Cultural evolution the adaptive change of a culture due to environmental pressures Lifestyle the aggregate behavior of a person; the

he way in which he/she leads her life The law of effect behaviours that produce favourable consequences tend to be repeated, and those that produce unfavourable consequences tend not to be repeated -heart disease and stroke are the leading causes of death in developed countries Serum cholesterol: high levels of Low density lipoprotein is associated with the formation of atherosclerotic plaques, clogging arteries JP Pierce strong positive relationship found between amount of exposure to cigarette advertising and smoking among adolescents in the USA Tolerance: marks by tolerance and dependence Frank Estorn- developer of nicotine patch -booster sessions may be needed by smoking prevention programs in order to strengthen original resistance Alcoholism addition to ethanol -> 5:1 ratio of males to females for heavy drinkers -alcohol is metabolized by the liver at a constant rate - may have a genetic basis - Vaillant and Milofsky found that sons of alcoholics had a greater tendency to become alcoholics themselves, despite the fact that their adoptive parents were non-alcoholics Steele and Joseph alcohol myopia - means that salient attractions of sexual activity are clear but more distant risks of infections are now blurry Methods of self control: avoiding situation where short term reward is present - Model produced by howard rachlin and George Ainslie (relationship between commitment and self control. Moment of decision occurs when short term reward surpasses long term reward) Stress: a pattern of psychological, behavioural, and cognitive responses to stimuli that are perceived as endangering ones well being - Increases heart rate, stops digestion, adrenaline secretion and deep +faster breathing Selye general adaptation syndrome -> model that describes the bodys adaptation to chronic exposure to severe stressors. - Three stages: alarm, resistance and exhaustion - Alarm: when organism first encounters stressor, during this stage shock occurs and resistance to stressor drops a bit - Resistance: autonomic system returns to normal and resistance to the stressor increases and eventually plateaus at above-normal levels - Exhaustion: organism loses its ability to adapt and resistance plummets to below normal levels, leaving the organism susceptible to illness and even death Walter Canon fight or flight response -> physiological reactions that can help us fight or flee in a dangerous situation

Glucorticoid a chemical that influences the metabolism of glucose, the main energy source of the body - Removing a rats adrenal glands makes it extremely susceptible to the negative side effects of stress Jensen, Genefke and Hyldebradt found evidence of brain degeneration in CT scans of people who had been tortured Cognitive appraisal Lazarus believes that an individuals stress levels are affected by his or her perception of a stressful situation Selye found that animals become seriously ill during stage of exhaustion Wood, Sheps, Elveback and Schirder examined the blood pressure of people who had been subjected to a cold pressor test when they were children, found that 70% of them had High blood pressure when they were adults Type A: excessive competitive drive - Howard, Cunningham and Rechnitzer found that people who exhibit this behavior more likely to smoke and have high blood pressure and cholesterol - Lombardo and Carreno found that they held smoke in their lungs longer Type B: less competitive, less hostile, more patient, easy going and more tolerant Post traumatic stress disorder; anxiety disorder where the individual has feelings of social withdrawal accompanied by low levels of emotion caused by prolonged exposure to a stressor, such as a catastrophe; co-occurs with excessive alcohol use Psychoneuroimmunology: study of the interactions between the immune system and behavior as mediated by the nervous system -immune system has white blood cells developed in the bone marrow and thymus gland -antigens: unique surface marker proteins that identify foreign substances -antibodies: proteins In the immune system that recognize antigens and help kill invading micro organisms B lymphocytes: cells tha develop in bone marrow and release immunoglobulins to defend the body against antigens Immunoglobulins: antibodies released by b lymphocytes T lymphocytes: cells developed in the thymus gland that produces antibodies which defend us against fungi, viruses and multicellular parasites Autoimmune diseases: ex. rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, lupus and multiple sclerosis where the immune system attacks and destroys some of the bodys own tissue -Keller found in a study of rats that the stress of inescapable shock decreased the number of lymphocytes found in the blood

-Shavit found that natural killer cell activity could be suppressed by injecting morphine directly into the brain -Feigenbaum, Masi and Kaplan found that autoimmune diseases got worse when a person is subjected to stress -mothers of grade school children at risk for health problems - problem focused coping: any coping behavior that is directed at reducing or eliminating a stressor - emotion- focused coping: any coping behavior that Is directed toward changing ones own emotional reaction to a stressor -people with strong internal locus of control will engage in more health promoting behaviours Cognitive reappraisal: any coping strategy in which one alters ones perception of the treat posed by a stressor to reduce stress Progressive relaxation technique 3 steps 1) recognizin the body;s signals which indicate presence of stress 2) using those signals as a cue to begin relaxing 3) relaxing groups of muscles beginning with those in the neck and head and then those in the arms and legs Stress inoculation training: developed by Meichenbaum; teaches people how to develop coping skills that increase their resistance to the negative effects of stress. Seven goals