Stress

Question 1

What is GAS?

Answer 1

• general adaptation syndrome
• when animals are exposed to unpleasant stimuli, they display a universal response

Question 2

What was seyle 1956?

Answer 2

• in a lab the fight or flight response was only the first of a series of reactions
• rats showed physiological changes that were linked to injections, not the injection but that there was an injection
• exposed to harmful stimuli e.g extreme cold
• rats developed the same physiological symptoms as each time e.g. stomach ulcers

Question 3

What are the three distinct stages of GAS?

Answer 3

• alarm reaction
• resistance
• exhaustion

Question 4

In the GAS, what is the alarm reaction?

Answer 4

Stressor = fight or flight
- this stage deals with acute stressors
- SAM becomes activated which is controlled by th electrical impulses, making it quick

Question 5

In the GAS, what is the resistance stage?

Answer 5

• if the stressor is not dealt with then the endocrine system helps out
• hormonal response and is slower
• hypothalamus sends a message to the pituitary gland which releases ATCH which causes the adrenal cortex to release cortisol
• stimulates the liver to release glucose and suppress the immune system

Question 6

What is the exhaustion stage in GAS?

Answer 6

Body can no longer keep up with the stressor, body’s resources have become depleted
- adrenal glands no longer function
- blood glucose levels drop

Question 7

strengths of GAS

Answer 7

• generated lots of research
• no adrenal glands = death, shows physiological explanations are relevant to human behaviour

Question 8

Weaknesses of GAS

Answer 8

• reactions aren’t the same to all stressors (Mason 71) found monkeys showed different stressors caused different cortisol response
• model doesn’t account for how emotion and thought effect how a person perceives stress

Question 9

What are the two main stress pathways?

Answer 9

• SAM
• HPA

Question 10

Stages of SAM

Answer 10

• stress trigger
• hypothalamus activation, sends signal to the ANS
• hyp activates the sympathetic branch of ANS
• adrenal medulla releases adrenaline and noradrenaline
• these increase heart rate, dilate airways
• often happens within seconds

Question 11

What is the HPA stages?

Answer 11

• hypothalamus activated
• hyp releases CRH
• CRH signals pituitary gland which releases ATCH
• adrenal glands release cortisol
• cortisol increases energy levels, effecting immune function

Question 12

Increased exposure to stressors can…

Answer 12

Weaken the body’s immune system

Question 13

What was Glaser’s research? (84)

Answer 13

• 75 first year medical students
• natural event (exam)
• stress levels assessed using a questionnaire
• blood test 1 month before exam and immediately after

Question 14

Findings of Glaser (84)

Answer 14

• decrease in the number of T- cells
• particularly low for students who reported loneliness, depression or anxiety

Question 15

What was Glaser 91

Answer 15

• 26 pps by newspaper advert matched into a group
  1. Carers of relative with dementia
  2. Non carers
• small cut on the elbow, self report stress levels

Question 16

Findings of glaser 91

Answer 16

• wounds took an average of 9 days longer to heal in the carer group, also had the highest scores on self report stress scale

Question 17

2 main effects of corticosteroids

Answer 17

• release glucose from the liver to be used by the muscles as energy
• suppress the immune system to redirect energies to other areas of the body (immunosuppression)

Question 18

What are the effects of cortisol?

Answer 18

• suppressing the immune system
• reducing inflammation in the body
• breaking down fat tissues
• preventing protein synthesis

Question 19

What is CHD?

Answer 19

Coronary heart disease

Question 20

What causes CHD?

Answer 20

• Thickening of the blood vessels (atherosclerosis)
• Usually happens when a person has high levels of cholesterol
• high blood pressure

Question 21

What is the direct link of stress and cardiovascular disorder?

Answer 21

Mental stress leads to increased production of adrenaline in preparation for fight or flight. This raises blood pressure and heart rate

Question 22

What is the indirect link between stress and cardiovascular problems?

Answer 22

Adopting maladaptive coping strategies e.g drinking more

Question 23

What was Cobb and Rose 73 study?

Answer 23

Compared the medical records of air traffic controllers with those of other air traffic personnel and found the former had higher levels of hypertension increasing the risk of heart disease

Question 24

What was Krantz et al (1991)?

Answer 24

• 39 people with myocardial ischaemia (heart receives reduced blood flow) and their reactions to low level stress
• highest myocardial ischaemia, when stressed, had the highest increase in blood pressure

Question 25

How do we measure life changes?

Answer 25

Self report scales

Question 26

What was Holmes’s and rahe’s SRRS?

Answer 26

- social rating readjustment scale - interviewed 5000 patients and drew up a list of 43 life changes - asked 400 people to rate these life events on how stressful they were - life events were ranked in order of their stress score

Question 27

What is the socialisation theory?

Answer 27

Women taught to show emotions openly, men taught to to approach stress in a more natural way

Question 28

What is the role constraint theory?

Answer 28

Coping strategies matches roles males and females occupy

Question 29

What was Lazarus and Folkman study?

Answer 29

Distinguished between two different coping styles - problem focused coping: tackling the factors causing the stress, often in a practical way - emotion focused coping: tackling the symptoms of stress

Question 30

What was Peterson et al?

Answer 30

Looked at over 1000 men and women seeking fertility treatment at a hospital, asked to complete a questionnaire - found women used emotion focused coping and men used problem solving - were some variations

Question 31

Evaluation of gender differences in coping

Answer 31

- alpha bias, exaggerates difference between men and women - questionnaires, social desirability and demand characteristics - men and women have different stressors so techniques might be different

Question 32

Three types of social support?

Answer 32

- instrumental - emotional - esteem

Question 33

What is instrumental social support?

Answer 33

- practical help such as lend money, cooking a meal, providing info etc

Question 34

What is emotional social support?

Answer 34

Refers to the actions people take to make someone else feel cared for (being a shoulder to cry on)

Question 35

What is esteem social support?

Answer 35

Makes you feel better about yourself, your great etc

Question 36

What is the buffering hypothesis?

Answer 36

Suggests that social support is especially important in times of stress but not necessary at other times. Friends protect the individual from the negative effects of stress

Question 37

What is direct physiological effects?

Answer 37

Direct effect of social support on the activity of the autonomic nervous system, possibly to increase relaxation

Question 38

What was Rahe, 1970?

Answer 38

- 2500 male American sailors were given SSRIs to assess how many lives events they had experienced in the previous 6 months - then over the following 6 months tour, detailed records were kept of each sailors health status - recorded number of life change units were correlated with sailors illness

Question 39

Findings of Rahe 1970?

Answer 39

Positive correlation of +0.118 between life change scores and illness scores

Question 40

What are daily hassles?

Answer 40

Irritating, frustrating, distressing demands

Question 41

Why are daily hassles stressful?

Answer 41

- accumulating overal several days and overloads to more serious stress reactions

Question 42

What is the buffering hypothesis?

Answer 42

Suggests that social support is especially important at times of stress but not necessary at other times. Friends protect individuals from negative effects of stress

Question 43

Evaluation of social support

Answer 43

- cultural differences, Asian cultures are more collective and therefore less inclined to enlist the help of others - sometimes be detrimental if the wrong support is given - lucknow found that in 25 out of 26 studies women were more likely to use social support than men. Men tend to use instrumental support - pets can also reduce stress, Allen reviewed research that the presence of pets reduced blood pressure

Question 44

Evaluation of cortisol?

Answer 44

Newcomer, found that pps given high levels of cortisol high enough to produce blood sugar levels similar to those of people experiencing major stress events

Question 45

What does skin conductance response measure?

Answer 45

Skin’s resistance to electricity. When individuals are stressed, they sweat and this increases the skins ability to conduct electricity

Question 46

How are SCR levels measured?

Answer 46

Polygraph

Question 47

Evaluation of physiological measures of stress?

Answer 47

- practical application, biofeedback - expensive than a questionnaire - external factors can effect it e.g temperature and humidity, drink and alcahol or certain medication - Bakker showed that reading vary from day to day on the same person

Answer 48

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