands secrete stress hormones. Parasympathetic Nervous System<calming>: all opposite reactions to sympathetic nervous system.-The sympathetic division directs adrenal glands hormones epinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine (noradrenaline). -Performance peaks at lower levels of arousal for difficult tasks and at higher levels for easy or well-learned tasks. Physiology of Specific EmotionsThough fear and joy can prompt similar increased heart rate, they stimulate different facial muscles. During fear, brow muscles tense. During joy, the muscles in the cheek and under the eye pull into a smile. Emotions also differ in brain circuits they use. Observers watching a fearful face show more amygdala brain activity than do those watching angry faces. -When people experience negative emotions such as disgust and they have a negative personality, they show more brain activity in the right prefrontal cortex than in the left. People with positive emotions and personalities show more activity in the left frontal lobe than in the right. <Left frontal lobe produces rich supply of dopamine>Polygraph: (lie detector): a machine commonly used to detect lies, that measures several of the physiological responses accompanying emotion such as perspiration, cardiovascular and breathing changes. <Problem: an innocent person might respond with heightened tension to the accusations implied by the relevant questions. The polygraph cannot distinguish anxiety, irritation, and guilt.>Expressed Emotion (Nonverbal Communication)Most of us are good enough at reading nonverbal cues to decipher the emotions on a face or even an old silent film. (Especially good at detecting nonverbal threats) -Although male and female students do not differ dramatically in self-reported emotions or physiological responses while viewing emotional films, the women’s faces showed much more emotion. Women’s nonverbal sensitivity explains their greater emotional literacy. Women’s skill at decoding others’ emotions may also contribute to their greater emotional responsiveness in positive and negative situations. (Women are more likely than men to describe themselves as empathic) Females express empathy- to cry and to report distress when observing someone in distress. -Paul Ekman found that by teaching researchers to watch for telltale signs of lying, such as a rise in voice pitch, they cold boost accuracy rates. -Frank Rosenthal clips: A mere 10 second clip of either the teacher’s voice or face provided enough clues for both young and old viewers to determine whether the teacher liked and admired the child he or she was addressing. -Popular guidebooks and articles offer advice on how to interpret nonverbal signals when negotiating a business deal, etc… -Email communication includes signs such as ;) for a wink or :( for a frown. Email letters lack nonverbal cues to status, personality, and age. <Easy to misread emails>Do facial expressions have different meanings for different cultures? Paul Eckman showed photographs of different facial expressions to people in different parts of the world and asked them to guess the emotion. <everyone did well regardless of cultural background. A smile is a smile.> Facial muscles speak a fairly universal language. A smile is a social phenomenon. <Ex: bowlers don’t smile when they score a strike-they smile when they turn to face their companions>It is also adaptive for us to interpret faces in particular contexts. Movie directors harness this phenomenon by creating contexts and soundtracks that amplify our perceptions of particular emotions. Facial feedback Effect: 1) is subtly manipulated into furrowing their brows, people feel sadder while looking at sad photos. 2) Saying the phonemes e and ah, which activate smiling muscles, puts people in a better mood.Experienced EmotionFear: as infants become mobile they experience falls and near-falls and become increasingly afraid of heights. Learning by observation: After repeatedly observing their parents or peers refusing to reach for food in the presence of a snake, the younger monkeys developed a similar strong fear for snakes. -A key to fear learning lies in the amygdala, that limbic system neural center deep in the brain. The amygdala plays a key role in associating various emotions, including fear, with certain situations. - Today, we are less predisposed to fear cars, electricity, bombs, and global warming, all of which are now far more dangerous. Stone Age fears leave us unprepared for high-tech dangers. -Genes influence our temperament-our emotional reactivity. Even among identical twins reared separately, one twin’s level of fearfulness is similar to the others.Anger: Most people reported becoming at least mildly angry several times a week, some several times a day. The anger was often a response to friends’ or loved ones’ perceived misdeeds and was especially common when another persons’ act seemed willful, unjustified, and avoidable. -Blameless annoyances such as foul odors, high temperatures, a traffic jam, aches and pain also have the power to make us angry. Catharsis: emotional release. In psychology, the catharsis hypothesis maintains that “releasing’ aggressive energy (through action or fantasy) relieves aggressive urges. -Experimenters report that this sometimes occurs. When people retaliate against someone who has provoked them, they may indeed calm don-if their counterattack is directed against the provoker.-A nonaccusing statement of feeling can help revolve the conflicts that cause anger. Happiness:Feel-good, do-good phenomenon: people’s tendency to be helpful when already in a good mood. Subjective well-being: self-perceived happiness or satisfaction with life. Used along with measures of objective well-being to evaluate people’s quality of life. -positive psychology is one the rise. -The effect of dramatically positive events is similarly temporary. <Once their rush of euphoria wears off, state lottery winners typically find their overall happiness unchanged.> -most people agree that money can’t buy happiness but they do believe that a little more money would make them a little more happy, secure, and comfortable. -increasing real incomes have not produced increasing happiness. -Economic growth in affluent countries has provided no apparent boost to morale or social well-being. Adaptation-level phenomenon: Our tendency to form judgments (of sounds, of lights, of income) relative to a “neutral” level defined by our prior experience. -Satisfaction and dissatisfaction, success and failure- all are relative to our recent experience. Relative deprivation: the perception that one is worse off relative to those with whom one compares oneself. -self satisfying tasks and relationships affect our happiness, but always within limits imposed by our genetic leash. Happy people tend to have high self-esteem, be optimistic, outgoing, and agreeable. -How to be happier: realize that enduring happiness doesn’t come from financial success. Take control of your time. Act happy. Give priority to close relationships. Chapter 14 Stress and Health If stress endures it may bring on (in those physiologically predisposed) skin rashes, asthma attacks, or high blood pressure; in combination with unhealthy behaviors stress can increase the risk of illness and death, especially heart disease, cancer, stroke, and chronic lung disease.Behavioral medicine: integration of behavioral and medical knowledge that is applied to health and diseaseHealth psychology: a subfield of psychology that provides psychology’s contribution to behavioral medicineStress and Illness: Karl – sees snake and runs away to avoid potentially harmful situation, parasympathetic nervous system enacted soon after sympathetic; Karen – entire day filled with stress producing behaviors, sympathetic nervous system “in gear” all day, increases risk of serious illness or stress-linked health problems (pressure can lead to sleep and exercise loss, as well as lead to risky behaviors such as smoking and drinking)Stress and StressorsStress can be described as threats or challenges or a person’s responses to the threats.Stress – the process by which we perceive and respond to certain events, called stressors, that we appraise as threatening or challengingStress appraisal – stressful event followed by appraisal either as a threat which leads to a response that is considered stressed to distraction, or as a challenge which leads to arousal and focus.Stress arises less from events themselves than from how we appraise themWhen perceived as challenges, stressors can have positive effects, arousing and motivating us to conquer problems. Some stress early in life is conducive to later emotional resilience and physical growthStressors can also threaten our resources – our job security, our loved ones’ health or well-being, deeply held beliefs, self-image. Experiencing severe or prolonged stress may harm usDistress – mental suffereing caused by grief, anxiety, or unhappiness; Eustress - stress that is deemed healthful or giving one the feeling of fulfillmentThe Stress Response System1920s physiologist Walter Cannon confirmed that the stress response is part of a unified mind-body system. He observed that extreme cold, lack of oxygen, and emotion-arousing incidents all trigger an outpouring of epinephrine and norepinephrine that enter the bloodstream from sympathetic nerve endings in the inner part of the adrenal glands (epinephrine and norepinephrine). when alerted the sympathetic nervous system prepares for fight or flightanother stress response system: on orders from the cerebral cortex, the outer part of the adrenal gland (“cortex”) secretes the stress hormone cortisolother alternatives to fight-or-flight: withdraw or seek and give support response.Hans Selye - body’s adaptive response to stress is general and is therefore called general adaptation syndrome (GAS) has three phases:Phase I: alarm: due to sudden activation of your sympathetic nervous system, heart rate zooms, blood is diverted to your skeletal muscles, feel faintness of shock.Phase II: resistance: temperature, blood pressure, and respiration remain high, and there is a sudden outpouring of hormonesPhase III: exhaustion: if persistent, the stress may eventually deplete your body’s reserves; with exhaustion you are more vulnerable to illness or even, in extreme causes, collapse and death. DNA pieces called telomeres become short as a result of prolonged stress, and can no long divide, they look older than their chronological ageProlonged stress can produce physical deterioration; prolonged flood of stress hormones may cause shrinking of hippocampusStressful Life EventsCatastrophes are unpredictable, large-scale events such as war and natural disasters that nearly everyone appraises as threatening (stressor) ; Anthony Rubonis and Leonard Bickman found that in the wake of a disaster rates of psychological disorders rose an average of 17%Significant life changes are also a type of stressor; life transitions and insecurities are often keenly felt during young adulthood; people recently widowed, fired, or divorced are more vulnerable to disease; experiencing a cluster of crises puts one even more at risk. Holmes-Rahe Stress Scale or Social Readjustment Rating Scale is a way for patients to determine whether stressful life evens might cause illnesses Daily hassles may be the most significant source of stress; over time, little stressors can add up and take a till on our health and well-being; daily pressures may be compounded by racism. Perceiving a loss of control, we become vulnerable to ill health; if two rats receive simultaneous shocks, but one can turn a wheel to stop the shocks, the helpless rat becomes more susceptible to ulcers and lowered immunity to disease; the more control workers have the longer they live. Control may help explain a well-established link between economic status and longevity. Poorer people are more at risk for premature death. People also tend to die younger in areas where there is greater income inequality. People at every income level are at greater risk of death if they live in a community with great income inequality. Income more than inequality predicts mortality. A control-related factor that also influences vulnerability to stress is optimism. Michael Scheier and Charles Carver report that optimists not only perceive more control, they cope better with stressful events and enjoy better health. Optimists also respond to stress with smaller increases in blood pressure, and they recover more quickly from heart bypass surgery. Optimists tend to outlive pessimists Studies show that losing control provokes an outpouring of stress hormones. Racism is like other stressors and can have both psychological and physical consequences (may raise blood pressure levels in some African-Americans)Stress and the Heartcoronary heart disease: the closing of the vessels that nourish the heart muscle: in the 1950s it became North America’s leading cause of deathpsychological factors of stress and personality also play big role in heart disease. Meyer Friedman, Ray Rosenman, and colleagues tested idea that stress increases vulnerability to heart disease: measurement of blood cholesterol level and clotting speed of 40 tax accountants before, during and after tax deadline showed that stress predicted heart attack risk.Type A personality: term for reactive, competitive, hard-driving, impatient, time-conscious, supermotivated, verbally aggressive, and easily angered people Type B personality: more easygoing people Friedman and Rosenman’s study showed that Type A people more likely to suffer heart attack. Two reasons: such individuals tend to smoke more, sleep less, and drink more caffeinated drinks (all associated with coronary risk) and temperament may contribute directly to heart disease because they are more physiologically reactive than Type B people. Johan Denollet defined an at-risk Type D (distressed) personality, marked by negative emotions and social inhibition. People scoring high on the Type D scale are at high risk of heart disease. Negative emotions have physical consequences; may also influence a person’s poor health practices and health-related decisions. The correlation between physical and psychological disorder could also be reflecting the effect of illness; chronic or terminal illness can be demoralizing. Stress and Susceptibility to DiseasePsychosomatic described psychologically caused physical symptoms; to better describe the physiological effects of psychological states experts refer to it as psychophysiologicalpsychophysiological illnesses: illnesses such as hypertension and some headaches are stress-related Stress and the Immune Systemlymphocytes: white blood cells: immune systemB lymphocytes: form in the bone marrow and release antibodies that fight bacterial infectionT lymphocytes: form in the thymus and other lymphatic tissue and attack cancer cells, viruses, and foreign substancesMacrophage: identifies, pursues, and ingest harmful invaders. Age, nutrition, genetics, body temperature, and stress all influence the immune system’s activityImmune system can err in two directions: respond too strongly (attacking body’s tissues, causing arthritis or an allergic reaction) and underreact (allowing dormant herpes virus to erupt or cancer cells to multiply). Women are immunologically stronger than men, making them less susceptible to infections; but they are made more susceptible to self-attacking diseases, such as lupus and multiply sclerosisBrain regulates the secretion of stress hormones, which in turn suppress the disease-fighting lymphocytes when animals are physically restrained, given unavoidable shocks, or subjected to noise, crowding, cold water, social defeat, or maternal separation, their immune systems become less active. Socially disturbed animals also experience weakened immune systemsImmune response to disease is a competing energy system; when diseased our bodies reduce muscular energy output by inactivity and increased sleep; stress diverts energy from the disease-fighting system, rendering us more vulnerable to foreign invaders. Stress and AIDSProgression of AIDS ( acquired immune deficiency syndrome) caused by HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) may correlate with stress and negative emotions. HIV infected men faced with stressful life circumstances exhibit somewhat greater immune suppression and a faster disease progression. Educational initiatives, bereavement support groups, cognitive therapy, and exercise programs that reduce distress have all had positive consequences for HIV-positive individuals. Stress and CancerStress and negative emotions have also been linked to cancer’s rate of progression. Rodents given cancer-producing substances and exposed to uncontrollable stress were more prone to cancer. With their immune systems weakened by stress, their tumors developed sooner and grew larger. Conditioning the Immune SystemPsychologist Robert Ader and immunologist Nicholas Cohen: while researching taste aversion in rats Ader paired the rats’ drinking of saccharin-sweetened water with injections of a drug that happened to suppress immune functioning. After repeated pairings, sweetened water alone triggered immune suppression, as if the drug had been given. Such conditioned immune suppression can triple an animal’s likelihood of growing a tumor when fed a carcinogen.Mind and body interact; everything psychological is simultaneously physiologicalPromoting HealthCoping with StressCoping – alleviating stress using emotional, cognitive, or behavioral methodsProblem-focused coping – attempting to alleviate stress directly – by changing the stressor or the way we interact with that stressorEmotion-focused coping – attempting to alleviate stress by avoiding or ignoring a stressor and attending to emotional needs related to one’s stress reactionPerceived ControlIf two rats receive simultaneous shocks, but one can turn a wheel to stop the shocks, the helpless rat (“subordinate”) becomes more susceptible to ulcers and lowered immunity to disease; the “executive” rat that can switch it off is no more likely to develop an illness than a rat that receives no shocksElderly in nursing homes who have little perceived control over their activities tend to decline faster and die sooner than those given more control over their activitiesThe more control over work environment, the less stress a worker tends to experienceExplanatory StyleOptimists (perceive more control) cope better with stressful events and enjoy better healthOptimists also report less fatigue and fewer coughs, aches, and pains; also respond to stress with smaller increases in blood pressure, and recover more quickly from heart bypass surgeryPessimists have been found to die sooner than optimistsSocial SupportSocial support promotes healthClose relationships more often contribute to health and happiness. Seven massive investigations revealed that close relationships predict helath. Compared with those having few social ties, people are less likely to die prematurely if supported by close relationships with friends, family, fellow workers, members of a faith community, or other support groups. Positive, happy supportive marriages are conducive to health; conflict-laden ones are not. Environments that support our need to belong also foster stronger immune functioningMore than 50 studies further reveal that social support calms the cardiovascular system, lowering blood pressure and stress hormones. Actively suppressing thoughts can cause them to bubble up intrusively, preoccupying the person; disclosing suppressed thought may stop the cycle. Talking about a stressful event can temporarily arouse people, but in the long run it calms them Managing StressAerobic exercise is sustained exercise that increases heart and lung fitness.Many studies suggest that aerobic exercise can reduce stress, depression, and anxiety; those who exercise regularly also cope better with stressful events, exhibit more self-confidence, feel more vigor, and feel depressed and fatigued less often than those who exercise less. Lisa McCann and David Holmes found that a group of mildly depressed female college students who were on an aerobic exercise program reported a great decrease in depression. Not only is exercise about as effective as drugs, some research suggests it better prevents symptom recurrence. People who exercise suffer half as many heart attacks; moderate exercise adds tow years to one’s expected life. Neal Miller found that rats could modify their heartbeat if given pleasurable brain stimulation when their heartbeat increased or decreased. Later research revealed that some paralyzed humans could also learn to control their blood pressure. Biofeedback: a system of recoding, amplifying and feeding back information about subtle physiological responses. By reflecting the results of a person’s own efforts, they allow the person to learn techniques for controlling a particular physiological response. Herbert Benson found that experienced meditators could decrease their blood pressure, heart rate, and oxygen consumption and raise their fingertip temperature in a relaxation response. Many of those who simply set aside a quiet time or two each day report enjoying the tranquility. Meditative relaxation counteracts the negative effects of stress; can help alleviate headaches, hypertension, anxiety, and insomnia.Studies show a reduction in death rate among those trained to alter their thinking and life-stylesSome recent studies suggest that mirthful humor may defuse stress and strengthen immune activity.Close-Up: Alternative MedicineComplementary and alternative medicine: encompasses acupuncture, massage therapy, homeopathy, spiritual healing, herbal remedies, chiropractic, aromatherapy.Some aspects such as life-style and stress management have acknowledged validity. Everything else is a combination of regression to the mean and the placebo effect. Spirituality and Faith CommunitiesSustained emotional reactions to stressful events can be debilitating but the toxic impact of stressful events can be buffered by a relaxed, healthy life-style and by the comfort and aid provided by supportive friends and familyIn every age group, those belonging to the religious communities were about half as likely as their nonreligious counterparts to have died. As a predictor of health and longevity, religious involvement rivals nonsmoking and exercise effects. Religiously active people have healthier life-styles; social support is another variable that helps explain the “faith factor”; faith communities provide support networks for their active participants; religion encourages marriage. Researchers therefore speculate that a third set of intervening variable is the stress protection and enhanced well-being associated with a coherent worldview, a sense of hope for the long-term future, feelings of ultimate acceptance, and the relaxed meditation of prayer of Sabbath observance. ................
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