Chapter Six: Stress Flashcards
Def: stress
negative emotional experience accompanied by predictable biochemical, physiological, cognitive, and behavioral changes.
Usually aims at altering a stressful event or changing to adapt to it.
Def: Stressors
stressful events themselves, or something that causes one to be stressed.
Def: primal appraisal
attempting to understand what an event is and what it will mean.
Def: a threat
is an assessment of any possible future damage(s).
Events are appraised for their _________, threat, or challenge.
harm
Def: secondary appraisal
assessing whether personal resources are sufficient to meet the demands of our environment.
When one’s resources are more than needed with a hard situation, they don’t feel that stressed and perceive the situation as a challenge.
Def: person-environment fit
results from the process of appraising events, assessing potential resources, and responding to the events.
Def: fight-or-flight response
when your body is aroused & motivated via the SPNS and the endocrine system when a threat is perceived. Usually results in your involuntary ability to be mobilized in order to either attack the threat or run from it.
Pros & Cons to the fight-or-flight response:
Pros: very adaptive
Cons: stress can disrupt one’s emotional & physiological functioning. Causes one to freeze in place due to the high amounts of cortisol.
Def: General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)
a description of the process of how your body can respond to stress. Has 3 stages.
Leads to enlarged adrenal cortex, shrinking of the thymus & lymph glands, & ulceration of the stomach & duodenum (digests the food in the stomach).
3 Stages of GAS:
Alarm Reaction Stage
Resistance Stage
Exhaustion Stage
Def: Alarm Reaction Stage
1st stage of the general adaptation syndrome. This is when your body first sends out a stress signal to your brain which will release adrenaline. You will experience high blood pressure and high heart rate levels
Def: Resistance Stage
2nd stage of GAS. One’s body will employ the Parasympathetic nervous system. Which will happen after your stress has subsided. However, your body will stay in alert which will go back to the reaction state if the stressor continues.
Recovering from the stress.
Def: Exhaustion Stage
This is the 3rd stage of GAS. This usually happens due to prolonged stress. Your body has gone thru an extended period of stress which will eventually cause your body to feel unequipped to ward off stress. Which will have you prone to developing mattress related conditions.
What happens if the stressor doesn’t subside during the Resistance stage of GAS?
If you are still stressed, the reaction stage will continue. Afterwards, the resistance stage will reoccur resulting in lowering blood pressure along with heart rate and adrenaline.
Why was the General Adaptation Syndrome criticized?
Has a limited role in psychological factors.
Not all stressors can have the same biological responses.
Ppl’s reactions to stress are always different per person due to personality, past experiences, etc.
Continued activation accumulates the most damage to one’s psychological systems.
Fails to address the debilitating effects of stress.
_________ is released during stressful events bc it acts momentum for affiliation
Oxytocin
Def: tend-and-befriend
a theory that states that people & animals respond to stress with social affiliation & nurturant behavior towards their offspring.
It has an underlying biological mechanism, oxytocin.
Def: oxytocin
a stress hormone, rapidly released in response to some stressful events, & its effects are especially influenced by estrogen, suggesting a particularly important role in responses to women to stress. Acts as the momentum for affiliation in both animals & ppl, increases affiliative behaviors of all kinds, especially for mothers.
How does stress contribute to illness?
Stress leads to poor health
Physiological effects: high blood pressure, decreased ability of the immune system to fight off infection, changes in lipid levels & cholesterol.
Engage in poor health habits (smoking, poor nutrition, less sleep, little exercise, & use of illegal substances.
Stress causes one to not seek treatment
Chronic inflammation, even at a lower level, can cause many diseases including coronary artery disease.
Health behavior changes due to stress includes:
Increased smoking and/or alcohol use
Decreased nutrition
Decreased sleep
Increased drug use
Poor diet
Little to no exercise.
Def: reactivity
degree of change that happens in autonomic, neuroendocrine, & slash or immune responses as a result of high cortisol.
Studies suggest that ___________ reactivity to stress is an important factor that influences the stress-illness relationship.
psychobiological
Dimensions of stressful events:
Negative events
Uncontrollable events
Ambiguous events
Overload
Central life domains
Def: chronic strain
develops when a stressful event becomes a permanent or chronic part of the environment.
Chronic strain depends on:
Type of stressor
Subjective experience of stress
Indicator of stress
The __________ to recover from a stressful event can be a red flag for cumulative _________ that stress has caused.
inability, damage
Def: After-effects of stress
persists long after the stressful event is over.
Symptoms of the after effects of stress:
Shortened attention span
Poor performance on intellectual tasks
Ongoing physiological distress
Physiological arousal
Stress exposes one to __________
viruses
Ppl experiencing _______ stress are more likely to get ____ and mount a stronger immune response.
more, sick
Most likely stressful life events include (according to the Social Readjustment Rating Scale):
Death of a spouse
Divorce
Detention in jail or other incarceration
Death of a close family member
Major personal injury or illness
Being fired at work
Less likely stressful events include (according to the Social Readjustment Rating Scale):
Vacation
Christmas
Minor violations of the law (traffic tickets)
Disadvantages of the Social Readjustment Rating Scale:
Some items on the life event lst are vague
Individual differences are not considered
Doesn’t assess whether stressful events have been successfully resolved
Time between stress & illness don’t correlate
Def: Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenocortical (HPA) axis
stimulates secretion of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) which releases the glucocorticoids.
Repeated activation of the _________ will compromise its functioning.
HPA axis
Direct physiological effects of stress:
Elevated lipids
Elevated blood pressure
Decrease immunity
Increased hormonal activity
Psychosocial resources and stress:
Threatened social support
Reduced optimism
Threats to self-esteem
Lower sense of mastery
How stress interferes with health care:
Decreased adherence to treatment
Delay in seeking care
Obscured symptom profile
Decreased likelihood of seeking care.
Effects of Long-term stress:
Suppression of immune functioning
Increased blood pressure & heart rate
Psychiatric disorders
Development of atherosclerosis
Problems with verbal functioning, memory, and concentration
Storage of fat in central visceral areas
Affects sleep -> insomnia or hypersomnia
Def: allostatic load
physiological costs of chronic exposure to the physiological changes from repeated stress or by chronic stress.
Indicators of Allostatic load:
Decreased cell-mediated immunity
The inability to shut off cortisol in response to stress
Lowered heart rate variability
Elevated epinephrine levels
A high waist-to-hip ratio, reflecting abdominal fat
Hippocampal volume can decrease with repeated stimulation of the HPA
Issues with memory - indirect measure of hippocampal functioning
Elevated blood pressure
Sympathetic activation is caused by arousal of the ______. Which stimulates the _________ of the adrenal glands.
SPNS, medulla
What do the adrenal glands do?
Secrete the catecholamines epinephrine and norepinephrine
_________ functioning gets dysregulated bc of stress. Which will affect ______________________ variability.
PSPS, heart rate
___________ have immunosuppressive effects, which could compromise the functioning of the immune system.
Corticosteroids
_________ events cause more stress than ___________ ones.
Negative, positive
Unpredictable and ____________ events cause the most stress.
uncontrollable
__________ events are more stressful than clear-cut events.
Ambiguous = unable to take action
Clear-cut = ____________________
Ambiguous, able to find solutions
____________ tasks cause more stress than a couple of tasks.
Overloaded
________ stressful events can be adaptable, but not for _______ stressful ones.
Mildly, highly
Chronic stress can impair ______________, neuroendocrine, & immune system recovery.
cardiovascular
Experiments in a lab _________ ppl to somewhat stressful events in order to observe the impact of one’s physiological, ____________, and psychological responses in order to research stress.
exposes, neuroendocrine
Def: acute stress Paradigm
Ppl performing stressful tasks become psychologically distress & shows physiological arousal
Identifies individuals most vulnerable to stress
Shows that actress responses can be reduced with the presence of a partner or a stranger.
Def: Demand-control-support model
high demands & low control are combined with little social support at work.
Ppl who are _________ stressed will have _______ of a reaction in lab experiments.
already, more
Ppl who are experiencing more stress are ________ likely to get sick and mount a stronger immune response than those exposed to situations that are not as ___________.
more, stressful
Physical and psychological stressed caused by minor hassles:
Small stressors can wear a person down a little at a time.
Each event will result in either aggravated reactions, distress or illness.
Def: daily hassles
minor stressful events.
Daily hassles can lead to:
Psychological distress
Adverse physiological changes
Physical symptoms
Use of health care services
Effects of early stressful life experiences:
Low SES
Exposure to violence
Abuse
Households that neglect
Parents with an avoidant parenting style.
Living in poverty-stricken neighborhoods
Community level stressors
Kids who grow up in risky households:
Have issues with emotional regulation along with social skills
May overreact to mind stressors
Can develop heightened sympathetic reactivity to stress, exaggerated cortisol responses, or chronic inflammation.
Is long term
Contribute to psychological distress & physical illness
Practice poor health habits
Research relating chronic stress to health outcomes to difficult to conduct
Studies on workplace stress have in common:
Identifies the most common stressors of everyday life
Provides evidence for the stress-illness relationship
Provide possibilities for intervention
Important as stress-related disorders may lead to disability & social security payments to workers
Causes of workplace stress:
Work overload
Ambiguity and role conflict
Inability to develop satisfying social relationships at work
Lack of control over their work life
Unemployment
Def: role conflict
occurs when one receives conflicting info abt work tasks or standards from different ppl.
Outcomes of work-related stress:
Higher rates of absenteeism
Job turnover
Tardiness
Job dissatisfaction
Sabotage
Poor performance on the job
Reducing stress at work:
Minimize physical work stressors
Minimize unpredictability & ambiguity
Involve workers in decisions that affect their work
Make jobs interesting
Help workers to develop meaningful social relationships at work
Reward workers for good work
Look for signs of stress
Add workplace perks that enhance quality of life
Conflicting home and work responsibilities will ________ stress.
increase
Working women who had kids at home:
Higher levels of cortisol
Higher cardiovascular reactivity
More home strain
_______ women raising kids on their own are ______ at risk for health issues.
Single, most
Combo of motherhood and employment:
Is beneficial for health and wellbeing
Improve self-esteem
Improves feelings of self-efficacy & life satisfaction
Factors that lead to less stressful situations:
Control & flexibility over one’s work environment
Good income
Domestic help & inadequate child care
Supportive, helpful partner
stress + Men & Multiple Roles
Distressed by financial strain & work stress
Combining employment & marriage is protective for men’s health
Stressful interpersonal events at work can increase conflicts with kids
Employed, unmarried dads are more vulnerable to psychological distress.
Social and academic _________ experiences at school __________ a kid’s aversive behavior at home
failure, increases
Kids are ________ by their parents’ work & family stressors. Affects academic ____________ & causes the kid to act out in adolescence.
affected, achievement
