Social Psychology

A. Social Cognitive Theory

Delay of Gratification Self-Efficacy

Get it now Many young children have a difficult Can I get Students o en ask about how to improve their
or wait for time not grabbing their favorite candy grades. According to Albert Bandura (2004), one
from the low-lying shelves at checkouts better grades? reason students differ in whether they receive
better things? in spite of parents promising they’ll get high or low grades is related to self-efficacy.
candy when they get home. Likewise, Self-efficacy refers to the confidence in your ability to organize and

adults may see something they didn’t intend to buy but do so on execute a given course of action to solve a problem or accomplish a task.
impulse, not always getting the best product or deal. ese are For example, saying “I think that I am capable of getting a high
common examples of the struggle with a cognitive concept or
belief called delay of gratification. grade in this course” is a sign of strong self-efficacy. You judge your
Delay of gratification refers to not taking an immediate but less self-efficacy by combining four sources of information (Bandura,
1999; E. T. Higgins & Scholer, 2008):
desirable reward and instead waiting and pursuing an object or com-
1. You use previous experiences of success or failure on similar tasks
pleting a task that promises a better reward in the future. to estimate how you will do on a new, related task.

Although related to the ideas of self-control, impulsiveness, 2. You compare your capabilities with those Why do my friends
and will power, delay of gratification is defined so that it can of others. say that I should be
easily be studied in the laboratory (Mischel et al., 1989). One getting better grades?
technique to measure delay of gratification was to show chil- 3. You listen to what others say about your
dren two objects, one less preferred (a single marshmallow) and capabilities.

one more preferred (two marshmallows). e children were told 4. You use feedback from your body to
that to obtain the more preferred reward assess your strength, vulnerability,
Should I take they had to wait until the experimenter, and capability.
one marshmallow who had to leave the room, returned a er
now or wait and get some delay (about 15 minutes). Children You would rate yourself as having
strong self-efficacy for getting good grades
two later? if you had previous success with getting
high grades, if you believe you are as
were free to end the waiting period by academically capable as others, if your
ringing a bell, but then they would get friends say you are smart, and if you do
only the less preferred reward. us, the not become too stressed during exams.
child had a real conflict: Accept imme- Research shows that students’ levels of self-efficacy are good predictors
diate gratification and take the less pre- of their motivation and learning during college (Chemers et al., 2001;
ferred reward, or delay gratification and B. J. Zimmerman, 2000).
obtain the more preferred reward. How
long children could wait depended Influence of self-efficacy. According to Bandura’s self-efficacy
upon what they attended to. If they theory, your motivation to achieve, perform, and do well in a variety of
pictured the marshmallows in their tasks and situations is largely influenced by how strongly you believe in
minds, they could wait about 15 min- your own capabilities. Some people have a strong sense of self-efficacy
utes, but if the marshmallows were right in front of them, they that applies to many situations (academic settings, sports, and social
waited only 6 minutes (Mischel et al., 1989). interactions), others have a strong sense that applies to only a few situ-
Important to delay gratification? Researchers found that ations (computers but not social interactions), while still others have
the ability to delay gratification influenced many behaviors. a weak sense of self-efficacy, which predicts having less success in
For example, 4-year-old children good at delaying gratification many of life’s tasks (Eccles & Wigfield, 2002). For example, people with
tended to be more intelligent, to have greater social responsibil- higher self-efficacy had greater success at stopping smoking, losing
ity, and to strive for higher achievement. When these very same weight, overcoming a phobia, recovering from a heart attack, perform-
4-year-old children were later retested at age 14, they were rated ing well in school, adjusting to new situations, coping with job stress,
by parents as more competent, more intelligent, and better able playing video games, and tolerating pain (Caprara et al., 2004; Joseph
to concentrate than those children who were not good at delay- et al., 2003; Luszczynska & Sutton, 2006). ese findings indicate that Photo Credits: left and right, © PhotoDisc, Inc.
ing gratification. NOT being able to delay gratification has been having either high or low self-efficacy can increase or decrease your
linked to a variety of self-regulatory problems, including impul- performance and success in various tasks and personal behaviors.
sive violence, overeating, drug abuse, unprotected sex, and
unwanted pregnancies. All of these studies make an important Conclusion. So far we have discussed three important beliefs:
point: Developing the beliefs and cognitive processes involved whether you have an internal or external locus of control, how much
in the ability to delay gratification can influence a variety of you can delay gratification, and whether you have high or low self-
personal behaviors and social interactions in either positive or efficacy. Research on these three beliefs supports the basic assumption
negative ways (Francis & Susman, 2009; Peake et al., 2002). of social cognitive theory—that cognitive factors influence personal-
Another cognitive process that affects personality and ity development, which in turn affects performance and success in a
behavior is how much we believe in our own capabilities. variety of tasks and situations.

460 M O D U L E 2 0 S O C I A L C O G N I T I V E & T R A I T T H E O R I E S

Evaluation of Social Cognitive Theory

Where Sometimes a person’s experience better illus- Parkinson’s disease to take over his life. He began fighting against
trates the power and importance of beliefs the disease and did so in incredible ways. Michael has continued
does he get than all the research in the world. Such an to act by guest starring in television shows, such as “Boston Legal”
his courage? experience is that of Michael J. Fox, a talented and “Rescue Me.” Also, by starting his own charitable foundation,
actor who has starred in popular TV shows, which has become a leader in Parkinson’s disease research, and
such as “Spin City,” and movies, including the Back to the Future speaking in favor of stem cell research, he has taken an active role
trilogy. At age 30, Michael was diagnosed with young-onset Par- in discovering a cure for Parkinson’s disease.
kinson’s disease (p. 60), which began with a twitch in his le pinkie
and led to relentless tremors in his arms and legs. Acting was his In his memoir titled Lucky Man (M. J. Fox, 2002), Michael
livelihood, but the progression of his symptoms made it increas- speaks of the pleasure he has had in increasing public awareness of
ingly difficult for him to act, even with the use of powerful medica- Parkinson’s disease: “ e ten years since my diagnosis have been
tions to help control his tremors (Dudley, 2006; M. J. Fox, 2002). the best ten years of my life, and I consider myself a lucky man.”
e worsening of his symptoms forced Michael to make a key Michael’s story illustrates a major assumption of social cognitive
life decision: Would he allow his disease to lower his life’s ambi- theory: Beliefs have a great influence on personality, motivation,
tions or would he believe in his ability to fight harder than ever and behavior.
before to reach his life’s goals? Michael was unwilling to allow
We’ll evaluate social cognitive theory’s approach to personality
development and compare it with other theories.

1 Comprehensive Approach 3 Programs for Change

Social cognitive theory focuses on the I believe I can Because many of the concepts of social cognitive theory are experi-
interaction of three primary forces in continue to act. mentally based and objectively defined (observational learning, self-
the development of personality: reward, modeling behavior, self-analysis, and planning), these
cognitive-personal factors, which concepts have been used to develop very successful programs for
include beliefs, expectations, social roles, and changing behavior and personality. For example, we earlier dis-
genetic influences; behaviors, which include cussed two behavioral change programs that were based on social
actions, conversations, and emotional cognitive theory. In one study, individuals who had developed an
expressions; and environmental influences,
such as social, political, and cultural forces. intense fear of snakes showed decreased fear a er observing a fear-
Bandura (2001a) points out that other less model touching and handling a snake (p. 225); in another
theories of personality tend to focus on one or
two of these factors but neglect the interaction study, children who had observed an adult’s aggressive behav-
among all three factors. For example, Freudian iors imitated and performed similar aggressive behaviors
and humanistic theories emphasize the effects when given an opportunity (p. 224). ese are just two
of personal and cognitive forces on personality examples of behavioral changes that occurred after
development but neglect the significant behav- applying concepts based on social cognitive theory
ioral, learning, and environmental influences. (Bandura, 2001a).
us, one advantage of social cognitive theory
is that its approach to personality develop- 4 Criticisms and Conclusions
ment is more comprehensive and includes
more influential factors than other theories. Critics say that because social cognitive concepts
2 Experimentally Based focus on narrowly defined behaviors, such as self-
efficacy, locus of control, and delay of gratification,
Photo Credit: © AP Images/Charles Sykes Many of the concepts used in social cognitive theory have been social cognitive theory is a somewhat piecemeal
developed from, and based on, objective measurement, labora- explanation of personality development. ey add that social cogni-
tory research, and experimental studies. Because social cognitive tive theory needs to combine these objectively but narrowly defined
theory’s concepts—such as locus of control, delay of gratifica- concepts into a more integrated theory of personality. Finally, critics
tion, and self-efficacy—are experimentally based, they can be contend that social cognitive theory pays too little attention to the
manipulated, controlled, and tested and are less subject to error influence of genetic factors, emotional influences, and childhood
and bias. experiences on personality development (Bouchard & Loehlin, 2001;
Loehlin et al., 2003).
In comparison, many concepts from Freudian and humanistic Despite these criticisms, social cognitive theory has had a pro-
theories of personality were developed from clinical interviews found impact on personality theory by emphasizing the objective
and practice and, for that reason, these concepts (oral stage, measurement of concepts, the influence of cognitive processes, and
Oedipal complex, self-actualization, positive regard) are more the application of concepts to programs for behavioral change.
difficult to test and validate and more open to error and bias. Next, we’ll discuss an interesting theory of personality that
emphasizes describing and assessing differences between individuals
and explaining why we do not always act in a consistent way.

A . S O C I A L C O G N I T I V E T H E O R Y 461

B. Trait Theory

Definition At the beginning of this module, we told you Identifying Traits How would you describe the personali-
about Kiran Bedi (photo below), who in 1972 ties of a criminal, clown, graduate, nun,
Do women How to

make better became the first female police officer in India. describe these and beauty queen? This seemingly
cops? This was no small achievement in a country five persons? impossible task was the major goal of
where women struggle to break free of their personality researchers. They were
second-class status, which is rooted in India’s ancient culture. But, determined to find a list of traits whose two characteristics
even in the United States, the land of opportunity, seemed mutually exclusive: e list had to con-
throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, women tain very few traits but at the same time be able to
had to fight discrimination and harassment describe differences among anyone’s and every-
from male police officers who believed that one’s personality, from avocado grower to zoo-
women did not have the physical or mental keeper. e search for this elusive list began in
strength to be police officers (Copeland, 1999). the 1930s with, of all things, a dictionary.
However, a number of studies have shown that
women do make good police officers and, in How many traits can there be? Which . . .
situations involving domestic abuse, they are In the 1930s, Gordon Allport and an associate . . . five . . .
more successful than policemen because went through the dictionary and selected every . . . traits . . .
policewomen have better interpersonal Which traits of term that could distinguish differences among
skills than men (Lonsway et al., 2003). policewomen make them personalities (Allport & Odbert, 1936). They
better at keeping the peace? found about 18,000 terms that dealt with all
Peacekeeper. For example, police kinds of personality differences; of these, about
officer Kelly, who is female, patrols an area known for problems with 4,500 were considered to fit their definition of
street thugs. Although we may think that the best way to control thugs personality traits. Allport defined traits as sta-
is with threat or force, Kelly rarely uses either. Kelly readily admits ble and consistent tendencies in how an indi-
that her physical strength cannot always match that of some of the vidual adjusts to his or her environment. e Photo Credits: top left, © India Today Group/Getty Images; bottom left, © SuperStock RF/SuperStock; all right, © PhotoDisc, Inc.
macho males she encounters. “Coming across aggressively doesn’t advantage of Allport’s list was that it was com-
work with gang members,” Kelly explains. “If that first encounter is prehensive enough to describe anyone’s and
direct, knowledgeable, and made with authority, they respond. It takes everyone’s personality. e disadvantage was
a few more words but it works” (McDowell, 1992, p. 70). As another that it was incredibly long and thus impractical
woman police officer said, “We’ve been learning our whole lives how to use in research.
to deal with things without having to resort to physical strength and
physical violence” (Munoz, 2003, p. B2). ese examples suggest that, Allport’s search for a list of defining traits
in some situations, women make better and more effective cops than set the stage for future research. However, his
men because they have different personality traits. list of thousands of traits needed to be orga-
nized into far fewer basic traits. is task fell
to Raymond Cattell.

Men. Traits of male Women. Traits of Aren’t some traits related?
officers include being female officers include In the 1940s, Raymond Cattell (1943) took
assertive, aggressive, being compassionate, Allport’s list of 4,500 traits and used factor
and direct, which sympathetic, and diplo- analysis to reduce the list to the most basic . . . describe . . .
help them act matic, which help them
as enforcers. traits.
act as peacekeepers.

Factor analysis is a complicated statis-

e reason female police officers act more as peacekeepers and male tical method that finds relationships among
police officers act more as enforcers may be explained by trait theory.
many different or diverse items and allows
Trait theory is an approach for analyzing the structure of personality by
measuring, identifying, and classifying similarities and differences in person- them to be grouped together.
ality characteristics or traits.
Cattell used factor analysis to search for . . . each of these
e basic unit for measuring personality characteristics is the trait. relationships among hundreds of traits on five different
A trait is a relatively stable and enduring tendency to behave in a particu- Allport’s list so that the original list could personalities?
lar way. be reduced to 35 basic traits, which Cattell
For example, traits of female police officers include being compas- called source traits. He claimed that these 35 basic traits could
sionate, sympathetic, and diplomatic, which help them function as describe all differences among personalities. Although Cattell’s
peacekeepers, while traits of male police officers include being asser- achievement was remarkable, his list of 35 traits—and even his
tive, aggressive, and direct, which help them function as enforcers. further reduction of the list to 16 traits—still proved too long to
Determining exactly how many traits are needed to describe someone’s be practical for research and only moderately useful in assess-
personality took psychologists almost 60 years. ing personality differences. Obviously, Cattell’s list needed more
reducing, but that was to take another 30 years.
462 M O D U L E 2 0 S O C I A L C O G N I T I V E & T R A I T T H E O R I E S

Finding Traits: Big Five The five-factor model organizes personality traits and describes dif-
ferences in personality using five categories, which are openness, con-
From the 1960s to the early 1990s, about a scientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.
Can it be done dozen researchers in several countries were
with just five? using factor analysis to find relationships ese five factors became known as the Big Five and are easy
to remember if you note that their first letters make the acronym
among lists of adjectives that described OCEAN. Each of the five factors actually represents a continuum
personality differences. Doing the impossible, researchers reduced of behavior, as briefly described in the figure below.
the list of 35 traits to only 5, which make up the five-factor model
of personality (Burger, 2008; Durrett & Trull, 2005).

Openness Conscientiousness Extraversion Agreeableness Neuroticism

Is open Has Is responsible Is impulsive Is outgoing Is retiring Is warm Is unfriendly Is stable Is nervous
to novel narrow and and careless. and and and good- and cold. and not a and
experience. interests. natured. worrier.
dependable. decisive. withdrawn. emotionally
unstable.

Hot and cold. You can think of each Big Five factor as a supertrait because each factor’s thermometer includes dozens of
related traits at the hot and cold ends. For example, conscientiousness, at the hot end, includes the traits of being dependable,
responsible, deliberate, hardworking, and precise; at the cold end are the traits of being impulsive, careless, late, lazy, and aim-
less. Although it took 30 years of research, coming up with the Big Five means that trait theory finally achieved its major goal,
which was to describe and organize personality characteristics using the fewest number of traits (R. R. McCrae & Costa, 2003).

Importance of the Big Five Big Five in the Real World

Unlike earlier attempts to identify traits, there is Because personality similarities and differences can be described by five catego-
now convincing evidence that the Big Five, or five- ries, questionnaires based on the five-factor theory can more accurately assess
factor theory, can indeed describe personality dif- personality, which is one of the major tasks of therapists and psychologists.
ferences among many thousands of individuals by For instance, the Big Five traits can be used to describe differences between
using only five categories or traits. male and female police officers. Compared with policemen, policewomen are
Big question. The five-factor model has been generally more agreeable (sympathetic, friendly, helpful), more open (insightful,
replicated in many different countries, which led intelligent), and more extraverted (sociable, talkative). ese kinds of traits result
researchers to ask if the structure of personality in policewomen being less authoritarian, more diplomatic, and better at defusing
was shaped primarily by different cultural factors potentially dangerous situations (Spillar & Harrington, 2000).
(child-rearing practices, religious and moral val- Also, questionnaires based on the five-factor theory reveal differences among
ues, language similarities) or people in the United States and in other countries. e Swiss, for
primarily by differences in instance, rate themselves as highly conscientious, while Canadi-
the basic human ways of act- ans and Indians rate themselves as highly agreeable (R. McCrae,
ing and experiencing that are 2008). In the United States, people in the Midwest and Southeast
universal, or similar across all score highest in agreeableness, people in the South and Midwest
peoples and countries. score highest in conscientiousness, and people in the Northeast
Because support for the and West score highest in openness (Rentfrow et al., 2008).
five-factor model was found Each letter in the word OCEAN is the Researchers generally agree the five-factor theory is a leap for-
in many very different coun- first letter of one of the Big Five traits. ward in trait theory and is useful in defining personality structures

Photo Credits: all, © PhotoDisc, Inc. tries or cultures, researchers concluded that the and differences, predicting behaviors, and identifying personality problems
basic structure of human personality arises from (Burger, 2008; R. R. McCrae & Costa, 2003). A new research focus is to explore
some universal living experience or biological basis the possible existence of the “Big One,” or General Factor of Personality (Musek,
rather than being shaped by individual countries or 2007; Rushton & Irwing, 2008). e Big One is being compared to Spearman’s
cultures (Jang et al., 2006; R. R. McCrae & Costa, factor g in the area of intelligence (p. 282). In the years ahead, we’ll learn more
2003; Yamagata et al., 2006). If basic human per- about whether such a general factor of personality exists.
sonality structure is universal, it means that the Although each of us possesses at least five relatively enduring supertraits that
personalities of individuals in different countries push us to behave in a stable way, why do we sometimes contradict ourselves and
can be described by using the Big Five traits. behave differently in different situations?

B . T R A I T T H E O R Y 463

B. Trait Theory

Person Versus Situation

e best-known right-wing talk-radio other respected news accounts, Limbaugh had become a
How does private host is Rush Limbaugh, who broad- narcotic addict (pain pills). His maid claimed that for
life compare to casts his conservative law-and-order three years she had bought enough “baby blues”
public life? views to 20 million fans five days (OxyContin® pills) to “kill an elephant.” According

a week. For example, when to police, Limbaugh obtained 2,000 pain pills dur-
Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia died in 1995, Lim- ing only a six-month period. Limbaugh admitted to
baugh said, “When you strip it all away, Jerry Garcia being a drug addict, turned himself in, and went into
destroyed his life on drugs. And yet he’s being honored, a drug rehab program (Campo-Flores & omas, 2006;
like some godlike figure. Our priorities are out of whack, Limbaugh preached E. omas, 2003).
folks” (Laurence, 2003, p. F7). Talking about drug users, law and order in public The observation that, like Rush Limbaugh, indi-
Limbaugh said, “. . . too many whites are getting away but in private he was viduals o en behave differently in different situations
with drug use . . . e answer is to go out and find the questions one of the basic assumptions of trait theory,
a drug addict.

ones who are getting away with it, convict them and send them up which is that traits create tendencies to behave in certain consistent
the river, too” (Laurence, 2003, p. F7). ways. Psychologist Walter Mischel (1968) was one of the first to
en, on October, 16, 2003, the National Enquirer headline read, conduct a series of classic experiments on why traits fail to predict
“Rush Limbaugh Caught in a Drug Ring.” According to several the behavior of people across different situations.

Experiment: Person-Situation Conclusions
ere is no question that humans have stable and consis-
To test trait theory’s basic assumption that people behave consistently across
situations, Walter Mischel and Philip Peake (1982) asked college students, tent parts of their personalities, which are called traits.
“How conscientious are you?” If students answer that they are “very consci- There is no question that personality differences can be
entious,” trait theory predicts that they will behave conscientiously in many accurately described by using the Big Five traits. However,
different situations. Mischel then observed how conscientious college stu- people may act inconsistently or contradictorily because
dents behaved across 19 very different situations, such as attending classes, traits interact with and are partly dependent upon situa-
getting homework in on time, and keeping their rooms neat. tional cues. us, even though you consider yourself open
Students who rated themselves as very conscientious behaved that way day to new experiences, you might very well draw the line and
a er day in similar situations. However, these same students did not behave say “NO!” to potentially dangerous rock climbing (below
conscientiously across all 19 conditions. For example, very conscientious stu- le photo). Although researchers have found that traits are
dents might clean their rooms daily but not get their homework in on time, not consistent across all situations, the concept of traits is
or they might attend all their classes but not clean their rooms. Researchers still useful for two reasons (G. Matthews et al., 2003).
concluded that, as trait theory predicted, students behaved with great consis-
tency in the same situation, but contrary to trait theory’s prediction, students Descriptions. First, traits are useful because they pro-
behaved differently or with low consistency across different situations. is vide a kind of shorthand method for describing someone’s Photo Credits: top, © AP Images/Joseph Kaczmarek; bottom, © Galen Rowell/Corbis
finding led to what is now called the person-situation interaction. personality. In fact, if we asked you to describe your best
The person-situation interaction means that a person’s behavior results from friend, you would essentially list this person’s traits.

an interaction between his or her traits and the effects of being in or responding to Predictions. Second, traits are useful because they help
predict someone’s behavior in future situations. However,
cues from a particular situation. you must keep in mind the person-situation interaction,
which means you must take into account how the person’s
The person-situation interaction ex- traits will interact with the situation’s cues. For example, my
plains that even if you were an extravert, friends would predict that I (R.P.) generally try to watch my
you would behave differently at a wedding weight, but they also know that when placed in front of a
than at a funeral because each of these situ- dessert counter, I can easily consume my weight in choco-
ations creates different cues to which you late. However, researchers found it is possible to significantly
respond (Mischel & Shoda, 1995). Similarly, increase the accuracy of predicting a person’s behaviors
the person-situation interaction describes across situations if that person is actually observed in a
how Rush Limbaugh could be righteous number of different settings (G. Matthews et al., 2003).
in criticizing Jerry Garcia’s drug use while
being a drug addict himself. Conclusion. Most personality researchers agree that
The person-situation interaction says traits, such as the Big Five, are useful in describing our sta-
that to understand or predict a person’s ble and consistent behavioral tendencies, yet they warn that
behavior across situations, we must con- traits may not predict behaviors across different situations
sider both the person’s traits and the pow- (Funder, 2008; G. Matthews et al., 2003).
erful cues that come from being in each If you are open to new
different situation (Funder, 2008). experiences, would you try this? Does saying that traits are stable and consistent mean
that one’s personality gradually becomes fixed?
Do you see the dog?

464 M O D U L E 2 0 S O C I A L C O G N I T I V E & T R A I T T H E O R I E S

Stability Versus Change Longitudinal method means that the same group of individuals
is studied repeatedly at many different points in time.
How If you are now 16, 18, 20, 25, or 30, what will your
changeable personality be like when you’re 40, 50, 60, 70, or For example, if you asked your parents to list your per-
80? The question of how much your personality sonality traits at age 3, would these traits match your traits
are your traits remain the same and how much they change at age 21? In other words, how changeable or fixed are your
traits? is answered by using a research approach called personality traits?
the longitudinal method.

3 to 21 Years Old 22 to 80 Years Old

To answer the question of how much personality If you are 20, 25, or 30, what will your personality be like at 60, 70, or 80?
traits change or remain the same, researchers did a Answers come from longitudinal studies, which reached the following conclu-
longitudinal study on 1,000 children, sions (Caspi et al., 2005; R. R. McCrae & Costa, 1999; R. R. McCrae et al., 2000;
whose traits were assessed at age 3 Roberts et al., 2006; Terracciano et al., 2006; Trzesniewski et al., 2003):
and then reassessed when the same 1 Major changes in personality occur during childhood,
Photo Credits: left, (adult) © Barbara Penoyar/PhotoDisc, Inc.; left, (child) © Barbara Penoyar/PhotoDisc, Inc.; right, © Werner Bokelberg. Photo altered by Doug Stern, children were 21 years old. Based
Copyright © 1997 U.S. News & World Report, L.P. Reproduced with permission. on their assessment, the personal- adolescence, and young adulthood. Between 22 and 30, Before age 30,
ity traits of 3-year-old children both men and women become less emotional, less likely personality may
go through major
to be thrill seekers, and somewhat more likely to be coop- changes, but . . .
were divided into five different erative and self-disciplined. These personality changes
personality groups that were
Will this 3-year-old labeled undercontrolled, inhib- are o en associated with becoming more mature.
child’s personality ited, confident, reserved, and 2 In fact, longitudinal studies find that most major
well-adjusted (Caspi, 2000). changes in personality occur before the age of 30 because
traits . . .

Consistency. Researchers found adolescents and young adults are more willing to adopt
significant consistencies between
traits assessed at 3 years and at 21 new values and attitudes or revise old ones.
years old. For example, traits of
3 Personality traits are relatively fixed by age 30, a er
which changes in personality are few and small. However,
3-year-old children in the under- a er 30, adults continue to grow in their ideas, beliefs, and
controlled group included being
impulsive, restless, and distract- attitudes as they respond to changing situations and envi-
ronments. For example, an eager tennis player may, with
ible. When these 3-year-old age, become an eager gardener, but an eager liberal is
children were retested at age
21, their traits were similar and unlikely to become an eager conservative.
4 Men and women, healthy and sick people, and Blacks
. . . be similar included being reckless, care-
to those he has at less, and favoring dangerous and
exciting activities. In compari- and Whites all show the same stable personality pattern
21 years old? son, traits of 3-year-old children a er age 30. Because personality is stable, it is somewhat

in the well-adjusted group included being confident, predictable. However, individuals may struggle to over-
come or change certain traits (become less shy or more
having self-control, and easily adjusting to new or confident), which brings up the question of how much
stressful situations. When these 3-year-old children
were retested at age 21, their traits were similar and personality changes during adulthood.
included being in control, self-confident, and all-
around well-adjusted and normal adults. Research- 5 When middle-aged and older adults were asked to
describe the course of their personality development, they
ers concluded that the origin or development of a all described increases in desirable traits (energetic, realis-
person’s more stable personality traits begins around tic, intelligent) as they grew older. But on objective tests,
age 3. is means that traits observed at age 3 predict these same individuals showed little or no change in these
personality traits observed later in the same young same traits. These findings indicate that as people grow
adults (Caspi, 2000). older, they tend to report more socially desirable or stereo-
Change. Although there were remarkable con- typical responses rather than what actually has occurred. . . . after age 30,
sistencies in personality traits between age 3 and age Conclusions. Your personality is more likely to personality is
21, researchers point out that there are often major
change the younger you are, but a er age 30, personality relatively fixed and
difficult to change.

changes in emotional traits during adolescence. Dur- traits are relatively stable and fixed. However, depending
ing adolescence, individuals may become less respon- upon situations, stressors, and challenges, some change can occur throughout
sible, less cautious, and more moody or impulsive adulthood (Kluger, 2006a). us, personality has the interesting distinction
(Caspi & Roberts, 1999). of being both stable and changeable (up to a point). One reason personality
What happens to personality development after traits remain relatively stable across time is that they are influenced by genetic
age 21, and does personality ever stop changing? factors, which we’ll discuss next.

B . T R A I T T H E O R Y 465

C. Genetic Influences on Traits PowerStudy 4.5™

Module 4

Behavioral Genetics A. Genes & Evolution

Jim Lewis (left photo) and Jim Springer Behavioral genetics is the study of
Why are twins (right photo) drove the same model blue
how inherited or genetic factors influence

so similar? Chevrolet, smoked the same brand and interact with psychological factors to

of cigarettes, owned dogs named shape our personality, intelligence, emo-

Toy, held jobs as deputy sheriff, enjoyed the same wood- tions, and motivation and also how we

working hobby, and had vacationed on the same beach in behave, adapt, and adjust to our

Florida. When they were given personality tests, they environments.

scored almost alike on traits of flexibility, self-control, and Many of us have a difficult
sociability. The two Jims are identical twins who were time accepting the idea of
separated four weeks after birth and reared separately. Why did they drive the same kind of car, genetic influences because we
When reunited at age 39, they were flabbergasted at how smoke the same cigarettes, hold the same equate genetic with fixed. How-
many things they had in common (Leo, 1987). kind of job, and both name their dogs Toy? ever, genetic factors do not fix

ese surprising coincidences come from an ongoing University behaviors but establish a range for a behavior, which environmen-
of Minnesota project on genetic factors (Bouchard, 1994; Bouchard tal factors foster or impede. For example, a girl born with genes for
& Loehlin, 2001). One of the project’s major questions is whether shyness whose parents appropriately encourage her to socialize and
the similarities between the two Jims are simply coincidence or interact with other children is more likely to outgrow her shyness
reflect the influence of genetic factors on personality traits. than a girl whose parents simply believe the inherited genes for
Most of us grew up hearing one or both of these phrases: shyness indicate she will remain shy and therefore do not encourage
“You’re acting just like your father” or “You’re behaving just like her to interact with others (Begley, 2008d).
your mother.” ese phrases suggest that genetic factors we inherit As we discuss studies showing that genetic factors influence and
from our parents influence our behaviors. Psychologists have only set a range for development of various personality traits, please
recently recognized the importance and influence of genetic fac- remember that our actual traits result from the interaction between
tors, which have resulted in a new area called behavioral genetics. genetic factors and environmental influences.

Studying Genetic Influences

What’s in Few studies have made as great an impact tests to measure personality traits. ose identical and frater-
on beliefs about what shapes personality nal twins who were reared apart were adopted shortly a er
the genes? and behavior as the twin study at the birth and had not met their twin until this study brought
University of Minnesota. Until the early them together for testing. The measure that researchers
1990s, most psychologists recognized that genetic factors use to estimate genetic influences is called heritability. Photo Credits: top, © Michael Nichols/Magnum Photos; bottom left and right, © PhotoDisc, Inc.
shaped personality but believed that genetic factors had Heritability is a statistical measure that estimates how much

much less impact than environmental factors. en in 1990, of some cognitive, personality, or We’re fraternal twins,
omas Bouchard and his colleagues (1990) published results behavioral trait is influenced by and we share only
of the first study to simultaneously genetic factors. 50% of our genes.
We’re identical twins, compare four different groups of
and we share nearly twins: identical twins reared Heritability is expressed on
100% of our genes. together, identical twins reared an increasing scale of influ-
ence from 0.0 to 1.0. That
apart, fraternal twins reared is, if genetic factors have
together, and fraternal twins no influence, the herita-
reared apart. Remember that bility is 0.0, having half
identical twins share nearly the influence is indicated
100% of their genes, while by 0.5, and having total
fraternal twins share only control over behavior
50% of their genes and thus is indicated by 1.0. For
are no more genetically example, heritability of IQ is about 50% (p. 292), which
alike than ordinary brothers and sisters. is study allowed This is a piece means that about 50% of an individual’s IQ score is
researchers to separate genetic factors (identical versus fra- of the genetic explained by genetic factors; heritability of mental disor-
code, which
ternal twins) and environmental factors (reared together uses a chemical ders is about 40–70% (pp. 533–539); and, as we’ll discuss
versus reared apart). alphabet to write next, heritability estimates for personality traits are about
instructions that 40–50%. However, keep in mind that genetic factors
More than 100 sets of twins in the United States, Great
influence the
Britain, and many other countries participated in this ini- development of interact with environmental factors, which explain about
tial study. Each participant was given over 50 hours of med- personality 40–60% of the development of IQs, mental disorders, and
ical and psychological assessment, including four different traits. personality traits.

466 M O D U L E 2 0 S O C I A L C O G N I T I V E & T R A I T T H E O R I E S

Data from Twin Studies

Do genes Identical twins Jim Lewis and Jim Springer and whose data were analyzed by different groups of researchers.
(photos opposite page) were subjects in the Results from earlier studies and two large and recent studies are
influence the now famous Minnesota twin study. Their shown in the graph below (Bouchard & Loehlin, 2001). Research-
Big Five? scores were similar on ers estimate the heritability of personality traits

personality tests that ranges from 0.41 to about 0.51, which means that
measured the Big Five traits—openness, consci- genetic factors contribute about 40–50% to the
entiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and development of an individual’s personality traits
neuroticism. (Note that by taking the first letter (Bouchard, 2004).
of each Big Five trait, you make the word Even though genetic factors are responsible
OCEAN.) One reason the two for about half of each of the Big
Jims’ scores on personality tests Heritability of Big Five Personality Traits Five personality traits we develop,

were so similar was that their Earlier twin studies 0.51 that still leaves about half com-
genetic factors were identical. ing from environmental factors.
There are now many stud- 0.42 We’ll describe two kinds of envi-
ies on thousands of twins, both Loehlin twin studies ronmental factors—shared and

Photo Credits: left and center, © Michael Nichols/Magnum Photos; right, © image100/Photolibrary identica l a nd fraterna l, who Minnesota twin studies 0.41 nonshared—that inf luence per-
Figure/Text Credit: Bar graph data from “Genes, Environment, and Personality,” by T. J. Bouchard, 1994, Science, 264, 1700–1701. American Association for the were reared together and apart sonality development.
Advancement of Science. Additional data from Bouchard & Loehlin, 2001.
Influences on Personality and church. One reason that brothers and sisters develop such dif-
ferent personalities is that 50% of their genes are different (and 50%
As I (R. P.) was growing up, I remember are shared). And another important reason that brothers and sis-
What shapes hearing my parents talking (when they ters develop different personalities is that each brother’s or sister’s
personality? thought I wasn’t listening) about how differ- unique set of genetic factors interacts differently with his or her
environment. Researchers have broken down the contributions to
ent I was from my older brother and sister. personality development into the following four factors.
My parents questioned how my brother and sister and I could be so
(very) different even though we had the same parents, lived in the
same house in the same town, and even went to the same school

40% Genetic Factors 26% Error
e fingerprints of the two Jims were almost identical because they
shared nearly 100% of their genes, and genetic factors con- About 26% of the influence on personality development cannot
tribute 97% to the development of ridges on fingertips as yet be identified and is attributed to errors in testing and mea-
(Bouchard et al., 1990). In comparison, the two Jims’ scores surement procedures. As methodology improves, this error per-
were similar but not identical on personality traits of self- centage will decrease and other factors will increase.
control, flexibility, and sociability because, although they
share almost 100% of their genes, genetic factors contribute 7% Shared Environmental Factors
about 40–50% to the kind of personality traits they developed. While
genetic factors contribute about half to the development of certain About 7% of the influence on personality development comes
personality traits, the next biggest factor is something of a surprise. from environmental factors that involve parental patterns and
shared family experiences. ese fac-
27% Nonshared Environmental Factors tors are called shared environmental
factors because they involve how fam-
Although we know that the two Jims showed remarkable similarities ily members interact and share experi-
in personality, they also displayed unique differences. Jim Lewis (le ences. One of the major surprises to
come out of the twin studies was how
photo) says that he is more easygoing and little impact parental practices and
less of a worrier than his identical twin, shared family experiences have on per-
Jim Springer (right photo). When the twins sonality development. Researchers
get on a plane, Jim Springer worries about concluded that being raised in the
the plane being late, while Jim Lewis says same family contributes little (about 7%) to personality develop-
that there is no use worrying (San Diego Tribune, November 12, ment. Far more important for personality development are non-
1987). One of the reasons that the two Jims developed different per- shared environmental factors (27%), which refer to how each
sonality traits is that about 27% of the influence on personality child’s unique genetic factors react and adjust to being in that
development comes from how each individual’s genetic factors react family (Bouchard & Loehlin, 2001; De Fruyt et al., 2006). You
and adjust to his or her own environment. ese factors are called can think of genetic factors as pushing and pulling personality
nonshared environmental factors because they involve how each development in certain directions, while environmental factors
individual’s genetic factors react and adjust to his or her particular join in to push and pull it in the same or different directions.
environment.
Next, we’ll take a last look at the impact of trait theory.

C . G E N E T I C I N F L U E N C E S O N T R A I T S 467

D. Evaluation of Trait Theory

Could we live It would be very difficult to live Personal person’s traits. Newspapers are full of personal ads,
without traits because you use Want Ad which are essentially a list of most-desired traits.
without traits? them constantly, usually without
knowing it. For example, when- Personal ads are Although traits are very useful as a shorthand to
ever you describe someone or predict how he or she will based on traits. describe a person’s personality and predict a person’s
behave, your descriptions of personality and predictions behaviors, critics raise three major questions about
of behaviors are based almost entirely on knowing the traits: How good is the list? Can traits predict? What
influences traits? We’ll discuss each issue in turn.

How Good Is the List? Can Traits Predict? What Influences Traits? Photo Credit: © AP Images/Joseph Kaczmarek
Figure/Text Credit: Bar graph data from “Genes, Environment, and Personality,” by T. J. Bouchard, 1994, Science, 264, 1700–1701. American Association for the
e Big Five, or five-factor trait theory, One of the more serious problems One major surprise from twin studies was what Advancement of Science. Additional data from Bouchard & Loehlin, 2001, Plomin & Crabbe, 2000.
assumes that all similarities and differ- faced by early trait theory involved the relatively little effect parental practices or shared
ences among personalities can be assumption that, since traits are con- family experiences have on personality develop-
described by an amazingly short but sistent and stable influences on our ment (graph below). Researchers concluded that
comprehensive list of five traits—open- behaviors, traits should be very useful parental practices or shared factors contributed
ness, conscientiousness, extraversion, in predicting behaviors. only about 7% to personality development. In
agreeableness, and neuroticism contrast, how each child personally reacts or
(OCEAN). Each of the Big Five traits Rush Limbaugh adjusts to parental or family practices, called
has two poles or two dimensions, preached law and nonshared factors, contributed about 27% to
which include dozens of related traits. order on his talk- personality development (Bouchard & Loehlin,
2001; Plomin & Crabbe, 2000). is finding ques-
e Big Five traits’ ability to describe radio show but tioned a major belief of developmental psycholo-
personality has now been verified in was a drug addict gists, who hold that sharing parental or family
many different countries, with differ- environment greatly influences personality devel-
ent populations and age groups (Allik in private. opment among siblings (brothers and sisters).
& McCrae, 2004; Schmitt et al., 2007). Instead, twin research suggests that psychologists
But how does trait theory explain need to look more closely at each child’s reactions
The Big Five traits have the ability to why Rush Limbaugh behaved so to his or her family environment as a major
describe personalities of children and inconsistently? He preached law and influence on personality development.
order and right-wing conservative
adults in many different countries. moral standards on his radio talk Influences on Personality
show, but in his private life he had
Critics of the five-factor model point become a drug addict and was alleg- Genetic factors 40%
out that the data for the model came edly having his maid buy drugs on the
from questionnaires that may be too black market. Nonshared 27%
structured to give real and complete environmental factors
portraits of personalities. As a result, One explanation is that Limbaugh
data from questionnaires may paint did behave in a consistent moral way 7% Shared
too simplistic a picture of human per- in public situations (radio talk shows). factors
sonality and may not reflect its depth However, in other situations, such as
and complexity (J. Block, 1995). Crit- his private life, he had become a drug Personality development depends more on
ics also point out that traits primarily addict. This problem of predicting genetic and nonshared factors (child’s individual
describe a person’s personality rather behavior across situations is known
than explain or point out its causes as the person-situation interaction. reactions) than on shared parental influences.
(Digman, 1997). Researchers found that situations may
have as much influence on behavior as According to behavioral geneticists, the idea
In defense of the five-factor theory, traits do, so situational influences must of genes influencing complex human behaviors
researchers have shown that the Big be taken into account when predicting was unthinkable as recently as 15 years ago.
Five traits provide a valid and reliable someone’s behavior (Funder, 2008). Today, however, there is convincing evidence
way to describe personality differences Researchers found that traits could that genetic factors exert a considerable influence
and consistencies in our own lives and better predict behaviors if traits were on many complex human behaviors, including
in our social interactions with others measured under different conditions intelligence, mental health, and personality traits
(R. R. McCrae & Costa, 2003). and situations. (Bouchard, 2004). Yet these same researchers
warn that genetic influences on human behavior
Currently, the Big Five traits are should not be blown out of proportion. Because
considered useful concepts for describ- heritability scores generally do not exceed 50%,
ing consistent and stable behavioral this means the remaining 50% or more involves
tendencies in similar situations, but environmental influences, especially nonshared
traits do not necessarily predict behav- environmental influences.
iors across different situations.

468 M O D U L E 2 0 S O C I A L C O G N I T I V E & T R A I T T H E O R I E S

Concept Review

1. Social cognitive theory says that personality development is 7. A relatively stable and enduring tendency to behave in a partic-
primarily shaped by three interacting forces: , ular way is called a (a) . A statistical procedure
, and . that may be used to find relationships among many different or
diverse items, such as traits, and form them into selected groups
is called (b) .
2. The above three forces
1 Cognitive factors YOU all interact to influence how 8. The model that organizes all personal-
2 Behaviors we evaluate, interpret, and ity traits into five categories that can be
3 Environmental factors organize used to describe differences in personality
and apply such knowledge is called the (a) model. This model uses the Big
to ourselves and others. Five traits, which are (b) , ,

3. An example of the social cognitive approach is Bandura’s , , and .

social cognitive theory, which says that personality development, 9. Research supports the five-factor model and the
growth, and change are influenced by four distinctively human Big Five traits. Each of the Big Five traits has two
cognitive processes: highly developed (a) ability, poles or dimensions and represents a wide range of
(b) learning, (c) behavior, and
(d) . .

10. Walter Mischel said that to predict a person’s
behavior we must take into account not only the
4. Three different beliefs based on social cognitive theory have person’s traits but also the effects of the situation;
been shown to influence personality development and behavior.
Rotter referred to beliefs concerning how this became known as the (a) .
According to this idea, a person’s behavior results
much control we have over situations or from an (b) between his or her
rewards. If we believe that we have control
over situations and rewards, we are said to traits and the effects of being in a particular situation.

have an (a) . If we believe 11. To investigate whether personality changes as people grow
that we do not have control over situations
and rewards and that events outside ourselves (fate) determine older, psychologists study the same individuals at different times;
this is called a (a) study. In general, studies have
what happens, we are said to have an (b) . shown that personality is more likely to change

if a person is under (b) years
old. After that, changes usually involve varia-
Should I take 5. According to Bandura, our personal beliefs tions on the same behavioral theme or accom-
one marshmallow regarding how capable we are of exercising
now or wait and control over events in our lives—for example, pany changes in social roles.

get two later? carrying out certain tasks and behaviors—is

called (a) , which, in turn, 12. The field that focuses on how inherited or genetic
factors influence and interact with psychological fac-
affects our performance on a wide variety of tors is called (a) . A statistical mea-
behaviors. Mischel devised ways of measuring
our ability to voluntarily postpone an immedi- sure that estimates how much of some behavior is due
to genetic influences is called (b) .
ate reward and persist in completing a task for
the promise of a future reward, which is called
(b) . 13. Studies have found that about 40% of the influence on person-
ality development comes from (a) ; about 27%
comes from how each person adjusts to his or her own environ-
6. The approach to describe the structure of personality that is ment, which is called (b) ; and about 7% comes
based on identifying and analyzing ways in which personalities from parental patterns and family experiences, which are called
differ is known as theory. (c) .

Photo Credits: all, © PhotoDisc, Inc. Answers: 1. cognitive-personal factors, behavior, environmental influences; 2. information; 3. (a) language, (b) observational, (c) purposeful,
(d) self-analysis; 4. (a) internal locus of control, (b) external locus of control; 5. (a) self-efficacy, (b) delay of gratification; 6. trait; 7. (a) trait,
(b) factor analysis; 8. (a) five-factor, (b) openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism; 9. behaviors; 10. (a) person-situation
interaction, (b) interaction; 11. (a) longitudinal, (b) 30; 12. (a) behavioral genetics, (b) heritability; 13. (a) genetic factors, (b) nonshared environ-
mental factors, (c) shared environmental factors

C O N C E P T R E V I E W 469

E. Research Focus: 180-Degree Change

Total Change in One Day?

Sometimes researchers study unusual saw his room lit with a bright light. In his mind’s eye, he saw
What triggers a behaviors that seem to contradict what is himself on a mountaintop and felt that spirit winds were blow-
major change? known. For example, anyone who has ing through him. en, suddenly, a simple but powerful thought
burst upon him: he was a free man (E. Kurtz, 1979). is dramatic
ever tried to change some behavior finds experience changed Wilson’s personality 180 degrees as he went
it difficult because traits are relatively stable and enduring. For this from being a desperate and hopeless drunk to being a sober and
reason, it’s difficult to believe people who claim to dedicated worker who devoted his life to helping others overcome
have totally changed their personalities in minutes,
hours, or a single day. Researchers call these sud- alcoholism.
den, dramatic changes quantum personality Reports of sudden and major changes in personality chal-
changes (W. R. Miller & C’de Baca, 1994, 2001).
lenge two well-established findings: First, personality traits are
A quantum personality change refers to making stable and enduring tendencies that may change gradually but
rarely undergo sudden and dramatic changes; and second, even
a very radical or dramatic shift in one’s personality, when people want to change their personalities, as in therapy, it
doesn’t happen overnight but takes considerable time and effort.
beliefs, or values in minutes, hours, or a day. en how can quantum personality changes occur, o en in a sin-
gle day? To answer this question, researchers first had to develop
For example, here’s the quantum personality How much could a method to study quantum changes.
change of Bill Wilson, who cofounded Alcoholics you change in
Anonymous (AA). He was in the depths of alco- one day?
holic despair and depression when he suddenly

Method Results Conclusions
e quantum personality
Researchers found people who had Researchers used a variety of personality tests to make sure the sub-
experienced a quantum personal- jects (31 women and 24 men) performed within the normal range changes reported by the
ity change through a feature story on personality tests and had no strange problems. In fact, based on subjects were dramatical-
in the local paper (Albuquerque, the battery of personality tests and interviews, all the subjects ly larger than are ordinar-
New Mexico). Researchers asked seemed to be normal, ordinary individuals who had had extraordi- ily observed, occurred in
for volunteers who, in a relatively nary experiences (W. R. Miller & C’de Baca, 1994). Here are some of a shorter period of time
short period of time, had experi- the study’s major findings: than is normally report-
enced a transformation in their O A majority of subjects ed, and lasted for years
basic values, feelings, attitudes, or (58%) could specify the As if Quantum (C’de Baca & Wilbourne,
actions. Out of a total of 89 people date and time of day when struck by personality 2004; W. R. Miller & C’de
who responded, 55 were found the quantum experience light or Baca, 1994).
acceptable. ese 55 subjects were occurred even though the hearing change
given a series of personality tests experience had occurred, a voice For most of the sub-
and structured interviews (average jects, the changes repre-
length 107 minutes). on average, 11 years earlier. sented an increased sense
O A majority of subjects of meaning, happiness,
Structured interviews involve (75%) reported that the quantum experience began suddenly and and satisfaction; some
asking each individual the same set of took them by surprise. For some the experience lasted only minutes reported a sense of close-
relatively narrow and focused ques- (13%), and for most it was over within 24 hours (64%). e actual ness to God. This study
tions so that the same information is experiences included being struck by an intense thought, making a suggests that quantum
obtained from everyone. total commitment, hearing a voice, and hearing God’s voice. changes in personality
O A majority of subjects (56%) reported a high level of emotional do occur and may be one
During structured interviews, distress and a relatively high level of negative life experiences in the way a person solves some
all subjects were asked the same year before the quantum experience. long-standing and stress-
detailed questions about the what, O Most (96%) reported that the quantum experience had made ful personal problem.
when, and where of the unusual their lives better, and most (80%) stated that the changes had lasted.
experiences that had apparently All of these 55 individuals reported that they had, in a single day In many cases, people
transformed their personalities or less, experienced a 180-degree change in personality. For the vast who experienced quan-
so completely. majority, the quantum change in personality seems to have resulted tum personality changes
from or been triggered by a period of bad times. A er the quantum also reported subsequent
Structured interviews use the change, subjects reported that their lives had improved. changes in behavior.
subjects’ self-reports to provide When these individuals were interviewed ten years later,
information about subjective researchers found that the dramatic changes continued and no As you’ll see next, how
thoughts, feelings, and experi- one reported returning to their old ways (C’de Baca & Wilbourne, much personality influ-
ences, which are most o en unob- 2004). ences behavior is part-
servable cognitive and emotional ly dependent on one’s
processes. culture.

470 M O D U L E 2 0 S O C I A L C O G N I T I V E & T R A I T T H E O R I E S

F. Cultural Diversity: Suicide Bombers

Why was Arien One of the most difficult and tragic I believe Israeli an Israeli woman. As she walked
issues for Westerners to under- forces killed my through an Israeli town carrying
the exception? stand is the reasons behind sui- fiancé and I want to a heavy backpack containing a
avenge his death. bomb surrounded with nails, she
cide bombers. Recently, a young
woman agreed to tell her story of how she became a suicide began to have second thoughts.
bomber (Bennet, 2002). She described a kind of awakening and remem-
Arien Ahmed (right photo) was a 20-year-old Palestinian bered a childhood belief “that nobody has the right
student of business administration at Bethlehem Univer- to stop anybody’s life.” At that moment she decided
sity. Five days a er she had volunteered to become a suicide not to go through with the bombing. She was later
bomber, she was pulled out of a marketing lecture and shown arrested by Israeli police (Bennet, 2002). Arien was a
how to trigger a bomb inside a backpack. She got into a old car rare exception, since suicide bombers almost never fail to complete
with another would-be killer and went on her mission dressed as their deadly missions.

Cultural & Personal Reasons
A er Arien was arrested, she said that she agreed to tell her story ere are many other reasons women become suicide bombers.
to discourage other Palestinians from becoming suicide bombers For instance, 21-year-old Wafa Samir al-Biss, a burn victim, volun-
and to gain sympathy for herself. The Israeli Security Agency, teered to martyr herself a er she was told she would never marry
which allowed Arien to be interviewed by newspaper reporters, due to her many scars. Others become suicide bombers to escape
appeared eager to show how easily militants manipulate susceptible the shame of being a rape victim. Yet others choose to become sui-
people and send them to kill and die (Bennet, 2002). cide bombers instead of receiving the death sentence. At least this
What conditions lead to suicide attacks? In the mid-1990s, way they believe they will die as a proud martyr (Abdul-Zahra &
there were more than 20 suicide attacks throughout Turkey. e Murphy, 2009; Dviri, 2005; McGirk, 2007).
attacks have since stopped because the Turkish government under- Jyad Sarraj, a Palestinian psychiatrist, states he cannot criti-
took steps to satisfy the rebel forces’ demands. Since 1990, Chech- cize the suicide bombers because their culture considers them to
nyans have engaged in suicide attacks in be martyrs and martyrs are consid-
their effort to win their independence ered prophets, who are revered (Sar-
from Russia (Zakaria, 2003). Since 2002, raj, 2002). Other experts state the
Palestinian women have become increas- increasing number of women who
Photo Credits: top, James Bennet/The New York Times/Redux Pictures; bottom, © AP Images/Raanan Cohen ingly involved in acts of terrorism, and are becoming suicide bombers shows
nearly 100 have attempted suicide bomb- that women are taking a step forward
ings (McGirk, 2007). Let’s take a look at in achieving status equal to men
the reasons Palestinian women choose to (Bloom, 2005).
become suicide bombers. Do suicide bombers share cer-
What motivates a suicide bomber? tain traits? Almost all of the suicide
Arien was motivated by both personal and bombers have been Muslim, relatively
cultural reasons. As she told Israeli secu- young, single, varying in education,
rity agents, her strong personal reason with some knowledge of political
was that she wanted to avenge the death causes and terror tactics (Bennet,
of her fiancé, whom she believed had been Since 2002, nearly 100 Palestinian women 2002; Zakaria, 2003). These traits
killed by Israeli forces (who said that her have committed suicide bombings. tend to be general, however, and

fiancé accidentally blew himself up). A er his death, she said, “So I apply to many Palestinians who do not become suicide bombers.
lost all my future.” Arien’s recruiters told her that dying as a suicide Israel’s national security force studied suicide bombers, and their
attacker would earn her the reward of rejoining her slain fiancé in results are puzzling. ey didn’t find any specific personality pro-
paradise. Even though Arien now calls her attempt to be a suicide file or traits that differentiated suicide bombers from nonbombers.
bomber a mistake, she said she understood it. “It’s a result of the However, as in Arien’s case, some powerful, tragic emotional event,
situation we live in. ere are also innocent people killed on both such as the death of her fiancé, may be the final hurt that, com-
sides” (Bennet, 2002, p. A1). bined with cultural forces, led her to become a suicide bomber.
ere are also strong Muslim cultural influences that encour- What does the future hold? Government officials believe that
age women, such as Arien, to become suicide bombers. For exam- suicide attacks will continue until there is a peace settlement in
ple, during the past several years, women have been increasingly the Middle East. Until then, violent Muslim groups will continue
involved in Palestinian terrorism largely because their involvement to use suicide bombers because they have widespread cultural
is unsuspected by others and their actions receive heightened media approval and are an effective method of killing, instilling fear, and
attention. e use of women as suicide bombers is also thought to spreading their political message (Bennet, 2002).
convey the seriousness of the threat and to make the men involved Next, we’ll briefly review the four major theories of personality
act more aggressively (Berko & Erez, 2006; Bloom, 2005). to help you understand their major points.

F. C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y : S U I C I D E B O M B E R S 471

G. Four Theories of Personality

Psychodynamic Theory Humanistic Theories
Freud’s psychodynamic theory, which was developed in the early
1900s, grew out of his work with patients. Humanistic theories emphasize our capacity for personal
Freud’s psychodynamic theory of per- growth, development of our potential, and freedom to choose
sonality emphasizes the importance of
Conscious early childhood experiences, the impor- our destiny. Humanistic theories stress three
thoughts tance of repressed thoughts that we can- major points—phenomenological perspective,
holistic view, and self-actualization.
not voluntarily access, and the conflicts
between conscious and unconscious forces e phenomenological perspective means
Behavior that influence our thoughts and behaviors. that our perception of the world, whether or
not it is accurate, becomes our reality.
(Freud used the term dynamic to refer to
mental energy force.) The holistic view means that a person’s
Unconscious Conscious thoughts are wishes, desires, personality is more than the sum of its indi-
forces or thoughts that we are aware of or can vidual parts; instead, the individual parts
form a unique and total entity that functions
recall at any given moment. as a unit.
Unconscious forces represent wishes, desires, or thoughts that, Self-actualization refers to our inherent tendency to reach
because of their disturbing or threatening content, we automatically our true potentials.
repress and cannot voluntarily access. Humanistic theories reject the biological determinism and
Freud believed that a large part of our behavior was guided or the irrational, unconscious forces of Freud’s psychodynamic
motivated by unconscious forces. theory. Humanistic theories emphasize freely choosing to go
Unconscious motivation is a Freudian concept that refers to the a er one’s dream and change one’s destiny.
influence of repressed thoughts, desires, or impulses on our conscious e beginning of humanistic theory can be traced to two
thoughts and behaviors. psychologists: Abraham Maslow, who rejected behaviorism’s
Freud developed three methods to uncover unconscious processes: system of rewards and punishment, and Carl Rogers, who
free association, dream interpretation, and slips of the tongue rejected Freud’s psychodynamic theory with its emphasis on
(Freudian slips). unconscious forces.
Abraham Maslow
Divisions of the Mind
Maslow (1968) broke away from the reward/
Freud divided the mind into three divisions: id, ego, and superego. punishment/observable behavior mentality of
e first division is the id, which contains behaviorism and developed his humanistic
two biological drives—sex and aggression— theory. Maslow’s humanistic theory empha-
that are the source of all mental energy. e Super- Ego sized two things: our capacity for growth or
id follows the pleasure principle, which is to ego self-actualization and our desire to satisfy a
variety of needs.
satisfy the biological drives.
e second division is the ego, whose goal Maslow’s hierarchy of needs arranges needs
is to find socially acceptable ways of satisfying in ascending order, with biological needs at
the id’s desires within the range of the super- Id the bottom and social and personal needs
toward the top; as needs at one level are met, we
ego’s prohibitions. e ego follows the reality advance to the next level.
principle, which is to satisfy a wish or desire Carl Rogers’s Self Theory
only if there is a socially acceptable outlet available.
e third division is the superego, whose goal is to apply the moral
values and standards of one’s parents or caregivers and society in sat- Carl Rogers rejected the psychodynamic approach because it
isfying one’s wishes. placed too much emphasis on unconscious, irrational forces.
Instead, Rogers developed a new humanistic theory, which
1. Oral Psychosexual Stages is called self theory. Rogers’s self theory, also called self-

Freud assumed that our personality develops as actualization theory, has two primary assumptions: Personality
we pass through a series of five psychosexual development is guided by each person’s unique self-actualization
2. Anal stages. tendency, and each of us has a per- Photo Credit: © Getty Images
3. Phallic Ideal Self sonal need for positive regard.
4. Latency During these developmental periods—the hopes & wishes
5. Genital oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital stages— Rogers said that the self is made
the individual seeks pleasure from different areas up of many self-perceptions, abili-
of the body associated with sexual feelings. Freud ties, personality characteristics, and
emphasized that the child’s first five years were Real Self behaviors that are organized and
the most important in personality development. actual experiences consistent with one another.

472 M O D U L E 2 0 S O C I A L C O G N I T I V E & T R A I T T H E O R I E S

Social Cognitive Theory Trait Theory
Freud’s psychodynamic theory, developed in the early 1900s, grew
out of his work with patients. Humanistic theories were developed For over 50 years, a major goal of personality researchers was
to find a way to define the structure of personality with the few-
in the 1960s by an ex-Freudian (Carl Rogers) and
an ex-behaviorist (Abraham Maslow), who est possible traits. e search for a list of traits that
believed that previous theories had neglected could describe personality differences among
the positive side of human potential, growth, everyone, including criminals and nuns,
began in the 1930s with a list of about 4,500
and self-fulfillment. traits and ended in the 1990s with a list of
In comparison, social cognitive the- only 5 traits.
ory, which was developed in the 1960s In the 1990s, trait theory developed the
and 1970s, grew out of a strong research five-factor model, which is based on labora-
background, unlike the way humanistic tory research, especially questionnaires and
and Freudian psychodynamic theories statistical procedures. Trait theory refers to
were developed. Social cognitive theory an approach for analyzing the structure of
Photo Credits: top left, © Tor Richardsen/AFP/Getty Images; top and center right and bottom left, © PhotoDisc, Inc.; bottom right, © Michael Nichols/Magnum Photos emphasizes a more rigorous experi- personality by measuring, identifying, and
mental approach to develop and test concepts that can be used to classifying similarities and differences in
understand and explain personality development. personality characteristics or traits. e basic
Social cognitive theory unit for measuring personality characteristics
says that personality devel- 1 Cognitive factors Y
opment is primarily shaped 2 Behaviors O is the trait. Traits are relatively stable and enduring tendencies
by three factors: environ- 3 Environmental factors U to behave in particular ways, but behavior is not always the
mental conditions (learning), same across different situations.
cognitive-personal factors,
and behavior. Behavior includes a variety of actions, such as what Trait theory says relatively little about the development or
we do and say. Environmental influences include our social, politi- growth of personality but instead emphasizes measuring and
cal, and cultural influences as well as our particular learning expe- identifying differences among personalities.
riences. Just as our cognitive factors influence how we perceive and Five-Factor Model
interpret our environment, our environment in turn affects our The five-factor model organizes all personality
beliefs, values, and social roles. Cognitive-personal factors include traits into five categories—openness, conscientious-
our beliefs, expectations, values, intentions, and social roles as ness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism
well as our biological and genetic influences. us, what we think, (OCEAN). ese traits, which are referred to as the
believe, and feel affects how we act and behave. Big Five traits, raise three major issues.

Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory First, although traits are stable tendencies to
behave in certain ways, this stability
Perhaps the best example of the social cognitive approach is Ban- does not necessarily apply across
dura’s social cognitive theory, which he developed in the 1970s. situations. According to the person-
Bandura’s social cognitive theory says that personality develop- situation interaction, you may
ment, growth, and change are influenced by four distinctively behave differently in different situ-
human cognitive processes: highly developed language ability, ations because of the effects of a
observational learning, purposeful behavior, particular situation.
Should I take and self-analysis. Second, personality traits are
one marshmallow both changeable and stable:
now or wait and Bandura’s theory emphasizes cognitive fac- Most change occurs before age 30
get two later? tors, such as personal values, goals, and beliefs. because adolescents and young adults
Three particular beliefs have been shown to
influence personality development: locus of are more willing to adopt new values and attitudes
control, which refers to how much control we or revise old ones; most stability occurs after age
think we have over our environment; delay 30, but adults do continue to grow in their ideas,
of gratification, which involves our vol- beliefs, and attitudes.
untarily postponing an immediate reward
for the promise of a future reward; and Third, genetic factors have a consider-
self-efficacy, which refers to our personal able influence on personality traits and
beliefs of how capable we are in perform- behaviors. Genetic factors push and pull
ing specific tasks and behaviors. the development of certain traits, whose
One of the basic assumptions of social cognitive theory is that development may be helped or hindered
our beliefs, values, and goals influence the development of our per- by environmental factors.
sonalities, which, in turn, affects how we behave.
Traits are useful in that they provide
shorthand descriptions of people and
predict certain behaviors.

G . F O U R T H E O R I E S O F P E R S O N A L I T Y 473

H. Application: Assessment—Objective Tests

Definition Examples of Objective Tests
e study of traits has become Objective personality tests are used in both business and
Why are big business because traits are How honest clinical settings. In business settings, self-report question-

traits big used in constructing person- are most naires are often used in selecting employees for certain

business? ality tests. For example, if employees? traits, such as being honest and trustworthy (C. M. Berry et
you’re applying for a job, you al., 2007; Spector et al., 2006).
may be asked to fill out a written questionnaire,
which is really a honesty or integrity test. To help Integrity Tests

employers make hiring decisions, about 6,000 Integrity or honesty tests are supposed to assess whether indi-
viduals have high levels of the trait of honesty. Questions asked
companies administer integrity tests to weed out on honesty tests are similar to the following (Lilienfeld, 1993):
dishonest job applicants each year (L. T. Cullen,
2006). These tests aim to predict how likely an 1. Have you ever stolen merchandise from your place of
work?
applicant is to engage in counterproductive work 2. Have you ever been tempted to steal a piece of
behaviors (e.g., stealing, arguing, lying, blaming)
(C. M. Berry et al., 2007; Spector et al., 2006). jewelry from a store?
3. Do you think most people steal money from their
Integrity tests, which are the most frequently workplace every now and then? Would you buy a gold
administered psychological tests in the United watch from this man?

States, are examples of objective personality tests 4. A person has been a loyal and honest employee at
a firm for 20 years. One day, a er realizing she neglected to bring lunch money,
(Mumford et al., 2001). she takes $10 from her workplace but returns it the next day. Should she be fired?
Objective personality tests, also called self-report
People strong in the trait of honesty answer: (1) no, (2) no, (3) no, (4) yes.
questionnaires, consist of specific written statements Notice that some self-report questionnaires, such as the integrity test, focus

that require individuals to indicate, for example, by on measuring a single personality trait—in this case honesty. e next self-report

I would never give free checking “true” or “false,” questionnaire, called the MMPI-2, is used primarily in clinical settings and mea-
drinks to my friends— whether the statements sures a number of traits and personality problems.
it’s against the rules. apply to them.
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2
Because objective per-
sonality tests or self-report Suppose a parole board needed to decide if a convicted murderer had changed
questionnaires use very spe- enough in prison to be let out on parole. To help make this decision, they might use
cific questions and require a test that identifies the range of normal and abnormal personality traits, such as
very specific answers, they the well-known Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2), which
are considered to be highly has recently been updated to include fewer test items while retaining the effective-
structured, or objective. ness of the longer version (Ben-Porath, 2010). e revised test is named MMPI-2-RF
In comparison, projec- (Restructured Form), but for simplicity, we will continue to refer to it as MMPI-2.
tive tests (pp. 450–451) The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-RF (MMPI-2) is a true-false self-

use ambiguous stimuli (inkblots or photos), have report questionnaire that consists of 338 statements describing a wide range of normal and

widely varying responses, and are considered to abnormal behaviors. The purpose of the MMPI-2 is to measure the personality style and

be unstructured, or projective, personality tests. emotional adjustment in individuals with mental illness.

It is most likely that, as part of a job interview, The MMPI-2 asks about and identifies a variety of specific
you will be asked to take a variety of self-report personality traits, including depression, hostility, high energy,
questionnaires. That’s because employers, cli- and shyness, and plots whether these traits are in the normal or
nicians, researchers, and government and law abnormal range. e statements below are similar to actual
enforcement agencies use self-report question- statements in the MMPI-2:
naires to identify and differentiate personality O I tire quickly.
traits. O I am not worried about sex.
e basic assumption behind self-report ques- O I believe people are plotting against me. Could a test show
tionnaires brings us back to the definition of traits. One advantage of this test is that it has three kinds of scales: if a person were
We defined traits as stable and enduring tenden- validity scales, which assess whether the client was faking ready for parole? Photo Credits: all, © PhotoDisc, Inc.

cies to behave in certain ways. Self-report ques- good or bad answers; clinical scales, which identify psychological disorders, such
tionnaires identify traits, which employers use to as depression or schizophrenia; and content scales, which identify specific areas,
predict how prospective employees will behave in such as the anger scale, which includes references to being irritable and to difficul-
particular jobs or situations (D. J. Ozer, 1999). ties controlling anger (R. M. Kaplan & Saccuzzo, 2009).
Before we discuss how valid and reliable self- e MMPI-2 is a commonly used objective test to assess a wide range of person-
report questionnaires are in predicting behavior, ality traits, numerous behaviors, health and psychosomatic symptoms, and many
we’ll examine two of the more popular self-report well-known psychotic symptoms (Ben-Porath, 2010).
questionnaires. Another method that claims to identify your particular traits involves astrology.

474 M O D U L E 2 0 S O C I A L C O G N I T I V E & T R A I T T H E O R I E S

Reliability and Validity Usefulness
About 78% of women and 70% of men read Self-report questionnaires and objective
How do horoscopes, and many believe that they are so Is a monk personality tests are popular and widely

horoscopes correct that they were written especially for or a devil used because they assess information

work? them (D. F. Halpern, 1998). As you read the more honest? about traits in a structured way so that
horoscope on the right, note how many traits such information can be compared with
apply to you. Because horoscopes contain general others who have taken the same tests. For example, employ-
traits, people believe horoscopes were written espe- ers and government and law enforcement agencies use
cially for them, a phenomenon called the Barnum objective personality tests, such as integrity tests, to com-
principle (Snyder et al., 1977). pare and select certain traits in job applicants (L. T. Cullen,
The Barnum principle (named after the famous circus 2006). Researchers use objective personality tests to differ-

owner P. T. Barnum) refers to the method of listing many entiate between people’s traits. Counselors and clinicians

general traits so that almost everyone who reads the horo- use objective personality tests, such as the MMPI-2, to

scope thinks that these traits apply specifically to him or You are bright, identify personality traits and potential psychological prob-
sincere, and likable
her. But, in fact, these traits are so general that they apply but can be too hard lems (J. R. Graham, 2005). We’ll discuss the disadvantages
to almost everyone. and advantages of objective personality tests.

Astrologers claim they can identify your personal- on yourself. Disadvantages

ity traits by knowing the sign under which you were One disadvantage of objective personality tests is that their
born. However, researchers found that horoscopes do not assess
personality traits for a particular individual, which means horo- questions and answers are very structured, and critics from the
psychodynamic approach point out that such structured tests
scopes lack one of the two characteristics of a good test—validity may not assess deeper or unconscious personality factors. A sec-
(Hartmann, 2006).
ond disadvantage comes from the straightfor- Of course,
Validity ward questions, which often allow people to I’m a very, very
Students claim that the Scorpio horoscope, which I (R. P.) wrote, is figure out what answers are most socially honest person.
accurate for them. e reason I can write “accurate” horoscopes is desirable or acceptable and thus bias the test
that I use the Barnum principle, which means results. For example, one problem with integ-
I read my that I state personality traits in a general way rity tests is that the answers can be faked so
horoscope every
day, and it’s always so that they apply to everyone. that the person appears more trustworthy
right on the mark. Validity means that the test measures what it (compare the devil’s and monk’s responses on

claims or is supposed to measure. the right) (L. T. Cullen, 2006). Third, many

A personality test that has no validity is no self-report questionnaires measure specific I’m not as
better than chance at describing or predicting traits, which we know may predict behavior in honest as I
a particular individual’s traits. For example, the same situations but not across situations. should be.
researchers found that the 12 zodiac signs were is means a person may behave honestly with
Photo Credits: top, Corel Gallery; center right and bottom left and right, © PhotoDisc, Inc. no better than chance at identifying traits for a his or her family but not necessarily with his or
particular individual (Svensen & White, 1994). her employer.
Because horoscopes cannot identify or predict
traits for a particular person, horoscopes lack validity. The rea- Advantages
son horoscopes remain popular and seem to be “accurate” is that
astrologers essentially use the Barnum principle, which means their One advantage of objective personality tests is
horoscopes are “accurate” for almost everyone. For comparison, that they are easily administered and can be
integrity tests generally have low validity, while the MMPI-2 has taken individually or in groups. A second Which of these
good validity, which means it can describe and predict behaviors advantage is that, since the questions are struc- two would you
for particular individuals (R. M. Kaplan & Saccuzzo, 2009). In addi- tured and require either a true-false or yes-no
tion to validity, a good personality test must also have reliability. trust?

answer, the scoring is straightforward. ird, many of the self-
report questionnaires have good reliability. For example, the reli-
ability of the MMPI-2 ranges from 0.70 to 0.85 (1.0 is perfect
Reliability reliability) (R. M. Kaplan & Saccuzzo, 2009). Fourth, the validity

Even though horoscopes lack validity, they may actually have the of self-report questionnaires varies with the test; it ranges from
second characteristic of a good personality test—reliability. poor to good. For example, the validity of integrity tests appears
Reliability refers to consistency: A person’s score on a test at one point to be poor: In one study, a group of monks and nuns scored “more
in time should be similar to the score obtained by the same person on a dishonest” than a group of prisoners in jail (Rieke & Guastello,
similar test at a later point in time. 1995). In comparison, many studies on the MMPI-2 indicate that

Horoscopes may be reliable if the astrologer remains the same. its validity is good (R. M. Kaplan & Saccuzzo, 2009).
Integrity tests and the MMPI-2 have good reliability. However, the Because objective personality tests and projective personality
MMPI-2 is better than integrity tests because the MMPI-2 has both tests (pp. 450–451) have different advantages and disadvantages,
good validity and reliability, while the integrity test has good reli- counselors and clinical psychologists may use a combination of
ability but low validity (R. M. Kaplan & Saccuzzo, 2009). both to assess a client’s personality traits and problems.

H . A P P L I C A T I O N : A S S E S S M E N T — O B J E C T I V E T E S T S 475

Summary Test

A. Social Cognitive Theory and analyzing differences in person-
ality is called (b)
1. One theory says that person- theory. In attempting to pare down
ality development is shaped a list of traits by finding relation-
1 Cognitive factors ships among them, researchers have
used a statistical method called
primarily by environmental 2 Behaviors YOU (c) .
conditions (learning), cognitive- 3 Environmental factors
personal factors, and behavior,
which all interact to influence
how we evaluate, interpret, and organize information and apply
that information to ourselves and others; this is called the 7. The model that organizes all personality traits into five
categories is called the (a) . These five categories,
theory. known as the Big Five, are (b) , ,

2. Albert Bandura called the version of his original social learn- , , and ; their
initial letters spell the word OCEAN.
ing theory the (a) theory. Bandura’s theory
assumes that four distinctively human cognitive processes—high-
ly developed language ability, observational learning, purposeful 8. Mischel questioned the basic assumption of trait theory, saying
that, if traits represent consistent behavioral tendencies, they should
behavior, and self-analysis—influence the growth, development, predict behaviors across many different (a) .
and change in (b) .
Instead, he found that people behaved with great consistency in
the same situation but behaved with low consistency across differ-
3. Our highly developed (a) ability provides ent situations. Mischel pointed out that predicting a person’s
us with a tool for processing and understanding information,
which is critical to personality development. Our capacity for behavior must take into account not only the person’s traits but
also the effects of the situation; this idea became known as the
(b) learning allows us to learn through watch- (b) interaction.
ing, without observable behavior or a reinforcer. Our capacity for
forethought enables us to plan ahead and set goals—to perform
(c) behavior. Finally, the fact that we can moni- C. Genetic Influences on Traits
tor our thoughts and actions as well as set and change goals and
values gives us the capacity for (d) . 9. How inherited or genetic factors influence and interact with
psychological factors—for example, the ways we
4. The power of beliefs and ideas to change the way that we inter- behave, adapt, and adjust to our environments—
pret situations and events is one of the basic assumptions of social is the focus of the field of behavioral
cognitive theories. Rotter developed a scale to measure our belief (a) . Current thinking about
about how much control we have over situations or rewards; genetic factors is that they do not fix behaviors
he called this belief (a) . If we believe that we but rather set a range for behaviors. Researchers
have control over situations and rewards, we are said to have an estimate genetic influences with a measure that
(b) locus of control. In contrast, if we believe estimates how much of some behavior is due to
that we do not have control over situations and rewards and that genetic influences; this measure is referred to as
events outside ourselves determine what happens, we are said to (b) .
have an (c) locus of control.
10. Considering the various influences on
5. According to Bandura, our personal belief regarding how personality development, researchers estimated
capable we are of exercising control over events in our lives is that about 40% of the influence comes from
called (a) . According to Mischel, our voluntary (a) , which are inherited. About
postponement of an immediate reward and persistence in com- 27% of the influence on personality development
pleting a task for the promise of a future reward is called delay of comes from environmental factors that involve how each individ-
(b) . ual reacts and adjusts to his or her own environment; these are Photo Credit: top, © SuperStock RF/SuperStock
called (b) factors. About 7% of the influence on
personality development comes from environmental factors that
B. Trait Theory involve parental patterns and shared family experiences; these are

6. A relatively stable and enduring tendency to behave in a partic- called (c) factors. The remaining 26% of the
ular way is called a (a) . An approach to under- influence on personality development cannot as yet be identified
standing the structure of personality by measuring, identifying, and is attributed to errors in testing and measurement procedures.

476 M O D U L E 2 0 S O C I A L C O G N I T I V E & T R A I T T H E O R I E S

D. Evaluation of Trait Theory G. Four Theories of Personality

11. Trait theory assumes that dif- 16. How does personality grow and develop? We discussed four
ferences among personalities can different answers. The theory that emphasizes the importance of
be described by a short but com- early childhood, unconscious factors, the
prehensive list of traits. Critics of three divisions of the mind, and psycho- Super-
ego Ego

the current list, known as the (a) , point out that sexual stages is called (a) .
the data for the model may paint too simplistic a picture of human The theories that focus on the phenomeno-
personality and may not reflect its depth and complexity. Trait logical perspective, a holistic view, and self-
Id

theory assumes that traits are consistent and stable influences on actualization are called (b)
our (b) , but critics argue that when traits are theories. The theory that says that personali-
measured in one situation, they do not necessarily predict behav- ty development is shaped by the interaction Ideal Self

iors in other situations. among three factors—environmental condi- Real Self
tions, cognitive-personal factors, and behav-
12. The biggest changes in personality occur during childhood, ior—is called (c) theory.
adolescence, and young adulthood because young men and
women are somewhat more likely to be open to new ideas. The theory that emphasizes measuring and identifying differences
among personalities is called (d) theory.
Personality is less likely to change after age (a) .
Observations from twin studies indicate that (b)
factors significantly influence personality traits. Critics warn that H. Application: Assessment—Objective Tests
inherited factors should not be exaggerated because 50% or more
of the influence on traits comes from (c) 17. Self-report questionnaires, which consist of specific written
influences. statements that require structured responses—for example,
checking “true” or “false”—are examples of
E. Research Focus: 180-Degree Change personality tests.

13. If you were to experience a sudden and radical or dramatic 18. A true-false self-report questionnaire
shift in personality, beliefs, or values, you would be containing hundreds of statements
said to have experienced a (a) that describe a wide range of normal
in personality. One way researchers studied and abnormal behaviors is called the
these changes in personality was to ask each (a) . The purpose of
individual the same set of relatively narrow and this test is to distinguish normal from
focused questions so that the same information (b) groups.
Photo Credits: (#14) James Bennet/The New York Times/Redux Pictures; (#17) Corel Gallery was obtained from everyone; this method is called
the (b) . 19. The method of listing a number of traits in such a general
way that almost everyone who reads a horoscope thinks that
F. Cultural Diversity: Suicide Bombers many of the traits apply specifically to him or her is called the

principle.

14. Individuals who volunteer to become suicide bombers do so
for both strong (a) and rea-
sons. Personal reasons may include such things
as wanting to avenge the death of a loved one. Answers: 1. social cognitive; 2. (a) social cognitive, (b) personality;
Almost all suicide bombers are raised in the 3. (a) language, (b) observational, (c) purposeful, (d) self-analysis;
Muslim culture, whose beliefs hold that indi- 4. (a) locus of control, (b) internal, (c) external; 5. (a) self-efficacy,
viduals who die as suicide bombers are consid- (b) gratification; 6. (a) trait, (b) trait, (c) factor analysis; 7. (a) five-factor
ered (b) , who are revered in model, Big Five, (b) openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness,
this culture as prophets. neuroticism; 8. (a) situations, (b) person-situation; 9. (a) genetics, (b) heri-
tability; 10. (a) genetic factors, (b) nonshared environmental, (c) shared
15. In pursuing their goals, violent Muslim groups will environmental; 11. (a) Big Five, (b) behaviors; 12. (a) 30, (b) genetic,
continue to use suicide bombers because they have widespread (c) environmental; 13. (a) quantum change, (b) structured interview;
(a) approval and are an effective method of kill- 14. (a) personal, cultural, (b) martyrs; 15. (a) cultural, (b) fear, (c) mes-
ing, instilling (b) , and spreading their political sage; 16. (a) Freud’s psychodynamic theory, (b) humanistic, (c) social
(c) . learning, (d) trait; 17. objective; 18. (a) Minnesota Multiphasic Personality
Inventory-2, or MMPI-2, (b) abnormal; 19. Barnum

S U M M A R Y T E S T 477

Critical Thinking

Personality Tests Help
Employers Find Applicants Who Fit

QUESTIONS More and more job appli- means big savings for the company. 4What are some Photo Credit: © AJA Productions/Getty Images
cants are being required to By using personality tests, one Cali- objections to or
1Why do some take personality tests. Already, fornia theme park increased levels of disadvantages of
employers use at least one-third of employers, employee retention and customer using objective per-
both interviews and ranging from governments to satisfaction, and reduced levels of sonality tests in the
objective personality hospitals, retail stores to restau- absenteeism and theft. Also, a bot- hiring process?
tests in deciding rants, and airlines to manufac- tling company in Milwaukee reduced
whom to hire? turing plants, use personality the number of sick days in half and 5An applicant’s
tests in their hiring and promo- an airline reduced tardiness by one- behavior during an
2Why do companies tion process. third. interview is important,
look for certain but does it generalize
traits in selecting There are many personality Personality tests are increasingly to good behavior on
employees, and why tests, and each measures something being used in the hiring process to the job? Why or
would Freud question different. For instance, the Myers- supplement interviews and a resumé why not?
the importance of Briggs measures personality traits review. So, how should you respond
selecting for traits? necessary for leadership and team- to test questions to be sure you get 6Which objective
work and is used by 89 of the For- the job? Although ideal responses personality test
3If you were using tune 100 companies. The Minnesota vary by job position and company, has a scale to detect
the Big Five traits Multiphasic Personality Inventory experts suggest that you not falsify lying? Can objective
to design a test for (p. 474) measures an individual’s your responses, as many personality personality tests pre-
salespeople who work tendency toward substance abuse tests have a sophisticated way of vent a person from
as a team, which traits and psychopathology and is used knowing if you’re lying. Luis Valdes, “faking his or her
would you look for? by 60% of police departments as a an executive consultant, explains, character”?
way to screen applicants. Personal- “For any given character trait, say
ity tests look at a variety of other independence, there’s an optimal ANSWERS
characteristics such as thought pro- amount. If a person seems to be TO CRITICAL
cesses, sociability, motivation, self- really extreme, well, most people THINKING
awareness, emotional intelligence, aren’t that extreme, so it suggests QUESTIONS
stress management, dependability, they tried to answer all the questions
and work style. in a positive but not very realistic
way” (Valdes, 2006). In the case of
Some experts believe personality personality tests, it appears that
tests are overused and overinter- honesty is the best policy. (Adapted
preted, and caution employers about from Cha, 2005; L. T. Cullen, 2006;
the potential negative impact the use Frieswick, 2004; Gladwell, 2004;
of the tests may have on minority Gunn, 2006; C. Smith, 1997; Valdes,
applicants. Others believe personal- 2006; Wessel, 2003)
ity tests have an important place in
the hiring process because the tests
can predict how well an applicant
“fits” with the job description. For
instance, when hiring a salesperson,
a company can have a list of the per-
sonality traits of successful sales-
people and then match an applicant’s
test results against that standard.

Many companies that have used
personality tests showed a decrease
in absenteeism and turnover, which

478 M O D U L E 2 0 S O C I A L C O G N I T I V E & T R A I T T H E O R I E S

Links to Learning

Key Terms/Key People Learning Activities

agreeableness, 463 Minnesota Multiphasic PowerStudy for Introduction PowerStudy 4.5™
Bandura’s four cognitive Personality Inventory-2- to Psychology 4.5
RF (MMPI-2), 474
factors, 459 Use PowerStudy to complete quizzes and learning activities for Social Cognitive
Bandura’s social cognitive Mischel, Walter, 464 & Trait eories. e DVD also includes interactive versions of the Summary
neuroticism, 463 Test on pages 476–477 and the critical thinking questions for the article on
theory, 459 nonshared environmental page 478, key terms, an outline and an abstract of the module, and an extended
Barnum principle, 475 list of correlated websites.
behavioral genetics, 466 factors, 467
Big Five traits, 463 objective personality CengageNOW!
change in traits, 465 www.cengage.com/login
cognitive factors, 458 tests, 474 Want to maximize your online study time? Take this easy-
conscientiousness, 463 OCEAN, 463 to-use study system’s diagnostic pre-test and it will create a personalized study
delay of gratification, 460 openness, 463 plan for you. e plan will help you identify the topics you need to understand
divisions of the mind, 472 peacekeepers, 462 better and direct you to relevant companion online resources that are specific
enforcers, 462 person-situation to this book, speeding up your review of the module.
environmental factors, 458
error, 467 interaction, 464 Introduction to Psychology Book Companion Website
evaluation of trait personal factors, 458 www.cengage.com/psychology/plotnik
psychodynamic theory, 472 Visit this book’s companion website for more resources to help you
theory, 468 psychosexual stages, 472 study, including learning objectives, additional quizzes, flash cards, updated
evaluation of social quantum personality links to useful websites, and a pronunciation glossary.

cognitive theory, 461 change, 470 Study Guide and WebTutor
extraversion, 463 reliability, 475 Work through the corresponding module in your Study
factor analysis, 462 Rogers’s self theory, 472 Guide for tips on how to study effectively and for help learning the material
five-factor model, 463 self-efficacy, 460 covered in the book. WebTutor (an online Study Tool accessed through your
fraternal twins, 466 shared environmental eResources account) provides an interactive version of the Study Guide.
genetic factors, 467
heritability, 466 factors, 467
humanistic theories, 472 social cognitive theory,
identical twins, 466
identifying traits, 462 458, 473
importance of the Big stability of traits, 465
structured interviews, 470
Five, 463 suicide bombers, 471
locus of control, 459 trait theory, 462, 473
longitudinal method, 465 traits, 462, 473
Maslow, Abraham, 472 traits, 3–21 years old, 465
traits, 22–80 years old, 465
validity, 475

Suggested Answers to Critical Thinking 4. Since objective personality tests use very structured questions,
simplified yes-no answers, and objective scoring, an applicant can
1. Some employers believe that applicants may not always be truthful sometimes figure out and give socially acceptable answers and
in interviews and that objective personality tests may be more thus bias the test in his or her favor. Also, some applicants, espe-
difficult to fool. cially those already in upper-management positions, find the use of
personality tests during the hiring process to be offputting.
2. Employers are looking for certain traits because, according to trait
theory, traits are relatively stable and enduring tendencies to behave 5. A person’s behavior during a job interview doesn’t necessarily pre-
in certain ways and traits predict how people will behave in similar dict good behavior on the job. The reason is the person-situation
situations. Freud would point out that traits are important but that interaction, which states that people may behave differently
behaviors and feelings may be influenced by unconscious forces, because different situations create different cues to which they
of which applicants would not be aware and which are not easily will respond.
measured by objective personality tests.
6. The MMPI-2 has a scale to detect lying. To some degree, people
3. Salespeople who work as a team might be selected for being high may “fake their character” on objective personality tests provided
in openness (open to new experiences), extraversion (outgoing and they can figure out the socially acceptable or desirable answers
decisive), agreeableness (warm and good-natured), and conscien- while still being able to pass the test’s lie detector.
tiousness (responsible and dependable) but low in neuroticism
(stable and not a worrier). L I N K S T O L E A R N I N G 479

Health, Stress

21 & Coping
MODULE

Photo Credit: © Andre Lichtenberg/
Getty Images
A. Appraisal 482 H. Application: Stress Management Programs 502
B. Physiological Responses
C. Stressful Experiences 484 Summary Test 504
D. Personality & Social Factors
Concept Review 490 Critical Thinking 506
E. Kinds of Coping
F. Research Focus: 494 Coping with Cancer

Treatment for Panic Disorder 498 Links to Learning 507
G. Cultural Diversity: Tibetan Monks
499
480
500 PowerStudy 4.5™
501 Complete Module

Introduction

Stress One a ernoon, Luisa, a 23-year-old college Coping As you approach Brenda Combs’s third- and
student, was walking on campus and she fourth-grade classroom, you hear her enthu-
Why does suddenly felt her heart rate rapidly acceler- How has siastically lead her students in joyful singing.
Luisa fear she Brenda’s life

will die? ate, her throat tighten up, and her arms and changed? Brenda has become an extraordinary educa-

legs tremble. She became so nauseous she tor of at-risk children, making a tremendous
almost vomited. Luisa felt she had no control over what was hap- impact on the lives of her students. But, the hours are long, the
pening, and when she went to the doctor, she was told nothing was stress is high, and the pay is so low she has to also work part-time
wrong. Still, she worried she might experi- jobs to make ends meet. She does this all while being a responsible
ence something like this again. Then, and loving single mother to her son, Mycole, who suffered a mas-
weeks later, while at the movies, she had sive stroke at birth and requires special care, and being a graduate
another episode during which she expe- school student (she earned her master’s degree and is now working
rienced dizziness, chest pain, shortness toward her Ed.D.).
of breath, and weakness in her legs Brenda’s story is especially impressive because about ten years
and feet. She feared she was having a ago, she was a homeless crack addict and a petty criminal, who
heart attack and might die, but a er had been shot, beaten, and raped during
a series of tests, her doctors found no her years living on the streets. She was
medical problem. About a month fortunate to have escaped many life-
later, Luisa had her most serious attack threatening moments. Most people
23-year-old Luisa while sitting in her physics class. This would have expected Brenda’s life to
has severe anxiety. time she had a strong desire to leave the continue to spiral downward, but

classroom, and as soon she got outside, her legs gave in and she fell Brenda received a wake-up call serious
to the floor. From then on, Luisa became fearful of places that were enough to motivate her to drastically
closed in or crowded, such as shopping malls, restaurants, theaters, improve her life.
and even classrooms. She avoided these places in fear she would e turning point for Brenda was
have another crisis. A er this most recent episode, she was diag- the morning she woke up to find
nosed with panic disorder (adapted from Di Salvo, 2006). that her shoes had been stolen from
Panic disorder is characterized by recurrent and unexpected panic her feet as she slept in an alleyway.

attacks (described below). The person becomes so worried about having The day was so scorching hot she How does Brenda cope
couldn’t walk anywhere barefoot. with being a single mother,
another panic attack that this intense worrying interferes with normal psy- But, more than shoes were stolen
from Brenda that morning—her last student, teacher, and
chological functioning (APA, 2000). recovering crack addict?

e symptoms Luisa had while walking on campus, watching a shred of dignity was taken too. At this point, Brenda took complete
movie, and sitting in class indicate she was having a panic attack, a
period of intense fear or discomfort in which four or more of the following charge of her life. She is now clean of drugs, lives in a home with

symptoms are present: pounding heart, sweating, trembling, shortness of her son, and is an inspirational role model to people everywhere

breath, feelings of choking, chest pain, nausea, dizziness, and fear of losing (adapted from APB, 2009; Celizic, 2007; K. Miller, 2007).

control or dying (APA, 2000). For Brenda, her adult life has presented a series of non-stop

In any given year, about one-third of American adults have potential stressors. To keep these stressors from growing out of
at least one panic attack, but most of these adults never develop control, she uses a variety of coping techniques. Spirituality and
repeated panic attacks. Like Luisa, about 4% of adults in the United taking one day at a time are a couple ways she copes. As you can
States suffer from panic disorder (Halbreich, 2003). Also, as in Lui- imagine, she must continually guard against being overwhelmed
sa’s case, the onset of panic disorder typically occurs during late by school, by work, by being a single mother, and by all the other
adolescence or early adulthood (Pine, 2000). Compared with most responsibilities of life. One of the interesting topics we’ll discuss in
Photo Credit: right, Courtesy of Brenda Combs people who may experience only mild forms of anxiety, people who this module is the different ways to cope with stressors.
have panic attacks find their experiences to be very stressful.
Stress is the anxious or threatening feeling that comes when we inter-
What’s Coming
pret or appraise a situation as being more than our psychological resources
We’ll discuss how you decide something is stressful, your physio-
can adequately handle (Lazarus, 1999). logical and psychological responses to stress, how your immune sys-
tem works, how you develop psychosomatic symptoms, which
The study of stress is very much the study of how the mind situational, personality, and social factors help or hinder your coping
and body interact. In this module, you’ll learn how your mind is processes, and how to develop a stress management program.
involved in what happens to your body during stressful situations.
Just as we can use our mind to overreact to stress, we can also We’ll begin with how Luisa’s mind can make her physical symp-
use it to cope with stress, which is something Brenda must do toms worse for no good reason.
almost every minute of her life.

I N T R O D U C T I O N 481

A. Appraisal

Primary Appraisals Primary appraisal refers to our initial, subjective evaluation of a situa-

What makes Although Luisa believes she will die
during a panic attack, in fact that is tion, in which we balance the demands of a potentially stressful situation
Luisa’s symptoms impossible (“Panic attacks,” 2005). If against our ability to meet these demands.
so stressful? there is no real threat to Luisa’s survival, For example, there can be three different primary appraisals
then why does she react so strongly to when experiencing a racing heart rate. If a doctor gives you medi-
her physical symptoms (dizziness, trembling)? One explanation is cation to treat a painful headache and says you will initially feel
she may misinterpret normal physical symptoms as serious prob- your heart racing, your primary appraisal of your rac-
lems, which can intensify the symptoms. For example, Luisa may ing heart is that it is irrelevant (your real concern is
be nervous about school grades or going on a date and experi- your headache) and therefore mostly nonstressful.
ence that nervousness physiologically (sweating, racing heart). If you’re running a marathon and feel your heart
These symptoms can make her feel more anxious (“What is beating quickly, your primary appraisal is positive
wrong with me?”), escalating the physical sensations into the and mostly nonstressful because it makes you feel
chest pain of a heart attack (Ham, 2005). In this example, Luisa’s good. If you’re trying to sleep or relax and your
initial interpretation of her physical symptoms is that a stressful heart rate accelerates, your primary appraisal of
situation is happening (“Something is wrong with me and I this situation is stressful. Your primary appraisal
could die”). e initial interpretation of a potentially stressful Luisa’s mind creates that a situation is stressful involves three different
situation is called a primary appraisal (Lazarus, 1999, 2000). her intense fear. interpretations: harm/loss, threat, or challenge.

Harm/Loss Threat Environmental Factors

If you broke your arm in a bike acci- If you have a terrible fear of giving blood and are If you are working hard in college but find
dent, you would know that you have asked to do so, you would automatically inter- that you have to take two more classes, you
suffered harm or loss. pret giving blood as a threat to your well-being. might interpret taking these classes as a way
A harm/loss apprais- A threat appraisal of a situa- to achieve a major goal—that is, you use a

al of a situation means tion means that the harm/loss challenge appraisal.

that you have already has not yet taken place but you A challenge appraisal means you have the

sustained some damage know it will happen in the near potential for gain or personal growth

or injury. future. but you also need to mobilize

Harm/loss Because the harm/ Because a threat appraisal your physical energy and psy-
appraisal loss appraisal elicits
negative emotions, also elicits negative emo- chological resources to meet

Threat tions, such as fear, anxiety, the challenging situation.
appraisal and anger, the situation or
such as fear, depression, fright, event may seem especially Because a challenge ap-
and anxiety, you will feel stressed; praisal elicits positive emo-
and the more intense your nega- stressful. In fact, just imagining or anticipating tions, such as eagerness or
tive emotions are, the more stress- a threatening situation, such as giving blood or excitement, it is usually less
ful and overwhelming the situation taking a final exam, can be as stressful as the Challenge stressful than a harm/loss or
will seem. actual event itself. appraisal a threat appraisal.

Situations and Primary Appraisals

First reaction. Your first reaction to a potentially a surprise quiz, presenting a report in class, or getting into a car
stressful situation, such as waiting in line, dealing with accident, may occur quickly, even automatically (Lazarus, 2000).
a sloppy roommate, giving blood, making a public However, not all appraisals neatly divide into harm/loss, threat,
speech, dealing with a rude salesperson, taking an or challenge. Some primary appraisals are a combination of threat
exam, seeing a vicious dog, or being in a car acci- and challenge. For instance, if you are about to ask some- Photo Credits: all center, © PhotoDisc, Inc.
dent, is to appraise the situation in terms of one for a first date, you may feel threatened by the pos-
whether it harms, threatens, or challenges your sibility of being rejected yet challenged by the chance to
physical or psychological well-being. prove yourself.
Making primary appraisals about complex Later in this module, we’ll discuss how you can change
situations, such as whether to take a certain a threat appraisal into more of a challenge appraisal and
job, get married, or go on to graduate school, thus reduce your stressful feelings (N. Skinner & Brewer,
may require considerable time as you think 2002). At this point, just keep in mind that making a
over the different ways a situation will affect This person made a primary appraisal is the first step in experiencing stress.
you. In comparison, making primary appraisals primary appraisal that Depending on the kind of primary appraisal, your level of
about very emotional situations, such as taking giving a speech was a stress may either increase or decrease.
threat to his self-esteem.

482 M O D U L E 2 1 H E A L T H , S T R E S S & C O P I N G

Appraisal and Stress Level

Would it If you were asked to watch a film of bloody subjects were told to put themselves in the place of
accidents caused by power saws, how men who accidentally cut off their fingers and
stress you to much would your primary imagine how they would feel.
watch a bloody appraisal affect your level As the graph below shows, subjects using
accident? of stress? is is exactly threat appraisals showed significantly more
what researchers asked physiological arousal—that is, higher levels
subjects to do while they recorded a major sign of galvanic skin responses—than subjects
of physiological arousal, called the galvanic using challenge appraisals (Dandoy & Goldstein,
skin response. 1990). Researchers concluded that in threatening
The galvanic skin response is a measure of how much or disturbing situations, your feelings of

a person’s hand sweats due to physiological arousal and Level of stress from watching stress increase with the kind of appraisal:
not to normal temperature changes. a bloody accident depended on threat reat appraisals raise levels of stress more

As subjects watched the accident film, they or challenge appraisal. than challenge appraisals do. However,

were given instructions that would result in mak- Average Physiological Arousal Scores when people are asked to identify the cause
ing a primary appraisal of challenge or threat. To of their stressful feelings, they usually—and
encourage challenge appraisals, subjects were told o en incorrectly—point to a particular situ-
to watch the film objectively, to consider how these Threat appraisal 64 ation rather than to their primary apprais-

accidents might be prevented, but not to identify 24 Challenge appraisal als. As you’ll see next, people o en appraise

with the injured. To encourage threat appraisals, the same situation in different ways.

Same Situation, Different Appraisals

When we ask our students, “What stresses you?” they Percentage rating it
How stressful always list a variety of situations, including many of
is waiting those situations listed in the table below right. Notice Situation stressful not stressful

in line? especially how the same situation was stressful for Waiting for someone who is late 65 35

some but not for others. For example, 65% said waiting Being caught in traffic 63 37
for a late person was stressful, but 35% reported it wasn’t. Similarly, 61% said
waiting in line was stressful, but 39% said it wasn’t. Because people don’t agree Waiting in line 61 39

on which situations are stressful, researchers Waiting in a doctor’s office 59 41

concluded that level of stress Waiting for the government to act 51 49
depends not only on the Waiting for a repair person 46 54
kind of situation but also
on the kind of primary Looking for a parking space
42 58

appraisal one makes (G. Waiting for an airplane to take off 26 74
Fink, 2007; C. Rasmussen et
Photo Credit: left, © Novastock/Photolibrary al., 2000). For example, you
Figure/Text Credit: Situation list data from USA Today, August 19, 1987, p. 4D. could appraise waiting in line to get your favorite beverage as a challenge, which elicits
positive emotions and little stress. In contrast, you could appraise waiting in line as a
threat or real test of your patience, which elicits negative emotions (growing impatient)
Why are 61% stressed by waiting and considerable stress. us, similar situations (waiting in line) can result in different
in line while 39% are not? levels of stress depending on your primary appraisals.

Sequence: Appraisal to Arousal

How does The first step in feeling stress de- having to move, getting married, or arguing with your
pends on your primary appraisal, roommate, you are forgetting that part of the stress is
stress start? which can be one of harm/loss, coming from whether you make a harm/loss or threat
threat, or challenge. In turn, harm/ appraisal versus a challenge appraisal (Lazarus, 2000).
loss and threat appraisals elicit negative emotions, which, e moment a er you make an appraisal, especially
in turn, increase levels of stress. In comparison, chal- a harm/loss or threat appraisal, your body changes from
lenge appraisals elicit positive emotions, which, in turn, a generally calm state into a state of heightened physi-
decrease levels of stress. us, when you say that a ological arousal as it prepares to deal with the stres-
situation is causing you stress, such as giving blood, Making a threat or harm/loss sor, whether it involves a car accident, a mugger, a
taking an exam, making a public speech, changing appraisal results in increased speech, or giving blood. We’ll look inside the body
your job, asking for a date, arguing with your boss, and see what happens when you are stressed.
physiological arousal.

A . A P P R A I S A L 483

B. Physiological Responses

Fight-Flight Response

Imagine giving a talk in class. As you look We know that the fight-flight response is evolutionarily very
What happens at everyone staring at you, you feel your old because it can be found in animals such as the alligator, which
when you’re heart pounding, mouth becoming dry, has been around for millions of years. We presume that our early
frightened? hands sweating, stomach knotting, and ancestors evolved a similar fight-flight response to help them sur-
muscles tensing; you take in short, rapid vive attacks by wild animals and enemies.
breaths. Your body is fully aroused before you have spoken a single Physical stimuli. Today you have almost no need to fight wild
word (Tanouye, 1997). About 40% of adults report fear of speaking animals or flee attacking enemies, so you rarely activate your fight-
in public (A. Lewis, 2001). flight response for the reasons important to our early ancestors.
Since speaking in public is no threat to your However, you would activate the fight-flight response
physical survival and you can neither fight nor when faced with a potentially dangerous physical
flee, why is your body in this state of heightened stimulus, such as a mugger, accident, police siren,
physiological arousal? e answer is that once you snake, tornado, or other situation that threatened
make a primary appraisal that something is a your physical survival.
threat—whether it’s giving a speech or facing a Psychological stimuli. Today the most com-
mugger—these threatening and fearful thoughts mon reason you activate the fight-flight response
automatically trigger one of the body’s oldest The fight-flight response helps is exposure to potentially bothersome or stress-
physiological response systems, the fight-flight us survive by preparing the body ful psychological stimuli, such as worrying about
response (J. M. White & Porth, 2000). for action—fleeing or fighting. exams, being impatient in traffic, having to wait

The fight-flight response (a) directs great resources of energy to the in lines, getting angry over a putdown, or arguing with someone
muscles and the brain; (b) can be triggered by either physical stimuli that (Lazarus, 2000). We’ll trace the sequence of how psychological or
threaten our survival or psychological situations that are novel, threaten- physical stimuli can trigger the fight-f light response and trans-
ing, or challenging; and (c) involves numerous physiological responses that form your body into a state of heightened physiological arousal
arouse and prepare the body for action—fight or flight. (J. M. White & Porth, 2000).

Sequence for Activation of the Fight-Flight Response

Autonomic Photo Credits: top left and right, © PhotoDisc, Inc.; bottom right, © Ron Dalquist/Getty Images
Nervous
System

1 Appraisal 2 Hypothalamus 3 Sympathetic Division 4 Fight-Flight Response
e sympathetic division trig-
A number of potentially dan- If you appraise making a As we discussed earlier gers a very primitive fight-flight
gerous physical stimuli, such public speech as psycho- (p. 81), the autonomic ner- response (present in croco-
as seeing a snake or being in logically threatening, vous system has two divi- diles), which causes great physi-
an accident, can automatically these thoughts activate a sions. e sympathetic ological arousal by increasing
trigger the fight-flight response. part of your brain called division, which is activated heart rate, blood pressure, res-
But much more common the hypothalamus. In by the hypothalamus, trig- piration, secretion of excitatory
triggers of the fight-flight turn, the hypothalamus gers a number of physiologi- hormones, and many other re-
response are hundreds of psy- simultaneously activates cal responses that make up sponses that prepare the body
chological stimuli that you two stress-related the fight-flight response, to deal with an impending
appraise as threatening, such responses: It triggers the which prepares the body to threat, whether speaking in
as making a public speech or pituitary gland to release deal with potentially threat- public or facing a mugger.
taking an exam. us, either a stress-fighting hormone ening physical or psychologi-
physically or psychologically called ACTH (adrenocor- cal stimuli. In contrast, the Next, we’ll describe the
threatening stimuli can trig- ticotropic hormone), and parasympathetic division, many interesting physiological
ger the fight-flight response it activates the sympa- also activated by the hypo- responses that transform the
and negative emotional feel- thetic division of the auto- thalamus, returns the body body into a powerful fighting
ings (fear, rage). nomic nervous system. to a more calm, relaxed state. or fleeing machine.

484 M O D U L E 2 1 H E A L T H , S T R E S S & C O P I N G

Fight-Flight: Physiological and Hormonal Responses

I hate to speak It is difficult to believe that the powerful fight-flight response can be triggered just as easily by
in public! potentially threatening psychological stimuli, such as speaking in public or taking exams, as by
potentially threatening physical stimuli, such as seeing a rattlesnake. Although you rarely experi-
Physical or psychological stimuli ence potentially threatening physical stimuli, such as meeting a snake, you do face many psycho-
can trigger the fight-flight response. logical situations that you appraise as threatening—“Let me tell you about my terrible day.” As
soon as you appraise a situation as threatening, specific parts of your brain start the fight-flight
response, which in turn prepares your body for action (Cowley, 2003). We’ll describe some of the
major physiological changes triggered by the fight-flight response (S. Johnson, 2003).

1 A stress appraisal, especially if it in- 5 Pupils are dilated by the sympathetic
volves something fearful or threatening, division. As a result, more light enters our
can instantly activate the amygdala (light eyes so we can see better if we have to fight
blue), which functions like a threat detector or flee in dim light. One way to check for physiological arousal is
p. 363). In turn, the amygdala activates the to see how much a person’s pupils are dilated: More dilation usu-
hypothalamus (red), which functions like a ally indicates more arousal (except in the case of drug use).
switch to quickly and simultaneously trigger two 6 Hair stands up; this is called piloerection
systems that arouse the body for action (p. 81). One sys-
tem involves the pituitary gland (p. 82), which triggers (goose bumps) and is more noticeable in
a release of the hormone ACTH (adrenocorticotropic dogs and cats. Piloerection, which occurs
hormone), which acts on part of the adrenal gland (ad- when we are stressed (frightened or angry)
renal cortex) to increase fuel for quick energy. A second or cold (fluffy fur or hair conserves heat), is
system involves the sympathetic division of the auto- triggered by the sympathetic division, which
nomic nervous system (p. 72), which increases physio- also regulates sweating. e next time you are feeling
logical arousal by automatically increasing heart rate, stressed, look for piloerection and sweaty hands.
blood pressure, and other responses such as releasing
powerful arousing hormones from the adrenal 7 Adrenal glands, which are located
above the kidneys, have an outside—
glands (see #7 on the right). Kidney
Kidney
2 Respiration, which is increased by adrenal cortex—and an inside—
adrenal medulla. The adrenal
the sympathetic division, is more medulla, which is activated by the
rapid and shallow so that there is sympathetic division, secretes two powerful activating
a greater flow of oxygen into the hormones, epinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine.
body. However, if breathing is too ese hormones increase heart rate, blood pressure, blood
rapid and shallow, we may feel light- f low to muscles, and release of blood sugar (glucose) as a
headed or “spacey” from lack of oxygen. source of energy. Epinephrine and norepinephrine may be
regarded as the body’s own stimulants; they can result in
3 Heart rate, which is increased by the euphoria, loss of appetite, and sleeplessness.
sympathetic division, can rocket from The adrenal cortex, which is activated by the pituitary
a normal 70–90 beats per minute to an gland’s release of ACTH, secretes a group of hormones called
incredible 200–220 beats per minute. corticoids, which regulate levels of minerals and increase fuel
Rapid heart rate increases blood flow to (glucose) for energy needed to take some action.
muscles and vital organs (lungs, kidneys). 8 Muscle tension is increased during
Rapid heart rate during stressful experiences stressful experiences, so that we are bet-
can lead to a “pounding heart” and, in extreme ter able to coordinate and move quickly
cases, result in heart attack and death. if needed. However, if you are feeling
stressed for long periods of time, you may
4 e liver releases its stores of end up with muscle aches and pains because of increased
blood sugar (glycogen) to pro- muscle tension throughout your body.
vide a ready source of energy Liver Fight-flight response Male–female difference. e fight-flight response is auto-
during stress. A er a stressful prepares body for action.

experience, we may feel fatigued matically triggered to increase physiological arousal and prepare
because our supply of blood sugar is low. our bodies for action. However, researchers recently found that while men are more
Stomach and intestinal activity is reduced likely to fight or flee when stressed, women show a different response to stress, called
by the sympathetic division. During stressful tend and befriend, which involves nurturing (children) and seeking social support
experiences, the blood that is normally Stomach (S. E. Taylor, 2002). Researchers suggest that this male–female difference in respond-

used by digestive organs is rerouted to ing to stress may have developed from evolutionary pressures on primitive men to
muscles and vital organs. Because the fight and protect their families and on primitive women to nurture their children and
sympathetic division shuts down the diges- seek help and social support for themselves and their families.
tive system, people may experience problems with diges- Although the fight-flight response is designed to aid survival in stressful situa-
tion, such as stomach pain, constipation, and diarrhea, tions, if the fight-flight response is continuously triggered over a period of time (days,
during stressful times. weeks), you may develop painful physical problems, which we’ll describe next.

B . P H Y S I O L O G I C A L R E S P O N S E S 485

B. Physiological Responses

Psychosomatic Symptoms Development of Symptoms
As a college freshman, Joan Doctors estimate that 60–90% of patients seen in general
What causes was stressed out from having Do you have medical practice have stress-related, psychosomatic symp-
stomach too many classes, spending 28
any of these toms (H. Benson, 2008). For example, patients who had
pains? hours a week on homework, symptoms? developed psychosomatic symptoms reported that they had
working another 10 hours a experienced a serious stressor (breakup of a relationship,
week at a part-time job, and not getting enough family member leaving home) during the previous six months (Creed, 1993).
sleep. Joan is one of the 30% of college students in Some of the more common stress-related or psychosomatic symptoms are listed
the United States who reported feeling “frequently below. Our students (and each of us) usually report having developed at least one
overwhelmed” by all they have to do (Sax, 2002). of these psychosomatic symptoms each semester.
Women report more stress (37%) than men (17%),
who seem to reduce stress by exercising, partying, Common Psychosomatic Symptoms

and playing more video games than women O Stomach symptoms: feelings of discomfort, pain, pressure, or acidity
(Deckro, 2002; Gallagher, 2002). If stress persists O Muscle pain and tension: occurring in neck, shoulders, and back
for weeks and months, there is a good possibility O Fatigue: feeling tired or exhausted without doing physical activity
that you will develop one of a variety of unwanted O Headaches: having either tension or migraine headaches Photo Credit: bottom, © PhotoDisc, Inc.
psychosomatic (also called psychophysiological) O Intestinal difficulties: having either constipation or diarrhea Figure/Text Credit: List adapted from “The Factor Structure of Self-Reported Physical Stress Reactions,” by J. C. Smith and J. M. Seidel, 1982, Biofeedback and
symptoms (Kemeny, 2003; Selye, 1993). O Skin disorders: exaggerated skin blemishes, pimples, oiliness Self-Regulation, 7, 35–47. Springer Netherlands.
Psychosomatic (SIGH-ko-so-MAH-tick) symptoms O Eating problems: feeling compelled to eat or having no appetite
O Insomnia: being unable to get to sleep or stay asleep
are real and sometimes painful physical symptoms, such O Asthmatic or allergic problems: worsening of problems
O High blood pressure or heart pounding
as headaches, muscle pains, stomach problems, and O Weak immune system and increased chances of getting a cold or flu

increased susceptibility to colds and flu, that are caused

by increased physiological arousal that results from psy-

chological factors, such as worry, stress, and anxiety.

(The word psychosomatic is derived from psyche meaning Development of Psychosomatic Symptoms

“mind” and soma meaning “body.”) Researchers find that whether one develops a psychosomatic symptom as well as

“ e fact is that we’re now the kind of symptom depends upon several different factors.
living in a world where our Genetic predisposition. Because of genetic predispositions, most of us
1. bodies aren’t allowed a chance inherit a tendency that targets a particular organ or bodily system for weakening

Stressful situations

to rest . . . they’re being driven or breaking down, such as the heart, blood vessels, stomach lining, or immune
by inadequate sleep, lack of system. at’s why different individuals who are in similar stressful situations
2. exercise, by smoking, by isola- experience different kinds of psychosomatic symptoms. For example, researchers

Threat appraisal

tion or frenzied competition” found that some individuals inherit genes that protect their bodies from poten-
(McEwen, 2002). Although our tially harmful hormonal effects produced by frequent activation of the fight-flight
3. bodies are cleverly designed to response. As a result, these individuals may experience fewer psychosomatic
use the fight-flight response to
Trigger fight-flight

4. deal with relatively infrequent symptoms (van Rossum et al., 2002).
stressors, our bodies do need Lifestyle. Some lifestyles, such as smoking, being overweight, not exercising, or
Develop time for rest and relaxation. taking little time for relaxing, promote poor health practices. Such lifestyles give the
psychosomatic However, for many, the busy body little chance to relax and recover from the heightened state of physiological
arousal that is produced when the fight-flight response is triggered.
symptoms Threat appraisals. Some of us are more likely to appraise situations as

and competitive world is filled
with so many stressful situations that they are con- threatening, thus eliciting negative emotions, which automatically trigger the
stantly appraising situations as threatening to their fight-flight response (Kiecolt-Glaser et al., 2002). One solution (discussed in the
psychological survival and thus giving their bodies Application section) is to practice changing threat appraisals,
little chance to relax (Sapolsky, 2002). e result, as But how which involve negative emotions, into challenge appraisals,
shown in the figure above, is that the constant use can worrying which involve positive emotions (N. Skinner & Brewer, 2002).
of threat appraisals continually triggers the fight- cause my awful
stomach pains? Psychosomatic symptoms. e development of psychoso-

flight response. In turn, the fight-flight response matic problems comes from poor lifestyles and too many threat
produces a heightened state of physiological arousal appraisals, which in turn trigger many fight-flight responses,
that goes on and on and thus increases the risk of which can damage or break down body organs that may have
developing one or more psychosomatic symptoms already been weakened by genetic factors (Kemeny, 2003).
(Kemeny, 2003). Later we’ll discuss how to prevent psychosomatic problems by
We’ll discuss different kinds of psychosomatic developing an effective stress management programs.
symptoms as well as why you may develop one Next, we’ll examine in more detail how prolonged stress-
symptom but not others. ful experiences can affect and break down the body organs.

486 M O D U L E 2 1 H E A L T H , S T R E S S & C O P I N G

General Adaptation Syndrome Mind-Body Connection
One thing continued stress does is activate the fight-flight At the beginning of this
What does response. e continual activation of fight-flight responses Can your mind module, we learned how
stress do? results in what Hans Selye (1993) has described as the gen- cause health Luisa’s mind can intensify

eral adaptation syndrome. problems? the physical sensations she
The general adaptation syndrome (GAS) refers to the body’s reaction to stressful situ- feels during a panic attack.

ations during which it goes through a series of three stages—alarm, resistance, and This is a perfect example of the
mind-body connection.
exhaustion—that gradually increase the chances of developing psychosomatic symptoms.

Selye’s general adaptation syndrome explains how coed Joan, who felt continu- The mind-body connection
ally overwhelmed, developed a psychosomatic symptom, stomach pain.
refers to how your thoughts,
1 Alarm Stage
beliefs, and emotions can pro-

As sleep-deprived Joan worries about having too little time for all duce physiological changes that

she has to do, she appraises that situation as a may be either beneficial or detri-

terrible threat to her well-being, which mental to your health and well-being.

causes her body to be in the alarm stage. For example, the mind-body connection explains
During why, a er a prolonged period of fearful or anxious
The alarm stage is the initial reaction to stress stress, the
body goes thoughts that continually trigger the fight-flight
and is marked by activation of the fight-flight through 3 response, there may be a breakdown in body organs
response; in turn, the fight-flight response causes stages. and development of psychosomatic symptoms
physiological arousal.
Alarm: (C. W. Hoge et al., 2007). Researchers found that
initial reaction Your body may go into and out of the alarm stage (fight- emotional stress, such as hearing the news of a death
flight response) many times during the day as stressful experi-
ences come and go. Normally, you do not develop psychosomatic problems during in the family, narrowly avoiding a car accident, or
walking into a surprise party, can trigger a condition
the alarm stage because the fight-flight responses come and go. However, if stress that mimics a massive heart attack. Doctors call this
continues for a longer period of time, your body goes into the resistance stage.
2 Resistance Stage condition “broken-heart syndrome” and explain that
when patients experience emotional shock, a sudden
surge of stress hormones is released, overwhelming
As the semester comes to an end, Joan’s continual feelings of being overwhelmed the heart. After the emotional stress subsides, the
cause almost continual fight-flight responses, which in turn stress hormone levels return to normal and the heart
cause her body to go into the resistance stage. functions properly again (Fackelmann, 2005).
The resistance stage is the body’s reaction to continued Research on the importance and implications of

stress during which most of the physiological responses return the mind-body connection has given rise to mind-

to normal levels but the body uses up great stores of energy. body therapy (Goleman & Gurin, 1993).

During the resistance stage, Joan’s body will use up vital Mind-body therapy is based on the finding that
reserves of hormones, minerals, and glucose (blood sugar)
because her body is almost continually in the fight-flight state. thoughts and emotions can change physiological and
Joan doesn’t realize that the resistance stage is taking a toll on
Resistance: her stomach by interfering with digestion and causing stom- immune responses. Mind-body therapy uses mental
fighting back
strategies, such as relaxation, meditation, and biofeed-

ach pain, a psychosomatic symptom. If her stress continues, her body will go into back, as well as social support groups to help individuals

the exhaustion stage and her psychosomatic symptom will worsen. change negative beliefs, thoughts, and emotions into

3 Exhaustion Stage more positive ones.

As Joan’s feeling of being overwhelmed continues over many weeks, her body may Currently, about 17% of adults in the United
enter the exhaustion stage. States use mind-body therapy. Mind-body therapy
The exhaustion stage is the body’s reaction to long-term, can be effective in treating many different physi-
cal problems, including headaches, back and neck
continuous stress and is marked by actual breakdown in internal pain, multiple sclerosis, and ADHD (Bertisch et

Photo Credit: top center, © PhotoDisc, Inc. organs or weakening of the infection-fighting immune system. al., 2009; Sierpina et al., 2007; Wahbeh et al., 2008).

During the exhaustion stage, Joan’s stomach prob- At the end of this module, we’ll discuss specific
lems may become more serious. Extended periods of mind-body therapies, called stress management
stress, such as during final exams, may cause your body programs, that help people recognize and deal
to go into the stage of resistance or exhaustion. During this with stress overload and thus prevent or reduce
Exhaustion: time you may develop a variety of psychosomatic symptoms, psychosomatic symptoms.
breakdown in such as a cold, flu, cold sore, sore throat, allergy attack, ach- The mind-body connection is involved in the
ing muscles, or stomach problems. For example, researchers prevention as well as the development and main-
organs

found that individuals who had prolonged and high levels of anxiety, signaling tenance of psychosomatic symptoms. More unex-
stages of resistance and exhaustion, were more likely to develop physical health pectedly, the mind-body connection is involved in
problems than those with normal levels (C. W. Hoge et al., 2007). As you’ll see, the strengthening or weakening of our immune
psychosomatic symptoms develop because of a mind-body interaction. systems, which is the next topic.

B . P H Y S I O L O G I C A L R E S P O N S E S 487

B. Physiological Responses

Immune System

How o en have you gotten a cold, For many years, researchers believed that the immune
Why did you strep throat, or some other bacte- system was a totally independent bodily system with no
get a cold? rial or viral infection when final input from the brain and certainly not influenced by one’s
exams were over? This rather thoughts. However, in the mid-1970s, a psychologist and
common experience of “coming down with something” an immunologist found the first good evidence of a mind-
when exams are over indicates how prolonged stressful body connection—that psychological factors, such as one’s
experiences can decrease the effectiveness of your thoughts, influenced the immune system (R. Ader & Cohen,
immune system. 1975). eir research led to the development of an entirely
The immune system is the body’s defense and sur- new area of medical science that is called psychoneuro-
Getting a cold is immunology (SIGH-ko-NOOR-oh-im-you-NAH-luh-gee),
partly due to how much which is an example of the mind-body connection.
veillance network of cells and chemicals that fight off stress you’re under.
bacteria, viruses, and other foreign or toxic substances.

Psychoneuroimmunology Evidence for Psychoneuroimmunology
Researchers were faced with a difficult question: Why doesn’t every-
Researchers Ader and Cohen (1975) were trying to figure out why one who is exposed to a disease virus or bacteria actually get the
some of their rats were dying so young when they chanced upon disease? ey tackled this question by giving the same amount of
one of the important scientific discoveries of the 1970s. Previ- cold virus to 394 subjects, all of whom were quarantined for a week.
ously, immunologists believed the immune system operated inde- During this period, the researchers checked for symptoms of colds
pendently of psychological influences. en, to the surprise of all and related the percentage of colds to the levels of stress that sub-
and the disbelief of many, Ader and Cohen reported that psycho- jects had reported before they received the virus. As shown in the
logical factors inf luenced the immune system’s functioning. graph below, researchers found that those individuals who reported
Today, no one doubts their findings, which launched the field of high levels of psychological stress were more likely to develop colds
psychoneuroimmunology (R. Ader, 2007). than were those who reported low stress levels. Researchers con-
Psychoneuroimmunology is the study of the relationship among three cluded that, with every increase in psychological stress, there’s an
increased likelihood of developing a cold—provided we are exposed
factors: the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord), the endocrine to the cold virus (S. Cohen, 2003; S. Cohen et al., 1997).

system (network of glands that secrete hormones), and psychosocial

factors (stressful thoughts, personality traits, and social influences).

For example, coming down with an illness (cold, flu) a er a Subjects with Colds (%) Photo Credits: top, © Digital Stock Corporation; bottom, © Lennart Nilsson, Bokforlaget Bonnier Alba AB.
stressful time results from the interactions among three factors—
central nervous system, endocrine system, and psychosocial fac-
tors. ese three factors can suppress or strengthen the immune Subjects reporting HIGH psychological stress 48%

system and in turn make the body more or less susceptible to Subjects reporting LOW psychological stress 38%
disease and infection (Kiecolt-Glaser et al., 2002). For instance,
when stress weakens the immune system, it can reduce the num-
ber of natural killer cells known to fight cancer (Lenzer, 2007). Fight-flight response. While short-term stress (such as exam
Also, when elderly people lose stress or traffic) can weaken the immune system, chronic stress
their spouse, the bereavement (such as relationship conflict or unemployment) has even more
process can take a serious toll on severe effects on our health (Segerstrom & Miller, 2004). People
their body leading to a 53–61% who experience chronic stress are more prone to illness because
increased risk of death within they are continually activating their fight-flight response. When
one month (Christakis & Allison, the fight-flight response is activated, your body produces stress
2006). As you can see, the effects hormones, which suppress the immune system and make the body
of stress on the body can be very more susceptible to diseases, viruses, and other infections, as well
profound. as reduce its ability to heal from wounds and respond to vaccina-
The immune system has sev- tions (Ebrecht et al., 2004; Kiecolt-Glaser, 2008). One psychoneu-
eral ways to kill foreign invad- rimmunology researcher described the effects of chronic stress on
ers. In the le photo, an immune the body by saying, “Stress made 55-year-olds have 90-year-old
system cell sends out a footlike immune systems” (Kiecolt-Glaser, 2008).
extension to engulf and destroy
the small green bacterial cell Conclusion. Since the 1970s, the field of psychoneuroimmunol-
(inside the white oval). ogy has made significant advances. Still, further research is needed
An immune system cell However, the immune system’s to better understand the relationships among the brain, hormones,
sends out a footlike extension and psychological factors (Bonneau et al., 2007).
defenses can be weakened by psy-
to destroy a bacterial cell chosocial factors (R. Ader, 2007). How psychological factors affect the immune system will
(in white oval). become clearer as we next describe a really clever experiment.

488 M O D U L E 2 1 H E A L T H , S T R E S S & C O P I N G

Conditioning the Immune System Why do artificial The woman’s allergic reaction to artificial
flowers make flowers clearly demonstrated that the cause of
There is an interesting story of a woman my nose run? her allergy was not physical but psychosomatic
Could artificial who was in therapy for having severe aller-
flowers make gic reactions to flowers. e therapist was (caused by the woman’s own thoughts). As the
woman later explained, her husband had regu-
you sneeze? curious about what caused her allergic larly given her flowers as a sign of affection, but now
reaction. It could be caused either by that he was seeking a divorce, the flowers had become
a depressing or aversive stimulus. This means that,
organic factors, which refer to the physical properties of through classical conditioning, flowers had become
flowers, or by psychosomatic factors, which refer to conditioned stimuli capable of eliciting a conditioned
thoughts, beliefs, or conditioned responses to flowers. To response—in this case, an allergic reaction (classical
determine whether the cause was organic or psychosomatic, conditioning is discussed on pages 197–199). Just to be
one day the therapist took a dozen red roses from under her sure, researchers designed the following experiment
desk, gave them to the woman, and asked her what the flow- that le no doubt that the immune system could be
ers reminded her of. e woman held them for a short time classically conditioned (Maier et al., 1994).
and then began to have allergic responses, including nasal
congestion and tears. What the woman did not know was
that the flowers were artificial.

Classical Conditioning Experiment
If the immune system could be classically conditioned, it would clearly show the influence of psychological factors. As explained in
Module 9, classical conditioning involves changing a neutral stimulus, such as a flashing light or a humming fan, into a conditioned
stimulus so that it alone can elicit a conditioned response—in this case, an allergic reaction in a rat. Here’s how an immune response
(allergic reaction) was classically conditioned in rats (MacQueen et al., 1989).

Conditioned Unconditioned Unconditioned
stimuli: flash- stimulus: injection response: allergic
ing light and of a substance that reaction elicited by
humming fan. produces allergy. injected substance.

1 For the first three trials, each rat was first presented with two conditioned (neutral) stimuli, a light flashing and a fan humming.
A short time later, each rat was given an injection of an allergy-producing substance, which was the unconditioned stimulus. In
turn, the unconditioned stimulus elicited an allergic reaction, which was the unconditioned response.

2 4On the fourth trial, the animals were divided Discussion. During classical conditioning, animals or people learn that
into two groups: control and experimental groups. the neutral or conditioned stimulus signals or predicts what will happen
Control group received a trial with the regular next. In this study, rats learned that the flashing light and humming fan pre-
sequence: flashing light and fan humming, then dicted an allergic reaction. And in fact, by the fourth trial, the conditioned
the injection of the substance, which elicited the stimuli (light and fan) alone elicited the allergic reaction—the conditioned
allergic reaction. response. Researchers concluded that psychological factors can trigger an
Experimental group of rats received a different allergic reaction in animals (MacQueen et al., 1989).
trial: Rats were exposed only to the conditioned
stimuli of flashing light and fan humming, with 5 Conclusion. e amazing fact that immune responses can be conditioned
no injection.
demonstrates a method through which purely psychological or cognitive fac-
3 The experimental group of ani- tors can affect immune function. Although the immune system was originally
thought to act independently, it is now known that psychological factors
mals showed a conditioned response, influence the immune system in both animals and humans (F. Ader, 1999).
which means that just being given or ese findings in rats explain why the woman had an allergic reaction
exposed to the conditioned stimuli to artificial flowers: e artificial flowers had become conditioned stimuli
(flashing light and humming fan) caused the aller- that, by themselves, could elicit conditioned responses—in this case, allergic
Photo Credit: © Simon Marcus/Corbis gic reaction, which is the conditioned response. reactions of congestion and tearing eyes.

The history of psychoneuroimmunology reads like a mys- weakened through classical conditioning (R. Ader & Cohen, 1975).
tery story. For 50 years, researchers had written in stone that the This revolutionary finding meant the immune system could be
immune system was totally independent and only a fool would influenced by psychological factors, and this led to the birth of a
believe otherwise. In the early 1970s, Ader the psychologist and whole new field, called psychoneuroimmunology (F. Ader, 1999).
Cohen the immunologist were studying something entirely dif-
ferent (why animals were dying prematurely) when they discov- We have discussed how stressful experiences trigger the fight-
ered the reason was that the animals’ immune systems had been flight response and affect the immune system. Next, we’ll examine
which situations are the most likely to become stressful.

B . P H Y S I O L O G I C A L R E S P O N S E S 489

C. Stressful Experiences

Kinds of Stressors

What are We began this module with a description of Besides dealing with daily hassles, Brenda has
Brenda’s busy day as a single mother, grad- also gone through a number of major life changes:
Brenda’s uate school student, and school teacher. She quit using drugs, became a single mother, and

stressors? ere are countless daily hassles Brenda went back to college. Unlike hassles, which seem

encounters: managing to be on time to relatively small, major life events have had a sig-
her job and classes, completing her homework and studying, nificant impact on Brenda’s life and can be very big
cooking, cleaning, getting her son through the many steps stressors.
of his day, and managing the behavior of the children in her Both hassles and major life events have the
classroom, to list just a few. Hassles are small stressors, Brenda has dozens of potential to become stressful experiences that
which can add up to make what she would probably call a hassles and had several influence mood and the development of psycho-
“bad day.” somatic problems.
major life changes.

Hassles Major Life Events

When someone asks, “And how was your Not only do hassles increase stress levels and predict daily mood and Photo Credits: top, Courtesy of Brenda Combs; center, © Christoph Wilhelm/Getty Images; bottom, © Larry Dale Gordon/Getty Images
day?” you usually reply with a list of hassles. health, but so do major life events. Figure/Text Credit: Scale: Reprinted from “Life changes scaling for the 1990s,” by M. A. Miller and R. H. Rahe, Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 43, 279–292,
Hassles are those small, irritating, frustrat- Major life events are potentially disturbing, troubling, or disruptive situa- Copyright © 1997, with permission from Elsevier Science.

ing events that we face daily and that we usually tions, both positive and negative, that we appraise as having a significant

appraise or interpret as stressful experiences. impact on our lives.

For example, a nationwide survey of Researchers measure life events using the Social Readjustment Rat-
adults (ages 25–74) found that the most ing Scale (below) (M. A. Miller & Rahe, 1997). e number a er each
frequently reported daily hassles involved Experiencing a event rates the impact that the event would have on one’s life; death
interpersonal tensions followed by work- major life event of one’s spouse has the highest rating (119). To obtain your score,
related stressors. The most frequently (getting married) add the numbers associated with each event you have experienced in
can be stressful.

reported appraisals involved danger (36%), the last year. e total reflects how much life change you have experienced. Researchers
loss (30%), or frustration (27%), and only predicted that experiencing an increased number of life changes would increase levels of
2% were appraised as representing oppor- stress and, in turn, increase the chances of developing psychosomatic problems.
tunity or challenge. Generally, women In the scale at the right, events in a six-month period that total over 300 and events
reported the stressors as in a one-year period that total over 500 indicate high life stress and an increased risk of
being more severe than developing psychosomatic problems (M. A. Miller & Rahe, 1997).
did men. As the number One problem with the Social Readjustment Rating Scale is that it makes no distinc-
of daily hassles increased, tion between appraisals of positive events (getting married) and negative events (getting
so too did the chance of divorced). More recent scales found that the appraisal of negative life events was more
developing psychoso- important in predicting illnesses or depression than were positive events (Dixon & Reid,
matic problems or being 2000; Shimizu & Pelham, 2004).
in a bad mood (Almeida Adjustment Disorder. As we just learned, major Social Readjustment Rating Scale

Daily hassles et al., 2002). life events, such as getting married, moving, begin- Life event Mean value
are related to e opposite of a has- ning college, and losing a job, can cause stress. Most Death of spouse 119
having physical of the time, people adjust to these changes within
sle is a good experience a few weeks or months. However, in some cases, Divorce 98
problems. called an upli . these life changes may cause people to feel anxious
or depressed for many months, which means they Death of close family member 92
have adjustment disorder.
Fired at work 79
Adjustment disorder is a condition in which a person
Uplifts are those small, pleasurable, happy, is unable to cope with or adjust to a major life change. The Personal injury or illness 77
condition includes emotional (such as feeling depressed,
and satisfying experiences that we have in our overwhelmed) and behavioral (such as avoiding social Death of a close friend 70

daily lives. Pregnancy 66

For many college students (and most Change in nancial state 56

Change in work conditions 51

adults), the daily hassles, which lead to hav- Marriage 50

ing a “bad day,” usually far outnumber the Sex difficulties 45

upli s, which lead to having a “good day.” Change in living conditions 42

For example, how o en do you hear people Change in residence 41

say, “I had such a great day!” In contrast to interaction, performing poorly at school or work, making Beginning or ending school 38
hassles, daily upli s are associated with less reckless decisions) symptoms. Great personal achievement 37
depression and better functioning (Macnee Change in school 35
Individuals with adjustment disorder experience Trouble with boss 29
an excessive reaction to a life stressor, and their Revision of personal habits 27

& McCabe, 2000). symptoms cause trouble in their daily functioning. Change in sleeping habits 26
Besides hassles, another source of stress Next, we’ll discuss how stressful events are gen- Vacation 25
involves major life events. Minor violations of the law 22
erally frustrating experiences.

490 M O D U L E 2 1 H E A L T H , S T R E S S & C O P I N G

Situational Stressors
We’re going to examine three situations—being frustrated, feeling burned out, and experiencing interper-
What makes sonal violence—that have the potential to be highly stressful. What can make these situations especially
situations stressful? stressful is they can all elicit very negative emotions, which can greatly increase levels of stress.

Frustration Burnout Violence

Being a pop Several About 5% to 20% of nurses, lawyers, Most people experience at least one traumatic
music star is years ago, police officers, social workers, manag- situation during their life. About 30% to 50%
exhausting. Mariah ers, counselors, teachers, medical resi- of children experience at least one traumatic

Carey (le dents, and others whose jobs demand event before they reach 18 (Kazdin, 2008). For
photo), a Grammy- intense involvement with people suffer some people the experience is so stressful it
winning singer who from burnout (Farber, 2000a, 2000b). results in posttraumatic stress disorder
has sold tens of mil- Burnout refers to being physically (E. J. Ozer et al., 2003).

lions of albums, can- overwhelmed and exhausted, finding the Posttraumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is a

celled all of her public appearances and job unrewarding and I’m burnt out disabling condition that results from personally
becoming cynical or after working
checked herself into a hospital, complain- detached, and devel- experiencing an event that involves actual or
oping a strong sense 10 years in
ing of “extreme exhaustion.” She felt tre- social services. threatened death or serious injury or from witness-

mendous stress resulting from completing ing or hearing of such an event happening to a

two movies while writing, recording, and of ineffectiveness and family member or close friend. People suffering

producing an album (“Mariah in hospital,” lack of accomplish- from PTSD experience a number of psychological

2001). Mariah Carey’s example illustrates ment in this particular symptoms, including recurring and disturbing

the difficulties of having a job in which job (Maslach, 2003). memories, terrible nightmares, and intense fear

success is judged by how many albums Burnout is and anxiety (APA, 2000).

you sell or the number of Grammy awards accompanied by For example, about 32% of women report
you win. Having low album sales or not intense feelings having PTSD a er being raped; about 15% of
winning an award can be very frustrating. and negative soldiers report having PTSD a er serving in
Frustration is the awful feeling that results emotions that war; and about 20% of people report having

when your attempts to reach some goal are trigger the fight- PTSD a er being in a serious car accident

blocked. flight response, keep the body in a (Elias, 2008a; Hidalgo & Davidson, 2000).

Photo Credits: top, © AP Images/Kristie Bull; center, © PhotoDisc, Inc.; bottom, © David Turnley/Corbis You may be blocked from reaching continual state of heightened physi- ese horrible memories and feelings of fear
a goal because of personal limitations, ological arousal, and cause most of keep stress levels high and result in a range
such as losing your temper, making dumb the psychosomatic symptoms we have of psychosomatic symptoms,
mistakes on an exam, or not having the discussed: sleep problems, stomach including sleep problems, I saw my
skills to pass a course. Or you may be disorders, headaches, muscle pain pounding heart, high blood best buddy
blocked from reaching a goal because (especially lower back and neck), pressure, and stomach prob- blown apart.

of social or environmental limitations, and frequent and prolonged colds lems (Marshall et al., 2006;
such as having to work 18-hour days. One (Melamed et al., 2006). Schnurr et al., 2002).
reason frustrating situations are especially One way to reduce the likelihood Treatment. e treat-
stressful is that they seem to be beyond of burnout is to take a vacation. ment of posttraumatic
your control and they usually elicit strong Research shows that time spent on stress disorder may
negative emotions, such as anger or rage vacation enhances people’s well-being involve drugs (SSRIs—
(Goldberger & Breznitz, 1993). by decreasing their complaints about p. 534), but some form
Monday versus Friday. One survey health problems and exhaustion of cognitive-behavioral
found that compared to Fridays, Mon- (C. Fritz & Sonnentag, 2006). therapy (p. 568) has
days were more stressful and frustrating Student burnout. College counsel- proved more effective in the long term (Bol-
because of having to return to work, having ors report that burnout o en causes ton et al., 2004). Cognitive-behavioral ther-
too many things to do, not having enough students to drop out of college. Coun- apy provides emotional support so victims
time, and expecting but not getting as selors suggest that before students can begin the healing process, helps to slowly
much done. e stress and frustration decide to drop out, they should con- eliminate the horrible memories by bringing
experienced on Mondays resulted in 33% sider ways to reduce their work and out the details of the experience, and gradu-
more heart attacks than occurred on Fri- class load so that school seems less ally replaces the feeling of fear with a sense
days (Friend, 1994). is is an example of overwhelming and more manageable of courage to go on with life (Harvey et al.,
how stress and frustration can contribute (Schaufeli et al., 2002). 2003; Resick et al., 2008).
to dangerous psychosomatic problems. e next situation is so stressful We’ll examine two more situations with
If frustration lasts for a long period of that it leaves a terrible, lasting mark high potential for stress because they involve
time, the result can be burnout. that may trigger years of problems. conflict or anxiety.

C . S T R E S S F U L E X P E R I E N C E S 491

C. Stressful Experiences

Conflict

Why are Sometimes situations can be stressful be- In making these kinds of decisions, you are most likely to feel
cause they involve making difficult deci- stressed because each involves facing a different kind of conflict.
decisions so sions. For example, what decisions would
stressful? you make in the following situations? Conflict is the feeling you experience when you must choose between two
O You can either go to a great party or see or more incompatible possibilities or options.
a good friend who is visiting town for just one day.
O You can study for a psychology exam or write a paper for a The reason the situations put you in conflict is that, no matter
history class. which option you choose, you must give up something you really
O You can ask a new acquaintance to have lunch, but then you want to get or you must do something you really want to avoid. We’ll
risk being rejected. describe three common kinds of conflicts—approach-approach,
avoidance-avoidance, and approach-avoidance—and some of the
ways of dealing with conflicts.

Approach-approach. Deciding between Avoidance-avoidance. Deciding Approach-avoidance. Deciding about
going to a party or seeing a friend involves between studying for a psychology asking a new acquaintance to lunch and
choosing between two pleasurable options. exam or writing a paper for a history being afraid of being rejected involves a
class involves choosing between two single situation that has both desirable
Approach-approach conflict involves choosing undesirable options. and undesirable possibilities.
between two situations that both have pleasurable
Avoidance-avoidance conflict Approach-avoidance conflict involves
consequences. involves choosing between two situa- a single situation that has both pleasurable
At first it seems that approach-approach
tions that both have disagreeable and disagreeable aspects.
conflicts are the least stressful of the three In this example, asking the person
kinds because, whichever option you choose, consequences.
you will experience a pleasurable consequence. In an avoidance-avoidance con- to lunch would make you feel good,
But on second thought, approach-approach but at the same time, being rejected is
conflicts can be the most stressful because you flict, you may change your mind something you want to avoid because it
must give up one of the very pleasurable con- many times and wait until the last makes you feel bad. Our lives are full of
sequences. e result is that you will feel con- possible minute before making the approach-avoidance conflicts, and try-
siderably stressed as you agonize over which final decision. You delay choosing as ing to decide what to do about them can
one of the two great possibilities to give up. long as possible in trying to avoid the be very stressful.
disagreeable or unpleasant outcome.

Five Styles of Dealing with Conflict

Researchers have identified five different styles of dealing with 4. Compromise. ese individuals recognize that others have
conflict, one of which may be similar to yours and one of which is different needs and try to solve conflicts through compromise.
better than the rest (R. J. Sternberg & Soriano, 1984). Unfortunately, they may use manipulation and misrepresentation
1. Avoidance. These individuals find dealing with conflicts to further their own goals, so compromise isn’t always the best
unpleasant. ey hope that by avoiding or ignoring the conflict it solution.
will disappear or magically go away. Sadly, the conflict usually gets 5. Integration. These individuals try to resolve conflicts
worse and will have to be dealt with eventually. by finding solutions to please both partners. They don’t
2. Accommodation. These individuals also hate criticize the other person, they try to be open, and they
conflicts and just give in to make the disagreement emphasize similarities rather than differences.
go away. ey tend to please people and worry about Perhaps the best way to resolve relationship conflicts is
approval. Unfortunately, giving in does not solve the to try to be as much of an integrator as possible because
problem, which in the long term will need to be solved. this style avoids criticism and has the best chance of pleas-
3. Domination. In conflicts, these individuals go ing both individuals (B. K. Williams & Knight, 1994).
to any lengths to win, even if it means being aggressive Situations involving conflict can be very stressful
and manipulative. However, aggressively solving con- because you must often make undesirable choices.
flicts results in hostility rather than intimate human What is the best way The next situations are stressful because they involve
relationships. to settle conflicts? anxiety.

492 M O D U L E 2 1 H E A L T H , S T R E S S & C O P I N G

Anxiety

How does is module began with the story of Luisa, who experienced tremendous anxiety. Remember, Luisa would have sud-
anxiety den and intense panic attacks for no apparent reason. Like Luisa’s experiences, everyone at some time will be caught
develop? in the terrible grip of anxiety.

Anxiety is an unpleasant state characterized by feelings of uneasiness and apprehension as well as increased physiological

arousal, such as increased heart rate and blood pressure.

Next, we’ll learn three ways of developing anxiety: classical conditioning, observational learning, and unconscious conflict. We’ll begin
by sharing two personal stories about how each of us developed severe anxiety.

Classical Conditioning Observational Learning Unconscious Conflict

I (R. P.) have a great fear When I (H. K.) was younger, I had a During psychotherapy,
of blood, which is a result debilitating fear of public speaking, Luisa discovered the reason
of a traumatic childhood which came from watching some of my for her anxiety was that she
incident: I had seen my classmates give a speech only to be was giving up her lifelong
father almost cut off his ridiculed when they made an error. My dream of becoming a writ-
thumb. For me and about anxiety developed through observa- er to respect her parents’
76% of people surveyed, tional learning in the classroom. wish for her to become a
fear of blood began with Observational learning, which is a form scientist.
I developed a traumatic event that Luisa developed Sigmund Freud hypoth-
anxiety involved classical condi- of cognitive learning, results from watching anxiety through
through tioning (Kleinknecht, esized that there are three
classical 1994). In my case, the and modeling and does not require the unconscious divisions of the mind—id,
conflict.
conditioning. observer to perform any observable behav-

ior or receive a reinforcer. ego, and superego—that at times may be in

neutral stimulus was the sight of blood. It My observations of classmates speak- conflict over how a need should be satisfied
was paired with an unconditioned stimu- ing in front of the class made me develop (p. 436). is unconscious conflict may result
lus—seeing my father almost cut off his severe anxiety over public speaking. in feeling anxiety.
thumb—that caused an unconditioned Since childhood, I’ve had to speak in Anxiety, according to Freud, arises when there

response—anxiety, fear, and the fight- public many times and my anxiety has is an unconscious conflict between the id’s and su-

flight response. A er this single pairing, decreased because I’ve had positive perego’s desires regarding how to satisfy a need,

the sight of blood became the conditioned experiences giving with the ego caught in the middle. The ego’s solu-

Photo Credits: left, © PhotoDisc, Inc.; center, © photosindia/Getty Images; bottom, © Brand X/SuperStock stimulus, which now elicits the uncondi- speeches. tion to this conflict is to create a feeling of anxiety.

tioned response—great anxiety. My fear Albert Bandu- According to Freud, we may try to de-
of blood is an example of a conditioned ra (2001b) believes crease our anxiety by using a number of
emotional response. the majority of defense mechanisms. Luisa had been using
A conditioned emotional response results human learning, the defense mechanism of repression to help

when an emotional response, such as fear or including feeling manage her anxiety, but this did not solve

anxiety, is classically conditioned to a previously anxious in specific her dilemma of which career to choose. As a

neutral stimulus. situations, occurs I developed result, her anxiety intensified and she began
through obser- anxiety from
A conditioned emotional response not vational learning observing students having panic attacks.
only is highly resistant to extinction but (p. 225). get embarrassed. Next, we’ll learn about different ways stress
can also cause stressful feelings (p. 201). can actually be positive.

Positive Stress

How can When most people think of stress, I feel great! As a student, you can probably acknowl-
negative thoughts immediately It was worth edge that a little bit of stress in school helps
stress be come to mind. But, did you know the stress! motivate you to study. Just imagine if your

positive? that there is a type of stress that is instructor removed all of the potential stress
actually healthy and desirable? It’s from the course, such as not requiring you to take
called eustress. exams or not assigning grades! Be honest—how much would
Eustress is a pleasant and desirable type of stress that is you study then?

healthful and keeps us engaged in situations. Eustress arouses and motivates us to achieve and
You’ve likely experienced eustress when purchas- overcome challenges. It is one type of stress we don’t
want to live without.
ing a new car, applying to college, getting a promo- Next, we’ll examine how different kinds of per-
tion at work, winning first place in a competition, sonality variables can help or hinder our coping with
watching a suspenseful thriller, getting married, anxiety and stress.
or having a child.

C . S T R E S S F U L E X P E R I E N C E S 493

D. Personality & Social Factors

Hardiness Shaun White, nicknamed the “Flying Locus of Control A daily hassle that most of us hate is hav-
Tomato” for his long, curly red hair, has ing to wait for something or somebody.
How does never been an ordinary athlete. At the age Why can
he cope with
waiting be One reason waiting can be so stressful is
the stress of of 6, he began skateboarding on a ramp in such a hassle? that we have little or no control in this situ-
his backyard, and he practiced snowboard- ation. How much control you feel you have
competition? ing during family trips to the mountains. over a situation is a personal belief that is called locus of control.

By the time Shaun was 13 years old, he became a pro skateboarder Locus of control represents a continuum: At one end is the belief that

and snowboarder. At age 19, he became the first athlete to compete you are basically in control of life’s events and that what you do influences

in both the summer and winter X Games. Shaun always strives to the situation; this belief is called an internal locus of control. At the other

do his very best, even under end is the belief that chance and luck mostly determine what happens

the most stressful situations. and that you do not have much influence; this belief is called an external

He does not allow the pres- locus of control.

sure of heated competition or Most of us lie somewhere along the locus of control continuum,
the setback of an awkward rather than being at one end or the other (Carducci, 2006). For
landing to compromise his example, when students discuss how much
determination to win. Shaun’s What’s the use of their studying affects their grades, they are
ability to handle extreme studying when I do in part talking about their locus of control,
stress became most evident poorly on exams? which in turn affects their stress level.

How can Shaun White, the when he won an Olympic gold External locus of control. “No matter
“Flying Tomato,” perform so well in medal in 2006 (Ruibal, 2006; how much I study, it never seems to help,”
“Shaun White,” 2006). says the student with an external locus of
extremely stressful conditions? control. is student will likely appraise
Why is it that certain peo-
ple, like Shaun White, seem to handle stressful situations better exams and papers as less of a challenge
than others? This was exactly the question researchers asked as and more of a threat, which in turn
they studied the personality characteristics of middle- and upper- will generate negative emotions
level executives and lawyers who had experienced considerable (fear, anxiety, anger) and increase
stress in the past three years (Kobasa, 1982; Kobasa et al., 1982a, stress levels.
1982b). Researchers discovered that those executives and lawyers Internal locus of control. “If
who stayed healthy in spite of stressful life situations had three I study hard and apply myself, I can get good grades,” says the
personality traits, which, taken together, were labeled hardiness. student with an internal locus of control. is student will likely
Hardiness is a combination of three personality traits—control, com- appraise exams and papers less as threats and more as challenges,

mitment, and challenge—that protect or buffer us from the potentially which in turn will generate positive emotions (excitement, enthu-

harmful effects of stressful situations and reduce our chances of develop- siasm) and decrease stress levels. is means that students with

ing psychosomatic illnesses. internal locus of control have lower levels of stress and, as a result,

Shaun White is a great example of a hardy person who has the report fewer psychosomatic symptoms than those with external Photo Credits: left, © Joe Klamar/AFP/Getty Images; right, © PhotoDisc, Inc.
three Cs—control, commitment, and challenge. His disciplined prac- locus of control (Ruiz-Bueno, 2000).
ticing shows he has commitment to his goal of being a snowboarding A cross-cultural study comparing stress and coping styles
legend; his participation in the Olympics shows he likes a challenge; among Japanese and British people revealed interesting results
and his determination to come back more focused after even the about stress and a sense of control. Although Japanese people
slightest error indicates his desire to be in control (Maddi, 2008). reported feeling less personal control, only
Just as hardiness helps Shaun White deal with stress, hardiness British people reported that a feeling of
helps people cope in a wide range of stressful situations, such as less personal control results in increased
nurses who work with dying patients and military personnel who stress. ese results suggest that a sense of
experience life-threatening situations (Bartone, 1999; Maddi, control may be most important in Western
2002). Researchers also reported that hardiness helps college stu- cultures that emphasize autonomy and
dents cope by reducing the effects of daily frustrations (Beasley et personal accomplishment (O’Connor &
al., 2003). Hardiness is a personality factor that increases protec- Shimizu, 2002).
tion against stress and decreases the chances of developing psy- Studies on locus of control show that our
chosomatic symptoms. Being hardy motivates people like Shaun personality traits influence our appraisal
White to see stressors as opportunities for growth, which gives (more or less challenging or threatening), which, in turn, increases
them a real edge in dealing with potentially stressful situations or decreases our feelings of stress and our chances of developing
(Bonanno, 2004; Maddi, 2008). psychosomatic symptoms (Kirkcaldy et al., 2002).
Next, we’ll discuss what researchers have learned by studying Another personality trait that can influence stress levels is how
control, one of the three traits in hardiness. pessimistic or optimistic we generally are.

494 M O D U L E 2 1 H E A L T H , S T R E S S & C O P I N G

Optimism Versus Pessimism Positive Psychology
If you want to experience more positive Sherrod Ballentine has a stressful job as a
Why is it than negative emotions and reduce your Why should I court mediator, and although she’s not
better to be levels of stress, try being more optimistic. focus more on clinically depressed, she wants to learn
an optimist?
Optimism is a relatively stable personality the positive? ways to improve her mood. She takes a class

trait that leads to believing and expecting that called “Authentic Happiness and How to

good things will happen. Pessimism is a relatively stable personality trait Obtain It” and learns activities that will train her mind to focus
more on the positive. One activity Sherrod learns is to write down
that leads to believing and expecting that bad things will happen.

Optimists. One way optimists reduce stress is three happy events and their causes at the end of each day for a
by focusing on the good things, a process called week. A er completing the class, she said, “I am happier. Every day,
positive reappraisal. Forms of positive reap- I feel so grateful to wake up this way” (Lemley, 2006). Sherrod’s
praisal include discovering new opportunities new learned skills are based on positive psychology.
for personal growth, noticing actual personal Positive psychology is the scientific study of

growth, and seeing how your actions can ben- optimal human functioning, focusing on the

efit others. By using positive reappraisal, you strengths and virtues that enable individuals and

can change the meaning or appraisal of situa- communities to thrive. It aims to better understand

tions to seem more positive and thus feel posi- “I’m an optimist the positive, adaptive, and fulfilling aspects of
and believe that
tive emotions (Folkman & Moskowitz, 2000). good things will human life.
Researchers found that individuals who per-
ceive themselves as in control—that is, have happen.” Positive psychology has three main con-
cerns. e first is the study of positive emo-
an internal locus of control—are more likely to have an optimistic tions, such as happiness, hope, love, and
attitude in dealing with stressors (C. T. F. Klein & Helweg-Larsen, contentment. The second is the study of
2002). Generally, optimists cope more effectively with stress and positive individual traits, such as altruism,
experience more positive emotions and fewer psychosomatic courage, compassion, and resilience. The
symptoms than pessimists (Nes & Segerstrom, 2006; S. E. Taylor et third is the study of positive institutions, or
al., 2000). Optimists may even live longer than pessimists (DeKeu- the strengths that promote better communi-
kelaere, 2006; Giltay et al., 2004; R. Rubin, 2009). ties, such as justice, parenting, tolerance, and
Pessimists. Because pessimists expect bad things to happen, teamwork (Seligman, 2003).
they are likely to change the meaning or appraisal of One theoretical model states that positive
situations to seem more negative and emotions and positive traits enhance health
thus experience more negative by pushing away negative ones. For instance,
emotions, such as anger, rage, it is difficult to be angry or bitter when one is
fear, or anxiety, and they are showing compassion and love for others (N. B. Anderson, 2003).
less able to ask for or receive ere are many research examples showing that characteristics
social support. For example, of positive psychology have a beneficial impact on mood and phys-
researchers found that men with ical health. For example, a review of research data on altruism and
high levels of negative emotions its relationship to mental and physical health found volunteering
were four times more likely to suffer and other supportive behaviors (such as providing emotional sup-
sudden heart death. In comparison, port to others) are associated with higher life satisfaction as well as
optimistic patients who received heart “I’m a pessimist better physical and mental health (S. Post, 2005). Also, research on
transplants reported more positive emo- and believe that bad writing exercises, such as the one Sherrod did, shows impressive
tions and dealt better with setbacks than things will happen.” results. One study found that a er writing about positive experi-

patients with more pessimistic outlooks (Leedham et al., 1995). ences for 20 minutes each day for three consecutive days, college
Numerous studies associate pessimism and negative emo- students reported improved mood and had fewer health cen-
tions with increasing stress levels, decreasing functioning of the ter visits for illness in the months that followed (C. M. Burton &
immune system, and a wide range of psychosomatic symptoms King, 2004).
Photo Credit: bottom left, © PhotoDisc, Inc. such as high blood pressure, heart problems, headaches, allergies, Positive psychology has shown us that the benefits of improved
and stomach problems (Vahtera et al., 2000). mood are endless. For instance, happy people report having more
Personality factors. During the past 10 years, a number of friends, more satisfying marriages, higher incomes, healthier life-
personality factors, such as optimism/pessimism, internal/exter- styles, and longer lives than their unhappy peers (Hales, 2008).
nal locus of control, and hardiness, have been associated with feel- One reason there is growing interest in positive psychology
ing more or less positive or negative emotions, which in turn are is that it provides a change from the tendency of researchers in
involved in increasing or decreasing stress levels and increasing psychology to focus more on problems or weaknesses than on
or decreasing the chances of developing psychosomatic symptoms strengths or virtues.
(Salovey et al., 2000). Next, we’ll examine two particular combinations of personality
Next, we’ll learn about a new direction in psychology that traits that have been labeled Type A and Type D behavior, which have
focuses on better understanding positive attitudes and happiness. been associated with increasing the chances of having a heart attack.

D . P E R S O N A L I T Y & S O C I A L F A C T O R S 495

D. Personality & Social Factors

Type A Behavior In the mid-1970s, a new expression—“You’re a Type A person”—was coined when two doctors published the
book Type A Behavior and Your Heart (M. Friedman & Rosenman, 1974). At that time, the best-known risk fac-
Is there such a tors associated with developing heart disease were diet, exercise, and smoking. is book startled the medical
thing as Type A world by describing a combination of personality traits that made up a psychological risk factor, which was
called Type A behavior.
behavior?

1970s: Type A Behavior— 1980s–1990s:

Impatient, Hostile, Workaholic Type A Behavior—Depressed, Angry

We’ll begin with the original 1970s definition of Research in the 1980s that showed coronary disease was not associated with
Type A behavior (M. Friedman & Rosenman, 1974). being impatient or a workaholic led to both traits being dropped from the new
Type A behavior referred to a combination of person- definition of Type A behavior (Booth-Kewley & Friedman, 1987; K. A. Matthews

ality traits that included an overly & Haynes, 1986).

competitive and aggressive drive to Type A behavior was defined in the 1980s as being depressed,

achieve, a hostile attitude when easily frustrated, anxious, and angry, or some combination of these

frustrated, a habitual sense of time traits.

urgency, a rapid and explosive pat- Despite using this new and improved definition, a review

tern of speaking, and being a work- of many studies between 1983 and 1992 led one researcher to

aholic. Type B behavior was char- conclude that the relationship between Type A behavior and

Impatient, hostile, acterized as being easygoing, calm, Depressed cardiac disease is so weak as to have no practical meaning and
and workaholic relaxed, and patient. and angry that Type A behavior is no longer a valid or useful concept
(Myrtek, 1995). Because of the continuing failure to replicate
e reason Type A behavior the original relationship, researchers again redefined Type A behavior.
made such a big scientific splash was that, compared
to Type B’s, Type A’s were found to have experi- The 1990s definition of Type A behavior specifies an individual who feels angry and

enced two to three times as many heart attacks. By hostile much of the time but may or may not express these emotions publicly.

1978, Type A behavior was officially recognized as is definition made prolonged hostility or anger (felt or expressed) the major
an independent risk factor for heart disease by a component of Type A behavior (Leventhal & Patrick-Miller, 2000). Research
National Institutes of Health panel. indicates that angry/hostile individuals are three times more likely to have
However, at about the same time that Type A heart attacks, and individuals who are quick to anger under stress are five times
behavior was declared a risk factor, researchers more likely to develop a premature heart disease (D. Smith, 2003). Research-
began having trouble replicating earlier findings ers concluded that individuals who either always show their anger/hostility or
and began to seriously question the definition of always suppress it have large increases in physiological arousal, which can have
Type A behavior. damaging effects on one’s heart and one’s health (Finney, 2003).

Type D Behavior
What is Type D 2000s: Type D Behavior—Chronic Distress: Negative Affectivity, Social Inhibition

behavior? In his work with cardiac patients, coronary arteries showed Type D patients were four times
Johan Denollet, a psychologist, as likely as others to have a heart attack or die within six
noticed that some heart-attack survivors remained happy to nine months of the procedure (M. C. Miller, 2005).
and optimistic, while others became discouraged and pes- Even though research supports the link between Type
simistic. He went on to describe a set of behaviors he D behavior and health problems, recall that research on
believed to be predictive of health risk (M. C. Miller, 2005). Type A behavior also began strong, and yet Type A behav-
Type D behavior is defined as chronic distress in terms of two ior had to be redefined. Type D behavior is a relatively

emotional states: negative affectivity (worry, irritability, gloom) and new concept and needs more research to better determine

social inhibition (being shy and reserved, lacking self-assurance). Negative its impact on health conditions (M. C. Miller, 2005).
People with Type D behavior tend to experience negative affectivity and In conclusion, research on Type A and Type D behav-
social inhibition
emotions and inhibit self-expression in social interactions. ior shows that certain personality traits, such as anger/
eir chronic distress and lack of strong social support help explain hostility and negative affectivity/social inhibition, can increase
why they are at an increased risk for various health problems (Pelle the risks of cardiovascular diseases. is means that treatment for
et al., 2009; L. Williams et al., 2008). For instance, Type D behavior such diseases should include not only medical treatments but also
is associated with greater cortisol reactivity to stress and conse- behavioral therapy to decrease negative traits (Merz et al., 2002).
quently increased risk for coronary artery disease (L. Sher, 2004). Besides personality factors, social factors affect our stress and
Research on patients who had recently received stents to open their health.

496 M O D U L E 2 1 H E A L T H , S T R E S S & C O P I N G

Social Support

Do friends We have told you how important findings began to break down. Families no longer had helpful friends for
are often discovered by chance. Here’s a neighbors, which meant fewer family and friendly get-togethers
help you deal “chance” finding that began a new area of and far less social support. One of the most interesting and deadly
with stress? research. findings was that with the breakdown in social support came an
In the small town of Roseto, Pennsylva- increase in heart attacks, especially in younger men. is study on
nia, people were relatively obese and ate a lot of animal fat. ey families in Roseto was one of the first to sug-
smoked as much and exercised as little as residents of other neigh- We’re always gest that dealing with stress and overcoming
boring towns. Despite the citizens’ awful diet and lifestyle— helping one health risks were in large part aided by one’s
obvious risk factors for developing heart disease—only one social support.
another.

man in 1,000 died of a heart attack, compared with a Social support refers to three factors: having a group or

national rate of 3.5 per 1,000, and the rate for women network of family or friends who provide strong social attach-

was even lower. Citizens of Roseto also had lower ments; being able to exchange helpful resources among

rates for ulcers and emotional problems com- family or friends; and feeling, or making appraisals, that

pared with rates in the rest of the United States we have supportive relationships and behaviors.

and their neighboring towns. irty years ago, no one would have thought
This puzzling question—why the citizens that loneliness and lack of social support were
of Roseto should enjoy such good physical major factors that contributed to becoming ill
and mental health in the face of obvious risk Social support reduces stress. and developing psychosomatic symptoms. Today,

factors—was answered by a study of the town’s social order. “One social support is reported to be a very important coping method
striking feature did set Roseto apart from its neighbors,” says Stew- that individuals use to decrease the effects of stressful situations
art Wolf, vice president for medical affairs at St. Luke’s Hospital and cope with psychosomatic problems (Uchino, 2004).
in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and a principal investigator of the Not only has our understanding of the importance of social sup-
Roseto phenomenon. “We found that family relationships were port moved forward, but so has our ability to provide and receive
extremely close and mutually supportive, and this wonderful social social support. Anyone with access to the Internet can find support
support system extended to neighbors and to the community as a by participating in virtual support groups, which can be effective
whole” (J. Greenberg, 1978, p. 378). But the story of Roseto does not in helping people cope with stress associated with psychosocial and
Photo Credits: top, © PhotoDisc, Inc.; bottom left, © Juan Silva/Getty Images; bottom right, © Blend Images/SuperStock have a happy ending. medical problems (Høybye et al., 2005; Marziali et al., 2006).
As families of Roseto prospered, they moved into larger and We’ll present studies that illustrate how social support buffers
finer homes in the countryside, and their social support system us from stress and social conflict creates stress.

Buffer against Stress Social Conflict
Many of us have asked for help in solving a variety of problems, which range Some social interactions
from feeling lonely to needing to borrow money. In these troublesome situa- can be stressful. In
tions, social support helps us cope with stress by giving us confidence, raising fact, you probably
don’t have to try very
our self-esteem, and increasing our feelings hard to remember a
of self-worth, which in turn promote and recent conflict you
maintain psychological adjustment. had with a friend,
romantic partner,
For example, cutting-edge research found parent, co-worker,
that married women under extreme stress
feel immediate relief upon holding their or boss. Research indicates that these social conflicts
husband’s hand (Carey, 2006). In this study, negatively affect physical health. For instance, adults
women were placed in an MRI machine and who have conflict in a close relationship experience
told they would periodically receive a mild electric shock. Brain scans showed ongoing stress, which places them at an increased risk
heightened activity in areas involved in physical arousal and anticipating pain. of heart problems, weakened immune system, and
As soon as husbands reached into the machine and touched their wife’s hand, depression (De Vogli et al., 2007; L. Lyon, 2007).
the activity levels in all brain areas responding to the stress dropped substan-
tially. It is interesting that, although a stranger’s hand resulted in some drop in One way to reduce the effects of social conflict is to
brain activity in areas responding to stress, the drop was not as substantial as have other sources of strong social support. Remem-
that from the husband’s touch. Another similar study, this time focusing on ber, a good social support system facilitates our main-
other physiological measures of stress, found that a supportive and caring touch taining good mental health and protects us from
lowers several stress responses, including blood pressure (Holt-Lunstad et al., developing illnesses and psychosomatic symptoms
2008). From these and other studies on social support and stress, researchers (de Grott, 2002; Miyazaki et al., 2003). One of the
conclude that social support can decrease the effects of stressful experiences important functions of a good social support system
(P. D. Martin & Brantley, 2004). is to help us develop ways of coping with stress, which
Next, we’ll learn how one type of social interaction can actually increase stress. we’ll discuss a er the Concept Review.

D . P E R S O N A L I T Y & S O C I A L F A C T O R S 497

Concept Review

1. The cognitive and behavioral efforts that we use to manage a small, irritating, frustrating events that we face in our
situation that we have appraised as exceeding, straining, or taxing daily lives are called (b) , and those small,
our personal resources are referred to as . pleasurable, daily experiences that make us feel happy are
called (c) .
2. Our initial, subjective evaluation of a situation,
in which we balance environmental demands 10. When our attempts to reach some goal
against our ability to meet them, is referred to as are blocked, the feeling we have is called
. We may appraise the situation (a) . The feeling of doing poorly
in three ways: as irrelevant, positive, or stressful. at one’s job, physically wearing out, and becoming

3. If we appraise a situation as stressful, we go on to determine emotionally exhausted due to intense involvement
with people is called (b) . The
whether it represents (a) , , or problem arising from direct personal experience of an event that
. If our primary appraisal is one of harm/loss or
threat, we will experience more (b) than if our involves actual or threatened death or serious injury or from wit-
nessing such an event or hearing of such an event happening to a
appraisal is one of challenge, because harm/loss or threat apprais- family member or close friend is called (c) .
als elicit (c) emotions.

4. A combination of physiological responses that 11. There are three general kinds of conflict. A Photo Credits: (#9) © Larry Dale Gordon/Getty Images; (#10) © PhotoDisc, Inc.; (#12) © photosindia/Getty Images; (#13) © Joe Klamar/AFP/Getty Images;
arouse and prepare the body for action is referred single situation that has both pleasurable and dis- (#14) © PhotoDisc, Inc.
to as the (a) response. This agreeable aspects is called (a)
response begins in a part of the brain called conflict; choosing between two options that
the (b) , which triggers the both have pleasurable consequences is called
(c) division of the autonomic nervous system. (b) conflict; choosing between
This response is especially triggered by threat appraisals. two options that both have disagreeable consequences is called
(c) conflict.
5. Real and painful physical symptoms that are caused by psycho-
logical factors, such as our reactions to stress, are 12. We can become anxious in at least three differ-
ent ways. If an emotional response is classically
called symptoms. conditioned to a previously neutral stimulus, this

6. A series of three stages—alarm, resistance, procedure results in a (a) response.
and exhaustion—that the body goes through
in dealing with stress is referred to as the If we become anxious through watching and do not
perform any observable behavior or receive a rein-
(a) . The alarm stage is our initial reaction to forcer, this is called (b) learning. If we become
stress and is marked by activation of the (b) .
The resistance stage is the body’s reaction to continued stress anxious because of unconscious conflicts between the id and the
superego, this is (c) explanation of anxiety.
and is marked by most physiological responses returning to
(c) levels. The exhaustion stage is the body’s 13. A combination of three personality traits—
control, commitment, and challenge—that pro-
reaction to long-term, continuous stress and is marked by the tect or buffer us from the potentially harmful
actual breakdown or weakening of (d) .
effects of stressful situations and reduce our
7. The body’s defense and surveillance network chances of developing psychosomatic illness is
of cells and chemicals that fight off bacteria, referred to as (a) . The belief
viruses, and other foreign matter is called the that you are basically in control of life’s events and that what you
do influences the situation is called an (b) locus
system.

8. The study of how three factors—the central nervous system, of control. The belief that chance and luck mostly determine what
happens is called an (c) locus of control.
the endocrine system, and psychosocial factors—interact to affect
the immune system is called .
14. If we have family or friends who provide
strong social attachments, if we can exchange
9. Potentially disturbing, troubling, or disruptive sit- helpful resources among friends, and if we
uations—both positive and negative—that we appraise appraise our relationships as supportive, we
as having considerable impact on our lives are called would be said to have strong .
(a) events. In comparison, those

Answers: 1. stress or stressful; 2. primary appraisal; 3. (a) harm/loss, threat, challenge, (b) stress, (c) negative; 4. (a) fight-flight, (b) hypothalamus,
(c) sympathetic; 5. psychosomatic; 6. (a) general adaptation syndrome, (b) fight-flight response, (c) normal, (d) internal organs or the immune system;
7. immune; 8. psychoneuroimmunology; 9. (a) major life, (b) hassles, (c) uplifts; 10. (a) frustration, (b) burnout, (c) posttraumatic stress disorder;
11. (a) approach-avoidance, (b) approach-approach, (c) avoidance-avoidance; 12. (a) conditioned emotional, (b) observational, (c) Freud’s;
13. (a) hardiness, (b) internal, (c) external; 14. social support

498 M O D U L E 2 1 H E A L T H , S T R E S S & C O P I N G

E. Kinds of Coping

Appraisal Secondary appraisal involves deciding to deal with a potentially

Why is Sooner or later, every couple gets into an stressful situation by using one or both of two differ-
argument. In this case, Susan complained
arguing that Bill always got home late, but Bill had ent coping patterns: Problem-focused coping means

stressful? had a bad day and said that he didn’t want to doing something about the particular problem,

talk about it. Bill’s reply angered Susan, who while emotion-focused coping means dealing with

complained more, which made Bill quieter and madder. One one’s negative feelings.

reason Bill and Susan’s argument quickly became very stressful Which coping strategy Bill and Susan
was that each one made a primary appraisal of being threat- use to deal with their stressful situation—
ened, which elicited negative emotions and triggered the fight- that is, whether they use problem-focused
flight response, which in turn increased physiological arousal or emotion-focused coping—will affect how How can they best
and further intensified their negative feelings. How Bill and their argument gets resolved and what happens end their argument?

Susan deal with their stressful situation depends on what kind to their levels of stress. We’ll discuss how each coping strategy has both
of secondary appraisal they make next (Lazarus, 2000). short- and long-term disadvantages and advantages.

Kinds of Coping
If Bill or Susan tried to decrease the For example, Bill may use emotion-focused
How to stress by stopping arguing and making Emotion- coping to get over his anger by going to a sports
cope with up, he or she would be using problem- focused bar to drink and watch television with the “boys.”

arguing? focused coping. Susan may use emotion-focused coping to deal
Problem-focused coping means we try with her hurt feelings by calling her friends to talk
to decrease stress by solving the problem through seeking infor- Stress about what happened and get advice, sympathy,

mation, changing our own behavior, or taking whatever action is and support.

needed to resolve the difficulty. Problem- In the short term, emotion-focused coping may
For example, if Bill agreed to talk about ways of not being focused help Bill and Susan deal with their negative emo-
tions, but it doesn’t usually solve the basic stress-
late, he would be using problem-focused coping. If Susan
agreed to interpret Bill’s being late as something he cannot ful problem, which means the problem will likely
always control and something not to get angry about, she These are the two kinds reoccur and cause more stress (Lazarus, 2000). In
would be using problem-focused coping. e goal of prob- of coping strategies. contrast, a big advantage of using problem-focused

lem-focused coping is to reduce stress by solving the problem. coping is that it’s a long-term coping strategy, which can help iden-
Another coping strategy that Bill and Susan might use to tify and solve the underlying problem that is causing the stressful
decrease stressful feelings is called emotion-focused coping. and negative emotional feelings. In addition, compared to using
Emotion-focused coping means that we do things primarily to deal emotion-focused coping, using problem-focused coping is posi-
with our emotional distress, such as seeking support and sympathy or tively correlated with having and maintaining good physical and
avoiding or denying the situation. mental health (Largo-Wight et al., 2005; Penley et al., 2002).

Choosing a Coping Strategy basic problem (being late), which may involve changing some
Which coping strategy you choose depends undesirable behavior (being disorganized). e more frustrating a
Photo Credits: right, © PhotoDisc, Inc.; left, © R. W. Jones/Corbis Which coping partly on the situation and on your per- situation is, the more likely you will need to use both emotion-
strategy to use? sonality (Lazarus, 2000). For example, one focused coping and problem-focused coping (Lazarus, 2000).
personality factor that influences whether
you use primarily problem-focused or emotion-focused coping is Sex differences. Compared with men, women tend to use
how much control you believe you have over the situation. If you more coping strategies—problem-focused and emotion-focused—
appraise a situation (being late) as to deal with a wide range of stressors. In addition, compared with
something under your control, you men, women are more likely to use emotion-focused coping to
can use primarily problem-focused seek emotional support and advice from others about dealing with
coping to solve this problem. On the stressors. Compared with women, men are more likely to withdraw
other hand, if you appraise a situation or avoid problems and not talk about or engage in emotion-focused
(dealing with your partner’s com- coping, especially if problems involve relationship or health con-
plaints) as being out of your control, cerns (Tamres et al., 2002). us, women appear to use more cop-
you may first use emotion-focused ing strategies and are more willing to talk about solving problems,
coping to get over your negative emo- while men are more likely to keep silent or avoid certain problems.
tions (anger). Once you calm down,
Women and men tend To deal with stressors, emotion-focused coping is a useful short-
to use different kinds of term solution. Problem-focused coping is a long-term solution that
coping strategies. you can use problem-focused coping involves changing our behaviors (Lazarus, 2000).
to take some direct action to solve the

E . K I N D S O F C O P I N G 499

F. Research Focus: Treatment for Panic Disorder

How Effective Is Treatment for Panic Disorder?
We have discussed stress and coping in general, and now we return to the case of Luisa, the 23-year-old college
How is panic student with panic disorder. Remember Luisa had unexpected episodes in which she experienced rapid heart rate,
disorder best a sense of suffocation, trembling of her arms and legs, dizziness, and chest pain. She felt so frightened by these

treated? episodes she worried she might die. Luisa’s experience of having panic disorder is not uncommon. Many adults

suffer from panic disorder, and fortunately there are treatment options available to them. Psychologists conduct
research studies to learn which treatment or combination of treatments is most effective for problems such as panic disorder. Next, we’ll
discover which research methods psychologists use to determine the effectiveness of treatments, as well as discuss research findings on the
treatment of panic disorder.

1 Research Methods 2 How Can Panic Disorder Be Treated?
In Module 2, we discussed several ways psy- In Luisa’s case, her treatment began with medication only, and a few months later she
chologists answer questions, including case received a combination of medication and psychotherapy. Panic disorder is usually
studies and experiments, each of which has treated with drugs—benzodiazepines (tranquilizers, such as diazepam) or antidepres-
advantages and disadvantages. sants (Prozac-like drugs, which are serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs)—and/or
A case study is an in-depth analysis of the psychotherapy. Many more people with panic disorder receive drugs than psychother-
thoughts, feelings, beliefs, or behaviors of an indi- apy, mostly because they seek treatment from their primary care physician rather than a
vidual, without much ability to control or manipu- psychologist. One popular type of psychotherapy used to treat panic disorder is
late situations or variables. cognitive-behavioral therapy, or CBT (p. 559), which views the physiological arousal

For example, much of the initial infor- symptoms as a learned fear of certain bodily sensations and views the fear
mation on how the brain functions came of being in closed or crowded situations as a behavioral response to
from case studies on individuals who expecting that the bodily sensations will intensify into a full-blown
had tumors, gunshot wounds, or panic attack (Craske & Barlow, 2001). Given the various treat-
accidental damage. Similarly, psy- ment options available for panic disorder, how do psychologists
chologists can learn about how know for sure which treatment or combination of treatments is
individuals cope with panic disor- most effective?
der by observing and questioning
Which Treatment Is Most Effective?
3them as they progress through treat- A comprehensive experiment including more than 300
people diagnosed with panic disorder used random assign-
ment to identify how they cope and ment to place each participant in one of five treatment
adjust to their condition. groups: drug only (a benzodiazepine), CBT only, placebo
only, CBT plus drug, and CBT plus placebo (Craske & Bar-
When it is possible to control or low, 2001). The results showed that people who received
manipulate situations or variables, drugs or CBT, as well as the combined treatments, showed
the preferred choice of research Luisa received medication more improvement than people in the placebo-only group. In
method is an experiment. and psychotherapy. regard to short-term treatment effects (measured after three

An experiment is a method for identify-
ing cause-and-effect relationships by following
a set of guidelines that describe how to con-
trol, manipulate, and measure variables, while at
the same time minimizing the possibility of error
and bias.

Experiments give researchers great con-
trol over manipulating treatments and mea-
suring subjects’ responses. Also, they allow
research data to be collected on a group of
people, rather than on only one person, as
months of treatment), CBT plus drugs was not better than CBT plus placebo, and people
receiving combined treatments showed no more improvements than people receiving
individual treatments. In regard to long-term treatment effects (six months a er treat-
ment had ended), many people in the drug-only group and CBT-plus-drug group
relapsed. us, people treated with CBT alone or in combination with placebo did better
than those who took medication. ough this study used only a benzodiazepine for drug
treatment, similar research studies using an SSRI show comparable results. is suggests
that CBT has a better long-term treatment benefit for panic disorder than medication.
4in a case study, so the results can be more
Conclusions
meaningful to a large group of people. For- By using an experiment, researchers found that the use of CBT and drugs, either indi-
tunately, psychologists can use experiments vidually or combined, worked about equally well in the short term. However, the use of
to compare the effectiveness of various treat- CBT without drugs led to the best long-term treatment effects. It is well established that
ments for panic disorder. We will learn about over 80% of people with panic disorder who receive CBT will be panic-free at the end of
one such experiment, but before we do, let’s treatment, and they generally continue to show long-term treatment benefits (Craske &
learn about the most common treatments Barlow, 2001). erefore, treatment for panic disorder should include CBT.
available for panic disorder. Next, we’ll look at how some monks develop mind-over-body control.

500 M O D U L E 2 1 H E A L T H , S T R E S S & C O P I N G

G. Cultural Diversity: Tibetan Monks

Monks’ Amazing Abilities your hands. However, the first time you try this, your hands will probably become
colder because by trying so hard to relax, you may be doing the reverse: activating
Tibetan monks claim that by meditating they can your sympathetic system, which causes arousal and constricts the blood vessels in
voluntarily control their autonomic nervous sys- your fingers.
tems to perform a number of responses, such as Westerners find it takes considerable practice to learn to warm our hands
warming their hands (graph below). Since many because we usually spend little time practicing how to produce relaxing thoughts.
Western researchers believe that voluntary control In comparison, certain Tibetan monks, through various forms of meditation,
of the autonomic nervous system is very, very dif- claim that they can warm their hands and bodies to such an extent that they can
ficult to learn, Western researcher Herbert Benson actually dry wet towels that are placed on their shoulders. is was exactly the
and his colleagues from Harvard Medical School kind of claim that excited and puzzled Benson’s group of researchers.
have traveled to India to scientifically test and ver- Voluntary control—hand warming. Benson’s group obtained permission from
ify the monks’ amazing claims (H. Benson et al., three monks at a monastery in India to measure their skin temperature during
Photo Credits: inset, © Fredrik Renander/Alamy; bottom right, © Richard J. Davidson, Director, W.M. Keck Laboratory for Functional Brain Imaging and Behavior 1982, 1990). heat meditation, or g Tum-mo yoga. e monks sat in the lotus position, closed
Figure/Text Credit: Graph data from “Body Temperature Changes During the Practice of g Tum-mo-Yoga,” by H. Benson, J. W. Lehmann, M. S. Malhotra, R. F. Goldman, their eyes, and began meditating. As shown in the le graph, within a short period
P. J. Hopkins & M. D. Epstein, 1982, Nature, 295, 234–235. 34 Meditation: of time, one monk had raised his finger temperature as much as 7–9°C (or 9–12°F)
finger with no change in heart rate (H. Benson et al., 1982). e monks’ success at warm-
Temperature (°C) ing their hands was about five times as great as Westerners, who had managed only
Baseline temperature 0.25–2°F (Freedman, 1991). However, only a small number of monks can produce
30 increases this kind of hand and body warming and only a er 10 to 20 years of practice.
Explanation. Westerner Benson gave a very scientific explanation: Monks are
Recovery: able to raise their hand temperature by using thoughts to deeply relax, which in
finger turn activates the parasympathetic division, which dilates tiny blood vessels that
lie near the surface of the skin. e Tibetan monks’ explanation is much more
26 temperature mysterious: During their meditation, the monks gather winds that are scattered in
returns to consciousness and focus these winds into a “central channel” that can generate a
normal great internal body heat (H. Benson et al., 1982).
Studying the mind’s abilities. e monks’ ability to voluntarily control their
22 Meditation physiological responses clearly shows the mind-body interaction as they use their
thoughts to influence the difficult-to-control and normally involuntary autonomic
0 10 20 30 40 50 0 10 20 nervous system. Recently, Western scientists completed a study in which a group
Time (minutes) of Buddhist monks extensively trained in meditation and a group of volunteers
without meditation experience were instructed to meditate on unconditional
Tibetan monks use meditation to increase hand compassion while brain wave activity was recorded. e results clearly showed
temperature, a response very difficult to control. that meditation activated the minds of the trained monks very differently from
those of the volunteers. e Buddhist monks had greater activation of fast-moving
The autonomic nervous system has two divisions and powerful gamma brain waves (40 cycles per second—much faster than REM
that are not usually under voluntary control: The sympa- brain waves; p. 153). It is interesting that the highest gamma brain wave activity
thetic division causes physiological arousal by increas- was recorded in the le prefrontal cortex, which is associated with happiness and
ing heart rate, breathing, blood pressure, and secretion positive thoughts. ese findings suggest Buddhist monks can rid themselves of
of hormones; the parasympathetic division calms and negative emotions through gamma
relaxes the body by decreasing physiological responses brain wave activity occurring dur-
and stimulating digestion. ing meditation (M. Kaufman, 2005; %
100
e only two responses of the autonomic ner-
vous system that you can control voluntarily and Talan, 2006a).
without practice are breathing and eye blinking. Although we are unlikely to ever
All other responses of the autonomic nervous achieve the monks’ level of mind 50
system, such as increasing or decreasing blood
pressure, temperature, or heart rate and dilating control, we’ll next discuss several 0
or constricting blood vessels, are controlled auto- more easily learned techniques
matically and, without considerable practice, are that can be used to reduce stress,
not under voluntary control. decrease activation of the fight- As shown in these head diagrams,
volunteers (above left) had low gamma brain
If you want to voluntarily control one of your wave activity and the Buddhist monks (above
autonomic nervous system’s responses, such as flight response, and reduce the right) had high gamma brain wave activity
dilating blood vessels to warm your hands, sit qui- risk of developing psychosomatic during the meditation task.
etly in a chair, close your eyes, and think relaxing symptoms.
thoughts. If you can think relaxing thoughts, they
will activate your parasympathetic division, which
will dilate blood vessels and result in warming

G . C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y : T I B E T A N M O N K S 501

H. Application: Stress Management Programs

Definition

How can One reason 30% of college freshmen feel Psychologists have developed a number of very effec-
continuously overwhelmed is that their tive stress management programs that reduce stress
I reduce my classes, exams, papers, personal prob- levels, which in turn decrease the occurrence of psy-
stress levels? lems, and part-time jobs combine to chosomatic symptoms. Although stress management
take more time and energy than they programs have different names, they all focus on
have (Duenwald, 2003). Being overwhelmed means increased ways to change three major contributors to stressful
levels of stress and increased risk of developing psychosomatic experiences: your thoughts and beliefs (appraisals),
symptoms. One way to reduce levels of stress is with a stress your behaviors, and your emotional and physiological
management program. responses (Spiegler & Guevremont, 2009).
A stress management program uses a variety of strategies to We’ll describe several methods that psycholo-

reduce anxiety, fear, and stressful experiences by changing three By controlling your gists have developed for effectively changing each of
different aspects of our lives: thoughts (appraisals), behaviors, and thoughts you can these three factors, beginning with changing your
physiological responses. control your body. thoughts.

Changing Thoughts
Many daily hassles—dealing with long lines, slow traffic, rude people, loud neighbors, and sloppy roommates—
Can you learn can be made more or less stressful depending on how you appraise these situations. Since your appraisal of a situ-
to think more ation as threatening or challenging is related to increasing or decreasing your stress levels, it follows that an

positively? effective way to decrease stressful experiences is to work at changing how you initially appraise a situation
(Lazarus, 2000). We’ll explain two effective strategies for changing your appraisals: thinking of potentially stress-
ful situations as challenging rather than threatening and changing negative self-statements into positive ones.

Use Challenge Appraisals Substitute Positive Self-Statements
Another way to prevent a situation, such as taking an exam, from
e reason you want to think of or appraise potentially stressful becoming more stressful is to work at removing negative self-state-
situations as challenging rather than threatening is that threat ments by substituting positive ones. Specifically, on one side of a sheet
appraisals elicit negative emotions (fear, anxiety, depression), of paper write your negative self-statements; then next to them on the
which in turn raise stress levels, while challenge appraisals elicit other side write the positive ones that you can substitute. e example
positive emotions, which lower stress levels. For example, stu- below shows negative self-statements changed into positive ones.
dents who emphasize threat appraisals of exams, such as think-
ing they will not have time to study or expecting to do poorly,
are more likely to experience negative emotions such as anxiety Negative self-statements Positive self-statements
and fear (Shannon, 1994). In turn, anxiety and fear trigger the “I know I’ll do badly.” “I know I can do OK.”
fight-flight response, which raises the level of stress and o en
leads to emotion-focused coping, such as com- “I always get so anxious.” “I’m going to stay calm.”
I see life plaining, seeking sympathy, or avoiding study- “I’m not smart enough.” “I’ve got plenty of ability.”
as one big ing. However, emotion-focused coping does not “I’m never going to learn it.” “I can learn the material.”
challenge!
usually motivate actions, such The reason you want to avoid making negative
as studying, that are needed self-statements is that they elicit negative emotions I believe I can.
to prepare students for (fear, anger, anxiety), which increase stress levels. I believe I can.
By substituting positive self-statements, which elicit I believe I can.
positive emotions, you can decrease stress levels. For
exams. example, each time you begin to think of a negative
In comparison, stu- self-statement, stop yourself and substitute a positive
dents who emphasize one. For regularly occurring stressors, such as taking
challenge appraisals of exams, waiting in lines, fighting with traffic, and
exams, such as wanting to do their dealing with rude people, it is best to have pre- Photo Credits: both, © PhotoDisc, Inc.
best or to prove themselves, are more pared a different list of self-statements to go
likely to experience positive emotions, such as excitement or with each different situation. Researchers
eagerness, which decrease levels of stress. In turn, challenge found that a program of substituting posi-
appraisals are more likely to result in problem-focused coping, tive self-statements proved very effective
which means taking direct action to deal with the situation in helping people change their thought
itself, such as developing a study program. patterns and reduce their stress levels
us, a good way to deal with potentially stressful situations (Spiegler & Guevremont, 2009).
is to focus on challenging rather than threatening appraisals
(N. Skinner & Brewer, 2002).

502 M O D U L E 2 1 H E A L T H , S T R E S S & C O P I N G

Changing Behaviors

How do you ere are generally two different ways programs include an observation period of 1 to 2 weeks. During this
that students get ready for exams. Some time, a student observes or monitors his or her own behaviors to iden-
get ready for students get ready for an exam by com- tify emotion-focused versus problem-focused behaviors.
an exam? plaining about how much work there is, If a student is using primarily emotion-focused coping I’d rather
complain than
making excuses about not studying, or (making excuses, procrastinating, or blaming others), he change.
blaming the instructor for too much material. ese behaviors or she will likely do poorly on exams. Instead, a student
involve emotion-focused coping, which in the short term needs to start a program of problem-focused coping
serves to reduce stress by decreasing negative emotional feel- (making a study program, rewriting class notes) by
ings. However, in the long run, students may need to change using some of the self-reward and behavior modifica-
these behaviors and engage in problem-focused coping, which tion techniques that we discussed in Module 10 (Spiegler
means developing a study plan (N. Skinner & Brewer, 2002). & Guevremont, 2009). us, one way to reduce stress
Because some students are not aware of whether they use is to change your behaviors—that is, to emphasize
emotion-focused or problem-focused coping, stress management problem-focused over emotion-focused activities.

Learning to Relax
Learning to relax at will is important for developing a stress management program because being able to relax is one way
How do to turn off the fight-flight response and decrease your body’s heightened arousal. But unless you practice one of the follow-
you learn ing methods, you will find it very difficult to relax at will. In fact, when someone says “Just relax,” you usually get tenser

to relax? because you don’t know how to relax. We’ll describe three techniques that have proved almost equally effective at getting
you to relax, and each involves using your mind (brain) to control your body’s responses (S. L. Shapiro et al., 2000).

Biofeedback Progressive Relaxation Meditation

You could learn a relaxing response, such as Progressive relaxation involves prac- ere are various kinds of meditation exer-
decreasing muscle tension, by having small ticing tensing and relaxing the major cises. We’ll describe two of the more popular
sensors placed on your forehead. The muscle groups of the body ones, which are Eastern forms of meditation.
sensors are attached to a machine that Choose any of until you are able to relax any
these methods to Transcendental meditation (TM) and yoga
records, amplifies, and displays changes learn to relax. groups of muscles at will. involve assuming a comfortable position, closing
in muscle tension. Each time you think With progressive re- your eyes, and repeating a sound or concentrating
thoughts or images that increase tension, laxation, you usually begin by on your breathing so that you clear your head of all
you hear a high tone; if you decrease ten- first tensing and relaxing your thoughts, worrisome and otherwise.
sion, you hear a low tone. This proce- toes and then continuing up
dure is called biofeedback (Spiegler & the body, tensing and re- Because meditation involves removing all
Guevremont, 2003). laxing the muscles of your worrisome or stressful thoughts and replac-
Biofeedback refers to voluntarily calves, thighs, pelvis, stom- ing them with peaceful ones, it can be an
Photo Credits: right, © Benno de Wilde/Imageshop/Alamy; bottom, © PhotoDisc, Inc. effective method for relaxing and reducing
learning to control physiological respons- ach, shoulders, arms, hands, stress. Research on the benefits of meditation
for stress management is so conclusive that
es, such as muscle activity, blood pres- neck, face, and forehead. many hospitals and medical clinics are teach-
ing meditation to their patients. Meditation
sure, or temperature, by recording and A er several weeks of daily also provides some relief from anxiety and
depression, and improved alertness, focus,
displaying these responses. practice, about 20 minutes and memory (Andrews, 2005; Lazar et al.,
2005; Peng, 2008a).
A er 12 to 30 biofeedback training per session, you would be
sessions (about 20 minutes per session), able to use this exercise to However, learning to use meditation to relax
most individuals have some success in relax your body at will, espe- at will usually requires practicing about 20
turning on relaxing responses, especially cially immediately a er being minutes a day for many weeks (J. Stein, 2003).
a er being stressed. stressed.
You could also learn to relax by using You could also learn to relax
progressive relaxation. by using a form of meditation.

Stopping Stress Responses reducing stress (S.L.Shapiro et al., 2000). For example, different relaxation
techniques were about equally effective in reducing anxiety and decreas-
e next time some stressor triggers the fight-flight response, you ing a variety of psychosomatic complaints, such as headaches, high blood
can use some form of relaxation to stop or turn down the height- pressure, insomnia, stomach pain, and intestinal problems (irritable bowel
ened arousal caused by the fight-flight response and thus reduce syndrome) (Spiegler & Guevremont, 2009). More important than which
your stressful or negative feelings before they result in psychoso- relaxation technique you choose is daily practice so that you can learn to
matic symptoms, such as a headache or stomach distress. Research- relax at will. Being able to relax at will is vital to developing an effective
ers report that most relaxation techniques, whether biofeedback, stress management program (J. Stein, 2003; M. Davis et al., 2008).
progressive relaxation, or various forms of meditation (Zen, yoga,
TM), are about equally effective in producing relaxation and H . A P P L I C A T I O N : S T R E S S M A N A G E M E N T P R O G R A M S 503

Summary Test

A. Appraisal The second is called the (d) stage, in which most
physiological responses return to normal levels as the body uses up
1. The uncomfortable feeling we have when we great stores of energy. The third is called the (e)
appraise a situation as something that overloads stage, which is marked by the actual breakdown in body organs or
or strains our psychological resources is called weakening of the infection-fighting immune system.

.

2. Our initial, subjective evaluation of a situation 8. The body’s network of cells and chemicals that automatically
fight off bacteria, viruses, and other foreign matter is known as
in which we balance various environmental demands against our the (a) . The study of the relationships among
ability to meet them is called .
the central nervous system, the endocrine system, and psychoso-
cial factors is called (b) . The interaction among
3. There are three outcomes of primary appraisal. Those situations these factors affects the immune system and, in turn, makes the
that do not matter to our well-being are called (a) ;
those that will enhance or preserve our well-being are called body more or less susceptible to disease and infection.

(b) ; and those that overtax our resources are
called (c) .
C. Stressful Experiences
4. A stressful situation has the potential for three different kinds
of personal experiences. If you have already sustained some dam- 9. Situations that are potentially disturbing or
disruptive and that we appraise as having an
age or injury, this is referred to as (a) . If the inju- impact on our lives are called (a)
ry has not yet taken place but you anticipate it in the near future,
this is referred to as (b) . If you have the potential events. Small, irritating daily events are called
(b) , and small, pleasant daily
for gain or personal growth but need to use physical energy and experiences are called (c) . How
psychological resources, this is referred to as (c) .
Not all appraisals are clear-cut; some may represent a combination we cope with hassles predicts our daily mood and
the occurrence of psychosomatic symptoms.
of threat and challenge.

10. The feeling that results when our attempts to reach some goal
are blocked is called (a) . Feelings of wearing out
B. Physiological Responses or becoming exhausted because of too many demands on our time

5. A combination of physiological responses that and energy are referred to as (b) . A direct per-
sonal experience of actual or threatened death or serious injury or
arouse and prepare the body for action is called witnessing such an event could result in terrible stress symptoms
the (a) response. Although this
response originally evolved to help our ancestors called (c) .

survive dangerous and life-threatening situations, 11. When we must decide between two or more incompatible
it can also be triggered by psychological stimuli, such
as our primary (b) of a situation as harm/loss, choices, we are in (a) , which can include at least
three possibilities. If we must choose between two options with
threatening, or challenging. pleasurable consequences, we experience (b)

6. Threat appraisals activate two brain areas, called the conflict. If we must choose between two options that both have
(a) and , which trigger disagreeable consequences, we are in (c) con-
two responses simultaneously. The hypothalamus causes the flict. If a single situation has both pleasurable and disagreeable
(b) gland to release ACTH, which acts on the aspects, we are in (d) conf lict.
adrenal cortex to secrete hormones that regulate levels of minerals
and glucose in the body. It also triggers the (c) 12. An unpleasant state in which we have feelings of uneasiness
division of the autonomic nervous system, which causes physio- and apprehension as well as increased physiological arousal is
logical arousal. called (a) . This feeling has at least three causes.
One is classical conditioning of an emotional response to a previ-
7. Our psychological reactions to stressful situations can result ously neutral stimulus; the result is called a (b)
in real, painful, physical symptoms called (a) response. A second cause is a form of learning that develops
symptoms. According to Selye, we develop psychosomatic symp- through watching and does not require any observable behavior
toms because the body’s response to stress involves going through or reinforcer; this is called (c) learning.
three stages that he called the (b) syndrome. According to Freud, anxiety arises when the id and superego
The first is called the (c) stage, which is our disagree, leading to an (d) conflict, which
initial reaction to stress and is marked by physiological arousal. results in the ego producing a feeling of anxiety.

504 M O D U L E 2 1 H E A L T H , S T R E S S & C O P I N G

D. Personality & Social Factors Research findings showed that the most effective long-term treat-
ment for panic disorder is (e) .
13. Three personality traits that decrease the
potentially harmful effects of stressful situations are
control, commitment, and challenge, which together G. Cultural Diversity: Tibetan Monks
are called .
19. Many of our physiological
14. If you believe that what you do influences what responses involved in relaxation
happens, you are said to have an (a) (heart rate, blood pressure, temper- 34 Meditation:
ature, and secretion of hormones) finger
are not under voluntary control
because they are regulated by the temperature
(a) system. 30 increases
Researchers discovered that some
Photo Credits: (#17) © PhotoDisc, Inc.; (#19) © Fredrik Renander/Alamy; (#20) © PhotoDisc, Inc.of control. In contrast, if you believe that chance and luck mostly Recovery:
Figure/Text Credits: (#19) Graph data from “Body Temperature Changes During the Practice of g Tum-mo-Yoga,” by H. Benson, J. W. Lehmann, M. S. Malhotra,determine what happens and that you do not have much influence, finger
R. F. Goldman, P. J. Hopkins & M. D. Epstein, 1982, Nature, 295, 234–235.you are said to have an (b)of control. People
with an external locus of control experience more negative emo- 26 temperature
Temperature (°C)tions, higher levels of stress, and more psychosomatic symptomsreturns to
Baseline normal

22 Meditation

0 10 20 30 40 50 0 10 20
Time (minutes)

than do those whose locus of control is internal. monks have learned a method to
voluntarily control temperature, which involves relaxation. This
15. Currently, the major components of Type A behavior are demonstrates that the (b) can be used to control
(a) and . Individuals with these
traits are many times more likely to have a (b) . the (c) physiological responses.

Also, individuals who always show or always suppress anger and H. Application: Stress Management Programs
hostility have greater increases in (c) , which can
have damaging effects one’s heart and health.
20. A program for reducing anxiety, fear, and
stressful experiences by using a variety of strategies
16. One factor that buffers us from stressful experiences is having a to change three different aspects of our lives—
group or network of family or friends who provide strong support;
this is called . thoughts, behaviors, and physiological responses—
is called a .

E. Kinds of Coping 21. One component of a stress management program is learning
to relax at will, which can be accomplished with three different
17. After we make a primary appraisal, we then methods. Recording and amplifying physiological signals from
must decide what action to take, which is called a
(a) appraisal. This involves two the body and displaying these signals so that we can learn to
increase or decrease them is known as (a) . An
different kinds of coping. If we seek information exercise of tensing and relaxing the major muscle groups is called
about what needs to be done, change our own
behavior, or take whatever action will solve the problem, we use (b) . Meditation can take many forms. Sitting
or lying in a comfortable position while repeating a meaningless
(b) coping. If we use our energies to deal with sound over and over to rid oneself of anxious thoughts is called
emotional distress caused by a harm or threat appraisal, we are
using (c) coping. Compared to emotion-focused (c) . Researchers have found that all three tech-
niques are about equally effective in helping us to relax.
coping, problem-focused coping is better at reducing long-term
effects of stress because it solves the problem.
Answers: 1. stress; 2. primary appraisal; 3. (a) irrelevant, (b) positive,
F. Research Focus: Treatment for Panic Disorder (c) stressful; 4. (a) harm/loss, (b) threat, (c) challenge; 5. (a) fight-flight,
(b) appraisal; 6. (a) amygdala, hypothalamus, (b) pituitary, (c) sympathetic;
18. Psychologists use a number of different 7. (a) psychosomatic, (b) general adaptation, (c) alarm, (d) resistance,
research methods. One method is an in-depth (e) exhaustion; 8. (a) immune system, (b) psychoneuroimmunology;
analysis of the thoughts, feelings, beliefs, or 9. (a) major life, (b) hassles, (c) uplifts; 10. (a) frustration, (b) burnout,
behaviors of individuals; this is called the (c) posttraumatic stress disorder; 11. (a) conflict, (b) approach-approach,
(a) . Another method identi- (c) avoidance-avoidance, (d) approach-avoidance; 12. (a) anxiety, (b) con-
fies cause-and-effect relationships by following ditioned emotional, (c) observational, (d) unconscious; 13. hardiness;
a set of guidelines that describe how to control and manipulate 14. (a) internal locus, (b) external locus; 15. (a) hostility, anger, (b) heart
variables; this is called the (b) method. Panic attack, premature heart disease, (c) physiological arousal; 16. social
disorder is usually treated with (c) . By using an support; 17. (a) secondary, (b) problem-focused, (c) emotion-focused;
experiment, researchers found the use of cognitive-behavioral 18. (a) case study, (b) experimental or scientific, (c) drugs and/or psycho-
therapy and drugs, either individually or combined, worked therapy, (d) short-term, (e) cognitive-behavioral therapy; 19. (a) autonom-
equally well in terms of (d) treatment effects. ic nervous or parasympathetic, (b) mind, (c) body’s; 20. stress management
program; 21. (a) biofeedback, (b) progressive relaxation, (c) transcendental
meditation (TM)

S U M M A R Y T E S T 505

Critical Thinking

Coping with Cancer

QUESTIONS At age 25, world-renowned cyclist of feeling hopeless, he chose to be- 6 How does Lance Photo Credit: © Robert Laberge/Getty Images
Lance Armstrong was training lieve in his doctors and in his treat- cope with cancer
1After Lance noticed rigorously and cycling better than ment. He began to envision himself both near the end of
his right testicle ever. His training schedule resulted overcoming cancer. his treatment and now
was swollen, which in his legs, feet, back, neck, and just that he has survived
Freudian defense about every other body part being in Today, Lance Armstrong is a can- cancer?
mechanism does he pain. So, he didn’t pay much atten- cer survivor. He now seizes each day
use to deal with this tion when he noticed his right testicle as an opportunity to enjoy his life. ANSWERS
potentially damaging was slightly swollen. Soon, he began Since his recovery, he won the Tour TO CRITICAL
news, and what is his to feel much more tired than usual. de France, the 2,290-mile road race THINKING
primary appraisal of Then he began having vision trouble, that’s considered the single most QUESTIONS
the situation? and one morning he coughed up grueling sporting event in the world,
blood. He could no longer pretend a record seven consecutive times!
2 Which kinds of something wasn’t wrong. When asked about his trying experi-
personality traits ence with cancer, he said, “The truth
help Lance cope with Doctors diagnosed Lance with is that cancer was the best thing that
the stress of knowing testicular cancer that had spread to ever happened to me. I don’t know
that he has cancer? his abdomen, lungs, and brain. why I got the illness, but it did won-
When he first heard his doctor say ders for me, and I wouldn’t want to
3 Why is it good “You have cancer,” his fear became walk away from it. Why would I
news that his very real. Lance had third-degree want to change, even for a day, the
family and friends kept testicular cancer (the most serious most important and shaping event
calling and visiting? kind), and he was given less than a in my life?” (Armstrong, 2001, p. 4).
40% chance of surviving. He would
4 Which type of have surgery to remove his right tes- Lance is now trying to make a
coping is Lance ticle and brain lesions, followed by change in the lives of others. He ac-
using by educating months of chemotherapy. complishes this not only by being a
himself about cancer? role model to people all over the
After leaving the doctor’s office, world, but also by being a passion-
5Which Freudian Lance shared his diagnosis with fam- ate advocate for better cancer re-
defense mecha- ily and friends. He received an over- search and treatment to improve the
nism(s) is Lance using whelming amount of support as his experiences of people who have can-
during treatment? friends and family routinely called cer. Lance is definitely a fighter
and visited. Lance also began learn- while on his bicycle, and he’s no dif-
ing as much as he could about can- ferent when it comes to doing every-
cer, what it is and how it is treated. thing he can to help find the cure for
He even began seeking second, third, cancer. (Adapted from Armstrong,
and fourth medical opinions. Learn- 2001, 2007; Hutchinson, 2009)
ing more about cancer provided him
with some reassurance and comfort.

Lance felt so anxious about his
diagnosis and treatment that he
blocked out memory of what he
thought and felt the morning of his
risky brain surgery. In the midst of
chemotherapy, he kept cycling,
wanting to believe that if he could
continue to cycle, then somehow he
wouldn’t be sick. Eventually, Lance
became so weak from chemotherapy
he could barely walk. Then, instead

506 M O D U L E 2 1 H E A L T H , S T R E S S & C O P I N G

Links to Learning

Key Terms/Key People Learning Activities

adjustment disorder, 490 optimism, 495 PowerStudy for Introduction PowerStudy 4.5™
alarm stage, 487 panic attack, 481 to Psychology 4.5
anxiety, 493 panic disorder, 481
approach-approach, 492 pessimism, 495 Try out PowerStudy’s SuperModule for Health, Stress & Coping! In addition to
approach-avoidance, 492 positive psychology, 495 the quizzes, learning activities, interactive Summary Test, key terms, module
autonomic nervous positive stress, 493 outline and abstract, and extended list of correlated websites provided for all
posttraumatic stress modules, the DVD’s SuperModule for Health, Stress & Coping features:
system, 501 t 4FMG QBDFE
GVMMZ OBSSBUFE MFBSOJOH XJUI B NVMUJUVEF PG BOJNBUJPOT
avoidance-avoidance, 492 disorder, or PTSD, 491 t 7JEFPT BCPVU UPQJDT JODMVEJOH TVQQPSU HSPVQT GPS XPNFO XJUI CSFBTU DBODFS

biofeedback, 503 posttraumatic stress links between stress and your immune system, and links between emotion
burnout, 491 and physical health.
case study, 500 disorder, treatment, 491 t *OUFSBDUJWF WFSTJPOT PG TUVEZ SFTPVSDFT
JODMVEJOH UIF 4VNNBSZ 5FTU PO
challenge appraisal, 482 primary appraisal, 482 pages 504–505 and the critical thinking questions for the article on page 506.
conditioned emotional problem-focused
CengageNOW!
response, 493 coping, 499 www.cengage.com/login
conflict, 492 progressive relaxation, 503 Want to maximize your online study time? Take this easy-
dealing with conflict, 492 psychoneuroimmunology, to-use study system’s diagnostic pre-test and it will create a personalized study
emotion-focused plan for you. e plan will help you identify the topics you need to understand
488 better and direct you to relevant companion online resources that are specific
coping, 499 psychosomatic to this book, speeding up your review of the module.
eustress, 493
exhaustion stage, 487 symptoms, 486 Introduction to Psychology Book Companion Website
experiment, 500 psychosomatic symptoms, www.cengage.com/psychology/plotnik
fight-flight response, 484 Visit this book’s companion website for more resources to help you
frustration, 491 common ones, 486 study, including learning objectives, additional quizzes, flash cards, updated
galvanic skin response, 483 psychosomatic symptoms, links to useful websites, and a pronunciation glossary.
gamma brain wave, 501
general adaptation development, 486 Study Guide and WebTutor
resistance stage, 487 Work through the corresponding module in your Study
syndrome, 487 secondary appraisal, 499 Guide for tips on how to study effectively and for help learning the material
hardiness, 494 social support, 497 covered in the book. WebTutor (an online Study Tool accessed through your
harm/loss appraisal, 482 stress, 481 eResources account) provides an interactive version of the Study Guide.
hassles, 490 stress appraisal, 485
immune system, 488 stress management
locus of control, 494
major life events, 490 program, 502
major life events, female– threat appraisal, 482
transcendental
male differences, 490
meditation, 503 meditation, 503
mind-body connection, 487 Type A behavior, 496
mind-body therapy, 487 Type B behavior, 496
observational learning, 493 Type D behavior, 496
unconscious conflict, 493
upli s, 490
violence, 491
yoga, 503

Suggested Answers to Critical Thinking 4. Problem-focused coping is a long-term strategy to deal with the
stressful problem itself—in this case, learning more about can-
1. Lance initially dismissed the problem, which is using the Freudian cer and his treatment options.
defense mechanism of denial to cope with the problem. However,
after he had vision problems and coughed up blood, his primary 5. By blocking out memory of what he thought and felt before
appraisal changed to one of threat (Will the swollen testicle be can- undergoing brain surgery, Lance was using the Freudian defense
cerous?), which increased his level of stress. mechanism of repression to cope with his problem. He was using
the Freudian defense mechanism of rationalization by convincing
2. Lance will be better able to cope with the news of having testicular can- himself that by continuing to cycle, he would not have cancer.
cer if he has the personality traits of hardiness (control, commitment,
challenge), if he has an internal rather than an external locus of control, 6. Lance began to have an optimistic attitude about having cancer
and if he has a more optimistic than pessimistic attitude toward life. and his chances of overcoming it. Being optimistic can help lower
stress levels and improve mood.
3. Lance is using emotion-focused coping to deal with his fear and anx-
iety by seeking support from his family and friends. Social support is L I N K S T O L E A R N I N G 507
a powerful way to reduce levels of stress as well as help prepare and
be a buffer for future stressful situations.

Assessment

22 & Anxiety
Disorders
MODULE

Photo Credit: © Pierre Perrin/Corbis Sygma
A. Factors in Mental Disorders 510 Summary Test 526
B. Assessing Mental Disorders 512 Critical Thinking 528
C. Diagnosing Mental Disorders 513 Why Women Marry Killers behind Bars
D. Anxiety Disorders 517 Links to Learning 529
E. Somatoform Disorders 520
Concept Review 521
F. Cultural Diversity: An Asian Disorder 522
G. Research Focus: School Shootings 523 PowerStudy 4.5™
H. Application: Treating Phobias 524 Complete Module

508

Introduction

Mental Disorder He was a loving husband, devoted father, Phobia There is no doubt that Dennis Rader’s
respected church elder, and straitlaced county murder and mutilation of 10 individuals
How did a What’s

serial killer go official. He also worked for a home security so scary indicate extremely abnormal behavior

unnoticed? company, where he would help individuals about flying? and a severe mental disorder (Hickey,
protect themselves from dangerous people. 2006). In other cases, mental disorders
Until the day he was caught, he blended into the Wichita community may involve a relatively common behavior or event that,
as an average next-door neighbor. But over a period of 17 years, Den- through some learning, observation, or other process, has the
nis Rader planned and carried out the cruel murders of 10 people. He power to elicit tremendous anxiety and becomes a phobia
became known as the “BTK killer,” which stands for Bind, Torture, (Rowa et al., 2006).
and Kill, describing the methods he used with his victims. A phobia (FOE-bee-ah) is an anxiety disorder characterized by an

In a very real sense, Rader led two different lives. In public, Rader intense, excessive, and irrational fear that is out of all proportion to

seemed like a quiet, law-abiding guy who helped to protect the safety the danger elicited by the object or situation.

of others. However, in private, Rader would break into people’s homes, Kate Premo’s phobia of
hide, and then sneak up on his victims. He would proceed to tie them flying began in her child-
up, callously strangle them, and eventually murder them. hood, when she experienced
Although no two serial killers are alike, Rader fits the typical pat- a turbulent flight that le her
tern. Serial killers usually look like ordinary people, o en with families scared and anxious. Later,
and good jobs. Many serial killers have experienced as a young adult, her fear
a traumatic childhood event and have serious of flying was worsened by
personality defects, such as low self-esteem and memories of the 1988 terror-
a lifelong sense of loneliness. ey are obsessed ist bombing of Pan Am flight
with control, manipulation, and dominance and 103, which killed several of
often con their victims into agreeing to their her fellow students from Syr-
requests. Most serial killers enjoy not the acuse University. After that
actual killing, but the ruthless torturing of incident, her phobia of flying
their victims. is explains why serial kill- kept her from visiting friends
ers feel special when their victims suffer and family. She would try to
and plead for help, and why Rader became fly and even make reserva-
sexually aroused as he strangled each of tions but always cancel them Kate Premo is trying to
overcome her phobia of flying.

Dennis Rader, who his victims (Hickey, 2006; Mann, 2005). at the last minute.
murdered 10 people, fits When Rader’s trial began, his defense An estimated 9% of American adults have a similar irra-
the pattern of serial killers. tional and intense fear of flying, which is called aviophobia;
attorneys had to decide whether they
wanted to claim he was legally insane when he committed the mur- they refuse to get on a plane. Another 27% of American adults
ders. You are probably thinking that a person who coldheartedly plans report being at least somewhat afraid to fly (USA Today/CNN/
and carries out 10 violent murders must certainly be insane, but let’s Gallup, 2006). To treat her phobia, Kate Premo (photo above)
Photo Credits: left, © Jeff Tuttle/AFP/Getty Images; right, © Elizabeth Roll consider what it means to be insane. took part in a weekend seminar that included actually flying in
Insanity, according to its legal definition, means not knowing the difference a plane. We’ll tell you about Kate’s phobia and treatment later

between right and wrong. in this module.

As inhumane as Rader’s behaviors may seem, his defense did not ese two examples of Dennis Rader and Kate Premo raise
claim he was insane. Based on Rader’s testimony, it was clear he a number of questions about mental disorders: How do they
knew all along that his actions were wrong and conducted for his develop? How are they diagnosed? How are they treated? We’ll
own selfish interests. In 2005, thirty-one years a er the first BTK answer these three questions as we discuss mental disorders.
attacks, Rader was charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder for
which he must serve 10 life sentences (Davey, 2005; O’Driscoll, 2005; What’s Coming
Wilgoren, 2005).
When mental health professionals examine Rader’s behaviors, they In this module, we’ll discuss three approaches to understand-
are trying to identify his particular mental disorder. ing mental disorders. We’ll explain how mental disorders are
A mental disorder is generally defined as a prolonged or recurring problem assessed and diagnosed and go into some specific examples of
mental disorders, such as generalized anxiety, phobias,
that seriously interferes with an individual’s ability to live a satisfying personal obsessive-compulsive behaviors, and somatoform disorders.
Finally, we’ll discuss how common phobias, such as fear of
life and function adequately in society. flying, are treated.

Deciding whether a person has a mental disorder can be difficult We’ll begin with the different factors that are involved in
because so many factors are involved in defining what is abnormal. defining, explaining, and treating mental disorders, such as
As you’ll learn in this module, someone’s behavior may be described that of Dennis Rader.
as abnormal but the person may or may not have a mental disorder.

I N T R O D U C T I O N 509