Psychology of Stress

Question 1

What is stress?

Answer 1

• psychological and bodily response to stimulus that alter’s persons’ equilibrium (avg functioning)
• requires adjustment or adaptation

Question 2

Stress Response

Answer 2

• body’s response to stress
• flight or fight response
• Throwing your body out of equilibrium

Question 3

Type of Stressors

Answer 3

Physical, social, psychological
-combo of all 3
-physical apply to most (ex. running)
-psych and social are subjective
   Ex) hassles for college students
Acute (short term), Chronic (long term), traumatic stressors

Question 4

General Adaptation Syndrome

Answer 4

Alarm phase, resistance phase, exhaustion phase

-What’s happening to us physically?

Question 5

Alarm Phase

Answer 5

• mobilization of flight or fight
• sympathetic NS activated
• breathing, HR, and BP increase

Question 6

Resistance Phase

Answer 6

• PNS system kicks in
• mobilize resources for equilibrium
• cortisol returns body to normal state/equilibrium

Question 7

Exhaustion Phase

Answer 7

• limited resources depleted
• stress response damages body
• increased cognitive functioning -> increased psychological stress

Question 8

Why is perception the key to stress

Answer 8

-perception determines whether something is perceived as stressful
-actual control isn’t important, perception of control is important
-locus of control
Ex) Test: perceive that you can study long enough to do good on a test and then won’t be stressed about the test

Question 9

Perception of control

Answer 9

-amount of control people want differs
-increased sense of control = increased health
-lower income people believe they have less control and tend to have poorer health
Other factors: nutrition, healthcare
-catastrophic stressors can increase stress because people feel responsible
Floods, tornadoes

Question 10

Learned Helplessness: Seligman & Maier

Answer 10

-repeatedly shocked groups of dogs:
1st group in harness
2nd group in harness, but could push button with nose to stop
3rd group couldn’t control shock
When released- 1st two groups figured out how to escape while the 3rd group did not attempt to escape

Question 11

Learned Helplessness: Academics

Answer 11

Intelligence

• tend to believe nothing they do will change the outcome
• no matter what they do they won’t be able to change…blame internally

Question 12

Personality can reduce stress

Answer 12

Cognitive hardiness
-challenge
-commitment
-control
Optimism
-generally believe good things will happen
Resilience 
-capacity to adapt and achieve well-being

Question 13

Stress Effects on Immune System

Answer 13

White blood cells
-critical for immune system functioning
Glucocorticoids
-released during stress
-hinder or kill white blood cells
Effects time wound takes to heal
Major events effect immune (ex. after 9/11)
Racism: subtle racism has more of an effect b/c not prepared for it and think about it longer than blunt racism

Question 14

Stress Effects on Cancer

Answer 14

• Stress doesn’t cause cancer, but effects growth of cells
• white cells not preventing spread
• physical stress = increase in capillaries
• more capillaries to supply tumor
• High perception of control and social support play a role in higher survival rates
• Interpret results with caution b/c diff types of cancer have diff outcomes/treatments and genetics are also another factor

Question 15

Stress Effects on Heart Disease

Answer 15

Atherosclerosis
-narrowing of arteries
-stress increases BP… which damages arteries
Depression
-treatment for depression can decrease stress response
-benefits from depression treatment; helps with heart disease
Anxiety
-increases BP
-stress response kicks in, constant.

Question 16

Sleep & Stress

Answer 16

-can’t sleep when you want to so stress response kicks in and you cannot sleep and a lack of sleep increases stress
-problems with lack of sleep:
Attention & performance drop, Mood, Increase cortisol, Learning decreases

Question 17

Sleep Disorders

Answer 17

Insomnia: increase sympathetic nervous system activity (may be related to stress or SNS may be working harder than average person, or both)
Sleep Apnea: effects learning, memory, decision making, stop breathing while sleeping and can’t stay in REM level
Sleep Paralysis: stress alters sleep patterns, body & mind are usually in sync but in this case body stays paralyzed while your mind is awake; due to stress

Question 18

Coping Strategies

Answer 18

Problem-focused
Emotion-focused
Negative coping strategies 
Social support
Mind-body intervention

Question 19

Problem-focused Coping

Answer 19

• changing the environ.
• actions effect stress
• Strategies: active (get assignment done), planning (organizing), instrumental social support (seeking others that can help with task), suppression of competing activities (linked with active)

Question 20

Emotion-focused Coping

Answer 20

• change emotional response
• alter perception and response
• Strategies: emotional social support (seek someone supportive), venting emotions (let it out), positive reinterpretation (think of mistake as learning experience), mental and behavioral disengagement (walk away and do something else to stop thinking about issue for short period of time)

Question 21

Negative coping methods

Answer 21

Harmful

• thought suppression: push thoughts into unconsciousness and never deal with it
• aggression
• self-mutation: relief only for short period of time until pressure builds up again
• external: substance abuse/dependence and drug use

Question 22

Social Support

Answer 22

• buffer against depression
• quality and variety, more important than quantity
• perceived social support is more important than enacted (believe that parent/friend will definitely be there whenever need be even tho they might not be able to answer right away)

Question 23

Mind-body intervention

Answer 23

Natural methods
-relaxation methods
-meditation
-benefits depend on individuals views
-calm the mind -> body follows
Intervention used by physically ill
-pain control (less of a need for meds when using relaxation techniques)
-decrease emotional distress
-improve mood

Question 24

Placebo effect

Answer 24

-believing one is receiving a remedy…body shows improvement
Administration matters:
-injection more effective than oral med
-capsules more effective than pills
-more pills work better
-color of capsule matters (Day/Nyquill)
-enthusiasm of presentation (how your doc reacts)

Question 25

Stress & Gender

Answer 25

Younger women report feeling more hassled, depressed, anxious, hostile
Women: multiple roles (more roles than men) causing more stress. Seek more social support b/c women are “more emotional and social” and encouraged to talk about emotions more
Men: more action-oriented, not supposed to talk about emotions/stress, pushed to be more independent

Question 26

Stress & Culture

Answer 26

Determines what represents a stressor
-crowding -subjective to individual
-based on experience: individualist culture focuses on individual while collectivist culture focuses on group
-Western vs. Asian cultures
-perception of control? need more control or lack control if there’s too many people around (U.S.)
Coping strategies are different
-students from India preferred emotion-focused compared to Canadian students
India: religion is huge