NCERT Solutions Class 12 Psychology Chapter 3 Meeting Life Challenges
NCERT Solutions Class 12 Psychology Chapter 3 Meeting Life Challenges: National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) Class 12 Psychology Chapter 3 Solutions – Meeting Life Challenges.
Board |
NCERT |
Class |
12 |
Subject |
Psychology |
Chapter |
3 |
Chapter Name |
Meeting Life Challenges |
Topic |
Exercise Solutions |
Chapter 3. Meeting Life Challenges
Review Questions
1.) Explain the concept of stress. Give examples from daily life.
On a busy Monday morning, you could feel anxious as you wait to cross the street. However, you are able to cross the road safely because you are awake, watchful, and aware of the danger. When faced with a difficulty, we make extra efforts, mobilise all of our resources, and enlist the help of our support network to overcome it. Stress is created by all of the difficulties, obstacles, and adverse experiences.So, when stress is managed appropriately, the likelihood of survival improves. Stress is similar to electricity. It boosts human excitement, provides energy, and has an impact on performance. The electric current, however, can fuse lamps, harm appliances, etc. if it is too high. High levels of stress can sometimes have negative impacts and impair our effectiveness. On the other hand, too little stress might make us feel lazy and unmotivated, which can make us work more slowly and inefficiently.
It’s crucial to keep in mind that not all stress is negative or harmful by nature. A person’s greatest asset for reaching peak performance and handling small crises is what is known as “eustress,” which is the word used to describe the degree of stress that is healthy for you. However, eustress has the capacity to develop into “distress.” The wear and tear on our bodies is a result of this later stress manifestation. As a result, stress may be defined as the pattern of reactions an organism has to a stimulus event that upsets its balance and causes them to be unable to cope.
2.) State the symptoms and sources of stress.
SYMPTOMS OF STRESS
Depending on our personalities, early experiences, and upbringing, how we react to stress differs. Each person has a unique style of handling stress. As a result, the warning indications’ severity may also differ. Some of us are aware of our own stress reaction patterns and may assess the severity of a situation based on the kind and intensity of our own symptoms or behavioural changes. These signs of stress might manifest as behavioural, emotional, or physical problems. Any of the symptoms may point to a level of stress that, if addressed, might have negative effects.
SOURCES OF STRESS
Stress may be caused by a broad variety of situations and events. Major stressful life events, such as the loss of a loved one or a personal injury, unpleasant, regular difficulties of daily life, and catastrophic occurrences that have an impact on our lives are among the most significant of these. Life Occurs Changes, whether large and little, abrupt and gradual, have an impact on our lives beginning with our birth. Small, everyday changes are easier for us to handle, but significant life transitions may be stressful because they upend our routine and produce chaos. When numerous of these anticipated or unexpected life events—like moving into a new home or ending a long-term relationship—occur in quick succession, we find it challenging to handle them.
Hassles
These are the pressures we experience on a personal level as a result of events that occur in our everyday lives, such as raucous surroundings, commuting, argumentative neighbours, energy and water shortages, traffic jams, and so on. A homemaker must deal with several emergencies on a daily basis. In other professions, daily difficulties occur rather often. These minor inconveniences can occasionally have disastrous effects on the person dealing with them alone because other people might not even be aware of them as outsiders. The more stress that people attribute to their everyday difficulties, the worse off they are psychologically.
Traumatic Events
Being a victim of a number of terrible occurrences, such as a fire, rail or car accident, robbery, earthquake, tsunami, etc., is one of them. These incidents can have lasting impacts that sometimes manifest as anxiety symptoms, flashbacks, nightmares, intrusive thoughts, etc. Relationships can be strained by severe trauma. To deal with them, especially if they last for several months after the event has ended, professional assistance will be required.
3.) Describe the GAS model and illustrate the relevance of this model with the help of an example.
- General Adaptation Syndrome
How does persistent stress affect the body? In the laboratory for an extended length of time, Selye exposed animals to a range of stressors, including extreme temps, X-rays, and insulin doses. In hospitals, he also saw individuals with a range of ailments and traumas. Selye observed a consistent physical reaction pattern across all of them. The General Adaptation Syndrome is what he dubbed this phenomenon (GAS). He claims that there are three stages to GAS:
- Alarm reaction stage: The adrenal pituitary-cortex system becomes activated in the presence of a toxic stimulus or stressor. This causes the chemicals that cause the stress response to be released. The person is now prepared to either flight or fight.
- Resistance stage: If stress persists, the resistance stage starts. The parasympathetic nervous system recommends using the body’s resources more sparingly. The creature tries to deal with the threat by engaging in conflict.
- Exhaustion stage: The third stage of fatigue results from the body running out of resources due to continued exposure to the same stressor or new stressors. The physiological mechanisms involved in alarm response and resistance are rendered ineffective, increasing the likelihood of stress-related illnesses including high blood pressure.
Selye’s approach has drawn criticism for giving psychological variables in stress a relatively little amount of weight. The psychological evaluation of events is crucial for determining stress, according to research. People’s responses to stress vary widely depending on their perceptions, personalities, and biological makeup.
4.) Enumerate the different ways of coping with stress.
The belief that stress has an impact on our psychological well-being, social functioning, and health has evolved in recent years. Instead of the stress itself, it is how we handle it that determines these outcomes. A dynamic, situation-specific response to stress, coping is. It is a collection of actions that can be taken in reaction to stressful situations or occurrences with the goal of resolving the issue and lowering stress. The way we deal with stress is frequently influenced by ingrained, inflexible ideas that are founded on experience. For example, while in a traffic jam, we get furious because we think that the traffic should move more quickly. Stress-prone individuals have a compromised immune system and reduced natural killer cell activity. Individuals consistently differ in the coping mechanisms they employ to deal with stressful situations. Both overt and covert actions might be part of this. Endler and Parker list three coping mechanisms as follows:
Task-oriented Strategy: This entails gathering knowledge about the stressful situation, potential courses of action, and their likelihood of success. It also requires setting priorities and taking action to address the stressful issue immediately. Improve my time management, for instance, or reflect on past solutions to situations of a similar nature.
Emotion-oriented Strategy: This might entail making an attempt to hold onto hope and regulate one’s emotions, as well as letting out rage and irritation or concluding that nothing can be done to improve the situation. As an illustration, I may convince myself that it is not actually occurring to me or worry about what I would do.
Avoidance-oriented Strategy: This entails downplaying the gravity of the circumstance, consciously suppressing anxious thoughts, and replacing them with ideas of self-preservation. Examples of this include watching TV, calling a friend, or making an effort to be social.
5.) Explain the effect of stress on psychological functioning.
The stressed condition is accompanied by four main impacts of stress, including,
Emotional Effects: Stress victims are far more prone to have mood swings and behave erratically, which might cause them to lose friends and family. For certain cases, this could cause a downward spiral of confidence loss that worsens emotional problems like feelings of depression and anxiety, increased physical and mental exhaustion, and mood swings.
Physiological Effects: Under physical or psychological stress more of cortisol and adrenaline are produced. These hormones alter the body’s metabolism, blood pressure, and levels of physical activity significantly. Although this bodily response can enable us to work more efficiently when we are under pressure for brief periods of time, the long-term ramifications can be exceedingly harmful to the body. The production of adrenaline and norepinephrine, slowing of the digestion process, widening of the pulmonary airways, elevated heart rate, and constriction of blood vessels are a few examples of physiological consequences.
Cognitive Effects: One may get mental overload if pressure from stress persists. People who are under a lot of stress might quickly lose their capacity to reason through decisions. Making poor judgements at work, at home, or in your career may result in conflicts, failure, financial loss, or even the loss of your job. Stress has a negative impact on cognition, causing problems with focus and short-term memory.
Behavioural Effects: Stress alters our behaviour by making us eat less nutrient-dense foods, use more stimulants like coffee, smoke more cigarettes, drink more alcohol, use more alcohol and other medicines like tranquillizers, etc. With tranquillizers, addiction and adverse side effects like loss of attention, poor coordination, and dizziness are possible. Stress is known to have a variety of behavioural impacts, including disturbed sleep habits, increased absenteeism, and worse work performance.
6.) Describe how life skills can help meet life’s challenges.
Life skill is “the capacity for adaptable and constructive behaviour enables people to successfully navigate the demands and difficulties of daily life.” How effectively we are able to deal with, counteract, and maintain homeostasis in our life determines how well we are able to cope. These life skills are learnable and even developable. Some life skills that will assist to tackle life’s obstacles include assertiveness, time management, rational thought, enhancing relationships, self-care, and overcoming harmful habits like procrastination and perfectionism.
Assertiveness: ‘The ability to articulate our needs, wants, and opinions with clarity and assurance’ is known as assertiveness. It is the capacity to refuse a request, to voice an opinion out loud and without embarrassment, or to freely express feelings like love, hatred, etc. When you are aggressive, you are self-assured, confident, and have a strong sense of who you are.
Time Management: Your life’s quality is determined by how you choose to spend your time. Developing time management and delegation skills might assist to reduce stress. Changing one’s perspective of time is the main strategy for reducing time stress. Spending your time on activities that are important to you or that will help you reach your objectives is the main tenet of time management. Understanding what you need to accomplish and that you must do it within a specific time frame, knowing what you want to do, and planning your life to strike a balance between the two are all important.
Rational Thinking: Thinking errors are a common cause of stress-related issues. You can’t separate how you feel from how you think. When under stress, we have an innate tendency to focus on unfavourable memories and ideas, which colour how we see the present and the future. Challenge your distorted thinking and unreasonable views, push away possibly pesky, anxious-inducing negative thoughts, and make positive remarks. These are just a few examples of rational thinking concepts.
Improving Relationships: Communication is the foundation of a solid, long-lasting relationship. Three fundamental abilities are required for this: the ability to listen to what others are saying, the ability to articulate your thoughts and feelings, and the ability to accept others’ beliefs and feelings, even when they differ from your own. We must also refrain from becoming sulky and out of place envious.
Self-care: We are better able to handle the demands of daily life if we maintain a healthy, active, and calm lifestyle. Our breathing patterns are a reflection of our mental and emotional states. We frequently sigh and breathe quickly and shallowly from a position high in the chest when we are agitated or concerned. The diaphragm, a dome-shaped muscle between the chest and the abdominal cavity, allows for the slowest, most relaxed breathing. Our mood can be affected by environmental pressures such as noise, pollution, space, light, colour, etc. These have a discernible impact on our wellbeing and capacity to handle stress.
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7.) Discuss the factors that lead to positive health and well-being.
We are unlikely to live our entire lives without experiencing some sort of personal crisis that puts us under extreme strain. Many individuals get by and quite positively reconstruct their life. They are more likely to have positive views and access to a wide range of social and emotional assistance. We will have learnt how to endure healthily when we can use the energy to make something positive out of the circumstance. This will leave us more stress-resistant for the next crisis. It is similar to receiving immunisation against the risks of unhealthful stress.
Stress-Resistant Personality: According to recent research by Kobasa, persons who experience high amounts of stress but few illnesses have three things in common. These attributes are known as the hardiness personality traits. The “three Cs”—commitment, control, and challenge—make up this system. A person’s self-concept, worldview, and perspective on how they interact make up their hardiness. It manifests as a sense of control over your life, a sense of challenge, and a sense of personal devotion to what you are doing. People with stress resistance tend to have control, which includes a feeling of direction and purpose in life; dedication to job, family, hobbies, and social life; and challenge, which means they view changes in life as normal and beneficial rather than as a danger. Not everyone possesses these qualities; many of us need to retrain in some life skills, such as assertiveness and logical reasoning, in order to better prepare ourselves to handle the rigours of daily life.
8.) How does stress affect the immune system?
Stress may make people sick by affecting how well their immune systems function. The immune system protects the body from external and internal invaders. The focus of psychoneuroimmunology is on the interactions between the immune system, the mind, and the brain. The immune system’s white blood cells, or leucocytes, recognise and eliminate foreign substances, or antigens, such as viruses and produce antibodies. The immune system contains several leucocytes, sometimes known as white blood cells, such as T cells, B cells, and natural killer cells. T-helper cells boost immune activity while T cells eliminate intruders. The virus known as the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) targets these T-helper cells for assault.
Natural killer cell cytotoxicity, which is crucial in the defence against several diseases and cancer, can be impacted by stress. High-stress individuals, such as those who are bereaved, extremely depressed, or students who are taking critical exams, have lower levels of natural killer cell cytotoxicity. Studies show that those who get social assistance have superior immune systems. Additionally, people with already compromised immune systems will be more affected by immune system alterations in terms of health.
Depression, hatred, rage, and violence are just a few of the unpleasant feelings and behaviours that come along with psychological stress. The study of how stress affects health is particularly concerned with negative emotional states. As long-term stress accumulates, the likelihood of psychiatric illnesses including panic episodes and compulsive behaviour rises. Worries can get so intense that they manifest as a terrifying, agonising bodily feeling that can be mistaken for a heart attack. Long-term stressors are more likely to have unreasonable worries, mood swings, and phobias. They may also have episodes of sadness, rage, and irritability. These unfavourable feelings seem to be connected to how well the immune system works. Our capacity to understand the world and infuse it with personal significance and emotion has a strong and immediate impact on the body. Poorer health outcomes have been linked to negative emotions. The worsening of illness, elevated risk of injury, and mortality from numerous causes are all associated to feelings of helplessness.
9.) Give an example of a life event which is likely to be stressful. Suggest reasons why it is likely to cause different degrees of stress to the person experiencing it.
A person is likely to experience stress as a result of losing long-term work. A person’s reaction to stress is greatly influenced by how the circumstances are judged or perceived. In his Cognitive theory of stress, Lazarus provided an explanation for this. Stress, in accordance with this view, is dependent upon his main or secondary evaluation. A novel or altering occurrence might be constructive, destructive, or neutral. An unpleasant experience, like losing a long-term employment, might be evaluated for its harm rather than viewed as a challenge. High levels of stress will ensue if it is judged to be a threat that might cause future harm.
If it is perceived as a challenge, the person who lost their job will have greater confidence in their capacity to handle and get through the difficult situation. Assessment of the damage already produced by the occurrence, if considered a harm, would lead to significant stress. One’s coping mechanisms and resources are evaluated through secondary appraisal to see whether they are sufficient to handle the hurt, threat, or challenge.
10.) Given what you know about coping strategies, what suggestions would you give to your friends to avoid stress in their everyday lives.
Today’s high school pupils steer clear of the incredibly demanding, demanding, and demanding fives. In order to effectively manage stress, I would advise using the “task-oriented technique” as defined by Endler and Parker.
Task-oriented Strategy: This entails gathering knowledge about the stressful situation, potential courses of action, and their likelihood of success. It also requires setting priorities and taking action to address the stressful issue immediately. Improve my time management, for instance, or reflect on past solutions to situations of a similar nature.
I would also advise adopting a positive outlook and way of thinking that supports health and well-being. An optimistic outlook in which the person perceives reality with a degree of accuracy; the capacity to accept responsibility for accomplishments and blame for failure; acceptance and tolerance of other people’s viewpoints.
Interns that think positively tend to be optimistic. Optimism is the tendency to anticipate positive events in life. An optimist will constantly approach problems from a problem-focused perspective and look for the source of stress. Exercise, a healthy diet, and relaxation techniques all greatly reduce stress.
11.) Reflect on the environmental factors that have (a) a positive impact on the being, and (b) a negative effect.
Due to their unexpected and occasional frequency, catastrophic events were not thoroughly researched until recently. However, because those who survive these terrible incidents frequently suffer from the severe psychiatric aftereffect known as “post-traumatic stress disorder.”
However, there is debate regarding whether severe natural catastrophes have long-lasting psychological repercussions. While some studies suggest long-term psychological consequences, other research indicates that natural catastrophes have little to no psychological influence.
In some ways, the psychological damage caused by man-made disasters can be more severe and long-lasting than damage from natural disasters. This occurrence seems to be influenced by a number of things. Control seems to be a key element. Human mistake is typically the cause of disasters caused by humans, but we anticipate that sufficient safeguards will be taken to avoid human error. As a result, when a calamity occurs, our expectations are not met, which causes a loss of control. On the other hand, we accept natural disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes, and other such events as fate and do not expect to have any influence over them.
The effects of each sort of disaster are a second aspect to consider.
Even if they have a wide reach, natural catastrophes usually have distinct boundaries and short duration. Contrarily, disasters caused by humans, such as the pollution of groundwater with harmful substances, may have long-lasting repercussions. For instance, exposure to harmful substances might cause genetic harm or raise a person’s chance of acquiring cancer. Additionally, the psychological trauma as well as the uncertainty of whether or not these repercussions would manifest themselves might result in long-term stress-related issues.
12.) We know that certain lifestyle factors can cause stress and may lead to diseases like cancer and coronary heart disease, yet we are unable to change our behaviour. Explain why?
A person’s overall pattern of decisions and activities, or lifestyle, determines their level of health and quality of life. A person is more prone to expose oneself to pathogens—agents that cause physical illness—when they are under stress.
People who are stressed often have poor eating and sleeping habits as well as a penchant for risky activities such utilizing tranquilizers, alcohol, cigarettes, and stimulants like coffee. These health-harming practices gradually emerge and provide momentary pleasure, but they have harmful long-term consequences.
These psychoactive medications are delightful and addicting for those who use them, making it hard for them to stop.
Such a way of living eventually results in major health risks including cancer, diabetes, and coronary heart disease.
Being aware of the many psychological and physical risks caused by poor lifestyles, people still do it since it’s unlikely that the repercussions and adverse effects would manifest right away. After several years, their consequences become apparent. Thus, people disregard them. because they are conscious of the consequences. They experience discomfort not just as a result of attitude and behaviour inconsistencies but also because this way of living has been ingrained in their habit pattern. They, therefore, struggle mightily to alter and maintain such dangerous lifestyles, which eventually leads to a period of burnout.
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