Exam 10: Cognitive and Behavioral Approaches

Opposite of the commonly held belief that laughter lowers blood pressure, Martin (2002, p. 218)concludes that "experimental studies indicate that laughter is actually associated with short-term increases in blood pressure and heart rate, but no longer-term effects." Discuss the more positive results found for using coping humor.

In general, how effective is avoidance coping for dealing with minor or transient irritations? For serious or chronic problems?

Provide two definitions of coping.

____ cover broad areas "such as fairness, justice, luck, control, predictability, coherence, benevolence, and personal vulnerability" and global goals "ideals, states, or objects that people work toward being or achieving or maintaining, such as relationships, work, wealth, knowledge, and achievement."

People who realize ____ are able to cultivate positive expectations when they see connections between their efforts and outcomes. In order to do this, they must challenge pessimistic causal attributional explanatory styles.

____ is a distorted thinking category in which one takes a specific example and sees it as global. "It never ends. I got bad news today, but then again, my life is nothing but bad news."

____ is a specific type of coping strategy in which one intentionally sets aside other projects to focus on the problem.

What three conclusions have Smyth and Pennebaker (2008)derived from the last two decades of expressive studies?

Define cognitive primacy

Examples of ____ include "confided your fears and worries to a friend or relative," "sought reassurance from those who know you best," and "went to a friend for advice on how to change the situation."