Midterm Exam

Question 1

Differentiate between the two types of stressors

Answer 1

Stressors may be processive or systemic

Processive stressors occur as a reaction to our processing of information and can either be neurogenic or psychogenic

• Neurogenic involve a physical nature and may occur due to illness or painful stimuli (ex. stubbing your toe or chest pain)
• Psychogenic stressors are psychological and may occur due to an upcoming work deadline or more severely a death of a loved one

Systemic stressors involve a change in our biological systems and may even be unconscious
- Ex: A drop in glucose levels in a diabetic

Question 2

Why may a situation be stressful for one person but not another?

Answer 2

Stressors are subjective and requires an appraisal - some people may appraise situations different based on personality factors, differing lyfestyle, and different coping mechanisms

These individual differences interact with an organisms biological factors and which are also influenced by current illnesses or genetic and epigenetic factors

Question 3

What are the characteristics of stressors and how may this influence how it is appraised?

Answer 3

Severity - the more severe the greater risk for pathophysiological consequences

Controllability - Having control makes a stressor both psychologically and physically easier to cope with

Predicability (knowing it will happen but not when) - unpredictable stressors are typically more adverse because there is no preparation

Ambiguity/uncertainity (unsure if it will happen) - in most cases uncertainty is more damaging, however this depends on personal characteristics (depending on their tolerance for uncertainty)

Chronicity/intermittence - when stressors are reoccurring or chronic they are more difficult to cope with

Question 4

What is the difference between high and low tolerance to uncertainity?

Answer 4

When a person has high intolerance can increase anxiety of daily stressors because of the ‘unknown’

When a person has low intolerance they tend to information seek to answer the unknown and once found out can cause adverse effects (HT disease)

Question 5

What are black swans?

Answer 5

Black swans are very rare events that are majorly unpredictable and have divesting effects on individuals/societies and cause people to being thinking if they had all the information they may have predicted it

Ex. 911, diagnosis of a rare disease, having a tree fall on you walking through the forest

Question 6

What is allostatic overload?

Answer 6

Allostatis refers to the biological changes that normalize the body once the threat of a stressor is gone

If stressors are chronic or reoccurring the glucocorticoids begin to alter the glucocorticoid receptors that initiate the stress response to stop. This dysfunctional negative feedback loop results in allostatic overload

This causes the body to be vulnerable to illnesses and other stressors

Question 7

How do daily hassles and major life events differ in their potential for psychological disturbances?

Answer 7

Major life events are more likely to result in psychological disturbances than daily hassles

However, when a person is contanstly being exposed to daily hassles it begins to have a cumulative effect and can make people more prone to illness or emotional disturbances

Question 8

How can someone combat the negative affects of frequent daily hassles?

Answer 8

Social support - being able to vent to someone
Put things into perspective - take a breath and think about it
Mindfullness - appraise situations appropriately as they occur and avoid worrying about the future

Question 9

What are stressor interviews and diaries used for?

Answer 9

Stress studies typically rely on self-report or retrospective analysis so in order to reduce some of the biases associated with this

• Stressor interviews involve people other than the individual such as friends, family, teachers, et.
• Stress diaries are when individuals are prompted to record their stress at a specific time interval and then this is assessed later

Question 10

How does vulnerability and resilience differ?

Answer 10

• Vulnerability makes an individual more susceptible to adverse stress effects because of an illness or prior trauma (sensitization), or social/environmental factors
• Resilience is when people have an increased ability to recover from a stressor and is often formed from previous trauma

Question 11

What is mendelian inheritance?

Answer 11

When there is a dichotomous traits the genotype in which you inherit determines your phenotype

Ex. you either inherit a blue allele and brown allele your eyes will be brown because it is dominant

Unlike plants, most human traits are not dichotomous. You are not tall or short; round or flat, etc.

Question 12

What are polymorphisms?

Answer 12

Mutations that cause genes to be either inserted or deleted, thus impacting the phenotype

These occur as a result of environmental interactions

Ex. AB blood type

Question 13

How do genes influence our behaviour?

Answer 13

We inherit DNA strands, one of which is used as a blueprint for RNA, a process called transcription

The product, mRNA is then coded into a particular polypeptide chain to create a protein

Within DNA strands we can find promoters - which are thought to activate or suppress and acts as an instruction manual for the gene that follows

Environmental influences can effect these promoters, which can change the expression of these gene or how it interactions with others, all impacting biological functioning and behaviour

Question 14

What is gene engineering? How can you use it with stressors?

Answer 14

Inbred strains are when you mate two organisms that will produce identical genes in their offspring (FF with ff)

This litter would be referred to as F1 and when you mate this litter you would get F2 but they will have various genotypes

Since you started with the same you can compare the phenotypes with genotypes to find which genes cause what

You can also manipulate genes (deletion/knock-out or addition/knock-in) and observe the consequences

After manipulating the genes you can expose them to stress and assess the effects on particular presence of genotypes

Question 15

How can you study genetic factors and their link to specific phenotypes in humans?

Answer 15

Twin studies can analyze MZ and DZ twins and identify where there is a concordance rate between their genes are pathological states

You can also find a group of affected and non-affected people and complete a genomic analysis to see if there is pattern of certain genes or mutations

Question 16

What is an endophenotypic approach to treatment?

Answer 16

Endophenotypic or precision medicine involves trying specific symptoms of a disorder or illness to biological characteristics such as genetics, biochemical makers or behavioural markers

You then take this to create an individualized treatment

Question 17

How does personality characteristics and age influence the stress response?

Answer 17

Certain personality traits influence the way we appraise, cope, or interact (ex. risk takers) with situations
- Openness can result in resilience whereas neuroticism can result in emotional reactivity/vulnerabiltiy

Your age determines how you will respond to stressors but pathologies also depend on the age in which you were exposed to a stressor

Question 18

How does prenatal and early postnatal experiences influence your biological functioning?

Answer 18

Prental: when a mother experiences severe or chronic stress it can impact the fetus’ intrauterine environment which can have profound developmental effects (especially during the mid-term period)
- Teratogenic agents are harmful substances that can alter development

Postnatal: Children do not appraise situations the same (which can sometimes be protective) but they also have inadequate coping resources and thus early life events can have long-term effects on biological functioning

Prental & postnatal experience can cause biological reprogramming which can change your cognitive and behavioural development as well as you hormonal response to stressors

Question 19

What is epigenetic?

Answer 19

Epigenetic changes do not re-write the genetic code, rather they act like notes or markers on genes, telling the body whether or not they should be expressed

DNA is organized around clusters of proteins called histones - Histones can be modified by the addition of acetyl or methyl groups, this is one type of epigenetic mark

Histone acetylation is an epigenetic mark that related/loosens the chromatin and increased gene transcription

Histone methylation is an epigenetic mark that tightens/condenses the chromatin and decreases gene transcription

Question 20

________ periods are when organisms are particularly sensitive to stressors

Answer 20

Transition periods
- Adolescence can be very stressful and make you vulnerable and can promote bad behaviours to fit in

• Moving away from home may be difficult as you try to gain independence why still wanting the social support system
• Old age can be particular difficult as your social circle gets small and your body beings to deteriorate

Question 21

What is sensitization?

Answer 21

When a previous stressor or experience has altered biological processes (expression, sensitivity) so that upon a secondary exposure the response is exaggerated

There can be cross-sensitization

Question 22

What is stress generation?

Answer 22

Stress generation is when individuals because of certain circumstances cause themselves stress

Ex. A person with depression always being negative so they drive their social support circle away

Question 23

What is the difference between primary and secondary appraisals?

Answer 23

Appraisals are how a person evaluates a potential stressor

Primary appraisals are the initial impressions and perception of impact - is this a threat?

Secondary appraisals are when people consider their available resources and if they are able to cope with the stressor

Question 24

What are the various control dimensions that influence how we evaluate secondary appraisals?

Answer 24

Behavioural control - the ability to influence a situation with action

*Cognitive control - ability to influence the situation with mental strategy

Decisional control - having choice over which resource/coping mechanism to use

Informational control - the degree to which the individual can predict/prepare for event

Question 25

What is the difference between fast and slow thinking? Which one do we rely on during stressful situations

Answer 25

When we make appraisals or decisions we tend to rely on heuristics - shortcuts developed from prior information

System 1 or fast thinking is an automatic system that is highly influenced by our heuristics and prior experiences

System 2 or slow thinking kicks in when more complex decisions and deliberation needs to occur

We rely on fast thinking during stress

Question 26

In what ways may we make a misappraisal?

Answer 26

• Our mood/state of mind ends to largely influence our appraisals
• We tend to make social comparisons (either upwards or downwards) to form our appraisals accordingly
• We have an illusion of courage that makes us less fearful of distant events
• Sterotypes can influence us
• Abigious/uncertain situations are difficult to accurately appraise
• The risk shift makes us appraise situations less dangerous in groups

Question 27

Why do people act irrationally?

Answer 27

• stressed individuals tend to irrationally make poor decisions and get themselves into increasingly distressing situations
• Some people will refuse to make a decisions in fear of making a bad one, having too many choice, or use ignoring as a coping mechanism

Question 28

How can personality influence how a person appraises a situation?

Answer 28

Poor self-efficacy causes people to appraise their situations are poor as they double their capabilities to handle it

Extraversion causes people to appraise situations as challenges to be over come

Neuroticism causes people to appraise situations as threats

Question 29

What is the difference between a top-down and bottom-up approach in relation to learning and memory?

Answer 29

Learning occurs via a top-down approach: we learn through trial and error and when we are awarded for certain responses, we strengthen the connection

As topics become more difficult we use these pre-existing connections to build on

Some perceptions/responses become so entrenched that they become automatic/habits, which essentially uses a bottom-up approach

We rely on these automatic/fast thinking approaches during stress when we need to make a quick decision

These bottom-up processes are prone to biases

Question 30

What is emotional intelligence?

Answer 30

having multiple skills related to emotional perception, expression and regulation

Question 31

How may stress influence our emotional intelligence?

Answer 31

• Emotions influence our cognitive processes: they alter our disposition to react certain ways to unrelated events
• Ex. taking your anger out on somebody else

Cogntive processes influence the perception and expression of our emotion
- Ex. not standing up for yourself when you realize the person is extremely strong

Connections between the PFC and amygdala interact to alter our intelligence during stress

Question 32

Describe the stress-appraisal coping triad. Which method is the best?

Answer 32

coping methods can be categorized into 3 general types:

1. Problem-focused
2. Emotion-focused
3. Avoidant/disengagement strategies

Which method to use is all dependent on the situation - certain stressors such as a neurogenic stressor of stubbing your toe would not make sense to tackle with problem-solving and may be better to have an emotional response

We tend to use more than one strategy at a time

However, the ability to be flexible and appropriately switch between methods appears to be the most effective

Question 33

Why is it difficult to use a factor analysis to group subtypes of coping into categories such as in the stress-appraisal-coping triad?

Answer 33

• Coping subtype may change categories depending on context and circumstances
• Coping involves complex interactions that cannot be deduced to a single method
• Coping subtypes may be utilized differently by people with different psychological symptoms, misrepresenting the endorsement of coping

Question 34

What are two processes that occur after an individual has lived through a traumatic experience?

Answer 34

1. They try to make sense of the situation

2. They try to find some benefit or meaning

Question 35

How can one utilize social support in order to buffer stress?

Answer 35

• It can lessen the psychological burden of those in distress
• It can act as a distraction
• It can validate someones feelings
• However the support needs be of good quality

Question 36

How can forgiveness be beneficial following stressful or traumatic stations?

Answer 36

• It can limit the adverse impact on well-being by limiting rumination
• Forgiveness is typically given in response to an apology/understanding from the transgressor
• it can alter your appraisals/coping efforts
• forgiveness requires trust (oxytocin) that the aggressor will not repeat their actions
• Broken trust can result in betrayal and revenge which can result in serious rumination and obsession

Question 37

What is the impact of unsupportive interactions?

Answer 37

Having unsupportive interactions is worse that having the perception of having no support at all

It can lower SE, make an individual feel indebted/guilty, provide inaccuate/poor advice, it can cause people to disconnect from you (blaming or not knowing what to say), undermine coping abilities

Sometimes support is misinterpreted as unsupportive when people have warped expectations of the type of support they should receive

Question 38

How can social rejection impact an individual?

Answer 38

When in-group members don’t want their reputation tarnished due to a ‘black sheep’ they will socially reject them

• this undermines abilities to cope, increases cortisol levels and is linked to chronic illness
• They experience activation in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, the same area that processes physical pain
• People who experience social rejection following rich support are somewhat protected from the detreminetial impacts of the rejection

Question 39

What is the difference between endocrine and exocrine hormones?

Answer 39

Endocrine hormones are released directly into the blood whereas exocrine hormones are secreted into ducts and then flow into the blood/diffuse from cell to cell

Question 40

What are the 4 primary actions of glucocorticoids in relation to stressors?

Answer 40

Permissive
Stimulating
Preparative
Supressive

Question 41

How does chronic stressors impact the HPA axis?

Answer 41

It results in adaptation in which you see a less pronounced cortisol response (down-regulation), unless you are exposed to a severe or novel stressor in which it is exaggerated

• If the downregualtion is in response to trauma an exaggerated response occurs when there is a trigger/relevant stressor

Question 42

What is the differences between the stress response of real-life or in a lab?

Answer 42

The TSST is commonly used in lab setting and elicits a higher cortisol release than real-life stressors

This is due to:

• unpredictability and lack or time to prepare
• occurs after the test rather than in anticipation (ex. heart surgery)
• Social evaluative threats provoke cortisol more than others

Question 43

Research has found that people who have experience trauma have a down regulation of cortisol. How does this occur?

Answer 43

It appears that there is a down regulation of ACTH release which impacts cortisol

When people are injected with CRH in the hypothalamus the anterior pituitary does not release ACTH

This is protecting the individual for over activation causing degradation, however, extreme stressors can override this down regulation

Question 44

What is a typical diurnal cortisol profile? How may it differ?

Answer 44

Typically cortisol peaks upon wakening and declines throughout the day, reaching its lowest point around midnight

People experiencing stress may show a more intense peak followed by a more steady decline

Others may show a flipped profile in which they demonstrate their peak later in the day rather than the morning (This is a result of down regulation)

Question 45

What effect does cortisol release have on the amygdala?

Answer 45

It causes CRH mRNA expression and increase in vivo CRH release

The release from the CeA and BNST provoke anxiety and fear

CRH mRNA expression means that CRH protein is synthesized

Question 46

What is the difference between anxiety and fear? How does the amygdala activate this?

Answer 46

Fear is an emotion that responds to a stimuli that has been previously paired with an aversive stimuli (conditioned) - it increases CRH expression

Anxiety is a general/free-floating feeling that occurs in anticipation - it increases CRH in the BNST

Question 47

How does the amygdala respond differently to systemic and processive stressors?

Answer 47

Systemic stressors activate the CeA

Processive stressors activate the medial amygdala

Question 48

What is the difference between leptin and gherkin?

Answer 48

Leptin stimulates food intake and ghrelin stimulates food satiety

Question 49

What is metabolic syndrome?

Answer 49

Metabolic syndrome is promoted by poor lifestyle and stressful events and is accompanied by elevated visceral fat

It is the presence of diabetes, glucose tolerance, fasting glucose or insulin resistance

Which is accompanied by two of the following: high BP, high triglycerides, low HDL cholesterol, obesity, and elevated albumin urine

The fat cells release inflammatory chemcials that can have numerous adverse consequences