Discuss the Psychological Evidence Concerning the Relationship Between Personality, Stress and Disease.

Stress has a profound effect on health becoming a topic under health psychology, a subfield of psychology dealing with ways psychological factors influence the causes, treatment of physical illness and maintenance of health. Stress has a multitude of sources from natural disasters to small annoyances that interrupts people’s daily lives. Research from Brown and McGill has also shown that positive events can also generate stress due to readjustment or unpreparedness. Unfortunately in life people will experience chronic stressors which are sources of stress that occur continuously or repeatedly. Accumulation of small stressors such as bullying and money troubles can lead up to distress and illness. These daily stressors are reported to have more psychological and physical symptoms which can have a greater and long lasting impact than major life

Schneiderman, N., Ironson, G., & Siegel, S. D. (2005). STRESS AND HEALTH: Psychological, Behavioral, and Biological Determinants. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 1,

Hans Eysenck, a psychologist well known in the field of personality based his trait theory on biological explanations; whereby he believed genetic and biological factors were significant elements of personality (Eysenck 1990). Eysenck also held the view that an individual’s personality traits, or what he referred to as ‘temperament’ was an exact result of one’s genetic make-up (Chamorro-Premuzic & Furnham, 2005). Eysenck encompassed the idea that there was a need to highlight the significant dimensions of personality, create a way in which they could be measured and then link them with experimental procedures. Subsequently, Eysenck developed a model of personality based on a theoretical and statistical approach to the classification of traits. This is

One characteristic of a Type A personality type is hostility and feelings of anger and irritation. Hostility predisposes people to heart disease by causing people to be suspicious, mistrustful, cynical and pessimistic. Hostile people generally feel angry, annoyed, resentful, and contemptuous. Hostile people usually have a greater and more intense reactions to stressors. Their heart rates and blood pressures increase more than the heart rates and blood pressures of non-hostile people. Hostile people also tend to make their lives more stressful by their own volition, due to their pessimistic attitude toward life. They are more likely to view their stress as negative and face the cardiovascular consequences of having their blood vessels constantly constricted. This leads to health problems such as heart disease.

The single trait approach is a way of analyzing personality by taking one trait a person exhibits and using that to predict many behaviors from it (Funder, 2016). For Charles Evans Whittaker, the most pronounced trait in his later years was his neuroticism, which ultimately led to his breakdown and retirement from the Supreme Court. Neuroticism is one of the Big Five Personality Traits and is marked by emotional instability and negative emotions (Funder, 2016). Neuroticism is also characterized by indecisiveness and stress, as well as negative reactions to stress (Funder, 2016). A study done by Schneider, Rench, Lyons, and Riffle, found that neuroticism indirectly made performance worse (Schneider, Rench, Lyons, & Riffle, 2011). They investigated several Big Five traits to see how they affected stress responses. What was found in this study concurs with the textbook that neuroticism has a high impact on stress, and in highly stressful situations neuroticism is linked to poorer outcomes (Schneider, et all 2011). IT was also found that people higher in neuroticism were more likely to have higher threat appraisals for stressful tasks (Schneider, et all 2011). This means that participants viewed what was expected of them was more demanding than the resources they had to cope with that demand (Schneider, et all 2011). One factor that can affect high or low neuroticism is the gene 5 HTT. If a person has the short allele for 5 HTT, which affects serotonin levels, and is presented with a stressful environment they are more likely to experience depression after a stressful event (Funder, 2016). The gene also regulates serotonin found in the amygdala. Although the single trait is being used here to discuss aspects of Whittaker’s personality, the behavioral genetics behind serotonin

In my essay topic I will be discussing my view on (G.A.S) P.N.I. illness, stress and coping. The topics covered in my paper will be based off of my own personal experiences with correlation to Chapter 14 “Stress, coping and wellbeing” and their connection to my own personal experiences.

Stress is a natural way for a person to quickly react to an alarming situation. When the brain perceives a threat, it tells the body to react by releasing hormones, pushing it into overdrive until the threat has gone (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2014). Everyday stress in life, or acute stress, is the most common and has no long-term damaging side effects (Miller & Smith, 1994). Episodic acute stress is found in those who suffer from acute stress frequently (Miller & Smith, 1994). This type of stress is linked to personality types, ceaseless worriers or people who are very controlling are easily pushed into episodic acute stress cycles. The symptoms of episodic acute stress are persistent tension headaches, migraines, hypertension, chest pain and heart disease. Chronic stress comes

The effects of stress and heart disease is explained in a study Chida and Steptoe (2009), in which investigators looked at populations of people in healthy known areas, and assessed in total twenty five different studies. Anger and hostility has a positive relationship with coronary heart disease and was greater in men compared to women. Their findings also showed that individuals who had cardiac arrest and were resuscitated, twenty five percent admitted to feeling extremely stressed with work and family instances just twenty four hours before they had cardiac arrest. Daily activities that provoked moderate, acute stress demonstrated lower levels of blood supply to the hearts muscle. Deanfield et al. (1984)

Stress is one of the number one causes that contribute to people’s health problems. According to Weber.edu, “in Healthy People 2000, a report from the U.S.

Eysenck’s theory of personality is based on physiology and genetics. According to him our personality is inherited and determined by environment. He believed that our personality traits had psycho-physiological foundation.

Psychological stress is a result of many factors and should be dealt with very carefully. Stress can be defined as “An excess of demand made upon the adaptive capabilities of the mind and body”.(Joseph 1). Another way of putting it, is that there are some things that put certain demands on us. The effects of stress should not be limited to unpleasant emotional states. Many studies have concluded that the effects on our physical health from stress can be extremely detrimental. These adverse physical effects include heart disease and formations of cancer. There are also some societal issues that psychological stress can hamper.

Psychological and physical well-being and the overall quality of life are under a constant threat of stress and thus, psychological and medical sciences have long been concerned with studying stress response. Cox (1979) claimed that because of the poor understanding and defining it, the concept of stress tends to be rather elusive. The term, “stress”, commonly describes any physchological or physical alteration that deranges the organism’s homeostasis (or balance). This essay reviews some of the biological factors involved in stress and it has been organized in the following way. The paper begins by briefly introducing the concept of stress. It will then go on to discus and describe the automatic response (fight or flight reaction),

Personality is a large part of being human, as each person has a unique set of characteristics and traits. One person can be kind and patient and another can be rude and ill tempered. This variability is both what makes the study of personality fascinating and incredibly difficult. Although there are a myriad of different personality traits that can be used to describe a person, psychologists have narrowed it down to five overarching ideas. These are commonly referred to as the “Big Five” personality traits and they consist of, neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness, openness, and conscientiousness. In particular, this study will focus on neuroticism, the trait that is characterized by high emotionality and instability, anxiety, and irritability (Soto, John, Gosling, & Potter 2011). Of the five, neuroticism is the only one with a negative connotation, which separates it from the others. Nonetheless, despite its poor reputation, neuroticism is an incredibly important trait to study as it is often linked with anxiety and depression (Soto et al., 2011). For example, one study found that participants who were clinically depressed and those who were not but scored highly on the neuroticism scale both had significantly greater negative self-perceptions (Thomson, 2016). Although currently there is only a correlation between these mental disorders and neuroticism, further experimentation could lead to more conclusive result. Recently, mental health has

Everybody has at least one thing in common. Can you guess what it is? If you guessed, heartbreak, you’re right, but that’s not the answer I’m looking for. The correct answer is stress. Everyone has stress in his or her life at one point or another. It’s one of many inevitable parts of life. Whether it’s busting out a research paper for Psychology at the last minute, expecting your first child to be born, to making sure you’re up in time to catch the Saturday morning cartoons, it’s clearly evident that everyone goes through stress. The real question is, how is stress handled in our society? A person is defined by how they handle the stressors in their lives and how they overcome stressful moments. This paper will explore the aspects of

“Stress is a silent disease” (Doctor Hobel). Over the years, stress has played a major rule in a large majority of people’s lives throughout the United States. When thought about, it is said to be extremely surprising as to how many people really have stress in each individual’s life. People do not consider what the reasons are for the feelings and emotions they experience. There are all different types of stress, and stress can do a lot to a person. Each person also handles stress in a different way. Some can handle more than others, because every single person’s body works in a different way. Stress has also been told to cause people to act out of character (Dr. David Posen). They often do not act the way they usually would while under