II-3- How stress has been studied

Question 1

Identify three discoveries about stress reactions that have come out of the acute stress paradigm.

Answer 1

1. People who are chronically stressed have a stronger reaction to acute stress
2. There are individual differences in the response to acute stress, based on personality traits such as hostility. People who are high in hostility react to laboratory stress with dramatic increases in blood pressure and heart rate.
3. Certain factors, such as social support, moderate the effects of stress. When people are exposed to acute stressors in lab while in the presence of someone supportive, their stress response tends to be reduced.

Question 2

Summarize the findings of studies that induce disease

Answer 2

When people who are under psychological stress are exposed to viruses, they are more susceptible to infection than individuals who are not experiencing stress. In one study, a team of researchers infected two groups of adults with an influenza virus by swabbing their nose with cotton soaked in a viral culture. The researchers measured the participants’ respiratory symptoms, the amount of mucus they produced, and other indicators of infection. They found, as predicted, that individuals experiencing chronic stress showed greater signs of illness in response to the virus than people whose lives were less stressful.

Question 3

Describe the relationship between SLE scores and illness

Answer 3

A number of studies show that stressful life events (SLE) predict illness. Although life event inventories have been reliably tied both to the onset of acute illness and to the exacerbation of chronic diseases, the relation between the SLE scales and illness is quite modest

Question 4

Name five problems associated with the use of SLE scales.

Answer 4

1. Some of the items on the list are vague; for example, “personal injury or illness” could mean anything from the flu to a heart attack.
2. Because events have pre-assigned point values, individual differences in the way events are experienced are not taken into account. For example, a divorce may mean welcome freedom to one partner but a collapse in living standard or self-esteem to the other.
3. SLE scales usually include both positive and negative events, treating them the same. They fail to distinguish between events that individuals choose, such as getting married, and events that simply happen, such as the death of a close friend.
4. These inventories do not assess whether those events have been successfully resolved or not, even though stressful events that have been successfully resolved do not produce adverse effects for most individuals.
5. SLE scales do not have a way of assessing how long the effects of a stressor last.

Question 5

Discuss the findings of research using the “hassle scale.”

Answer 5

Daily hassles, such as traffic jams, doing chores, and waiting in line, are better predictors of health than are SLEs. The small things can take a greater toll on people’s psychological and physical health than major events.

Question 6

acute stress paradigm

Answer 6

A laboratory procedure whereby an individual goes through moderately stressful procedures (such as counting backwards rapidly by 7s), so that stress-related changes in emotions and physiological and/or neuroendocrine processes may be assigned.

Question 7

stressful life events (SLE)

Answer 7

Events that force an individual to make changes in his or her life.

Question 8

daily hassles

Answer 8

Minor daily stressful events; believed to have a cumulative effect in increasing the likelihood of illness.