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Psych370 > 17.5 Stress and Health > Flashcards

17.5 Stress and Health Flashcards

1
Q

what is stress

A

the cluster of physiological changes that occur in response to a threat

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2
Q

what are stressors

A

any experience that induces the threat response

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3
Q

Do psychological and physiological stressors induce the same effects?

A

Yes, they both induce a core pattern of physiological changes

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4
Q

what type of stress has the worst effects on health

A

chronic psychological stress

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5
Q

What was Selye’s dual nature perspective on stress

A

short term - produces adaptive changes that help animals respond to the stressor
long term - produces maladaptive changes, such as enlarged adrenal glands

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6
Q

to what did Selye attribute the stress response

A

the activation of he anterior pituitary adrenal cortex system
- stressors act on neural circuits which stimulate the anterior pituitary to relase adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), which triggers the release of glucocorticoids from the adrenal cortex, which produce many of the components of the stress response

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7
Q

what is the stress mechanism that Selye largely ignored

A

the role of the sympathetic nervous system

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8
Q

explain the sympathetic-nervous-system adrenal medulla medulla system

A

stressors activate the SNS which increase the amounts of epinephrine and norepinephrine from the adrenal medulla

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9
Q

do psychological and physical stressors produce the exact same effects?

A

no, the stress response is complex and varied with specific responses depending on the stressor, its timing, the nature of the person under stress, and how that person reacts to the stressor

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10
Q

what is an example of the role of how a person reacts to a stressor in the stress response

A

study of women awaiting surgery for possible breast cancer
- levels of stress were lower in those who convinced themselves it couldn’t be cancer, that their prayers would be answered, or that it was counterproductive to worry

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11
Q

what was the important advancement in the understanding of the stress response that occurred in the 1990s

A

discoverd that stressors produce physiological reactions that participate in the body’s inflammation responses
p stress produces and increase in blood levels of cytokines

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12
Q

what are cytokines

A

a group of peptide hormones released by many cells that participate in a variety of physiological and immunological responses causing inflammation and fever

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13
Q

what do we classify cytokines as?

A

one of the major stress hormones, alongside the adrenal hormones

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14
Q

what did early stress research on nonhumans tend to involve

A

extreme forms of stress like repeated exposure to electric shock or long periods of physical restraint

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15
Q

what are the two problems with the study of extreme forms of stress on nonhumans?

A
  1. ethics - obviously super fuckin bad
  2. studies hat use extreme unnatural forms of stress are often of questionable scientific value
    - responses to extreme stress tend to mask normal variation in the stress response, it is difficult to relate the results of such studies to common human stressors
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16
Q

what do your current best animal models of stress study?

A

the social threat of conspecifics (members of the same species) - almost all mammals (especially males experience threats from conspecifics at some point

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17
Q

what do we call conspecific threat that becomes and enduring feature of daily life

A

subordination stress

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18
Q

where is subordination stress most readily studied?

A

in species that form dominance hierarchies

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19
Q

what happens to subordinated male rodents who are continually attacked by more dominant males? (5)

A
  1. more likely to attack juveniles,
  2. smaller testes,
  3. shorter life span,
  4. lower blood levels of T
  5. higher blood levels of glucocorticoids
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20
Q

what do we call subordination stress in humans

A

bullying baby

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21
Q

what are psychosomatic disorders

A

medical disorders in which psychological factors play a causal role

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22
Q

what is an implication of the fact that there have been so many adverse health effects of stress

A

very reasonable to think that most, if not all, medical disorders are to some extent psychosomatic

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23
Q

what are gastric ulcers

A

painful lesions to the lining of the stomach and duodenum which n extreme cases can be life threatening
about 500,000 new cases are reported each year in the US

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24
Q

what discovery almost refuted the idea that gastric ulcers are psychosomatic

A

the finding that they seem to be caused by the bacteria H. Pylori in almost all cases, except those caused by non steroidal anti inflammatory agents, like aspirin

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25
In spite of H. Pyloris obvious role in gastric ulcers, why do we still believe stress to be causal?
infections w h pylori does not seem to be a sufficient feature - many healthy individuals display infection - antibiotics improve the condition of many ppl with gastric ulcers, but so do psychological treatments, which do not affect the amount of h pylori in the stomach
26
what are two solid pieces of evidence that gastric ulcers are caused in part by stress
1. they occur much more often in those living in stressful situations 2. stressors can produce gastric ulcers in lab animals
27
what is psychoneuroimmunology, and why did it emerge
the study of interactions among psychological factors, the nervous system and the immune system - bc it became apparent that stress can increase susceptibility to infection
28
what are the bodies four lines of defence against microorganisms
1. behavioural immune system 2 surface barriers 3. innate immune system 4. adaptive immune system
29
describe the behavioural immune system
humans are motivated too avoid contact with individuals displaying signs of illness, and our bodies are primed to respond more aggressively to infection when they perceive signs of infection in others
30
describe the surface barriers that help prevent microorganisms from getting in
mainly skin, but there are other mechanisms that prevent micro organisms from getting in thru bodily openings like the GI or respiratory tract, such as coughing, sneezing ,tears, mucous and chemical barriers
31
what is the innate immune system (general)
the first component of the immune system to react, reacting quickly and generally near points of entry of pathogens to the body
32
what are pathogens
disease causing agents
33
what triggers the innate immune system
when toll-like receptors bind to molecules on the surface of invading pathogens OR when injured cells send out alarm signals
34
what is the general response of the innate immune system to the two possible triggers
complex but general array of chemical and cellular reactions general - reactions to all pathogens are the same
35
what is the first reaction of the innate immune system to the invasion of pathogens
inflammation (Swelling
36
what causes inflammation
triggered by the release of chemicals from damaged cells | - cytokines attract leukocytes and other phagocytes into the infected area
37
what are leukocytes
white blood cells
38
what are phagocytes
cells that engulf and destroy pathogens
39
what are microglia
phagocytes specific the the CNS
40
what (other than inflammation) do cytokines promote
the healing of damaged tissue once pathogens are destroyed
41
what is thought to be one of the first immune reactions to have evolved (why)
phagocytosis | - bc phagocytes have been identified in all vertebrates and invertebrates that have been examined
42
what are the four respects that the adaptive immune system differs from the innate immune system
1. it first appeared in early vertebrates (so it evolved more recently) 2. slower - immune reaction to pathogens takes longer to fully manifest 3. specific - reacts against specific antigens 4. has a memory, so one it has reacted against a particular pathogen, it reacts more effectively against it in the future
43
what are the main cells of the adaptive immune system
a specialized type of leukocytes called lymphocytes
44
where are lymphocytes produced and stores
bone marrow and thymus gland d | - stored in the lymphatic system until they are active
45
what are the two major classes of lymphocytes
B and T cells
46
what do T cells direct
Cell-mediated immunity
47
what do B cells direct
antibody mediated immunity
48
describe cell-mediated immunity
beings when a phagocyte ingests a foreign microorganism - phagocyte displays the microorgs antigens on the surface of its cell membrane, which attracts T cells - T cell with a receptor for the foreign antigen binds to the surface of an infected macrophage - initiates a series of reactions - for instance, the multiplication of the bound T cell
49
how many distinct classes of receptors does each T cell have?
2 - one for molecules normally found on the surface of phagocytes and other body cells - one for a specific foreign antigen
50
describe antibody mediated immunity
- B cell binds to a foreign antigen for which it contains an appropriate receptor - B cells multiply and synthesize a lethal form of its receptor molecule - lethal receptor molecules are called antibodies - antibodies are released in the intracellular fluid, where they bind foreign antigens, destroying or deactivating the microorganisms that possess them
51
what are memory B cells
long life cells formed during antibody mediated immunity that accelerate antibody mediated immunity if the organisms is infected by the same microorganisms in the future
52
what mechanism gives vaccinations their prophylactic effect?
the memory of the adaptive immune system
53
what does vaccination involve
administering a weakened form of a virus so that if the virus invades, the AI system is prepared to act against it
54
how have we nearly eradicated smallpox
by programs of vaccination with the weakened form of its largely benging relative cowpox
55
what is the process of creating immunity through vaccination termed
immunization
56
what recent discovery has changed the fact that most immunological research focuses on the adaptive immune system
the discovery of the role of cytokines in the innate immune system
57
what is the main logical problem behind the notion that the main effects of stress are disruptive
inconsistent with the principles of evolution - almost all organisms encounter stressors during their lives, doesn't. make sense that a maladaptive response to stress like the disruption of immune function could have evolved or even survived if it has been created by a genetic accident or as a. spandrel
58
what is a spandrel
a nonadaptive by-product of an adaptive evolutionary change
59
what were the two events that helped clarify the reaction between. stress and immune function
1. Segerstrom and Miller's meta analysis which reviewed 300 previous studies of stress and immune function 2. discovery of the bidirectional role of cytokines in the innate immune system
60
explain segerstrom and Miller's meta analysis
The effects of stress non immune function are dependent on the kind stress - acute brief stressors

Psych370 (37 decks)

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