measuring stress

Question 1

Explain Self report measures of stress (SRRS)

Answer 1

-srrs is an essential method of measuring life changes
-studied medical records of 1000’s if medical students
-identified things that may have caused them to be ill
Rahe and Holmes realised they needed to attach value to each life change

Question 2

What is one weakness of SRRS?

Answer 2

-many categories are too general
Eg. Serious illness and injury could mean a broken ankle or a gash on your arm
-reduces validity of self report methods

Question 3

Explain the hassles and uplifts scale?

Answer 3

-Kanner et al proposed combined effects of daily hassles and uplifts would be a better indication of stress

Question 4

What’s a weakness of the hassles and uplifts scale?

Answer 4

-they are intended to predict stress related illness
-instead they reflect illness as some items of the scale are symptoms of psychological disorders
=contamination effect

Question 5

Explain physiological measures of stress?

Answer 5

Skin conductance rate (SCR)

• skin conductance based on flight or fight response
• when stressed nervous system is aroused
• elecrodes attatched to index finger to see how much energy we conduct

Question 6

What are the 2 types of skin conductance?

Answer 6

Tonic conductance -skin conductance when we’re not stressed and allows us to compare with phasic conductance
Phasic conductance-
When something happens eg. Being asked a question
-follows a typical pattern using other factors like heart rate

Question 7

What’s a weakness of physical measures of stress (SCR)?

Answer 7

• although takes into account that people have different patterns of conductance and is taken before stimulus is presented
• however some people may produce a lot or a little SCR therefore measurement isn’t straight forward
• reduces validity