Suzanne Segerstrom | |
---|---|
Occupation | Professor of Psychology |
Awards | Templeton Positive Psychology Prize (2002) |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | Lewis and Clark College; University of California, Los Angeles; University of Kentucky |
Academic work | |
Institutions | University of Kentucky |
Suzanne C. Segerstrom is a professor of Psychology and biostatistician at the University of Kentucky. She is known for her clinical research on optimism and pessimism in relation to health,stress,and general well-being. [1] [2] [3]
Segerstrom was the 2002 first prize recipient of the Templeton Positive Psychology Prize [4] for her work "aimed at understanding the processes behind optimistic dispositions and beliefs and,in particular,how these processes relate to the functioning of the immune system". [5] She is Editor-in-chief of Psychosomatic Medicine. [6] She previously served as president of the American Psychosomatic Society. [7] Segerstrom is a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science. [8]
Segerstrom was born in Boston,MA and grew up in Oregon. [9] She attended Lewis and Clark College [10] where she received a bachelor's degree in psychology and music in 1990. Segerstrom went on to complete M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in clinical psychology at UCLA (1997),and a clinical internship in psychology at Vancouver Hospital and Health Sciences Center (University of British Columbia). She subsequently earned a M.P.H. degree in biostatistics from the University of Kentucky (2017). [11]
As a graduate student at UCLA,Segerstrom worked under the supervision of Shelley E. Taylor,Margaret Kemeny,and Michelle Craske. [4] Her dissertation titled "Optimism is associated with mood,coping,and immune change in response to stress" [12] received the American Psychological Association Martin E. P. Seligman Award for Outstanding Dissertation Research on the Science of Optimism and Hope. [9]
Segerstrom's research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health's National Institute on Aging. [13]
Segerstrom's research examines individual differences in cognition,emotion,and personality factors (e.g.,dispositional optimism) in relation to psychological well-being,health,and physiological functions (e.g.,immune system). [4] This includes studies of the effects of disappointment [14] and emotional approach coping [15] on health. Her collaborative research with Sandra Sephton has explored how law students' expectations for their future affect their immune response, [16] [17] and suggests that optimism yields health benefits,including protection against viral infections. [18] Such findings align with other work indicating that people who have positive attitudes have better health outcomes. [19]
Segerstrom is the author of Breaking Murphy's Law:How Optimists Get What They Want and Pessimists Can Too [20] and the editor of The Oxford Handbook of Psychoneuroimmunology. [21]
Psychosomatic medicine is an interdisciplinary medical field exploring the relationships among social,psychological,behavioral factors on bodily processes and quality of life in humans and animals.
In psychology,a mood is an affective state. In contrast to emotions or feelings,moods are less specific,less intense and less likely to be provoked or instantiated by a particular stimulus or event. Moods are typically described as having either a positive or negative valence. In other words,people usually talk about being in a good mood or a bad mood. There are many different factors that influence mood,and these can lead to positive or negative effects on mood.
Positive psychology studies the conditions that contribute to the optimal functioning of people,groups,and institutions. It studies "positive subjective experience,positive individual traits,and positive institutions... it aims to improve quality of life."
Stress management consists of a wide spectrum of techniques and psychotherapies aimed at controlling a person's level of stress,especially chronic stress,usually for the purpose of improving everyday functioning. Stress produces numerous physical and mental symptoms which vary according to each individual's situational factors. These can include a decline in physical health,such as headaches,chest pain,fatigue,and sleep problems,as well as depression. The process of stress management is named as one of the keys to a happy and successful life in modern society. Life often delivers numerous demands that can be difficult to handle,but stress management provides a number of ways to manage anxiety and maintain overall well-being.
Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI),also referred to as psychoendoneuroimmunology (PENI) or psychoneuroendocrinoimmunology (PNEI),is the study of the interaction between psychological processes and the nervous and immune systems of the human body. It is a subfield of psychosomatic medicine. PNI takes an interdisciplinary approach,incorporating psychology,neuroscience,immunology,physiology,genetics,pharmacology,molecular biology,psychiatry,behavioral medicine,infectious diseases,endocrinology,and rheumatology.
Social support is the perception and actuality that one is cared for,has assistance available from other people,and most popularly,that one is part of a supportive social network. These supportive resources can be emotional,informational,or companionship;tangible or intangible. Social support can be measured as the perception that one has assistance available,the actual received assistance,or the degree to which a person is integrated in a social network. Support can come from many sources,such as family,friends,pets,neighbors,coworkers,organizations,etc.
Psychological resilience is the ability to cope mentally and emotionally with a crisis,or to return to pre-crisis status quickly.
Positive illusions are unrealistically favorable attitudes that people have towards themselves or to people that are close to them. Positive illusions are a form of self-deception or self-enhancement that feel good;maintain self-esteem;or avoid discomfort,at least in the short term. There are three general forms:inflated assessment of one's own abilities,unrealistic optimism about the future,and an illusion of control. The term "positive illusions" originates in a 1988 paper by Taylor and Brown. "Taylor and Brown's (1988) model of mental health maintains that certain positive illusions are highly prevalent in normal thought and predictive of criteria traditionally associated with mental health."
Dispositional affect,similar to mood,is a personality trait or overall tendency to respond to situations in stable,predictable ways. This trait is expressed by the tendency to see things in a positive or negative way. People with high positive affectivity tend to perceive things through "pink lens" while people with high negative affectivity tend to perceive things through "black lens". The level of dispositional affect affects the sensations and behavior immediately and most of the time in unconscious ways,and its effect can be prolonged. Research shows that there is a correlation between dispositional affect and important aspects in psychology and social science,such as personality,culture,decision making,negotiation,psychological resilience,perception of career barriers,and coping with stressful life events. That is why this topic is important both in social psychology research and organizational psychology research.
Humor research is a multifaceted field which enters the domains of linguistics,history,and literature. Research in humor has been done to understand the psychological and physiological effects,both positive and negative,on a person or groups of people. Research in humor has revealed many different theories of humor and many different kinds of humor including their functions and effects personally,in relationships,and in society.
Positive affectivity (PA) is a human characteristic that describes how much people experience positive affects;and as a consequence how they interact with others and with their surroundings.
In psychology,avoidance coping is a coping mechanism and form of experiential avoidance. It is characterized by a person's efforts,conscious or unconscious,to avoid dealing with a stressor in order to protect oneself from the difficulties the stressor presents. Avoidance coping can lead to substance abuse,social withdrawal,and other forms of escapism. High levels of avoidance behaviors may lead to a diagnosis of avoidant personality disorder,though not everyone who displays such behaviors meets the definition of having this disorder. Avoidance coping is also a symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder and related to symptoms of depression and anxiety. Additionally,avoidance coping is part of the approach-avoidance conflict theory introduced by psychologist Kurt Lewin.
Psychological hardiness,alternatively referred to as personality hardiness or cognitive hardiness in the literature,is a personality style first introduced by Suzanne C. Kobasa in 1979. Kobasa described a pattern of personality characteristics that distinguished managers and executives who remained healthy under life stress,as compared to those who developed health problems. In the following years,the concept of hardiness was further elaborated in a book and a series of research reports by Salvatore Maddi,Kobasa and their graduate students at the University of Chicago.
In psychology,stress is a feeling of emotional strain and pressure. Stress is a type of psychological pain. Small amounts of stress may be beneficial,as it can improve athletic performance,motivation and reaction to the environment. Excessive amounts of stress,however,can increase the risk of strokes,heart attacks,ulcers,and mental illnesses such as depression and also aggravation of a pre-existing condition.
Scholarly studies have investigated the effects of religion on health. The World Health Organization (WHO) discerns four dimensions of health,namely physical,social,mental,and spiritual health. Having a religious belief may have both positive and negative impacts on health and morbidity.
Self-concealment is a psychological construct defined as "a predisposition to actively conceal from others personal information that one perceives as distressing or negative". Its opposite is self-disclosure.
Optimism is an attitude reflecting a belief or hope that the outcome of some specific endeavor,or outcomes in general,will be positive,favorable,and desirable. A common idiom used to illustrate optimism versus pessimism is a glass filled with water to the halfway point:an optimist is said to see the glass as half full,while a pessimist sees the glass as half empty.
Emotional approach coping is a psychological construct that involves the use of emotional processing and emotional expression in response to a stressful situation. As opposed to emotional avoidance,in which emotions are experienced as a negative,undesired reaction to a stressful situation,emotional approach coping involves the conscious use of emotional expression and processing to better deal with a stressful situation. The construct was developed to explain an inconsistency in the stress and coping literature:emotion-focused coping was associated with largely maladaptive outcomes while emotional processing and expression was demonstrated to be beneficial.
Janice K Kiecolt-Glaser is S. Robert Davis Chair of Medicine and Distinguished University Professor at the Ohio State University College of Medicine. She is a clinical health psychologist specializing in psychoneuroimmunology and Director of the Ohio State Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research. Her research on stress associated with caregiving and marital relationships has been featured in The New York Times,The Wall Street Journal,and many other news outlets.
The Shift-and-persist model has emerged in order to account for unintuitive,positive health outcomes in some individuals of low socioeconomic status. A large body of research has previously linked low socioeconomic status to poor physical and mental health outcomes,including early mortality. Low socioeconomic status is hypothesized to get "under the skin" by producing chronic activation of the sympathetic nervous system and hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis,which increases allostatic load,leading to the pathogenesis of chronic disease. However,some individuals of low socioeconomic status do not appear to experience the expected,negative health effects associated with growing up in poverty. To account for this,the Shift-and-Persist Model proposes that,as children,some individuals of low socioeconomic status learn adaptive strategies for regulating their emotions ("shifting") and focusing on their goals ("persisting") in the face of chronic adversity. According to this model,the use of shift-and-persist strategies diminishes the typical negative effects of adversity on health by leading to more adaptive biological,cognitive,and behavioral responses to daily stressors.
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