Department of Exercise and Wellness
EXW 400 – Stress Management
Final Exam Study Guide
Know Suzanne Kobassa-Ouellette’s
3 key Stress Hardiness
characteristics. Hint: the 3 C’s. Be able to name and describe them.
Commitment
– Dedicated to family, self, and work. Committed to giving most things the best effort.
Control – A sense of
influencing the events in one’s life rather than a feeling of helplessness
Challenge – Ability to see
change and problems as opportunities for growth, rather than threats.
Gary Schwartz, Ph.D. has discovered 3 important
stress resistant characteristics that he calls the ACE Factor. The acronym
stands for Attention, Connection, and Expression.
Know what the terms attention and connection
mean in his model, and their relationship to one another.
Attention – creates a sense
of awareness of the events in ones life
Connection – connecting the
events in your life with your emotions and then realize if you enjoyed it or
not.
Expression -
Know what the philosopher and educator, William
James, said is “…our greatest weapon against stress.”
The greatest weapon against
stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.
Know what Viktor Frankl
referred to as the “last ultimate freedom”, in his book, Man’s Search for Meaning. Be
able to describe the significance of the last ultimate freedom to controlling
stress in your life or someone else’s.
Response-Ability
Know what Dr. Stephen Covey means when he says, “In the last analysis, no one, nothing Can
hurt us without our consent.”
If we choose not to allow
some else’s actions or word to hurt us they can’t.
Be able to describe the key difference between a
proactive and a reactive person, according to Stephen Covey.
Proactive – choose how you
are going to respond to situations
Reactive – waits for things
to happen
Lou Tice said, “We constantly move toward our
dominant thoughts.” Be able to explain
the full significance of that statement to stress and well-being.
Personality is formed by age
5 50% is environment the other 50% is genetic
The environment is
changeable.
Be able to describe what basis Col. Ed Hubbard (
When captured in
Be able to describe how the experiences Col. Hubbard
had as a POW in
Being a POW showed Col.
Hubbard that he was able to either give his captures what they wanted or no
simply by choosing whether or not to speak.
They could not forcible remove the information from him he had to
volunteer it. Specifically when he was
being interrogated one of his captures hit him repeatedly and finally he
decided to not get up off the floor, then the capture left, there was nothing
he could do to Col. Hubbard to get the information out of him.
Know how the prevalence of depression has changed in
Technology increase things
going on and this in effect increases stress.
Sensory over load, increased knowledge depression.
Know what Aaron T. Beck, Martin E.P. Seligman, and
Albert Ellis believe is the true nature of most of the common, but serious,
depression that exists. In other words
what really is depression according to their research?
Not biological, this is not
a biological issue it is an emotional issue, from habits of thought.
Martin Seligman has discovered that each of us has a
particular explanatory style, a habitual way of explaining the causes of events
in our lives. Be able to name and
describe each of the 3 dimensions of causal explanations identified by
Seligman. Your description may be brief,
but should show a complete understanding of each dimension.
Permanence
permanent
vs. temporary
Personal
Locus
Internal vs. external
Pervasiveness
Global vs. specific
You will be given a description of an event (such as
getting an A+ on this exam) and asked to identify either how a pessimist or an
optimist would explain the causes of the event.
Pessimistic
It
is me, I always mess things up, this will effect
everything else in my life.
Optimistic
It
is me, it will always be this way, and it will affect everything in my life.
Be able to identify 3 ways that research has
indicated optimists do better than pessimists in life.
Optimists do better;
In school,
Win more elections,
Succeed more at work
Lead
longer and healthier lives
Be able to name each of Martin Seligman’s 3
approaches to (or dimensions of) happiness, and succinctly describe the essence
of each.
Pleasant life - hedonism
Engagement, and flow
Meaning and purpose -
Know which of Seligman’s 3 dimensions of happiness
correlates to Plato’s first level of happiness.
Plato’s first level is
immediate gratification which is Seligman’s 1st stage.
Be able to briefly describe 2 ways which positive
emotions contribute to happiness and well-being, according to Barbara
Fredrickson’s “Broaden and Build Theory”
of positive emotions.
Positive interaction were more productive
Positive emotions increase
up to a limit of 13:1
They make us more open to
new ideas and experiences
We are more likeable.
Barbara Fredrickson and Marcel Losada
discovered a minimum ratio of positive to negative interactions in the
workplace in order to be productive.
Know what that ratio is.
3:1
John Gottman discovered a
“magic ratio” of positive to negative interchanges among couples that predicted
marital success 10 years later with 94% accuracy. Know that ratio.
5:1
Martin E.P. Seligman, and Chris Peterson stated that
their 6 core virtues and 24 character strengths, taken together, capture the
notion of happiness. Be able to finish
that sentence.
I think this is happiness,
or happiness virtues.
Be able to explain how Plato’s 3rd level
of happiness and Seligman’s highest dimension of happiness are similar.
Meaning and purpose in life
Seligman’s 3rd level of happiness is similar to Plato’s 3rd
level Doing good beyond one’s self. Reaching beyond ones self
and family to better others and the world around them.
Be able to name 3 of the 5 character strengths that
Peterson and Seligman’s research has indicated have the highest correlation to
enduring happiness. You must know the
complete name as it is stated on your Strengths handout or on the authentic
happiness web site.
Gratitude
Curiosity in the world
Zest, enthusiasm, energy
Capacity to Love and be
loved
Hope, optimism, and future
mindedness
According to Karen Reivich
and Andrew Shatte, there are 7 components of
resilience (the RQ Test). Be able to
match the name of each component with a description of that component.
Emotion regulation
Impulse control
Optimism
Casual analysis
Empathy
Self-efficacy
Reaching-out
Self-efficacy and self-esteem have been identified by
many experts as key stress-resistant traits.
Our text describes 7 pillars of self-esteem (7 ways we can increase
self-esteem). Be able to correctly name
and describe any two of those 7 pillars.
Focus
on action – freewill
Practice of mindful living –
living in the moment
Self-Acceptance
– Refusal to be in an adversarial relationship with yourself. Do not fight yourself.
Self-Responsibility
– The moment you accept responsibility for your actions your stress drops.
Self-Assertiveness
– Being assertive for your own needs.
Living purposefully – Setting goals achieving goals.
Personal Integrity – Doing the right thing even though no one else will
ever know.
Know the purpose of Progressive Muscular Relaxation
(PMR), and be able to describe the process.
In other words, how does one do PMR?
I know this
Know the purpose of Autogenic Training.
Relaxation
through body sensation.
Be able to name two of the primary physiological
changes that typically occur during autogenic training.
Decreases in heart rate,
increase in mental focus (Alpha waves)
Be able to name two of the physical sensations that
one should focus on during autogenic training.
It gets warm and heavy.
Be able to explain the key differences between brain
waves produced during meditation and
those produced during a normal conscious state.
Right brain dominance during meditation Alpha waves good waves. In which specific meditation concepts are
integrated with other relaxation techniques, including breathing, biofeedback,
and mental imagery, to promote deep relaxation and improved memory.
Judgments consciousness Beta waves.
Know the key differences between transcendental
meditation( TM ) and mindfulness meditation. In other words how would one practice
transcendental meditation, and how would one practice mindfulness meditation,
and what would one do differently in each form?
TM is a classic example of
exclusive meditation this involves the restriction of consciousness to focus on
a single thought. Developed
by Mahest in 1960’s. This technique uses a mantra like a word the
most noted is ‘
Mindfulness is more of a
free association where the mind wanders aimlessly. The mind allows for any spontaneous thoughts
to enter and makes no emotional reaction to them.
Be able to describe the essence and significance of
each of the following foundations or pillars of mindfulness to stress control:
·
Awareness - fundamental level of waking
consciousness…radar for inner and outer environment
·
Living in the moment – Being fully present in the
moment
·
Enjoying the moment finding
enjoyment and fully experiencing it whenever we can
·
Quieting the mind – keeping thoughts of self chatter out and allowing
ones self to have the mind concentrating on one thing
·
Acceptance - Accepting ourselves as we really are in this
moment. Seeing ourselves and situations
clearly.
·
Non-judging – not judging the moment or any one thing, not labeling a dog as a dog and
moving on, but to notice what kind of dog the color the demotions and its
behavior
Know what the research says about the difference in
the risk of depression between inactive and physically active individuals.
2 times as likely to have
depression if you are not physically active
Be able to name and describe 3 psychological benefits
of regular physical activity, and be able to identify two probable
physiological (physical) bases for those psychological benefits.
Mood – you do not have to be
very fit to achieve psychological benefits
Anxiety
- Reduction in anxiety may persist for 2 to 6 hours
Decrease
in muscle tension
Be able to identify the definition of an affirmation.
Written goal statements – mirror statements
Best when accompanied with visualization -
Be able to correctly identify a short list of
guidelines that Lou Tice gives for constructing an effective affirmation.
Determine
areas of desired change
Writing down 1 or 2
affirmation for each goal
Trigger visualization as
though it is actually happening (riding in a boat, swimming for hours)
Convey very specific
behavior or goal
Present tense as if you have
already accomplished them
It has to be in
the first person
Use emotion words
Stated positively
Be
realistic not off the wall goals such as having 10 million dollars in 2 years
Must
be accompanied by serious commitment
Balance
goals and align with values and mission
Be able to select two of Lou Tice’s guidelines for
affirmations and describe what each means using an example.
It has to be in the first
person – Use I me etc.
Use emotion words –
description words, beautiful, lovely, amazing, etc.
Stated positively – no “I
don’t smoke” use I am a non smoker.