NUR 172 Psych Exam 1 Study Guide UPDATED ACTUAL
Questions and CORRECT Answers
What is stress? Stress is a state produced by a change in the environment that is perceived as
challenging, threatening, or damaging to one's well-being.
What is anxiety? Anxiety is a universal human experience; dysfunctional behavior is often a
defense mechanism against anxiety. It is a feeling of apprehension, uneasiness,
uncertainty, or dread resulting from a real or perceived threat. The actual
source of the threat is unknown or unrecognized. Anxiety attacks at a deeper
level than fear does.
What is fear? Fear is a reaction to a specific danger.
What are defense mechanisms? Defense mechanisms are a major means of managing conflict and affect in
response to anxiety. They are relatively unconscious and discrete from one
another.
Are defense mechanisms reversible? Yes
Are defense mechanism adaptive, pathological, or Both
both?
Whether the use of defense mechanisms is adaptive or It is determined by their frequency, intensity, and duration.
maladaptive is determined by_ _.
, Healthy defenses: 1. Altruism: Emotional conflicts and stressors are addressed by meeting the
needs of others.
1. Altruism
2. Sublimation: An unconscious process of substituting constructive and
2. Sublimation socially acceptable activity for strong impulses that are not acceptable in their
original form. (Ex: A man with strong hostile feelings may choose to become a
3. Humor butcher)
4. Suppression 3. Humor: An individual may deal with emotional conflicts or stressor by
emphasizing the amusing or ironic aspects of the conflict or stressor.
4. Suppression: The conscious denial of a disturbing situation or feeling. (Ex: A
student who has been studying for the state board exam says, "I can't worry
about paying my rent until after my exam tomorrow.")
Intermediate defenses: 1. Repression: The exclusion of unpleasant or unwanted experiences, emotions,
or ideas from conscious awareness. (Ex: forgetting the name of a former
1. Repression boyfriend/girlfriend)
2. Displacement 2. Displacement: Transfer of emotions associated with a particular person,
object, or situation to another person, object, or situation that is
3. Reaction formation nonthreatening. (Ex: Boss yells at man, man yells at wife, wife yells at child,
child kicks the cat)
4. Somatization
3. Reaction formation: Unacceptable feelings or behaviors are kept out of
5. Undoing awareness by developing the opposite behavior or emotion. (Ex: A person
harboring hostility towards children becomes a Boy Scout leader)
6. Rationalization
4. Somatization: Transforming anxiety on an unconscious level into a physical
symptom that has no organic cause. Often attention seeking or excuse.
5. Undoing: Compensates for an act or communication. (Ex: Giving a gift to
undo an argument)
6. Rationalization: Justifying illogical or unreasonable ideas, actions, or feelings
by developing acceptable explanations that satisfy the teller as well as the
listener. (Ex: "If I had Jessica's brains, I'd get good grades too.")
Questions and CORRECT Answers
What is stress? Stress is a state produced by a change in the environment that is perceived as
challenging, threatening, or damaging to one's well-being.
What is anxiety? Anxiety is a universal human experience; dysfunctional behavior is often a
defense mechanism against anxiety. It is a feeling of apprehension, uneasiness,
uncertainty, or dread resulting from a real or perceived threat. The actual
source of the threat is unknown or unrecognized. Anxiety attacks at a deeper
level than fear does.
What is fear? Fear is a reaction to a specific danger.
What are defense mechanisms? Defense mechanisms are a major means of managing conflict and affect in
response to anxiety. They are relatively unconscious and discrete from one
another.
Are defense mechanisms reversible? Yes
Are defense mechanism adaptive, pathological, or Both
both?
Whether the use of defense mechanisms is adaptive or It is determined by their frequency, intensity, and duration.
maladaptive is determined by_ _.
, Healthy defenses: 1. Altruism: Emotional conflicts and stressors are addressed by meeting the
needs of others.
1. Altruism
2. Sublimation: An unconscious process of substituting constructive and
2. Sublimation socially acceptable activity for strong impulses that are not acceptable in their
original form. (Ex: A man with strong hostile feelings may choose to become a
3. Humor butcher)
4. Suppression 3. Humor: An individual may deal with emotional conflicts or stressor by
emphasizing the amusing or ironic aspects of the conflict or stressor.
4. Suppression: The conscious denial of a disturbing situation or feeling. (Ex: A
student who has been studying for the state board exam says, "I can't worry
about paying my rent until after my exam tomorrow.")
Intermediate defenses: 1. Repression: The exclusion of unpleasant or unwanted experiences, emotions,
or ideas from conscious awareness. (Ex: forgetting the name of a former
1. Repression boyfriend/girlfriend)
2. Displacement 2. Displacement: Transfer of emotions associated with a particular person,
object, or situation to another person, object, or situation that is
3. Reaction formation nonthreatening. (Ex: Boss yells at man, man yells at wife, wife yells at child,
child kicks the cat)
4. Somatization
3. Reaction formation: Unacceptable feelings or behaviors are kept out of
5. Undoing awareness by developing the opposite behavior or emotion. (Ex: A person
harboring hostility towards children becomes a Boy Scout leader)
6. Rationalization
4. Somatization: Transforming anxiety on an unconscious level into a physical
symptom that has no organic cause. Often attention seeking or excuse.
5. Undoing: Compensates for an act or communication. (Ex: Giving a gift to
undo an argument)
6. Rationalization: Justifying illogical or unreasonable ideas, actions, or feelings
by developing acceptable explanations that satisfy the teller as well as the
listener. (Ex: "If I had Jessica's brains, I'd get good grades too.")
