Part 2 analyze the relevant event/character/experience using the psychological

The paper should basically consist of three parts, namely:
Part 1 describe the relevant event/character/experience
I have difficulty balancing my work schedule to fit my school schedule.
earning money bt myself to pay the fee and living expenses
full timetable
Part 2 analyze the relevant event/character/experience using the psychological
theories/concepts learned from the course.
Part 3 reflection on what you learn from this learning experience
Interpretation of stress symptoms scale:
My score:46 [stress at level moderately higher than average]
External Locus of Control
 Certain people (externals) feel that the outcome of their
efforts is controlled by forces and events external to
themselves, such as chance, fate, luck, powerful figures
in authority, or other external circumstances
Internal Locus of Control
 Internals are convinced that control is an internal matter
related to their own efforts and talents.
 They believe that their behavior is guided by their
personal decisions and efforts.
Internal Locus of Control:
 Believe they are the controllers of their own fate.
 Believe that the outcomes in their lives stem mainly
from internal factors, for e.g., their own effort, ability,
decisions.
 In a stressful situation, they believe they can have a
significant effect on the results. They tend to act in
ways to take control of events and experience less
stress.
External Locus of Control
 See themselves as pawns of fate.
 Believe that the outcomes in their lives are determined
largely by external causes, e.g., fate, luck, actions of
others. less likely to take action to control their
lives, since they believe such action to be fruitless
 In a stressful situation, they are more likely to be
passive and defensive.
 Rather than doing something to reduce the stress, they
acquiesce.
 More likely to feel helpless and experience stress.
 Those with a high internal locus of control have
better control of their behaviour
 They are more likely to assume that their efforts
will be successful.
 They are more active in seeking information and
knowledge concerning their situation than do
externals.
Type A & Type B Behavior
Cardiologists Friedman & Rosenman (1959, 1974
in Smith, 2012:1) proposed that behavior patterns
of speed, impatience, perfectionism,
drivenness, and hostility increased individuals’
vulnerability to heart disease and they later
labeled this constellation of traits associated with
coronary disease “Type A behavior,” and
distinguished it from an oppositional counterpart
termed “Type B behavior,” reflecting a relaxed,
easy-going, slower-paced lifestyle
Type A’s
 are always moving, walking and eating rapidly,
 feel impatient with the rate at which most events
take place,
 strive to think or do two or more things
simultaneously,
 cannot cope with leisure time and
 are obsessed with numbers, success is measured
in terms of how much of everything they
acquired.
Type B’s
 never suffer from a sense of time urgency with
its accompanying impatience,
 feel no need to display or discuss either their
achievement or accomplishments unless such
exposure is demanded by the situation,
 play for fun and relaxation, rather than to exhibit
their superiority at any cost, and
 can relax without guilt.
Type A personality & heart disease
 the Type A Personality, which involves self-imposed
stress and intense reactions to stress.
 Type A people were found to be three times more
likely to experience coronary heart disease
 Type B people were much less likely to develop heart
disease.
 Type A behaviour is characterized by feeling a chronic
sense of time urgency and by an excessive
competitive drive.
 A type A individual is “aggressively involved in a
chronic, incessant (constant) struggle to achieve
more and more in less and less time.”
Type A Behavior undermine life quality
 Type A behavior undermines subjective
wellbeing and erodes one’s capacity to enjoy
life.
 Type A behavior – a continuous struggle, and
unremitting attempt to accomplish or achieve
more and more things or participate in more
and more events in less and less time, frequently
in the face of opposition—real or imagined—
from other persons. (Friedman & Ulmer, 1984 in Smith, 2012:1)
Social Support: a protective factor
 Social support is seen to be crucial.
 Some stress experts envision stress occurring
when there is not enough social support
available to respond to the event effectively. (Greenberg, 2013:8)
 Having a group of family members or close
friends in regular contact has a positive effect;
while the “loner” is much more likely to suffer
from ill health – both physically and mentally.
Social Support: Stress Buffer Theory
 The Stress Buffer Theory suggests that social support
helps after a stressor is encountered to help prevent that
stressor from resulting in negative consequences. (Greenberg, 2013:164)
 Social support may take many forms. E.g., it could be
emotional support to help you feel better about
yourself or about the event as you cope with it, or it
could take the form of financial assistance. In any case,
social support helps you cope with the event and
therefore decreases your level of stress. (Greenberg, 2013:8
Your suggested coping methods which
are effective and commonly practice.
1. Changing daily schedule
2. Listening to music
3. Sleeping
4. Eating
5. Doing sports
6. Hiking
7. Talking to a good or close friend
8. Reading books on positive psychology
Strategies to reduce stress
 Healthy life style, Balanced diet, Physical exercise
 Learn to be less Type A, more like Type B
 Cognitive restructuring (correct cognitive errors be
internals)
 Increase social support
 Time management, Money management
 Meditation, Deep relaxation
 Yoga, Therapeutic massage,
 Assertiveness training, Journal writing,
 Spiritual / life meaning, etc.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
3Ms
Magnifying, Minimizing & Making
up (fabricating) (Tal Ben-Shahar)
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: 3MsMagnifying: exaggerating something that happens. Over generalization: catastrophizing failure seeing it as the end of the world; all-or-nothing: either straight A or complete failure
Minimizing: tunnel vision: dismiss/negate the positives, does not see the greater picture but focus on small spot (zoom in zoom out to see the larger/whole picture to see the positive as well)
Making up: create something from nothing personalize it or blame oneself. (“It’s my fault. I’m not behaving appropriately” instead of rationally saying “This guy is abusive. I’m out of here.”). It can also be the other way around. e.g., “I just did poorly on an exam, and I blame my boyfriend/girlfriend for it.” (Tal Ben-Shahar, Harvard Positive
Psychology lecture 7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3ZioP5MF1I)
Time management
 The prioritization, scheduling , and execution of
daily responsibilities to a level of personal
satisfaction.
 Effective time management does not mean you
have more time;
 it means you make better
Time-Management Techniques:
Prioritization
 Prioritization
 Ranking responsibilities and tasks in their order of
importance.
 a. The ABC rank-order method
 A= the highest-priority activities (must do immediately)
 B= second-priority activities (anything that is not A or C
but should do soon)
 C= low-priority tasks or things you would like to do (can
wait to do)
Prioritization
 b. Importance-versus-urgent methods
 Divide your responsibilities for the week into the 4
boxes.
 Attention and efforts should go toward items listed in
Box I because they are high in both importance and
urgency.
 Next your efforts should go towards Box II because
these responsibilities are important but not quite urgent,
followed by those items listed in Box III (urgent but not
important), and finally those in Box IV (not urgent nor
important).