14. Stress

Question 1

Refers to a challenge to a person’s capacity to adapt to inner and outer demands.

Answer 1

Stress

Question 1

Stressful experiences typically produce physiological and emotional ____ and elicit cognitive and behavioural efforts to ____ with the stress.

Answer 1

arousal, cope

Question 2

Stress is a ____ ____, with both physiological and psychological components and consequences.

Answer 2

Stress a psychobiological process

Question 3

A bodily response to a wide range of stressful events. Consisting of three stages: alarm, resistance and exhaustion.

Answer 3

General adaptation syndrome

Question 4

Involves the release of adrenaline and other hormones such as cortisol as well as the activation of the sympathetic nervous system.

Answer 4

Alarm

Question 5

The parasympathetic nervous system returns respiration and heart rate to normal. However, blood glucose levels remain high and some stress-related hormones continue to circulate at elevated levels.

Answer 5

Resistance

Question 6

Physiological defences breakdown, resulting in greatly increased vulnerability to serious or even life threatening disease. Organs such as the heart that are vulnerable genetically or environmentally are the first to go during this stage.

Answer 6

Exhaustion

Question 7

According to this view, stress is typically a transaction between the individual and the environment, rather than a property of either the person or the environment alone. Lazarus ,1981.
The model identifies two stages in the process of stress and coping.

Answer 7

Transactional model of stress

Question 8

The person decides whether the situation is benign, stressful or irrelevant.

Answer 8

Primary appraisal

Question 9

The person evaluates the options and decides how to respond.

Answer 9

Secondary appraisal

Question 10

Both stages involve ‘____ ____’, predicting what feelings the situation will produce (primary appraisal) and predicting the likely emotional impact of each potential response (secondary appraisal).

Answer 10

emotional forecasting

Question 11

Sources of stress
(1) – one of the most significant sources of stress is change. Virtually any event that requires someone to make a readjustment can be a stressor.

Answer 11

Life events

Question 12

– One of the most stressful events any individual can experience is the death of a spouse or child – a stress that can take its toll for many years afterwards. Another major stress is unemployment.

Answer 12

Major stressors

Question 13

– Refers to the stress people experience in trying to adapt to a new culture.

Answer 13

Acculturative stress

Question 14

(2) – stressors of massive proportions. ____ maybe caused by nature or by humans.

Answer 14

Catastrophes

Question 15

(3) – are the irritating, frustrating, distressing demands that to some degree characterise everyday transactions with the environment. Daily hassles range from interpersonal conflicts to commuting during rush hour.

Answer 15

Daily hassles

Question 16

The ____ ____ daily hassles include concerns about weight, ill health of a family member, rising prices of common goods, home maintenance, too many things to do, and misplacing or losing things.

Answer 16

most common

Question 17

Stress and health
Stressful events obviously can have a substantial impact on ____ well-being. Stress can also have a substantial effect on ____ ____ and ____.

Answer 17

psychological, physical health and mortality

Question 18

People ____ ____ often suffer from headaches, depression and other health problems such as influenza, sore throat and backache.

Answer 18

under stress

Question 19

Stress can have a direct effect by decreasing the body’s capacity to fight ____. It can also affect health indirectly by instigating behaviours that weaken the body’s defences or lead exposure to pathogens and toxic agents that can produce physical illness.

Answer 19

illness

Question 20

People under stress ____ __ drink more alcohol, smoke more, sleep less and exercise less than their peers.

Answer 20

tend to

Question 21

Stress and the immune system

____ examines the influence of psychosocial factors on the functioning of the immune system.

Answer 21

Psychoneuroimmunology

Question 22

The bodies surveillance and security system, which detects and eliminates disease-causing agents in the body such as bacteria and viruses.

Answer 22

The immune system

Question 23

Three important types of ____ in the immune system are B cells, T cells and natural killer cells.

Answer 23

cells

Question 24

(1) __ cells produce antibodies, protein molecules that attach themselves to foreign invaders and mark them for destruction.

Answer 24

B

Question 25

(2) __ cells search out and directly destroy invaders, while others stimulate immune functioning.

Answer 25

T

Question 26

(3) ____ ____ cells fight viruses and tumours.

Answer 26

Natural killer

Question 27

Stress and health-seeking behaviour.

Stress can ____ ____ in a more subtle way by influencing the way the person interprets body symptoms.

Answer 27

influence health

Question 28

When symptoms are unambiguous and ominous, such severe stomach pain, people tend to seek help ____.

Answer 28

immediately

Question 29

Many symptoms, however, are ambiguous, and this ambiguity can lead to several ____ ____.

(1) wait and see attitude – this strategy may represent an effort to cope with the emotion felt if the symptom was taken seriously.
(2) it’s probably nothing
(3) it’s just stress

Answer 29

alternative responses

Question 30

For others stress can have precisely the opposite effect, leading them to seek medical care for one ____ ____ after another.

Answer 30

minor complaint

Question 31

Stress, health and personality.

Whether a person under stress remains healthy or becomes ill also depends on the persons enduring ____ ____.

Answer 31

personality traits

Question 33

____ can influence stress and health through the motives people pursue, the way they tend to appraise circumstances, and way they tend to cope with stress.

Answer 33

Personality

Question 34

– a personality style categorised by impatience, ambition, competitiveness, hostility and a hard-driving approach to life.

Answer 34

Type A behaviour pattern

Question 35

– more relaxed, easy-going and less easily angered.

Answer 35

Type B behaviour pattern

Question 36

– another personality dimension related to immune functioning and health is optimism/pessimism.

Answer 36

Optimism/pessimism