This document discusses emotions, stress, and health. It begins by explaining the components of emotions including bodily arousal, expressive behavior, and conscious experience. It then discusses various theories about the relationship between cognition and emotion. The document also covers detecting and communicating emotions as well as cultural and gender differences. Specific emotions like anger and happiness are examined. The second half discusses stress and its relationship to health. It defines stress and explores how people can cope with and reduce stress to promote health.

1. PowerPoint®
Presentation
by Jim Foley
© 2013 Worth Publishers
Chapter 12
Emotions,
Stress, and
Health

2. Chapter Overview
 How emotions are
related to cognition, and
yet sometimes seem to
bypass cognition
 How emotions are
related to the body
 Communicating
emotions: detecting,
verbal and nonverbal
expression, and the
influence of culture and
gender
 Experiencing emotions
such as anger and
happiness
Stress and
Health
 Defining stress, and
how it works
 How stress relates to
illness
 How people can cope
with stress or reduce it
 Promoting health
through pets,
alternative medicine,
and stress reduction
Emotions

3. Someone cuts you off on the road. You may feel the
emotion of anger. Emotions are a mix of:
Bodily arousal:
sweat, pounding heart
Emotion: Arousal, Behavior, and
Cognition
Expressive behavior:
yelling, accelerating
Conscious experience:
(thoughts, especially the labeling
of the emotion)
What a bad driver! I am angry,
even scared; better calm down.
How do these components
of emotion interact and
relate to each other?
Do our thoughts trigger our
emotions, or are they a
product of our emotions?
How are the bodily signs
triggered?
How do we decide which
emotion we’re feeling?
An emotion is a full
body/mind/behavior
response to a situation.

4. James-Lange Theory:
• body before thoughts
Cannon-Bard Theory:
• body with thoughts
Singer-Schachter/Two-
factor theory:
• body plus thoughts/label
Zajonc, LeDoux, Lazarus:
• body/brain without
conscious thoughts
 Which came first, the
chicken or the egg? Or did
they evolve together?
 Which happens first, the
body changes that go with
an emotion, or the
thoughts (conscious
awareness and labeling of
an emotion), or do they
happen together?
Theories of Emotion:
The Arousal and Cognition
“Chicken and Egg” Debates

5.  Our body arousal
happens first, and then
the cognitive awareness
and label for the feeling:
“I’m angry.”
 According to this theory,
if something makes us
smile, we may then feel
happy.
James-Lange Theory:
Body Before Thoughts
William James (1842-1910): “We feel afraid
because we tremble, sorry because we cry.”
The James-Lange theory
states that emotion is our
conscious awareness of
our physiological
responses to stimuli.

6.  Human body responses
run parallel to the
cognitive responses
rather than causing
them.
Cannon-Bard Theory: Simultaneous Body
Response and Cognitive Experience
The Cannon-Bard theory
asserts that we have a
conscious/cognitive
experience of an
emotion at the same
time as our body is
responding, not
afterward.
Adjusting the Cannon-Bard
Theory
Emotions are not just a
separate mental experience.
When our body responses
are blocked, emotions do not
feel as intense.
Our cognitions influence our
emotions in many ways,
including our interpretations
of stimuli: “Is that a threat?
Then I’m afraid.”

7.  I face a stranger, and my
heart is pounding. Is it
fear? Excitement?
Anger? Lust? Or did I
have too much caffeine?
The label completes the
emotion.
Schachter-Singer “Two-factor” Theory:
Emotion = Body Plus a Cognitive Label
The Schachter-Singer
“two-factor” theory
suggests that emotions
do not exist until we add
a label to whatever body
sensations we are
feeling.
In a study by Stanley
Schachter and Jerome
Singer in 1962, subjects
experienced a spillover
effect when arousal was
caused by injections of
what turned out to be
adrenaline.
The subjects interpreted
their agitation to
whatever emotion the
others in the room
appeared to be feeling;
the emotional label
“spilled over” from
others.

8. Robert Zajonc, Joseph LeDoux,
and Richard Lazarus:
Emotions without Awareness/Cognition
Theory: some emotional reactions, especially
fears, likes, and dislikes, develop in a “low road”
through the brain, skipping conscious thought.
In one study, people
showed an amygdala
response to certain
images (above, left)
without being aware
of the image or their
reaction.

9. When Appraisal Affects Emotion
Stanley Schachter and Jerome
Singer highlighted the role of
appraisal in labeling consciously
experienced emotions: “this
agitation is fear.”
Richard Lazarus noted
that even in emotional
responses that operate
without conscious
thought, “top-down”
cognitive functions such
as appraisal of stimuli (is
that a threat or
something I would
enjoy?) can be involved .

10. Summary: Theories of Emotion

11.  Emotion can include the
appraisal of the stimulus such
as, is it a threat or not?
Theories
of Emotion
Avoiding the highway today
without identifying or
explaining any fear is an
example of the “low road”
of emotion.

12. Embodied Emotion:
The role of the autonomic nervous system
 The physiological arousal felt during various emotions is
orchestrated by the sympathetic nervous system, which triggers
activity and changes in various organs.
 Later, the parasympathetic division calms down the body.

13. Embodied Emotion:
How Do Emotions Differ in Body Signs?
 It is difficult to see
differences in
emotions from tracking
heart rate, breathing,
and perspiration.
 There is also a large
overlap in the patterns
of brain activity across
emotions.
 There are some small
differences; for
example, fear triggers
more amygdala activity
than anger.
A general brain pattern:
hemispheric differences
Positive
“approach”
emotions (joy,
love, goal-
seeking)
correlate with
left frontal
lobe activity.
Negative
“withdrawal”
emotions
(disgust, fear,
anger,
depression)
correlate with
right
hemisphere
activity.

14.  Are there universal forms of emotional expression seen on
human faces across all cultures?
 Are there differences by individual, culture, or gender in
how emotions are expressed?
 What is the relationship between emotional expression
and the inner experience of emotion?
 What emotion do we see in these faces and body
positions?
 If these emotions are hard to read, is it because it’s a
different culture from your own, or because it’s a
performance?

15. Detecting Emotion in Others
 People read a great deal of
emotional content in the
eyes (“the window to the
soul”) and the faces.
 Introverts are better at
detecting emotions;
extroverts have emotions
that are easier to read.
 We are primed to quickly
detect negative emotions,
and even negative
emotion words.
 Those who have been
abused are biased toward
seeing fearful faces as
angry, as in the test below.
These faces morph from fear to anger.
Raise your hand when you first see anger under the red box.

16. Detecting Lies and Fakes
 Polygraphs (detecting
physiological arousal) fail
sometimes at correctly identifying
when people are lying.
 Visible signs of lying: eye blinks
decrease, and other facial
movements change.
Brain signs of lying:
In which image is Paul
Ekman “lying” with a
fake smile?
 A real smile uses
involuntary muscles
around the eyes.

17. Gender and
Emotional Expression and Detection
 Women seem to have
greater and more
complex emotional
expression.
 Women are also more
skilled at detecting
emotions in others.
 However, this is an
overgeneralization.
People tend to
attribute women’s
emotionality to their
dispositions, and
attribute men’s
emotions to their
circumstances.
We also see some emotions as
being more “male,” changing our
perception of a gender-neutral face
based on the emotion (below):
How about now?Male or female?

18. Culture and Emotional Expression:
Are There Universally Recognized Emotions?
 There seem to be some
universally understood
facial expressions.
 People of various cultures
agree on the emotional
labels for the expressions
on the faces on the right.
 People in other studies
did have more accuracy
judging emotions from
their own culture.

19. An Evolutionary Theory of the Origins
of Emotional Facial Expressions
 People blind from birth show the same
facial expressions as sighted people.
This suggests that the origin of facial
expressions must be largely genetic.
 Why would we have facial expressions
in our genetic code? Could facial
expressions improve the survival of our
ancestors?
 Perhaps sneering at someone might be
like a wolf’s snarl, warning competitors
to back off.
 The “surprised” facial expression
allows us to take in information.
 Shared smiles build protective social
bonds, which may explain why we
smile more when facing someone.

20. Emotion Detection and Context Cues
 What emotions do you see below?
How can you tell what emotions he is feeling?
 Because the faces are exactly the same, our detection of
emotion must be based on context: the situation,
gestures, and the tears.

21. Linking Emotions and
Expressive Behaviors:
Facial Feedback
 The facial feedback effect: facial position
and muscle changes can alter which
emotion we feel.
 In one study, people whose faces were
moved into smiling or frowning positions
experienced a change in mood.
 Fake a relaxed smile, and you might feel
better!
 It’s not just about faces. In one
experiment, extending a 1) middle finger
or 2) thumb while reading led to seeing
characters with 1) hostility or 2) positive
attitude.
The guy at the top, though forced
into a smiling position, ended up
feeling happier than the other guy.

22. Carroll Izzard
suggested that
there are ten
basic emotions:
those evident at
birth (seen here)
plus contempt,
shame, and
guilt.
Is Experienced Emotion as
Universal as Expressed Emotion?

23. Two Dimensions of Emotion
James Russell sees our
emotional experience
in two dimensions:
1.from pleasant to
unpleasant
2.from low to high
arousal.
We experience this
image in dimensions
of up/down and
left/right.

24.  A flash of anger gives us energy
and initiative to fight or otherwise
take action when necessary.
 Persistent anger can cause more
harm than whatever we’re angry
about.
 Some ways to keep anger from
persisting: distraction, constructive
action, problem-solving, exercise,
verbal expression, and allowing
others to be wrong.
 The catharsis myth
refers to the idea that
we can reduce anger by
“releasing” it, and we
do this by acting
aggressively (yelling,
punching a pillow).
 In most cases,
expressing anger
worsens it, and any
“release” reinforces the
aggression, making it a
conditioned habit.
 Sometimes, releasing
anger causes harm, and
results in guilt.
 Instead, try calming
down and moving on.
Closer Look at a Particular Emotion: Anger

25. Happiness is:
a mood.
an attitude.
a social phenomenon.
a cognitive filter.
a way to stay hopeful,
motivated, and connected to
others.
The feel-good, do-good
phenomenon: when in a good
mood, we do more for others.
The reverse is also true: doing
good feels good.
Closer Look at a Particular Emotion: Happiness

26. Happiness
has its ups
and downs.
Levels of
happiness, as
well as other
emotions, can
vary over the
course of a week
(we like the
weekend), and
even over the
course of a day
(don’t stay awake
too long!).
Over the Course of a Week
Over the Course of a Day

27. “How far are you up a 10-step ladder toward
the best possible life?” The answers
worldwide:
People in Chad and Tanzania are not feeling successful.
Brighter color
means feeling
higher up the
ladder.

28. Wealth and Well-Being:
A Change in Goals
 In the late 1960s, students entering college had a
primary goal of developing a meaningful life philosophy.
 Since 1977, being very well-off financially has become
more of a primary goal for first year students.

29. Can Money Buy Happiness?
Money seems to buy
happiness when it lifts
people out of extreme
poverty. Otherwise, money
doesn’t seem to help our
mood much.
1.The average level of
income (adjusted for
inflation) and purchasing
power has increased in the
United States.
2.The percentage of people
feeling very happy, though,
has not followed the same
trend of improvement.

30.  When we step into the sunshine, it seems very bright at
first. Then our senses adapt and we develop a “new
normal.” If a cloud covers the sun, it may seem “dark” in
comparison.
 The “very bright” sensation is temporary.
 The adaptation-level phenomenon: when our wealth or
other life conditions improve, we are happier compared to
our past condition.
 However, then we adapt, form a “new normal” level, and
most people must get another boost to feel the same
satisfaction.

31. Adapting Attitudes
Instead of Circumstances
 Because of the adaptation-level phenomenon, our level of
contentment does not permanently stay higher when we
gain income and wealth; we keep adjusting our expectations.
 It is also true that misfortune, disability, and loss do not
result in a permanent decrease in happiness.
 In both cases, humans tend to adapt.

32. Relative Deprivation
 If the average income has risen by
10 percent in your area, it might be
hard to feel great about a 5 percent
rise in your income because of
 People who were satisfied with their
own lives might become less
satisfied if other people get more
power, recognition, and income.
 We can affect our happiness by
choosing the people to whom we
compare ourselves.
 However, the tendency is to
compare ourselves to people who
are more successful.
relative
deprivation:
feeling
worse off by
comparing
yourself to
people who
are doing
better.

33. Correlates of Happiness
There also may be a genetic basis for a predisposition to happiness.
Whether because of genes, culture, or personal history, we each
seem to develop a mood “set point,” a level of happiness to which we
keep returning.
There are behaviors that seem to go with
happiness. Whether they are the cause or the
effect of happiness is not clear, but it can’t
hurt to try them.
Researchers have found that happy people
tend to:
However, happiness seems not
much related to other factors, such
as:
 Have high self-esteem (in individualistic
countries)
 Be optimistic, outgoing, and agreeable
 Have close friendships or a satisfying
marriage
 Have work and leisure that engage their
skills
 Have an active religious faith
 Sleep well and exercise
 Age (example: the woman at the
laptop in the picture)
 Gender (women are more often
depressed, but also more often
joyful)
 Parenthood (having children or
not)
 Physical attractiveness

34.  Look beyond wealth for satisfaction.
 Bring your habits in line with your goals; take control
of your time.
 Smile and act happy.
 Find work and leisure that engages your skills.
 Exercise, or just move!
 Focus on the needs and wishes of others.
 Work, rest, …and SLEEP.
 Notice what goes well, and express gratitude.
 Nurture spirituality, meaning, and community.
 Make your close relationships a priority.
Possible Ways to
Increase Your Chances
at Happiness

35. Health Psychology
 Emotions, as well as
personality, attitudes,
behaviors, and
responses to stress,
can have an impact on
our overall health.
 Health psychology
studies these impacts,
as part of the broader
field of behavioral
medicine.
 Topics of study in
health psychology
include:
 the phases of stress response
and adaptation
 how stress and health are
affected by
• appraisal of stressors
• severity of stressors
• personality types
• perceived control
• emotion or problem focus
• optimism
• social support
• exercise
• relaxation
• religious faith and
participation

36. Stress: A Focus of Health Psychology
 Many people report being affected by “stress.”
 Some terms psychologists use to talk about stress:
 a stressor is an event or condition
which we view as threatening,
challenging, or overwhelming.
 Examples include poverty, an
explosion, a psychology test,
feeling cold, being in a plane,
and loud noises.
 appraisal refers to deciding whether
to view something as a stressor.
 stress reaction refers to any
emotional and physical responses to
the stressor such as rapid heartbeat,
elevated cortisol levels, and crying.
Stress refers to the
process of appraising
and responding to
events which we
consider threatening
or challenging.

37. Clarifying the Components of Stress
 Stress isn’t something
that happens to you; it’s
a process in which you
participate.
 The process includes the
stressor (event or
condition), cognitive
appraisal, body response,
and coping strategies.
 The advantage of
breaking “stress” into
these components is that
we can see options for
altering each of these
different factors.
What could this
person do to
reduce his level
of suffering
from stress?

38. Appraisal:
Choosing How to View a Situation
Questions to ask yourself when facing a
possible stressor:
Is this a challenge, and will I tackle it?
Is it overwhelming, and will I give up?
There are few
conditions* that are
inherently and
universally stressful;
we can often choose
our appraisal and
our responses.
*extreme, chronic
physical threats or
challenges (such
as noise or
starvation)

39. Beneficial and Harmful Stress Effects
A brief experience of stress can be beneficial:
improving immune system response
motivating action
focusing priorities
feeling engaged, energized, and satisfied
providing challenges that encourage growth,
knowledge, and self-esteem
Extreme or prolonged stress, causes problems:
mental and physical coping systems become
overwhelmed and defeated rather than strengthened
immune functioning and other health factors decline
because of damage
The key factor is whether there is a
chance for recovery and healing.

40. Stressors
There may be a spectrum of
levels of intensity and
persistence of stressors.
We can also see stressors as
falling into one of four*
categories:
catastrophes.
significant life changes.
chronic daily hassles.
low social status/power.
Stressors refer to the events
and conditions that trigger
our stress response, because
they are perceived/ appraised
as overwhelmingly
challenging, threatening,
and/or harmful.
*the text focuses on the
first three.

41. Catastrophic Events/Conditions
 Appraisal is not essential in a
catastrophic event. Most
people agree that the event is
harmful and overwhelming
 Examples include earthquakes,
floods, hurricanes,
war/combat, and wildfires.
 It can be one single event or
chronic harmful conditions.
 Short-term effects
include increased heart
attacks on the day of the
event
 Long term effects include
depression, nightmares,
anxiety, and flashbacks.
 Bonding: both the trauma
and the recovery are
shared with others.

42.  Even supposedly “happy” life changes, such as marriage,
starting college or a new job, or the birth or adoption of a
child, can bring increased challenge and stress.
 Change is often challenging.
 New roles, new priorities, and new tasks can put a strain on
our coping resources.
 The challenge, and the negative impact on health, increases
when:
 the changes are painful, such as a death in family, loss of
job, or heart attack.
 the changes are in a cluster, and there are too many at
once.

43. Chronic Daily Difficulties
Daily difficulties can be
caused by facing too many
tasks, too little time, and too
little control.
Daily difficulties can be
caused by the lack of social
power and freedom:
being bullied
living in poverty
living under oppressive
political conditions

44. When encountering a sudden trauma or other stressor, our
body acts to increase our resistance to threat and harm.
The Body’s Stress Response System
Phase 1: The “fight or flight”
sympathetic nervous system
responds, reducing pain and
increasing the heart rate.
The core of the adrenal glands
produces norepinephrine and
epinephrine (adrenaline).
This system, identified by
Walter Cannon (1871-1945),
gives us energy to act.
Phase 3: Exhaustion.
Phase 2: The brain sends
signals to the outer part of the
adrenal glands to produce
cortisol and other stress
hormones. These focus us on
planning adaptive coping
strategies and resisting defeat
by the stressor.
Hans Selye (1907-1982)
indentified this extended
“resistance” phase of the
stress response, followed by:

45. General Adaptation Syndrome [GAS]
(Identified by Hans Selye):
Our stress response system defends,
then fatigues.

46. Effects of Prolonged Stress
 The General Adaptation
Syndrome [GAS] works well for
single exposures to stress.
 Repeated and prolonged stress,
with too much Phase 3 time,
leads to various signs of physical
deterioration and premature
aging:
 the production of new
neurons declines
 neural circuits in the brain
break down
 DNA telomeres (chromosome
tips) shorten,  cells lose
ability to divide,  cells die,
 tissue stops regenerating,
 early aging and death

47. Female and Male Stress Response
 In response to a stressor
such as the death of a loved
one, women may “tend and
befriend”: nurture
themselves and others, and
bond together.
 The bonding hormone
oxytocin may play a role in
this bonding.
 Women show behavioral
and neurological signs of
becoming more empathetic
under stress.
 Men under stress are more
likely to socially withdraw
and numb themselves with
alcohol.
 Men are also more likely to
become aggressive under
stress.
 In either case, men’s
behavior and brains show
LESS empathy and less
tuning in to others under
stress.

48.  How does stress increase our
risk of disease?
 This is the subject of a new field
of study: psycho-
neuroimmunology, the study of
how interacting psychological,
neural, and endocrine processes
affect health.
 Psychologists no longer use the
term “psychosomatic” because
it has come to mean an
imagined illness.
 We now refer to
psychophysiological illness, a
real illness caused in part by
psychological factors such as
the experience of stress.
Studying the Stress-Illness Relationship

49. How the
immune
system
works,
before
stress plays
a role:

50. Stress Increases
The Risk of Illness
Here we see psycho-
neuroimmunology in action:
psychological factors, such as
appraisal, thoughts, and
feelings.
neurological factors, such as
brain signals engaging the
stress response system.
immunology, such as stress
hormone exposure which
suppresses the immune system.

51. Psychoneuroimmunology Example:
The Impact of Stress on Catching a Cold
In a group
exposed to
germs, those
experiencing
stress were
more likely to
catch a cold.
This tradeoff between
stress response and
immune response may
help our bodies focus
energy on managing
stress.

52. Stress, AIDS, and Cancer
 Because the stress response
suppresses the immune
response, exposure to
stress obviously worsens
the development of AIDS in
those exposed to HIV.
 Reducing stress slows the
progression of AIDS.
 Stress may weaken the
body’s defenses against
the replication and
spread of malignant cells
AIDS = Acquired
Immune Deficiency
Syndrome
Cancer: the stress link is
not as clear
This does NOT mean that stress
causes cancer or AIDS.

53. Many factors contribute
to heart disease.
Biological: genetic
predisposition to high
blood pressure and high
cholesterol
Behavioral: smoking,
inactivity, and high-fat
diet
Psychological: chronic
stress, and personality
styles that worsen the
experience of stress
Stress and Heart Disease
In coronary heart/artery disease,
the blood vessels that provide
oxygen and nutrients to the heart
muscle itself become clogged,
narrowed, and closed.
Clogging of the coronary artery

54. Type A PersonalityStress
Heart Disease
 Some personality traits tend
to cluster into personality
types.
 People with a type A
personality are impatient,
verbally aggressive, and
always pushing themselves
and others to achieve.
 People with a type B
personality are more relaxed
and go with the flow.
 In one study, heart attacks
ONLY struck people with Type
A traits.
Accomplishing goals is healthy, but a compulsion to always be
working, with little time spent “smelling the flowers,” is not.

55. Pessimism and Heart Disease
It can be helpful
to realistically
anticipate
negative events
that may happen,
and to plan how
to prevent or
cope with them.
Men who are generally
pessimistic are more
likely to develop heart
disease within ten years
than optimists.
Pessimism refers to the
assumption that
negative outcomes will
happen, and often facing
them by complaining
and/or giving up.

56. Depression and Heart Disease
 Why does depression
appear so often with
heart disease? Does one
cause the other?
 One possible answer is
that the two problems
are both caused by
chronic stress.
 There may be an
intervening variable:
excessive inflammation.

57. Health Consequences of Chronic Stress:
The Repeated Release of Stress Hormones
 The stress hormone cortisol
helps our bodies respond to
brief stress.
 Chronically high cortisol levels
damage the body.

58. Promoting Health
Some ways to
reduce the health
effects of stress
include:
address the
stressors.
soothe emotions.
increase one’s
sense of control
over stressors.
exchange
optimism for
pessimism.
get social support.
Ways that help some people to reduce
levels of stress, and to improve health:
aerobic exercise
relaxation and meditation
participation in communities of faith
alternative medicine

59. Coping with Stress
 Risk: magnifying
emotional distress,
especially if trying to
change something that’s
difficult to change (e.g.
another person’s traits).
 Risk: ignoring the
problem.
 We might focus on this
style of coping when we
perceive the stressor as
something we cannot
change.
Problem-focused coping
means reducing the
stressors, such as by
working out a conflict, or
tackling a difficult
project.
Emotion-focused coping
means reducing the
emotional impact of
stress by getting
support, comfort, and
perspective from others.

60. Stress factor: Perceived Level of Control
 Only the
middle,
subordinate
rat had
increased
ulcers.
 It is not the
level of
shock, but
the level of
control over
the shock,
which
created
stress.
Experiment: the left and middle rats below
received shocks. The rat on the left was able
to turn off the shocks for both rats. Which
rat had the worst stress and health
problems?

61. Promoting Health: Social Support
 Having close relationships is
associated with improved health,
immune functioning, and longevity.
 Social support, including from pets,
provides a calming effect that
reduces blood pressure and stress
hormones.
 Confiding in others helps manage
painful feelings.
 Laughter helps too.
“Well, I think you’re wonderful.”

62. Aerobic Exercise and Health
 Aerobic exercise triggers certain
genes to produce proteins
which guard against more than
20 chronic diseases and
conditions.
 Aerobic exercise reduces the
risk of heart disease, cognitive
decline and dementia, and early
death.
Aerobic exercise refers
to sustained activity that
raises heart rate and
oxygen consumption.
Ultimate (Frisbee): you must run
often to “get open” for a pass, then
run more to cover the other team
and block their passes.

63. Aerobic Exercise and Mental Health
 Aerobic exercise reduces
depression and anxiety, and
improves management of
stress. How do we know?
 Aerobic exercise is correlated
with high confidence, vitality,
and energy, and good mood.
 Is there causation? Perhaps
depression simply reduces
exercise.
 One study establishing
causation: mildly depressed
young women randomly
assigned to an exercise group
showed reduced depression
caused by exercise alone.

64. Lifestyle Modification
 In one study, a control group was given diet, medication,
and exercise advice.
 An experimental group practiced lifestyle modification,
a plan to slow down the pace of one’s life, accept
imperfection, and renew faith.
Result: modifying
lifestyle led to
reduced heart
attack rates.

65. Relaxation and Meditation
 Use of relaxation techniques
can reduce headaches, high
blood pressure, anxiety, and
insomnia, and improve immune
functioning.
 People who meditate can learn
to create a relaxation response:
relaxed muscles, lower blood
pressure, and slowed heart rate
and breathing.
 Meditation also increases brain
activity associated with positive
emotions.
 Steps to get the relaxation
response: focus attention on
breathing, a focus word, and
relaxing muscles from toes
upward.

66. Religious Involvement and Health
While attendance at religious services may not directly save
lives, it may make other healthy practices more likely.
Religious
attendance
seems to have
results,
especially for
men,
comparable to
the benefit of
physically
healthy lifestyle
choices.

67. Religious Involvement and Health:
Intervening Factors
The health impact of religious involvement may be indirect.
Health may improve because of the lifestyle and emotional
factors associated with religious involvement, and not [just]
the faith.

68. Complementary and Alternative Medicine
These various types of medicine are “alternative” as they wait
for broader acceptance and more empirical support.
Some, like acupuncture and hypnosis, seem effective but may
be based on a strong placebo effect.

69. As with other areas of psychology, a study of
emotions, stress and health teaches us:
the body constantly interacts with the mind.
psychological phenomena have connections to
physiological phenomena.
More than 2000 years ago, in a Sanskrit text called the
Santi Parva, it was written, “There are two kinds of
diseases, physical and mental. Each springs from the
other. None of them can be seen existing
independently.”
Behavioral Medicine Lesson