affective
(noun)
Relating to, resulting from, or influenced by the emotions.
Examples of affective in the following topics:
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Specific Effects of Stress: Cancer
- While psychological stress has not been found to cause cancer, it may affect a person's overall health and ability to cope with cancer.
- While psychological stress alone has not been proven to cause cancer, prolonged psychological stress may affect a person's overall health and ability to cope with cancer.
- Evidence from experimental studies suggests that psychological stress can affect a tumor's ability to grow and spread.
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Etiology of Schizophrenia
- Schizophrenia is a severe neuro-psychiatric disease that affects approximately 1% of the world's population.
- Some theorists suggest environmental stress associated with lower-class living may affect brain development, triggering the disease in genetically susceptible individuals.
- The first is the mesolimbic system, which affects areas regulating reward pathways and emotional processes; the second is the mesocortical system, which affects the prefrontal cortex, areas that regulate cognitive processing, and areas involved with motor control.
- Glutamate has been theorized to exacerbate hyperactivity and hypoactivity in dopamine pathways, affecting both positive and negative symptoms.
- Finally, the basal ganglia also affect schizophrenia.
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The Endocrine System
- Hormones are chemicals within the endocrine system that affect physiological activity.
- Epinephrine: also known as adrenaline; comes from the adrenal gland; affects blood pressure and other stress responses.
- Melatonin: comes from the pineal gland; affects circadian rhythm and sleep cycles.
- Oxytocin: the "cuddle" hormone; secreted by the pituitary gland; affects breast-feeding, trust between people;
- Testosterone: produced in sex organs (ovaries, testes) and adrenal glands; sometimes called the "male hormone" (though it is present in both men and women); affects libido, muscle growth.
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Conscious vs. Unconscious Emotion
- It has also been suggested that emotions (affect heuristics, feelings and gut-feeling reactions) are often used as shortcuts to process information and influence behavior.
- The affect infusion model (AIM) is a theoretical model developed by Joseph Forgas in the early 1990s that attempts to explain how emotion and mood interact with one's ability to process information.
- These automatic responses are one way our emotions affect our behavior.
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The Link Between Psychology and Health
- There is some evidence that certain negative mental states, such as depression and anxiety, can directly affect physical immunity through production of stress hormones, such as the catecholamines and glucocorticoids.
- Negative emotional states may also indirectly affect disease processes through their influence on health behaviors.
- When illness or accidents befall a person, their entire life is affected.
- A psychologically healthy individual who gets severely injured, for example, now has many different practical issues to contend with that will in turn affect their psychological well-being.
- All of these possibilities can affect a person's relationships, self-esteem, stress level, happiness and belief system, all of which have a direct impact on psychological well-being.
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Explaining Mood Disorders
- Mood disorders (also called affective disorders) characterize a group of psychological disorders where disturbance in the person's mood is thought to be the main underlying feature.
- While everyone experiences negative mood at some point in their lives, mood disorders affect an individual's capacity to function in daily life.
- Major depression significantly affects a person's family and personal relationships, work or school life, sleeping and eating habits, and general health.
- While insomnia affects at least 80% of depressed people, hypersomnia, or oversleeping, can also happen.
- There is also a common belief that low levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin play a central role in the development and course of affective disorders.
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The Influence of Behavior on Genes
- Fetal alcohol syndrome affects both physical and mental development, damaging neurons within the brain and often leading to cognitive impairment and below-average weight.
- Temperature exposure can affect gene expression.
- In this manner a caterpillar's behavior can directly affect gene expression; a caterpillar that actively seeks out light will appear different as a butterfly than one that avoids it.
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Sleep-Wake Disorders
- Sleep disorders cause sleep disturbances that affect the amount, quality, or timing of sleep or that induce abnormal events during sleep.
- Sleep-wake disorders cause a number of sleep disturbances that affect the amount, quality, or timing of sleep or that induce abnormal events during sleep.
- It most commonly affects the legs, but it can also affect the arms, torso, head, and even phantom limbs.
- Moving the affected body part modulates the sensations, providing temporary relief.
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Environmental Impacts on Prenatal Development
- During each prenatal stage, environmental factors affect the development of the fetus.
- Anything the mother is exposed to in the environment affects the fetus; if the mother is exposed to something harmful, the child can show life-long effects.
- Alcohol and most drugs cross the placenta and affect the fetus.
- Other teratogens that affect prenatal development include radiation, pollution, and infectious disease.
- Additionally, a stressed mother is more likely to engage in behaviors that could negatively affect the fetus, such as smoking, drug use, and alcohol abuse.
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The Fallibility of Memory
- Memories are affected by how a person internalizes events through perceptions, interpretations, and emotions.
- However, this process can be impacted by a number of factors, and how well information is encoded affects how well it is able to be recalled later.