PRINCIPLES OF PSYCHOLOGY
(Chapters 14, 4 & 12)
Total Points: 50
STRESS, LIFESTYLE, & HEALTH: CHAPTER 14 ASSIGNMENT (20 points)
Instructions: Answer the following questions thoroughly in paragraph format (complete sentences).
1. Provide an example of a stressful situation that may cause a person to become seriously ill. How
would Selye’s general adaptation syndrome explain this occurrence?
2. Review the items on the Social Readjustment Rating Scale. Select one of the items and discuss
how it might bring about distress and eustress.
3. Job burnout tends to be high in people who work in human service jobs. Considering the three
dimensions of job burnout, explain how various job aspects unique to being a police officer might
lead to job burnout in that line of work.
4. Discuss the concept of Type A behavior pattern, its history, and what we now know concerning
its role in heart disease.
5. Consider the study in which volunteers were given nasal drops containing the cold virus to
examine the relationship between stress and immune function (Cohen et al., 1998). How might this
finding explain how people seem to become sick during stressful times in their lives (e.g., final exam
week)?
