Chapter 12 Flashcards
What is stress?
• The tension, discomfort, or physical symptoms that arise when a stressor strains our ability to cope effectively
• A traumatic event is a stressor so severe that it can produce long-term psychological or health consequences
Stressors as Stimuli
Focuses on identifying types of stressful events
Pregnancy, job loss, retirement and more • Helps identify situations that cause more stress and people that react more strongly
• Disasters that impact an entire community can increase social awareness and cement interpersonal bonds (can be unifying between people)
Stress as a response
Assesses psychological and physical reactions to stress
• Can be lab-induced or real-world stressors
• Measures large number of outcome variables, including corticosteroids
stress hormones that activate the body and prepare us to respond to stressful circumstances
When we earn a disappointing grade on a test, we may analyze why we fell short and devise a workable plan to improve our performance on the next test. When situations arise that we can’t avoid or control, we’re more likely to adopt emotion-focused coping, a strategy in which we try to place a positive spin on our feelings or predicaments or seek emotional support to reduce painful emotions
Stress as a transaction
Focus on interpretation and coping
When we encounter a potentially threatening event, we initially engage in primary appraisal. That is, we first decide whether the event is harmful before making a secondary appraisal about how well we can cope with it
primary appraisal: the initial decision regarding whether an event is harmful
• secondary appraisal: perceptions regarding our ability to cope with an event
When we’re optimistic and think we can achieve our goals, we’re especially likely to engage in problem-focused coping: a coping strategy by which we problem
solve and tackle life’s challenges head-on
Problem, focussed coping
devise a strategy to control the situation
Emotion focussed coping
manage emotions, common in uncontrollable situations)
Measuring stress
The Social Readjustment Rating Scale is a questionnaire based on 43 life events ranked in terms of stressfulness
– SRRS is not a perfect predictor of well-being
– Neglects coping resources or chronic issues
– Some events may be consequences, rather than causes, of stress
Hassles
minor annoyances that strain our ability to cope
– can impact us as well
• More hassles are related to physical health, depression, and anxiety
• The Hassles Scale predicts well-being even when major life events are controlled for
Selyes general adaptation syndrome
stress response pattern proposed by Hans Selye that consists of three stages
• Alarm: excitation of the autonomic nervous system, release of adrenaline, symptoms of anxiety
• Resistance: you adapt and find ways to cope with the stressor
• Exhaustion: in prolonged stressors, our resistance can break down
Fight or flight response
physical and psychological reaction
that mobilizes people and animals to either defend themselves (fight) or escape (flee) a threatening situation
Tend and be friend
The researchers observed that in times of stress, women generally rely on their social contacts and nurturing abilities—they tend to
those around them and to themselves—more than men do, and they typically befriend, or
turn to others for support. Oxytocin further promotes this response.
PTSD
Long-lasting stress reactions can result in acute stress disorder or posttraumatic stress disorder
Social support
relationships with people groups,
and the larger community that can
provide us with emotional comfort
and personal and financial resources
• Higher levels associated with lower mortality rates
-Gaining control of situations can also relieve stress
Behavioural control
ability to step up and do some-thing to reduce the impact of a stressful situation or prevent its recurrence.
As you may recall, this type of active coping is problem-focused
Cognitive control
Cognitive control is the ability to
think differently about negative emotions that arise in response
to stress-provoking events.
This type of control includes
emotion-focused coping, which we introduced previously, a strat-
egy that comes in handy when adjusting to uncertain situations
or aversive events we can’t control or change.
Decision control
is the ability to choose among alternative courses of action
Information control
Informational control is the ability to acquire informa-tion about a stressful event. Knowing what types of questions are on the SAT or GRE can help us prepare for them, as can knowing something about the person we’re “fixed up
with” on an upcoming date. We engage in proactive coping when we anticipate stressful situations and take steps to prevent or minimize difficulties before they arise
Proactive coping
anticipation of problems and stressful situations that promotes effective coping
Emotional control
ability to suppress and express emo-tions. Writing in a diary, for example, can facilitate emotional control and has a host of
long-lasting benefits
Catharsis
expressing and releasing painful emotions – isn’t always as helpful as people think. While talking about our feelings can be good if it leads to problem-solving and efforts to improve the situation, it can be harmful if it just reinforces feelings of helplessness or frustration
Crisis debriefing
A single session, 3-4 hour conducted soon after a trauma designed to ward off P T S D
• Research shows it is not helpful, and may instead increase risk of developing P T S D
• May interrupt the natural coping process
Hardiness
is a set of attitudes where you: –
See change as a challenge instead of a threat
– Are committed to life and work
– Believe you can control events
• Associated with low vulnerability to anxiety and more calm reactions to stress
Individual differences
Optimistic people are more productive, focused, and handle frustration better
– Also show lower levels of mortality and better immune system response
• Higher levels of spirituality and religion have many of the same benefits
