Current Research on Stress

Question 1

True or false: there is a strong belief that stress leads to illness.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

What did researchers find with stress and illness?

Answer 2

They found that there was actually zero correlation between stress and illness; the correlation between them was sporadic.

Sometimes the correlation was significant, but occurred at low magnitude.

Question 3

What is the definition of sporadic?

Answer 3

Occurring at irregular intervals or only in a few places; scattered or isolated

Question 4

Some individuals don’t realize how stressed they really are in the moment. What does this signify?

Answer 4

Freud’s definition of denial. It is a defense mechanism used by people when they are experiencing stress.

Question 5

True or false: individual differences play a role in the levels of vulnerability someone has during stress

Answer 5

True. Some people become more prone to stress than others.

Question 6

Which factors play a bigger role in stress–environmental factors or physical factors?

Answer 6

Environmental

Question 7

What are some individual differences?

Answer 7

1) perceived control
- in painful situations, if you maintain control, you suffer less (breaking up with someone)

2) perceived coherence
- if you can find meaning in a painful situation, you suffer less (a loved one’s death)

3) defense mechanisms

4) coping
- problem solving, social-seeking support, avoidance

Question 8

When did Selye create his biological model?

Answer 8

1956

Question 9

What is stress, according to Selye?

Answer 9

The sum total of “adaptational demands”

Question 10

What did Selye believe?

Answer 10

He stated that little things which bump us out of our regular routines/resting state add up to our individual stress level

Ex: You have a final in the morning. You stay up late to study, don’t eat healthy, and realize that you ran out of milk for breakfast that morning. You step in some mud on your way out. Your car breaks down. These all add up to your stress.

Question 11

True or false: Selye said that, despite all the little things adding up to our stress levels, we may not get sick.

Answer 11

True.

Question 12

According to Selye’s stress model, what are the stages of stress reaction?

Answer 12

1) “alarm”
- the initial trigger
2) “coping”
- how you deal with the initial trigger
3) “exhaustion”
- the level you get to when you can’t deal with trigger

Question 13

According to Selye, if we cope with our demand/stressor successfully, we will…

Answer 13

Get back to homeostasis

Question 14

According to Selye, if we don’t cope with our demand/stressor successfully, we will…

Answer 14

Go into the final stage (exhaustion)

Question 15

When did Lazarus and Folkman create their psychological model?

Answer 15

1984

Question 16

According to Lazarus and Folkman, what are the stages of stress reaction?

Answer 16

1) primary appraisal
- initial reaction
2) secondary appraisal
- weighing/coping resources against demand

If resources are adequate, it will be a “challenge”
If resources are inadequate, it will be a “threat” and may lead to illness

Question 17

When did Hobfoll create his economic model?

Answer 17

1989

Question 18

The spiral of resource loss causes…

Answer 18

The individual to be susceptible to illness/dysfunction

Question 19

What is pathogenic stress?

Answer 19

When demands overwhelm resources; stress overload

Question 20

What is the common denominator to all theories?

Answer 20

Whether you feel you can cope with the stress

Question 21

If demands are low and resources are high…

Answer 21

You are low at risk of getting sick

Question 22

If demands are high and resources are high…

Answer 22

You may see the stressor as a challenge

Question 23

If demands are low and resources are low…

Answer 23

You are at a “fragile” stage

Question 24

If demands are high and resources are low…

Answer 24

You are at high risk of getting sick

Question 25

What are some examples of resources?

Answer 25

• Social support
• Information
• Experience

Question 26

What are some measures of stress?

Answer 26

• Physiological (BP, GSR, heart rate, epinephrine, cortisol)
• Self-report (“how stressed are you?”)
• List of life events (Holmes and Rahe, 1967)
• List of hassles + uplifts (Lazarus, 1990)

Question 27

Why is the physiological measure of stress so unreliable?

Answer 27

Because slight changes to hormones can vary daily and will impact the measurements

Question 28

Why is self-reporting so unreliable?

Answer 28

Because people don’t realize how stressed they really are

Question 29

Why is the list of life events so unreliable?

Answer 29

Because it is only measuring demands, not resources

Question 30

Which model did Amirkhan come up with in 2012? What does it measure?

Answer 30

Stress Overload Scale. It measures personal vulnerability (lack of resources) and event load (build-up of demands)

Question 31

If you have low event load and low personal vulnerability…

Answer 31

You are at low risk

Question 32

If you have high event load and low personal vulnerability

Answer 32

You consider it a challenge

Question 33

If you have low event load and high personal vulnerability…

Answer 33

You are “fragile”

Question 34

If you have high event load and high personal vulnerability…

Answer 34

You are at high risk