Minor - Psychophys Flashcards
What is stress/allostatic load? How is it measured?
We refer to allostasis to represent changes in body from homeostasis as it responds to threat. Allostatic Load describes when allostatic response is not turned off and the body breaks down it’s defenses (McEwen, 1998)
Stress measured via cortisol via saliva or blood samples.
SAM Axis vs HPA Axis
SAM- activated during fight/flight, responds/peaks in seconds, quickly returns to homeostasis. Associated with challenge
HPA- activates after longer exposure to stress; reaches peak in minutes; slowly returns to homeostasis. Associated with threat
Utility of Psychophys in SP? Weaknesses?
continuous measurement, covert/implicit measurement, pinpoint experimental events, indexing stress/threat/health outcomes, increase internal validity
weakness - infer to much; sensitive to contextual factors; logistics/cost; external validity
Describe/Cite Biopsychosocial Model of Challenge and Threat
Blascovich and Mendes (2000)
In situations that are active and goal relevant, when demands are greater than perceived resources, I’s experience THREAT. when perceived resources are greater than demands, I’s experience CHALLENGE. These psychological states have distinctive CV patterns. PP methods can infer challenge/threat states
Caccioppo and Tassinary (1990)
Identity Thesis - understanding bodily responses can inform our understanding of mental states and processes and vice versa (monistic view)
Dickerson and Kemeny (2004)
Found that psychological stressors did increase cortisol levels although the effect varied widely across tasks. Found support for their theoretical model which posits that motivated performance tasks elicited cortisol responses if they were uncontrollable or characterized by social-evaluative threat (task performance could be negatively evaluated by others). Tasks including uncontrollable and social-evaluative elements were associated with the largest cortisol and ACTH changes and the longest times to recover.
Public speaking/cognitive tasks was associated with the greatest cortisol responses compared to other stressors and had twice the effect size
This chronic activation of the physiological system has been associated with diabetes, hypertension, cancer, and CV disease.
Cacioppo, Tassinary, and Bernston (2000)
Chapter on psychophysiological science.PP is comprised of psychological (psi) and physiological (phi) domains
2x2 Taxonomy of PP relationships: Based on specificity and generality.
Outcome = many-to-one, situation specific relationship between psi and phi. Strong inference potential.
Marker = one-to-one, situation specific relationship between abstract events psi and phi.
Concomitant (or correlate) = many-to-one cross situational (context-independent) association between abstract events psi and phi.
Invariants = one-to-one, context independent (cross-situational) association.
Seery (2013)
Theoretical paper discussing the biopsychosocial model of challenge and threat (BPS) as it relates to physiological measurements of the heart.
BPS presents methodological advantages, how it’s been used to study social power, performance, and social anxiety. Also discusses how BPS is optimal for measuring resilience
BPS of challenge and threat-Motivated performance situations>task engagement>resource/demand evaluations which lead to challenge or threat channels
Challenge (high resources/low demands)>SAM activation> Low TPR(total peripheral resistance)/High CO; Good for fast action
Threat (low resources/high demands)>SAM and HPA activation>High TPR/LOW CO; Higher TPR inhibits physical activity (freezing)
Evaluations of resources/demands occur automatically rather than consciously and are continually updated
Glaser and Kiecolt-Glaser (2005)
stress-induced immune dysregulation is directly linked to morbidity and a variety of adverse health outcomes
A stressor is a stimulus that activates the HPA axis and/or the sympathetic nervous system to help an organism adapt physiologically to deal with the threat
Stressors can increase susceptibility to infection agents, influence the severity of infection disease/prolong infectious illness episodes, diminish strength of immune responses in vaccines, reactivate latent herpesvirus, and slow wound healing. Faster rate of disease progression among HIV infected men
Beckie (2012)
systematic review of articles examining allostatic load (AL), health, and health disparities.
There is empirical substantiation for the relationships found between AL and SES, social relationships, workplace, lifestyle, race/ethnicity, gender, stress exposure, and genetic factors. There is also strong evidence supporting the link between AL and physical/MH and mortality.
