Eustress
A positive psychological response to a stressor
Distress
A negative psychological response to a stressor
Sources of stress
Daily pressures, life events, acculturative stress, major stress and catastrophes
Daily pressures
Stress experienced in day to day life
Eg. Conflict with a friend
Major stressors
An event that is severely stressful for almost everyone that experiences it
Eg. Car accident
Life events
Changes that forces individuals to adapt to new circumstances
Eg. Moving house ( or marriage)
acculturative stress
Adapting to a new culture when living in it for a considerable period of time
Eg. Migrating to a new country
catastrophe
Unpredictable events that cause widespread destruction and affect whole communities
Eg. Bushfire
Stress as a biological process
All individuals experience the same physiological response to stress regardless of intensity or type of stressor.
- Fight/flight/freeze response
- General Adaption Syndrome
Fight-Flight-Freeze
Initial response to stressor initiated by the arousal SYMPATHETIC NERVOUS SYSTEM and PREPARES BODY to confront the stressor to optimise CHANCE OF SURVIVAL by either confronting the stressor (fight), run (flight) or remain motionless/undetected (freeze).
R
Freeze reponse
Parasympathetic nervous system is dominant but the sympathetic nervous system is highly aroused (activated by SNS)
HPA axis
the hypothalamus, pituitary gland, and adrenal cortex
HPA activation
Body cannot remain in fight-flight-freeze response for extended periods, if stressor persist the HPA axis is activated. This is a slower but longer lasting reaction than the FFF response resulting in the release of cortisol
Cortisol functions
- Energies the body by increasing energy supplies (blood sugar)
- Anti-inflammatory
- Slows tissue healing
- Suppresses the immune system
High levels of cortisol
suppress the immune system and make you more susceptible to disease/illness
General Adaptation Syndrome experimentor
Seyle
Seyle's theory
any type of external or internal stressor will produce the same non-specific reaction triggered by the sympathetic nervous system
general adaption syndrome stages
alarm reaction (shock - countershock), resistance, exhaustion
Alarm reaction - shock
Body goes into temporary state of shock and its ability to deal with stressor falls below normal. Body acts as though injured and blood pressure decreases
Alarm reaction - countershock
Sympathetic nervous system kicks in preparing the body to respond to the stressor. Fight-flight-freeze response is initiated. Adrenaline is released
Resistance stage
Cortisol is released for energy and all unnecessary functions are shut down. The individual appears as though all is normal. High resistance to initial stress or but low resistance to new stressor
exhaustion stage
Body can no longer deal with the stressor, body resources are depleted and immune system is suppressed so resistance to physical and mental disorders is lowered. Prolonged release of adrenaline has negative affects on body
Benefit of cortisol
Energies the body by increasing the amount of blood sugar in the body
General adaption syndrom strengths
1. Identified connection between prolonged stress and disease
2. Found the greater the intensity of the stressor the greater physiological response
General adaption syndrom Limitations
1. Research was not conducted on humans therefore cannot be generalised to humans
2. Didn't consider a rats response to stressor than a persons response to stress
Who experimented on Rats
Hans Selye
Stress as a Psychological Process
Stress is affected by psychological factors that influence the way we respond to stressors, such as:
- attitudes
- motivation
- self-esteem
- personality traits
- coping skills
- perception of how much control we have over a stressful event or situation.
Transactional model of stress and coping experimentor
Lazarus and Folkman
Lazarus and Folkman theory
Stress involves a transaction between the individual and their environment, the stress response will depend on the appraisal of the stress and whether or not the individual thinks they can cope with it. Therefore stress is a product of each individuals ap
appraisal definition
The act of assessing something or someone
primary appraisal stage
Appraise the significance of thee even and decide is it irrelevent, benign-positive or stressful. If we decide it is stressful we must then determine: harm/loss, threat, challenge
Harm/loss
Damage has already occured
Threat
Harm/loss may occur in the future
Challenge
Potential for personal growth or gain
secondary appraisal
Appraisal of the resources available and coping options. If demands of the situation are perceived to be greater than the resources available the individual will experience a stress response.
Problem focused coping
Dealing directly with stressor
Types of coping in secondary appraisal
Emotion focussed and problem focussed
Transactional model of stress and coping strengths
1. Used human subject in developing the model
2. Focused on the psychological aspects of the stress response where the person has some measure of control
Transactional model of stress and and coping limitations
1. Due to subjective manner in which individuals perceives and responds to stress it is difficult to test experimentally
2. Primary and secondary appraisal can occur simultaneously
Context-specific effectiveness
when there is a good match between the coping strategy that is used and the stressor
(more effective when take into consideration the characteristics of the individual/what works for them)
Coping flexibility
The ability to replace an ineffective coping strategy with a different one
Exercise
- Use up stress hormones
- Promotes relaxation
- Releases mood enhancing/pain relieving beta endorphines
- Provides time out from stressful situations
- Psychosocial benefits if done with others
Approach strategies
Involve behaviors that attempt to decrease stress by alleviating the problem
avoidance strategies
Involves dealing with stress by protecting oneself from psychological distress. Typically maladaptive
GAS
General Adaptation Syndrome
Cortisol
stress hormone released by the adrenal cortex in response to a stressor
Research design
Independent groups
Matched participants
Repeated measures
Sampling
Random sampling
Stratified sampling
Convenience sampling
independent variable
What is being changed
Dependent variable
what is being measured
Ethics
Voluntary participation
Informed consent
Deception
Confidentiality
Debriefing
Withdrawal rights
Hypothesis
A testable prediction that identities, population, Independent variables and dependent variables
Maladaptive
Doesn't help feel better/respond better. Unhealthy for the individual and unhelpful for relieving the source of stress
Coping
an attempt to manage the demands of the stressor
Positive effects of stress
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detrimental effects of prolonged stress
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Emotional focussed coping
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reappraisal
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Psychobiological process
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Yerks-Dodson
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Effects of freeze response
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