Midterm - History & Concepts

Question 1

Who is Rene Descartes and his contribution?

Answer 1

1. 17th century French Philosopher.
2. Dualism: “Non-physical” soul/mind separate from the physical body.
3. Soul/Mind governs behavior through a point of contact, such as the pineal gland.

Question 2

Who is Robert Hooke and his ideals?

Answer 2

1. 17th century engineer.
2. Talked about Load, Stress, and Strain.
3. Load = demand placed on a structure
4. Stress = the area affected by the demand
5. Strain = change in form that occurs because of the interaction between the load and stress
6. Body as a “machine” that is subject to wear and tear.

Question 3

What did Lazarus quote on in relation to Robert Hooke?

Answer 3

“Stress is an external demand placed on a bio-social-psychological system”.

Question 4

In the 18th century, what did “passions” refer to?

Answer 4

1. Nerves, vapors, hysteria.

2. Used to explain different diseases (1/3 of all diseases)

Question 5

What was the general fear in the 19th century about the human nervous system?

Answer 5

That it was ill adapted to cope with the increased complexity of modern life. (Wozniak, 1992)

Question 6

Who was George Beard and his contribution?

Answer 6

1. 19th century American physician.
2. Suggested neurasthenia: an overload of the nervous system due to 19th century demands of life. (nervous exhaustion characterized by anxiety, unexplained fatigue, and irrational fears…. ie. STRESS)

Question 7

Who was Claude Bernard and his ideas?

Answer 7

1. 19th century French physician.
2. Milieu intérieur: internal environment of living organisms must remain fairly constant in response to changes in the external environment.
3. Survival is determined by consistent maintenance of the internal environment via continual compensatory reactions.

Question 8

4 main facts from history and concepts of stress?

Answer 8

1. Interactions between mind and body.
2. Life leads to wear and tear on body.
3. Concept of steady state (milieu interieur).
4. Impact of pace of life on body and mind.

Question 9

Who was Walter Cannon and his contribution?

Answer 9

1. 20th century American physiologist.
2. Developed concept of Homeostasis from the idea of milieu interieur (Claude Bernard).
3. First used the term stress to refer to external factors that disrupted homeostasis.

Question 10

Who coined the term “fight or flight”?

Answer 10

Walter Cannon

Question 11

What is the Cannon-Bard theory?

Answer 11

Emotional experience and emotional expression are parallel processes with no direct causal relation.
EG. Autonomic responses are independent of our feelings. (Heart racing and fear = different)

Question 12

What is Bi-directional feedback?

Answer 12

There is feedback between the systems of mind-body/body-mind.

Question 13

Who is Hans Selye and what did his work lead to?

Answer 13

1. “Syndrome of just being sick” all patients were tired, no appetite, etc.
2. During his experiment with rat injections, noticed that any challenge/disturbance to homeostasis resulted in a consistent pattern or response.

Question 14

Who developed the General Adaptation Syndrome theory and what is it?

Answer 14

1. Hans Selye
2. 3 phases of stress:
   - Alarm reaction: body shows change to stressor, resistance is diminished, could result in stress.
   - Stage of Resistance: Resistance acquired if exposure continues, alarm reaction disappears and resistance goes above normal.
   - Stage of exhaustion: long-term exposure of same stressor = depletion of adaptation energy = signs of alarm reaction reappear, but now irreversible and individual dies.

Question 15

What is the typical triad of the alarm reaction observed?

Answer 15

1. Adrenals got bigger and darkened.
2. Thymus shrunk
3. Group of 3 lymph nodes shrunk
   (Stomach ulcers were also observed in alarmed rats).

Question 16

Selye pointed out that a stressor isn’t always…

Answer 16

Unpleasant.

Question 17

What does allostasis mean? How is it different from homeostasis?

Answer 17

1. Allostasis refers to multiple systems kicking in to maintain balance. (you’re hot, you sweat, now you begin to dehydrate, kidneys now reduce urinary output, etc.)
2. Homeostasis is a single system (eg. you’re hot, thus you sweat)

Question 18

What is allostatic load?

Answer 18

The amount of energy required to maintain balance. High loads cause damage over long-term demand.

Question 19

Who was Richard Lazarus and his contribution?

Answer 19

1. Psychologist interested in psychological stress and aspects like appraisal and coping.
2. Preferred a stimulus-orgnaism-response model which allowed for individual variations.

Question 20

What is primary appraisal?

Answer 20

Process of evaluating the significance of a transaction between a person and the environment. Is anything at stake?

Question 21

What is secondary appraisal?

Answer 21

1. Focuses on “what can be done.”

2. Evaluating coping options NOT actually doing anything. (Do i run, stay still, fight, etc.)

Question 22

Lazarus proposed 2 types of coping processes which are:

Answer 22

1. Person attempts to address directly the problem.
2. Person tries to dampen or minimize emotional state itself, without addressing the problem that elicited the state. (club, exercise, etc.)

Question 23

What are the 4 milestones in our understanding of stress?

Answer 23

1. Homeostasis: maintenance of stable internal environment of the body.
2. Physical or psychological stress leads to consistent patterns of non-specific responses in the body. (type of stress is not reflective to response, all the same).
3. Long-term stress has an adaptive cost: Allostatic load.
4. There are individual differences in responses to the same stressor (differences in coping).

Question 24

Define stress.

Answer 24

It is a factor, state, and response to adverse conditions placed on the body.

Question 25

Define an active process.

Answer 25

One that disturbs the equilibrium of a system ie. being stressed.

Question 26

What is a stressor?

Answer 26

A stimulus that causes the stress state.

Question 27

When are we in a state of stress?

Answer 27

1. Tension on the system

2. Tension is a threat to normal equilibrium of system.

Question 28

What is a physical stressor?

Answer 28

Also called: systemic stressors. Direct threat to physical well-being.
EG. Heat, cold, infection, dehydration

Question 29

What is a psychological stressor?

Answer 29

Also called: processive stressors. No direct threat to physical well-being - start with thoughts, interpretations, etc.
EG. Relationship problems, public speaking, job loss