Hoofdstuk 3 Flashcards
The condition of stress has 2 components:
1) Physical: involving direct material or bodily challenge
2) Psychological: involving how individuals perceive circumstances in their lives
- these components can be examined in 3 ways
1) focus on the environment (stress is seen as a stimulus)
* physically or psychologically challenging events or circumstances are called “stressors”
2) focus on peoples reactions to stressors (stress is a response)
* when people use the word “stress” to refer to their state of tension
* the psychological and physiological response to a stressor = “strain”
3) stress as a process - that includes stressors and strains, but als the relationship between the person and the environment.
* process involves continuous interactions and adjustments (transactions) with the person and the environment each affecting and being affected by the other
* person is active agent in this process that influences the impact of the stressor through behavrioral, cognitive and emotional strategies
Stress
the circumstance in which transactions lead a person to perceive a discrepancy between the physical or psychological demands of a situation and the resources of her biological, psychological or social systems
Cognitive Appraisal - Lazarus
a mental process by which people assess, 2 factors:
1) whether a demand threatens their physical or psychological well-being
2) the resources available for meeting the demand
Primary and Secondary Appraisal:
- irrelevant
- good (benign-positive)
- stressful –> harm-loss (amount of damage already occurred) –> threat (involves the expectation of future harm) –> challenge (opportunity to achieve growth mastery or profit)
Secondary Appraisal refers to our assessment of the resources we have available for coping
Appraising events as stressful
depends on 2 types of factors
- those relating to person
- those relating to situation
Personal factors: intellectual, motivational and personality characteristics (bv self-esteem)
- tendency to appraise minor issues as major problems = perfectionism
The physiological portion of the response to a stressor/strain = reactivity
reactivity wordt vergeleken met the level of arousal in rust
- chronic stress shows heightened reactivity and arousal takes longer to return to baseline
(Walter Cannon: fight or flight)
-the perception of danger causes the sympathetic nervous system to stimulate many organs (heart) and adrenal glands (epinephrine arouses the body further)
Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)
GAS doesn’t take into account psychosocial processes
1) Alarm Reaction (fight/flight)
-activates HPA (hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal-axis)
-adrenal gland releases cortisol
2) Stage of Resistance
-HPA activation predominates
- few outward signs of stress, however possibly impaired to new stressors (diseases of adaptation)
3) Stage of Exhaustion
- weaken immune system
- deplete body’s energy reserves
Allostatic Load
the effects of the body’s adapting repeatedly to stressors, that accumulate over time
- fluctuations in cortisol/epinephrine
- blood pressure
- immune function
4 factors are important in the overall amount of bodily activation or physiological stress
1) amount of exposure
2) magnitude of reactivity
3) rate of recovery
4) resource restoration
Adverse childhood experiences
higher levels of allostatic load in adulthood (more rapid aging)
Stressors are more likely to trigger the release of large amounts of
epinephrine/norepinephrine/cortisol, if the individuals’ response includes a strong element of emotion
Depression
major psychological disorder when severe & prolonged (at least 2 weeks)
Men: fight/flight
women: tend/befriend
Gezondheid =
een positieve status van fysiek, mentaal en sociaal welzijn, dat door de tijd heen fluctueert volgens een continuum
For adults, stress appraisals of an illness
typically include both current difficulties and concerns for the future
- for children: likely to focus on current rather than future concerns
Another way stress arises within the person is through the appraisal of opposing motivational forces, when a state of conflict exists
- push and pulled in 2 directions: these produce opping tendencies Approach and Avoidance
Factors that make jobs stressful
1) demands of the task
- workload high
- job activities (jobs that underutilize a worker’s abilities)
2) jobs that involve responsibility for people’s lives (emotional exhaustion)
3) physical environment
4) perceived insufficient control
5) poor interpersonal relationships
6) perceived inadequate recognition or advancement
7) job loss and insecurity
- factors are all linked to emotional distress, physiological strain and sleep loss
