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Biomedical subjects

J Suls

Publications and source records attributed to J Suls.

33 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1988

Type A behavior as a general risk factor for physical disorder.

A behavior pattern characterized by excessive competitiveness, impatience, hostility, and time urgency, known as Type A, has typically been investigated as a risk factor for coronary heart disease. The present paper evaluates the Type A pattern as a general risk factor for a wide variety of physical disorders. Research on Type A as a moderator of the effects of life stress on health is also reviewed. When Type A or physical health is measured with objective indicators, Type A does not emerge as a general risk factor for illness, with the following exceptions: Type A's are more likely to have accidents, to die from accidents or violence, and to incur cerebrovascular and peripheral atherosclerosis. In contrast, research relying on self-report measures of Type A and symptomatology find a consistent link between Type A behavior and a variety of minor illness and symptoms. There is little support for the notion that Type A is a potentiator of the effects of life events stress.

Accidents↗
PubMed1987

In search of the false-uniqueness phenomenon: fear and estimates of social consensus.

An examination of the social perception literature yields little evidence for the false-uniqueness phenomenon (Valins & Nisbett, 1972), the perception that one's attributes are more unique than is the case. In contrast, the tendency for individuals to project their own characteristics onto other people and assume that more people are like themselves is a robust phenomenon. One reason researchers may not have found false uniqueness is that they have not looked at the accuracy of consensus estimates. A close look at the results of Tabachnik, Crocker, and Alloy (1983) and Sanders and Mullen (1983), who did assess accuracy, suggests that people possessing undesirable attributes over-estimate consensus, whereas people holding desirable attributes underestimate consensus. The latter pattern is a form of false uniqueness. In this study we looked at the accuracy of social consensus estimates in the context of psychological fears. A sample of subjects filled out an abbreviated version of a fear survey and made estimates of consensus. The results showed that both high- and low-fear respondents overestimated the incidence of high fear among their peers, but high-fear subjects were more inaccurate in their estimates. A false-uniqueness effect was found on the part of low-fear subjects, as they tended to underestimate the incidence of low fear among their peers. These findings are consistent with a motivational interpretation that emphasizes the individual's need to justify or normalize stigmatized behavior and to bolster perceived self-competence.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

Personality and physical health: an introduction.

This article provides a rationale for research on personality as a contributing factor in the development of physical disease. A brief history of major developments from the 1930s to the present is then provided. Special attention is given to shifts in conception regarding whether particular dispositions are related to specific physical disorders or whether these dispositions increase general illness susceptibility. The paper ends with a brief orientation to the other papers and commentaries in this special issue.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1986

Attempting to control blood pressure without systematic instruction: when advice is counterproductive.

The present study examined the effects of asking subjects to keep their blood-pressure level low while in the presence of an arousing stimulus. It was hypothesized that, without assistance, subjects' attempts to keep their blood pressure low would actually produce increases in blood pressure, as compared to subjects simply asked to respond naturally to the arousing stimulus. Fifty male subjects watched a videotape containing a neutral (nonarousing) section and an erotic section while their blood pressure was recorded by means of an automated blood-pressure monitoring device. Some of the subjects were asked to relax and keep their blood pressure low during the erotic parts of the videotape; the rest of the subjects were asked to respond naturally. The results confirmed the hypothesis, suggesting that urging people to relax can be counterproductive if they do not also receive systematic instruction on how to relax or control blood pressure. Implications for health messages in the mass media and physician-patient interactions are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

The relative efficacy of avoidant and nonavoidant coping strategies: a meta-analysis.

A casual review of the research literature on coping strategies suggests that strategies involving avoidant tactics are effective in reducing pain, stress, and anxiety in some cases, whereas nonavoidant strategies (called here attention), appear to be more effective in others. This article reports the results of a series of meta-analyses to ascertain whether there are systematic patterns in the empirical literature that describe when attention strategies are more or less effective than avoidant strategies. In particular, we consider the role of different kinds of attentional sets and also the role of time--whether some kinds of strategies work best in the early phases of the stress experience, and others are more efficacious in later phases of the stress experience. Results of an overall analysis of studies providing tests of attention versus avoidance indicated little evidence for one strategy's superiority. However, supplementary analyses, motivated by theoretical reasons, suggest there are boundary conditions that define the relative efficacy of a specific strategy. Overall, avoidance was associated with more positive adaptation in the short-run. However, attention was superior to avoidance if the former involved a focus on sensory schemata rather than emotional processing. If attention involved an emotional interpretational set or no explicit set, then it was associated with more negative outcomes than avoidance. In terms of long-term outcomes, avoidance indicates better outcomes initially, but with time, attention was associated with more positive outcomes. A final set of analyses found that both attention and avoidance facilitate adaptation as compared with no instruction controls. The meta-analyses suggest the important role of interpretational set and whether one looks at the immediate or at the long-term effects of coping. Limitations of the analyses and directions for future research are discussed.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1982

Test performance as a function of the hard-driving and speed components of the type A coronary-prone behavior pattern.

Male and female students in an undergraduate psychology class completed a student version of the Jenkins Activity Survey (JAS) and several weeks later performed on the first course test of the semester. Test-completion times and test scores were unobtrusively recorded and a series of Pearson product-moment correlations were subsequently performed. These revealed the following: (1) The time urgency component of the Type A coronary-prone behavior pattern was negatively related to the amount of time that students spent working on the test (p less than 0.05) but unrelated to the obtained tests scores. (2) The hard-driving and competitive component of the Type A coronary-prone behavior pattern bore a marginal positive relationship with time-on-test (p less than 0.10) and a strong positive relationship with obtained test scores (p less than 0.002). (3) Global JAS scores and time were not correlated. However, global JAS scores were found to be positively related to the scores that students obtained on the test (p less than 0.05). It is suggested that the failure of previous research to reach any definite conclusions concerning the relationship between Type A/B behavior and task performance may be due to their utilization of global measures of Type A behavior while ignoring the effects of the component behavioral tendencies. When time urgency and hard-drivingness do not interfere with one another and when the nature of the task makes at least one of these components salient, performance differences should emerge between Type A's and Type B's.

Achievement↗
PubMed1982

The effectiveness of attention and rejection as coping styles: a meta-analysis of temporal differences.

The purpose of this study was to conduct a meta-analysis [16] of research comparing the effects on physical adaptation of two cognitive strategies for coping with stressors: attention and rejection. Attention refers to focusing attention on the stressor and/or on one's rejection to it; rejection refers to focusing attention away from the stressor and/or one's reaction to it. For studies examining the immediate effects of attention and rejection, rejection produced better physical adaptation (i.e. fewer symptoms, reduced physiological responses) than attention. For studies looking at the long term effects of attention and rejection, attention produced better physical adaptation than rejection. Mechanisms which could produce these effects, and their implications, are discussed.

Adaptation, Physiological↗
PubMed1981

Life events, perceived control and illness: the role of uncertainty.

The health implications of recognizing the difference between situations that are controllable and those that are not has been noted by a variety of sources. With this notion in mind, the present study examined the relationship between perceptions of control and desirability of life events and subsequent health in a college student sample. Subjects indicated which of a list of life events had occurred to them over a three-month span and also specified how desirable each was and to what extent they were in control of its occurrence. Illness was reported for the following month. The results indicated that both undesirable uncontrollable events and undesirable events of uncertain controllability were significantly related to the occurrence of illness. Of greatest interest was the finding that the occurrence of events of uncertain controllability was more strongly related to illness than events perceived as totally uncontrollable. The results are discussed in terms of research and theory stressing the adaptative significance of the ability to discriminate controllable situations from uncontrollable ones.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1981

Coronary-prone behavior, social insecurity and stress among college-aged adults.

One hundred and seventy-four male college students completed a student version of the Jenkins Activity Scale, the Macmillan stress inventory, measures of social insecurity, and items concerning personal habits and preferences. Social insecurity and Type A behavior emerged as independent but additive factors associated with negative stress experience. Type A's as compared to Type B's, reported feeling more stress, having and desiring less social support, being more interested in various performance standards and being upset for a longer period of time following poor school performance. Interestingly, no difference emerged between A's and B's regarding the temporal impact of successful school performance. High Social Insecurity subjects reported feeling more stress, having less social support, being more upset following poor school performance and being more interested in social comparison information as compared to their Low Social Insecurity counterparts. The results are interpreted as supportive of the notion that social insecurity and Type A behavior may contribute to coronary heart disease by affecting one's exposure and physiological reactions to everyday life stressors.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

Type A coronary-prone behavior pattern and social facilitation.

A laboratory study was conducted to investigate the task performance of Type A coronary-prone individuals relative to Type B's in three types of social situations: alone, with a similarly performing coactor, or with a better-performing coactor. The results indicate that Type A's performance on a simple task was facilitated by the presence of either a similar or superior coactor, whereas the presence of coactors impaired performance on a complex task. Type B's showed weak and nonsignificant facilitation effects that occurred only in the presence of similar coactors. The results are discussed in terms of the Type A's concern about evaluation, achievement, and social comparison, and Sanders and Baron's distraction-conflict theory of social facilitation.

Coronary Disease↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Self-attention, life stress, and illness: a prospective study.

Using a prospective design, this study examined the hypothesis that a predisposition to focus on internal aspects of the self serves as a stress resistance resource. One hundred and twenty subjects filled out the Private Self-Consciousness inventory, a schedule of recent life events and a symptom checklist. Two months later they were asked again to report life events and symptoms that had occurred in the interval. Data were analyzed by means of hierarchical panel analysis. The results showed, consistent with the hypothesis, that incidence of stressful life events predicted subsequent illness among persons low in private self-consciousness but not in persons high in private self-consciousness. It is proposed that the tendency on the part of persons low in private self-consciousness to disattend to their psychologic and somatic reactions to stressful life events and to fail to take corrective actions may lead to lowered body resistance over time and hence increase their susceptibility to physical illness. The results are interpreted as consistent with Schwartz's concept of disregulation and control systems analysis of health behavior and Leventhal's work on the role of internal monitoring for coping with stress.

Attention↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Social and temporal bases of self-evaluation in the elderly: theory and evidence.

With what standards do the elderly evaluate their abilities, and do these standards differ from those used earlier in the life cycle? As in other stages of the life cycle, two forms of information are important in making self-evaluations-social comparison and temporal comparison. Social comparison refers to comparisons with other persons to gauge one's relative standing, while temporal comparison refers to comparisons of one's present performance with past performances on similar tasks to gauge improvement or deterioration. This study proposes that temporal comparison standards are used more by the elderly than social comparison standards and that this represents a reversal of the tendency found earlier in life. Social, cognitive, and physical reasons for this shift in the manner in which important abilities and traits are evaluated are discussed. Relevant empirical research, which supports the hypothesis, is reviewed. Finally, we discuss how the present hypothesis has an important implication for understanding self-esteem and morale in the elderly.

Aged↗
PubMedDate not supplied

A disposable urea sensor for continuous monitoring of hemodialysis efficiency.

A new sensor for the on-line measurement of urea in the dialysate output is described. The sensor is based on a differential measurement of conductivity changes induced by the urease-catalyzed hydrolysis of urea. The use of screen printing for the batch-fabrication of the basic transducers results in cheap disposable devices. In addition, the sensor has been designed to fit into a standard male luer-adapter, and can be plugged directly into the dialysate line. The in vitro response is linear to urea concentrations exceeding 6620mM. A resolution of 20020 microM has been achieved with a baseline stability of 50 microM/hr. Interferences caused by fluctuations in the ionic strength and the consequent conductivity changes are effectively suppressed by the differential sensor pair. The efficiency of this suppression is expressed in a common mode rejection ratio of typically 40 to 50. Preliminary ex vivo results show the feasibility of the concept. The sensor principle is not restricted to urea but can be extended to other molecules of interest for hemodialysis monitoring, such as creatinine and L- and D-amino acids.

Blood Urea Nitrogen↗