CAUSES OF STRESS (EVALUATION/ISSUES AND DEBATES)

Question 1

NAME 3 CAUSES OF STRESS?

Answer 1

1. Life events (Holmes and Rahe, 1970)
2. Work (Chandola et al, 2008)
3. Personality type (Friedman & Roseman 1978)

Question 2

Causes of stress- Determinism vs free-will?

Answer 2

• Holmes and Rahe (1964) imply that certain life events automatically cause stress and illness (environmental determinism)
• Chandola et al (2008) imply work stress leads to CHD, even when people don’t necessarily choose that environment (external forces control your health)
• Friedman and Rosenman lean towards biological determinism — your personality type (which you don’t choose) can make you more vulnerable to stress and CHD.

These explanations are deterministic and ignores the factor of free-will (individuals may use their free-will to overcome these risk factors by making healthy decisions (exercising, healthy eating, changing career, so having a certain personality types doesn’t neccesarily mean an individual WILL develop a stress-related illness (CHD).