Meeting Life Challenges Class 12: Notes & Questions - Leverage Edu (2023)

Life does pose challenges at times but one must have the knack of turning winds in their favour and meeting life challenges effectively and in this blog, detailed notes of meeting life challenges are provided.Here are chapter 3 of class 12 Psychology – Meeting Life Challenges Class 12 NCERT Pdf and study notes!

Concept of Stress

The first thing you will come across in Meeting Life Challenges Class 12 chapter is the concept of stress. Check out the points given below to understand it better:

1. Pattern of responses an organism makes to a stimulus event which disturbs the equilibrium state of an individual and hinders the person’s ability to cope
2. Stress is further of two types:
   • Eustress is good for the individual and keeps a person motivated. Eustress is instrumental in attaining peak performance in an important task.
   • Distress is not good for the individual as this level of stress definitely hinders the person’s ability to cope and distress exhausts an individual emotionally, mentally and physically.

Must Read: Class 12 Psychology Sample Papers

Cognitive Theory of Stress Meeting Life Challenges Class 12

Cognitive theory of stress along its nature is explained below-

1. Cognitive theory of stress was proposed by Lazarus and his colleagues.
2. According to the cognitive theory of stress, perception of stress is dependent upon the cognitive appraisal of the situation along with the resources available to deal with it. This is further elucidated with the help of following-
3. Primary Appraisal-In primary appraisal, a person views major changes in life as positive, negative or neutral. Negative events in life are appraised on three bases-
   • Threat-it is defined as possible future damage which can happen due to stress.
   • Harm-the damage which has already been done in the past.
   • Challenge-Viewing major changes in life positively and with confident expectations to face it properly.
4. Secondary Appraisal-It is defined as the assessment of the availability of resources and potential to deal with the situation and these resources can be physical, mental, social, financial.
   • Primary and Secondary Appraisal are subjective in nature and depend on the past experience of the individual and also whether they are controllable or not.

Check Out – Developing Psychological Skills

Types of Stress – Meeting Life Challenges Class 12

Various types of stress are explained as follows-

1. Physical and Environmental Stress
   • Physical stress happens when we feel physically exhausted and strained due to overreaction, lack of sound sleep and a nutritious diet.
   • Environmental stress includes noise and air pollution, and dirty surroundings which make us feel stressed.
2. Psychological Stress
   • Stress generated by us from our minds is called psychological stress and it is subjective in nature
   • Various sources of psychological stress are Frustration, Conflicts, Internal Pressure, Social Pressure.
3. Social Stress
   • It results from our interpersonal relationships and interactions with other people.
   • For example, Break up with a friend, death of a close family member
   • Social stress is also subjective in nature.

Sources of Stress

Meeting Life Challenges Class 12 discusses various sources of stress are explained as follows-

1. Life Events
   • Small or big changes happen in life and some of them are pre-planned, hence easy to cope up with, like changing schools.
   • Some big changes happen in life as well which are unpredictable in nature and are not easy to deal with. For the death of a close family member.
2. Traumatic Events
   • They leave a deep imprint on the mind of the victims and affect them psychologically and emotionally and tragic events are of non-recurring nature.
   • For example, Rape, Terrorist Attack.
3. Hassles
   • Day to day stressful situations like noisy surroundings, stressful jobs, add up to our stress level.
   • Social support in such case is important as it helps an individual coping with hassles

Here are 10 Stress Management Techniques for Students!

Effects of Stress on Psychological Functioning and Health

The effects of stress on psychological functioning are explained as follows-

1. Emotional effects
   • People who suffer from emotional stress experience a lot of mood swings and become emotionally unstable which alienates them from their family and friends as a result of which self-confidence and self-esteem are hampered.

2. Physiological Effects
   • Certain hormones like cortisol and adrenaline are produced in our body in stressful situations and that can be effective in short-run but in long run, it does hamper our well-being
   • Examples of Physiological Effects include an increase in heart rate, an increase in blood pressure etc.

3. Cognitive Effects
   • Too much stress leads to mental overload and hinders our cognitive abilities like memory, decision-making, concentration etc.

4. Behavioural Effects – Stress affects our behaviour in the following manner-
   • Less intake of nutritious food.
   • Disturbed sleep pattern
   • Poor work performance
   • Consumption of alcohol and drugs.

Stress and Health

Impact of stress on health is explained as follows-

1. When we are highly stressed,we become physically exhausted,feel tired,less energetic and feel anxious.
2. State of Physical,emotional and mental exhaustion is called burnout.
3. Major root cause of High BP,Diabetes,High heart rate is stress.
4. 50-60% of medical visits are because of stress related problems.

Check Out – Entrance Exams for Psychology After 12th

General Adaptation Syndrome(GAS)

Key features of GAS model are explained as follows-

1. Selye subjected human beings and animals to stressful situations in his experiment to observe the bodily response of both.
2. He subjected animals to tough conditions like high temperature, Insulin injections in the laboratory
3. He observed a pattern of bodily responses of patients suffering from major illnesses and he observed a similar pattern of bodily response both in humans and animals. This pattern is called General Adaptation Syndrome(GAS)
4. Three stages of GAS are-
   • Alarm Reaction Stage
   • Resistance Stage
   • Exhaustion Stage
5. The stages of the GAS model are explained below-
6. Alarm Reaction Stage- The presence of noxious stressor leads to activation of the pituitary cortex system and hormones like adrenaline and cortisol are released and thus, the body is ready for flight or fight response.
7. Resistance Stage- Prolonged stress leads to the resistance stage and the parasympathetic nervous system calls for careful use of body resources and thus, we are able to confront the stressor.
8. Exhaustion Stage- Too much exposure to prolonged stress leads to an exhaustion stage and the body is drained of its resources to deal with the stressful situation.

Physiological systems involved in the alarm reaction stage and resistance stage become ineffective and the chance of high blood pressure increases.

Stress and Immune System Meeting Life Challenges Class 12

The relationship between stress and immune system is elaborated below-

1. There is a direct correlation between increase in level of stress and impairment in working of the immune system.
2. Taking too much stress can hamper the working of the immune system which is responsible for protecting the body from the attackers within the body and outside the body.
3. Psychoneuroimmunology studies the link between mind,brain and immune system and the effect stress has on the working of the immune system.

Stress and Lifestyle

The next topic that comes in the Meeting Life Challenges Class 12 notes is relationship between stress and immune system which is explained below:

1. Lifestyle is defined as the overall pattern of a person’s day to day decision making and the way he/she lives a life that determines their health and quality of life.
2. There is a direct correlation between high levels of stress and an unhealthy lifestyle.
3. People who are highly stressed have poor nutritional habits, disturbed sleep patterns and no fitness regime to look after their health and well-being.
4. A proper and healthy lifestyle has the following prerequisites-
   • Positive thinking
   • Nutritious Diet
   • Exercise
   • Social support

Coping with Stress

Coping is defined as a dynamic situation specific reaction and coping is also relative in nature. Various strategies have been suggested by psychologists to deal with stressful situations which are discussed below-

1. Endler and Parker
   • Task oriented strategy focuses on understanding the problem in a clear manner and coming up with the solution of the same.
   • Emotion Oriented strategy lays focus on maintaining emotional stability and proper expression of our emotions.
   • Avoidance Oriented Strategy is all about minimising the seriousness of the situation by suppressing the stressful thoughts and replacing them with self protecting thoughts.
2. Lazarus and Folkman
   • Emotion Focussed strategies focus on psychological changes which help in controlling the emotions, involve venting out feelings of anger and frustration and it is effective when the situation is not under our control.
   • Problem Focussed Strategies focus on reducing the threat which the situation can cause and it helps in increasing a person’s knowledge and self-awareness about the problem.It is effective when the situation is in our control.

Stress Management Techniques

Various stress management techniques are explained as follows-

1. Relaxation techniques involve deep breathing exercises which reduce symptoms of stress like it keeps our BP and heart rate under control.
2. Meditation is defined as a sequence of techniques which aid in enhancing focus and attention and help in attaining a new level of consciousness.
3. Exercise helps in controlling BP,Heart Rate,strengthens immunity,controls blood sugar level etc and some of the most effective exercises are running,cycling and swimming
4. Other effective stress management techniques are creative visualisation, Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, Biofeedback,etc.

Concept and ways of promoting positive health and well-being is explained as follows-

1. Recent studies by Kosaba have shown that people who experience high levels of stress but low level of illness exhibit characteristics like Commitment,Control and Challenge which can be categorised under personality traits of hardiness
2. Life Skills help in adapting and dealing with problems in life. Some of the life skills necessary for our overall development are-
   • Time management is basically life management which implies setting our priorities and execution of important tasks first which keep us relaxed.
   • Assertiveness helps in expressing our opinions confidently and without any hesitation and this facilitates effective communication skills and high-self confidence.
   • Rational Thinking helps us think in an organized manner and helps in differentiating between positive and negative thinking.
   • Some other important life skills are overcoming unhelpful habits like avoidance, procrastination, self-care and improving relationships with others.
3. Positive health means a state of complete physical, mental, emotional, social and spiritual well-being. Positive health is not just about the absence of disease and factors responsible for Positive Health are explained below:
   • Diet– One should have a balanced diet as it prevents illness, controls BP, Heart Rate and blood sugar level and determining factors for an individual with regard to diet are Health History, Genetics, Activity level. A balanced diet helps in coping with stress.
   • Positive attitude– There is a direct correlation between positive health and positive well-being. Some of the ways of enhancing a positive attitude are having a definite aim in life, taking flaws positively etc.
   • Exercise– There is a direct correlation between exercise and positive health and exercise strengthens our immune system, controls the amount of fat and BP as well.
   • Other factors contributing to positive health are Positive Thinking and Social Support.

NCERT Solutions Meeting Life Challenges Class 12

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