L7

Question 1

allostatic balance - can the shift out of allostatic balance or stress hormones due to stressor be described in an input-output model?

what does body recognize when pushed out of allostatic balance

Answer 1

no. input-output = objective interpretations. stressors = this response. but subjective experience is super important. sometimes a stressor may not feel so bad.

• system sensitive to the size of the stressor.
• body recognizes how fast and how far it is being pushed out of allostatic balance.

Question 2

modulating the stress reponse

Answer 2

modified by psycholoogical facotrs - change the way you appraise.
- same allostatic disruption can be perceived and appraised differently. psych factors can trigger the stress response

Question 3

what are the 5 psych factors that modulate the stress response?

Answer 3

outlets for frustration
social support
predictability
control
perception of things worsening/improving

Question 4

outlets for frustration
rats
exercise
distract

Answer 4

rats: with outlets, fewer peptic ulcers.
- distract from stressor
- exercise is useful as an outlet, use glucose so no negative interpretation of the physical response to the stressor.
- distract from stressor: visualize/imagine thing that is separate from stressor
- positivity.
- displacement of aggression: aggressing on person that can’t talk back.. give ulcers, not getting ulcers.

Question 5

social support

• male baboons with more friends
• cardio response
• socially isolated
• ethnic minorities

Answer 5

• more friends (non-sexual grooming, playing with young) = lower glucocorticoid levels.
• increase oxytocin, decrease cardiovascular response- hr bp, compliance, increase immunity.
• socially isolated = overly active SS when unhappy with social support
• ethnic minorities: social support at community level. smaller community = greater risk of mental illness, psych hospitalization and suicide.

Question 6

predictability

- rats with signal

Answer 6

rats that received a signal before a shock developed fewer ulcers than those that didnt know stressor was coming. 2 reasons:

1. knew when stressor was coming - brace self
2. knew when it wasn’t coming - relax.

Question 7

predictability - habituation

Answer 7

habituate to predictable stressors. If you have something every week, you learn to prep yourself for the stressor = becomes less stressful

Question 8

predictability - loss of predictability

Answer 8

can trigger the stress response.

- when feed rodent on fixed-interval schedule, then change the schedule to random feeding = stress response increases

Question 9

predictability - ulcers & bombings

Answer 9

ww2, london. central vs suburban. central were bombed every day, suburban bombed randomly once a week. suburban had greatter occurence of GI ulcers. for central = being bombed was predictable, suburban = didnt know when within week, always tense & nervous aka stressed = more ulcers.

Question 10

predictability - coping strategy

Answer 10

when going thru stress find out how stressful the experience is beforehand.
- prep plan for surgery, baby etc.

Question 11

control - rats with lever

Answer 11

• rats with lever that turns off shock have fewer ulcers than rats without the lever.
• take away lever entirely, rats that previously had lever get more ulcers than those that never had lever.

Question 12

perceived control - human study, sound

Answer 12

when ppl perceived that they had control - making sound less frequent by hitting big red button that actually did nothing. perceived noise as less annoying after hitting. those with button that didnt press still perceived it as less strssful

Question 13

control - exercise

Answer 13

exercise can reduce stress, but if you don’t have control over your workout - increase in stress response

Question 14

occupational stress - demand vs control

Answer 14

high demand; low control = high incidence of cardiovascular disease
hgih demand &control better than high demand low control.
high demand &control also better than low demand low control.

Question 15

perception of things worsening/improving

• refugees
• pain
• rodent

Answer 15

refugees: come to canada no money, less stressed bc perceived as better than old country, vs canadian in similar financial situation - perceived as more stressful bc lost everything
- pain: chemo may be perceived as less stressful because it’ll lead to improvement in condition
- rodent: 1 shocked 10 times a day, 2 shocked 50 times a day. after both shocked 25 times a day. 1 had greater stress responses than 2 because his situation got worse rather than better

Question 16

perception of worse/improve

- meaning attached to reality

Answer 16

kids with cancer. parents were less stressed than expected because they say improvement in their child from the beginning.

Question 17

perception of worse/improve: baboons

Answer 17

change ranking - when increase rank = less stress.

when decrease rank to equal as the one who increased - more stress.

Question 18

what are the conflicting facts?

Answer 18

• bad things happen - out of your control, utterly unpredictable.
• unpredictable positive effects can be strssful (lottery)
• how you perceive based on how much weight to each factor.
• dont want total control & predictability.

Question 19

subtleties of predictability -

Answer 19

not always beneficial - boring with no surprises or stimulation. can cause increase in stress if strsesor is inevitable.

Question 20

what types of stressors make predictability less effective?

Answer 20

very rare or very frequent stressors?

- rare to get hit by bus, if frequently commute = frequent stress rsponse

Question 21

predictability - timing of warnign

Answer 21

1 hour of prep for surgery = not enough time to cope - stressor too close.
if warning is too far away = anticipatory stress - no benefit

Question 22

predictability for terrible stressor

Answer 22

if you cant do anything about it (ie genetic counselling) - unnecessary to stress. maybe better not to know.

Question 23

predictability vague info

Answer 23

if information is vague - cant optimize coping.

Question 24

ideal predictabilty *4)

Answer 24

moderate frequency
enough time to prep, but not too much time
moderate intensity
enough info to act on predictability

Question 25

subtleties of control - control can backfire.

- compassion vs brutal

Answer 25

compassionate vs brutal assignment of control

• compassion: reaffirm in situation, nothing could be done
• brutal: assigning control when there was none. victime blaming = increase stress response. ex: bernie segel.

Question 26

subtleties of control - control and context

counterfactual thinking** not term i need to know for this class

Answer 26

• if imagined situation is worse than what youre experiencing now - believe you have more control than you could in a different situation = cope better.
• can’t imagine worse situation = no control, cant prevent = greater stress response

Question 27

subtleties of control-internal locus of control

Answer 27

higher loc = greater stress response when faced with uncontrollable stressor.
high internal = belief things that happen to us stem from our own actions. - greater stress response when no control, but belief is that things come from actions.
-external loc: situation influences how life turns out.
- internal: outcome depends on own actions.

Question 28

subtleties of control = “executive stress”

Answer 28

monkey study: 2 groups
1 - executive group - button to turn shock off, developed more ulcers than group 2 that had no control.
- why? bc not random assignment - monkeys that hit button quickest placed into executive group. - more emotionally reactive, more sensitive to stress = more susceptible to ulcers.

Question 29

stress is super subjective which is why?

Answer 29

bio-engineers cant form an input-output model of stress response