Coping Mechanism For Stress Management Psychology Essay

Coping Mechanism For Stress Management Psychology Essay Modern life is full of hassles, deadlines, frustrations, and demands. For many people, stress is so commonplace that it has become a way of life. Stress isnt always bad. In small doses, it can help you perform under pressure and motivate you to do your best. But when youre constantly running in emergency mode, your mind and body pay the price. You can protect yourself by recognizing the signs and symptoms of stress and taking steps to reduce its harmful effects. (1, 3) We generally use the word stress when we feel that everything seems to have become too much we are overloaded and wonder whether we really can cope with the pressures placed upon us. (3) Basically, stress is the unconscious preparation to fight or flee with the situation that a person experiences when faced with any demand, triggered by stressors causing strain or distress. So any strain that poses a challenge or a threat to our well-being is a stress.(5) Some stresses get you going and they are good for you without any stress at all many say our lives would be boring and would probably feel pointless. However, when the stresses undermine both our mental and physical health they are bad. (1, 3, 8) Then there are basically three issues: Stress Identification Stress Segregation (among positive and negative stressors) Stress Management Signs and symptoms of stress overload The following table lists some of the common warning signs and symptoms of stress. The more signs and symptoms you notice in yourself, the closer you may be to stress overload. Cognitive Symptoms Memory problems Inability to concentrate Poor judgment Seeing only the negative Anxious or racing thoughts Constant worrying Physical Symptoms Aches and pains Diarrhea or constipation Nausea, dizziness Chest pain, rapid heartbeat Loss of sex drive Frequent colds Coping mechanism for stress management Stress is a fact of everyday life but it all depends on our perception about stressors. We may be motivated and invigorated by the events in our lives, or we may see some as stressful and respond in a manner that may have a negative effect on our health and well-being.(3, 8) So one can think about the positive ways by which one can currently manage and cope with stress in the life.(2, 4) Thus there are two possible way outs from distress or strain one is unhealthy ways and the other is healthier ways to cope up with stress which are as follows:- Unhealthy ways of coping with stress These coping strategies may temporarily reduce stress, but they cause more damage in the long run: Smoking Drinking too much Overeating or under eating Zoning out for hours in front of the TV or computer Withdrawing from friends, family, and activities Using pills or drugs to relax Sleeping too much Procrastinating Filling up every minute of the day to avoid facing problems Taking out your stress on others (lashing out, angry outbursts, physical violence) (5, 7) Healthier ways to manage stress If your methods of coping with stress arent contributing to your greater emotional and physical health, its time to re-think and to find out healthier ones. There are many healthy ways to manage and cope with stress, but they all require change. You can either change the situation or change your reaction. When deciding which option to choose, its helpful to think of the four As: Avoid, Alter, Adapt, or Accept. (6, 8) These four As can be grouped into two categories: Change the situation: Avoid the stressor. Alter the stressor. Change your reaction: Adapt to the stressor. Accept the stressor. 1: Avoid unnecessary stress Not all stress can be avoided, and its not healthy to avoid a situation that needs to be addressed. You may be surprised, however, by the number of stressors in your life that you can eliminate. Learn how to say no Avoid people who stress you out Take control of your environment Avoid hot-button topics Pare down your to-do list 2: Alter the situation If you cant avoid a stressful situation, try to alter it. Figure out what you can do to change things so the problem doesnt present itself in the future. Often, this involves changing the way you communicate and operate in your daily life. Express your feelings instead of bottling them up Be willing to compromise. Be more assertive. Manage your time better.(2,5) 3: Adapt to the stressor If you cant change the stressor, change yourself. You can adapt to stressful situations and regain your sense of control by changing your expectations and attitude. Reframe problems Look at the big picture. Adjust your standards. Focus on the positive. Adjusting Your Attitude 4: Accept the things you cant change Some sources of stress are unavoidable. You cant prevent or change stressors such as the death of a loved one, a serious illness, or a national recession. In such cases, the best way to cope with stress is to accept things as they are. Acceptance may be difficult, but in the long run, its easier than railing against a situation you cant change. Dont try to control the uncontrollable. Look for the upside. Share your feelings. Learn to forgive. There could be two additional stress management strategies which are as follows: 5: Make time for fun and relaxation Beyond a take-charge approach and a positive attitude, you can reduce stress in your life by nurturing yourself. If you regularly make time for fun and relaxation, youll be in a better place to handle lifes stressors when they inevitably come. (7) Healthy ways fun and relaxation Go for a walk. Spend time in nature. Call a good friend. Sweat out tension with a good workout. Write in your journal. Take a long bath. Light scented candles. Savor a warm cup of coffee or tea. Play with a pet. Work in your garden. Get a massage. Curl up with a good book. Listen to music. Watch a comedy. Dont get so caught up in the hustle and bustle of life that you forget to take care of your own needs. Nurturing yourself is a necessity, not a luxury. (4) Set aside relaxation time. Connect with others. Do something you enjoy every day. Keep your sense of humor. 6: Adopt a healthy lifestyle You can increase your resistance to stress by strengthening your physical health. Exercise regularly. Eat a healthy diet. Reduce caffeine and sugar. Avoid alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs. Get enough sleep. If you ask what the single most important key to longevity is, I would have to say it is avoiding worry, stress and tension. And if you didnt ask me, Id still have to say it.- George F. Burns, Beloved American Comedian, 1896-1996.(5, 6, 7) Stress is fact of everyday life so we must learn how to turn stress into bliss. Just by understanding ourselves and our reaction to stress-provoking situations, we can learn to handle stress more effectively. Adopting the right attitude can convert a negative stress into a positive one. Hans Selye, Father of stress,

Sport Psychology Essay -- essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To fully understand sport psychology, we must ask ourselves two very important questions, first, what is sport psychology and second, who is it for? Put in the most sim-ple way, sport psychology can be an example of psychological knowledge, principles, or methods applied to the world of sport. "Two psychologists, Bunker and Maguire, say sport psychology is not for psychologists, but is for sport and its participants." (Murphy & White, 1978:2) However, it can be argued that sport psychology, can be for psycho-logy, just as it can be for sports scientists, managers, teachers, administrators, coaches and last but by no means least, the athletes themselves.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It is sport psychology that has stood apart from the discipline of psychology as a whole. "Its history is different, its concerns are often different, its centres of learning and teaching are often different, and its professional training is different." (Garfield, 1984:34) Yet despite this, sport psychology remains permanently bonded to psychology through its common interest in the fundamental principles of psychology, human behavior, and experience.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  No one can deny the significant role which sport and recreation plays in every cul-ture and society across the globe. In the western and eastern worlds alike, sport and lei-sure continue to support huge industries and take up massive amounts of individual time, effort, money, energy, and emotion. Within the media, competitive sport has gotten enor-mous attention and despite this, the public's appetite for more sport never is stated. "It has been estimated that around two thirds of all newspaper readers in Great Britain first turn to the sports pages when they pick up their daily paper." (Butt, 1987:65) When one con-siders the number of people who actually engage in sport or even take regular exercise, then the significance of sport to all our lives cannot be denied.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A common problem with sport psychology research lies in its somewhat myopic or short-sighted appreciation of present day accumulated psychological knowledge. As we look into sport psychology, we are confronted by a landscape of knowledge which rises and falls often suddenly and dramatically. "At certain times, massive peaks of understand-ing rise up before out eyes yet at other times, huge tracts of psychology remain untouched to the horizon." (Garfie... ...d of sport, something that cannot be ignored with the growing number in athletic participation by young people. "With each new year comes an increase in new developments dealing with sport psychology." (Murphy & White, 1978:9) However, there is still much work to be done in sport psychology. There are still many unresolved questions and even some new questions and even some new questions that have arisen over the years dealing with sport psychology. Take anxiety for instance. Psychologists have found ways to reduce anxiety but not eliminate it. Maybe there is no way to eliminate it since everyone has it. Another example is aggression. Wherever there are sports, there is aggression. Psychologists have stated that sports are a way for people to release their aggression. However, they still have not been able to fully eliminate the violence in sports. Psychologists are also working on new methods for motivating athletes because some athletes are harder to motivate that others. Even though there are these unresolved issues in sport psychology, the future of psychology in sports, especially youth sports, looks to be on a very progressive track with many new discoveries.

Coffee

Marketing Individual Assignment 3 1) What is the product mix of Trung Nguyen? What are the key attributes of its coffee? How do these attributes help Trung Nguyen to differentiate itself from its competitors? The product mix refers to the total composite of products offered by Trung Nguyen coffee. It consists of different product lines, various product items in each product line and within each item is the product depth.Firstly, the product line is a group of product or service items that are closely related because they are sold to the same consumer groups, are marketed through the same types of outlets, have similar usage or fall within given price ranges. Thus, Trung Nguyen Coffee’s product lines are: Trung Nguyen Coffee, Passiona Coffee and G7 Instant Coffee. The Passiona Coffee targets at consumers looking for low-caffeine coffee and especially women, while the G7 Instant coffees are made for people who are too busy to brew a cup of coffee themselves.Trung Nguyen Coffee h as 3 different product items, namely Creative Coffee, Blend Coffee and Espresso Coffee. Passiona Coffee consists of 2 product item, Passiona roasted coffee and Instant Passiona coffee. As for the G7 Instant Coffees, the product items are G7 Pure soluble, G7 Cappuccino and G7 Instant 3-in-1 coffee. Lastly, product depth is the number of variants in a product item. Trung Nguyen’s product depth of Creative coffee includes the Weasel Coffee and Legendee Coffee. Also, some variations of G7 Cappuccino are the Mocha G7 cappuccino and Hazelnut G7 cappuccino.Different sizes of coffees are considered as product depth as well. For example, the G7 Instant 3-in-1 coffee is sold in 3 different sizes: a box of 18 cafe sticks, a bag of 22 sachets or a bulk pack bag of 100 sachets. Table1: Summary of product mix of Trung Nguyen | Product lines| | Trung Nguyen Coffee| Passiona Coffee| G7 Instant Coffee| Product items| -Blend coffee-Espresso coffee-Creative coffee Product depth: Weasel coffeeLe gendee coffee| -Passiona roasted coffee-Passiona instant coffee| -G7 Pure soluble-G7 cappuccinoProduct epth:Mocha G7 cappuccinoHazelnut G7 cappuccino-G7 instant 3-in-1Product depth:box of 18 cafe sticksbag of 22 sachetsbulk pack bag of 100 sachets| Key attributes refer to the most important characteristics of a product. Trung Nguyen makes its point of difference through its key attributes like using the best coffee beans, unique brewing style and the new coffee concept. Trung Nguyen has a unique selling point because some coffees offered cannot be found anywhere else. Its coffees are authentically Vietnamese. For example, the Weasel coffee is produced based on the legend in Vietnam.To differentiate itself from its competitors, these key attributes must communicate benefits for consumers. The coffee offered by Trung Nguyen is of a higher quality compared to other coffee brands because they use the best coffee beans sourced from four of the world’s best coffee-growing regions. In addition, Trung Nguyen is awarded with the EureGAP certificate for its good agricultural practices such as having consistently good quality coffee beans and using environmentally friendly technologies. Coupled with their oriental secrets, consumers would prefer Trung Nguyen because their coffee is brewed much more aromatic and rich.Trung Nguyen used their new concept of coffee to set up a â€Å"Creative Coffee House† in order to differentiate itself and gain market share. It is now well-known for the innovative clubhouse whereby customers can enjoy coffee in a beautiful and sentimental ambience while experiencing Vietnamese cultural events and exhibitions. For consumers who value such innovative product services, they will choose Trung Nguyen’s coffee over the other â€Å"grab a coffee to go† coffee styles. 2) What are the roles of branding? What are the benefits of branding to sellers and buyers in the coffee market.The role of branding is to create an ident ity for the product. The identity created can have some personalities and can gain brand equity. Benefits of branding Some benefits of branding for sellers of the Trung Nguyen coffee are that they are able to accentuate the bases of differentiation from its competitors due to its distinct identity. They can obtain legal protection like trademarks to avoid copycats of their brand. The counterfeit products are capable of stealing Trung Nguyen’s sales when consumers are unsure of how the real packaging of coffee looks like.There is also a chance for the counterfeit coffee to ruin Trung Nguyen’s reputation. Consumers who bought the counterfeit coffee by mistake may view Trung Nguyen to be of a lousier quality instead. All this would be effectively prevented by branding because counterfeiting is an offense. Brand equity is created by branding and careful marketing. Trung Nguyen can in turn earn higher profits as consumers are willing to pay a higher price for this particula r brand of coffee. Also, brand equity can lead to higher economic value of the brand, whereby it becomes an asset for Trung Nguyen when it wishes to sell its brand.Last but not least, Trung Nguyen can achieve brand loyalty through creating preferences towards their brand. If Trung Nguyen coffee is able to sustain a consistently good quality coffee product, consumers would remember the brand, spread the word around and continually purchase its coffee. On the buyers end, they may reap the most benefits from Trung Nguyen’s branding. Coffee is a convenience product and it is important to make it easy to find. Consumers will be able to correctly identify the products in a short period of time due to Trung Nguyen’s branding thus becoming more efficient shoppers.Furthermore, consumers may gain assurance of product quality and performance. Employees need to ensure products offered are of consistently good quality and so are specially trained to deliver this promise. Consumers will remain loyal to Trung Nguyen coffee because they are satisfied with this brand and have no need to search for another. 3) What constitutes the brand identity of Trung Nguyen? What is your evaluation of this identity? How can the brand identity be improved? Brand identity is the noticeable elements of a brand and also what the organization wants consumers to perceive the brand as.It constitutes of â€Å"Trung Nguyen† as its name, the logo and its tagline â€Å"Explore creative inspiration† A successful brand name should reflect the personality and values of the brand, be simple, memorable, positive and emotional. A logo is the image that embodies an organization. It is one of the most prominent branding elements that consumers will think of when someone mentions the company. A good brand logo should be memorable, futuristic and consistent and be able to portray the benefits to its target audience. The tagline must be simple and easy to remember.It also needs to rem ain short since the tagline is always incorporated into many marketing pieces. Evaluation of brand name: Consumers associate Trung Nguyen to â€Å"Central highlands† which refers to Dak Lak, the county capital of coffee where green coffee is grown. This gives an advantageous association between Trung Nguyen and high quality and fresh coffee beans. Also, the brand name represents the uniqueness and richness of the Vietnamese culture. However, the name Trung Nguyen does not hold any meaning for non-Vietnamese. This may alienate consumers from other parts of the world.Another bad point could be that its name is hard to pronounce for non- Vietnamese consumers. Possible improvements: Because the company’s name has been around since 1996 when it was founded, it cannot be changed otherwise the company has to build up brand awareness from scratch all over again. Thus, the company should work hard in educating people and let them understand the positive association between Trun g Nguyen and â€Å"Central highlands†. For example, they could use their existing Internet website and include this under the â€Å"learn more† option.People visiting the website can then learn about the association and slowly adopt Trung Nguyen as their favourite coffee. Evaluation of logo In my opinion, the logo might be a little small and insignificant. Psychological influences such as selective exposure and retention affects consumer buying behaviour. For example, the appealing cup of coffee printed on its packaging of Creative coffee may distract the consumers from the brand name. The logo is also unattractive and boring due to the usage of dull and non-contrasting colours. The font used in the logo has little stylistic variations making it rather boring as well.Possible improvements Firstly, the logo should be scaled to a bigger size. Also, the marketing manager of Trung Nguyen can make use of brighter and more contrasting colours to make its logo more outstandin g and attention-catching. The font could be changed to something cursive. This can better capture consumer’s attention thus leaving a deeper impression and resulting in better brand memory and recognition. For example Coca Cola, with its logo in a strikingly bright red background and white cursive words, is very successful at making sure that every consumer remembers it.Evaluation of tagline: Trung Nguyen’s tagline â€Å"Explore creative inspiration† consists of only 3 simple words hence should be relatively easy for everyone to remember. However, Trung Nguyen tagline is still quite foreign to people across the globe as they do not use much above-the-line marketing. Possible improvements Through the print media and mass media, Trung Nguyen can improve this aspect of its brand identity. The marketing manager could set up a Facebook page and make it known to people. Maintaining a Facebook page is relatively low-cost as compared to constant TV advertisements.Becaus e millions of people are using Facebook, it is very effective for Trung Nguyen to get their brand identity across. Another point of improvement also through the mass media is through its online website. Perhaps the tagline can be added in the â€Å"history of Trung Nguyen† tab as it is currently not. On top of that, they can make use of emotional branding to elicit a favourable emotional response. Adding emotional words like â€Å"Happy†, â€Å"Healthy† and â€Å"Beautiful† could boost sales of their coffee.As consumers become increasingly aware of health and beauty these days, Trung Nguyen can market more of their Passiona coffee which is enriched with collagen, vitamin PP and other rare oriental herbs through its tagline. 4) What is the branding strategy of Trung Nguyen? What are the advantages and risks of this branding strategy? Trung Nguyen uses an umbrella branding strategy. Different types of coffees have a sub-brand which combines the corporate br and with a new brand. Trung Nguyen’s Passiona Roasted coffee and Trung Nguyen’s Espresso coffee are 2 examples. Advantages of umbrella branding:Capitalizing on the existing brand equity of Trung Nguyen, it can sell newly introduced products quickly. Consumers who have had a good experience with its coffee will transfer this favourable attitude to new items. For instance, Trung Nguyen’s Creative coffee may have been developed earlier than Passiona coffee. Consumers who liked Creative coffee would have a higher chance of buying the Passiona coffee because they are under the same brand and so would also be of an equally good quality. Furthermore, the Passiona coffee can be set at a higher price as consumers are willing to pay more for brand value.This can bring about additional profits for Trung Nguyen. Another advantage of using an umbrella brand is a lower advertising and promotion costs. Trung Nguyen only needs to come up with a single advertisement because its coffees share one identity. Also, because Trung Nguyen is used on all of the products, level of brand awareness is easy to raise. To name an example of a successful sub-branding strategy, Gatorade has developed and introduced Gatorade Frost, Gatorade G2, Gatorade energy bar, etc into the market and stayed popular being the leading sports drink brand in many countries.Risks of umbrella branding: In every marketing strategy there is bound to be a down side. Some risks of umbrella branding are that the failure of one type of coffee may affect the sales of the whole Trung Nguyen branded products. It is inadvisable to put all the eggs into one basket. For instance, if the production G7 Mocha had some discrepancy that caused the coffee to be too sweet, consumers may feel that the rest of Trung Nguyen packet instant coffees are as sweet and so switch over to Nescafe coffee instead.Secondly, sales of one product item may come at the expense of other items offered in the same product line. L astly, the meaning of Trung Nguyen may also be diluted with an umbrella branding strategy. Apart from coffee, Trung Nguyen also has other product such as Green Tea, Oolong tea, etc. However, Trung Nguyen refers to Dak Lak, the county capital of coffee and so offering tea as an alternative beverage is not so relevant to the brand name.

Unregulated Data Mining Undermines Privacy Rights

Unregulated Data Mining Undermines Privacy Rights Introduction As we live our everyday lives day to day, data is being gathered from each and every one of us; often without our consent or realization. Data is being gathered constantly when we subscribe to magazines, when we use coupons, when we use our credit cards and when we browse the Internet. Following the 9/11 attacks, the government and law enforcement proposed to develop an airline traveler screening program that would consolidate these pieces of consumer data information. It was not implemented due to its controversial nature. However, privacy and civil liberty advocates are constantly questioned, â€Å"What are you afraid of? What do you have to hide? If you haven t done anything wrong, what s there to worry about?. They insinuate that data is harmless, but according to law professor, Jeffrey Rosen’s book The Unwanted Gaze, you are not your profile. These datasets can contain errors. Furthermore, data misuse and the revelation of information to strangers can lead to misjudgment , wrong conclusions and violations of privacy rights. Therefore, I will look at the topic of data mining, â€Å"a set of methodologies for extracting knowledge from datasets† (Robinson, 2015) as it relates to the balance of public interest and privacy rights. Thus, this paper will analyze the arguments of Kaplan, Al-Saggaf Islam, Bahamonde et al., McCaul Meehan and Robinson as they relate to the problem of unregulated data mining. The firstShow MoreRelatedAn Airline Traveler Screening Program2056 Words   |  9 PagesAs we live our everyday lives day to day, data is being gathered from each and every one of us; often without our consent or realization. Data is being gathered constantly when we subscribe to magazines, when we use coupons, when we use our credit cards and when we browse the Internet. Following the 9/11 attacks, the government and law enforcement proposed to develop an airline traveler screening program that would consolidate these pieces of consumer data i nformation. It was not implemented dueRead More8 Key Element for a Business Model7314 Words   |  30 Pagesoutside  investors Strong  management  team  may  not  be  able  to  salvage  a   weak  business  model,  but  should  be  able  to  change  the   model  and  redefine  the  business  as  it  becomes  necessary Slide 2-12 Insight on Business Online Grocers: Finding and Executing the Right Model g g Class Discussion Slide 2-13 Categorizing E-commerce Business Models No  one  correct  way We  categorize  business  models  according  to: We categorize business models according to: E†commerce  sector  (B2C,  B2B,  C2C) Type  of  e†commerce  technology;  i