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A-Level Psychology > Stress > Flashcards

Stress Flashcards

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1
Q

What is the definition of Stress?

A

A state of physiological or psychological strain caused by a stressor that tends to disturb the functioning of the body. It is also a mismatch between the demands made upon an individual and their ability to meet these demands.

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2
Q

How are the levels of cortisol in the body maintained/adjusted?

A
  • Your hypothalamus and pituitary gland can sense if your blood contains the right level of cortisol.
  • If it is low then your brain adjusts hormone production, adrenal glands detect these signals and then fine tune the amount of cortisol they release.
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3
Q

What is the role of cortisol?

A
  • Constricts blood vessels
  • Increases blood pressure
  • Increases delivery of oxygenated blood
  • Immediate advantage, however can cause vessel damage and plaque build up (result in cardiovascular disorders)
  • Helps control your body’s use of macronutrients, and plays a part in the body’s anti inflammatory process
  • Increases the brains availability to blood glucose
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4
Q

What two diseases can inadequate amounts of cortisol lead to?

A

Addisons disease- Little/no cortisol

Cushing disease- Too much cortisol

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5
Q

What were the features of the Newcomer et al (1999)?

A
  • The General Adaptation Syndrome, process the body goes through in response to stress, (GAS) (1936)
  • Initially just carried out on lab rats
  • After putting them in the most stressful situations, they then injected a non symptom substance into them and they still responded the same.
  • This is a ‘stress response’ to the actual injection
  • This shows that it doesn’t matter what the stressor is, there will always be the same ‘fight or flight’ response.
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6
Q

Explain the 3 stages of Selye’s General Adaptation syndrome (1936, GAS)?

A

3 stages: Alarm reaction, Resistance, Exhaustion

Alarm reaction: the hypothalamus is triggered, ‘fight or flight’ response starts.
Resistance: Body fully mobilised, coping with the stressor.
Exhaustion: In this stage our body becomes depleted (no resources left).

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7
Q

What is the role of white blood cells?

A

White blood cells are important for fighting bacteria, viruses etc (Antigens).

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8
Q

What is the affect on the thymus gland when there are high levels of stress?

A
  • Thymus gland shrinks when there are high levels of stress (in rats).
  • This is due to us producing excess cortisol, due to the f or f response continuously happening.
  • Therefore, there is also a reduce in the production of T cells.
  • Causing us to become immunosuppressed.
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9
Q

What is immunosuppression?

A

Suppression of our immune system (which protects us from antigens).

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10
Q

What are the two types of lymphocytes (WBC)?

A
  • B cells
  • T cells
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11
Q

What is the role of B cells and where are they produced?

A
  • They produce antibodies and release them into the fluid around the body’s cells.
  • They are produced in bone marrow.
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12
Q

What is the role of T cells and where are they produced?

A
  • If antigens get into a cell, they lock into the affected cell, multiplies itself and destroys it.
  • They are produced in the Thymus gland.
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13
Q

What is the affect that stress has on our cardiovascular health?

A
  • Blood pressure goes up during chronic stress, due to this over time damage can occur.
  • Acute and chronic stress can lead to: high BP, CHD, stroke.
  • However it is not a direct causation as other lifestyle choices also contribute to these disorders.
  • Can also lead to Arteriosclerosis.
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14
Q

What is Arteriosclerosis?

A

Arteriosclerosis is the hardening of the arteries, this with the increased sugar production and the fact that the stress response stops digestion, this speeds up the clogging of the arteries.

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15
Q

What are the features of the study: Williams eat al (2000)?

A
  • Aim was to see if anger was linked to heart disease.
  • Questionnaire was given to 13,000 people, none had heart disease, contained 10 question anger scale.
  • After six years the health status of the ppts was checked, 256 developed heart attacks.
  • Physiological response in stress is closely associated with cardiovascular disorders. It’s correctional evidence so causation cannot be assumed.
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16
Q

What is the main source of chronic stress within people?

A
  • Life changes are a major one off event that may be a cause of stress.
  • They cause us to make some sort of psychological readjustment.
  • Can be positive or negative (varies from person to person).
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17
Q

What did ‘Holmes + Rahe’ create/investigate in terms of life changes as a source of stress?

A

Holmes + Rahe developed a questionnaire scale to measure the stress of these events.
- They both both doctors that worked at a hospital.
- They picked 43 situations (e.g marriage, death of family member, Christmas etc). Then they put them on a scale.
- Sample of 400 people rank them (in terms of stress).

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18
Q

What did Holmes + Rahe’s SRRS show?

A

A score under 150 increased the chance of stress related illness by 30%.
A score of over 300 is a major crisis and increases risk to 80%.

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19
Q

Evaluate Holmes and Rahe’s Self report stress scale (SRRS)?

A
  • Doesn’t distinguish between positive and negative events.
  • SRRS may be age specific, not suitable for young people.
  • Correlations between the SRRS scores and illness outcomes are small.
  • Self report, socially desirable responses.
  • The scale is driven by very western norms (culture bias).
  • It does however have validity.
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20
Q

Stress can also be caused by more common everyday events, how do these events affect stress?

A
  • A daily hassle is a common, everyday events that doesn’t last long but is a source of stress.
  • A daily uplift is a positive, desirable experience that makes a daily hassle more bearable (may counteract them).
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21
Q

What is the accumulation affect in terms of stressors?

A

Minor daily hassles build up and multiply, leads to severe stress reactions

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22
Q

What is the amplification effect?

A

Chronic stress (life changes) makes us more vulnerable to daily hassles.

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23
Q

What is the summary of the study ‘Kanner et al (1981)’?

A
  • Developed a 1q7 item hassle scale and a 135 uplifts scale to examine the relationship between hassles and health.
  • 100 participants (48 male, 52 women, aged 45-67)
  • Completed the HSUP scale once a month for 9 months.
  • Ppts also completed life events scale for the six months preceding the beginning of the study and also for the two yearly period after that. Then they completed it again at the end of the study.
  • Two measures were used to assess health and well being. The Hopkins symptoms checklist, and the Bradburn moral scale, ppts completed these scale every month.
24
Q

What are the 5 most common hassles?

A

Weight concerns, family member health, rising prices of common goods, home maintenance, too many things to do.

25
Q

What are the 5 most common uplifts?

A

Relating well with a partner, relating well with friends, completing a task, feeling healthy, getting enough sleep.

26
Q

What is the summary of the Bouteyre et al (2007)?

A
  • Investigation into the relationship between daily hassles and mental health of students during the transition between school and university.
  • First year psychology students completed the hassles and uplifts scales and the Becks depression inventory to measure depression.
  • Found a positive correlation between students suffering from depression and scores on the daily hassles.
  • Transition from school to university has frequently daily hassles, which are a risk factor for developing depression.
27
Q

What are the 4 evaluation points for the sources of stress (hassles and uplifts)?

A
  1. Causality- Most of the data on daily hassles is correlational. Therefore, we cannot draw causal conclusions about the relationship.
  2. Ppts may not correctly remember the hassles they have experienced.
  3. Use of self report questionnaires, ppts may lie, also give social desirability bias.
  4. Cultural differences- Social support is an important protective factor against stress, and there are cultural variations in how it is used.
28
Q

What are the three forms of HSUP scale?

A
  • Daily hassles scale (DHS)
  • Daily uplifts scale (DUS)
  • Combined scale (HSUP)
29
Q

What is the main problem (limitation) of the hassle and uplift scales?

A
  • They are very long questionnaires, meaning that it’s likely that respondents don’t maintain thoughtful, focused attention throughout completing the scale.
  • This is a weakness because it shows that ppts scores lack reliability.
30
Q

What are the 6 physiological methods used to measure stress?

A
  • Breathing rate
  • Voice stress analyser
  • Blood pressure
  • Heart rate
  • Sweating
  • Hormones and steroids
31
Q

How is stress present and relevant in the workplace?

A
  • Workplace stress including the effects of workload and control.
  • The demand control model is focused on the balance of workload and control.
32
Q

What is the summary of Johansson (1978)? (Swedish Sawmill- workplace stress)

A
  • 24 make workers at a Swedish Sawmill.
  • Shows a beta bias (only uses men then makes a conclusion about everyone in a work place)
  • Also shows a culture bias
  • 14 finishers, 10 cleaners (control groups)
  • Control group decide what they wanted to do when they wanted to do it, the finishers couldn’t do this without reducing pay for everyone.
  • High workload, low control is the risk group (finishers)
  • Urine tests were taken, and questionnaires were completed.
  • Body temperature was also taken, and caffeine intake/smoking (nicotine) was taken into account.
  • 14 finishers had adrenaline levels twice as high as their baseline measurements, which continued to rise throughout the day.
  • Headaches were seen, and more days off (sick days) were taken.
  • The control groups adrenaline levels decreased as the day went on. More stressed with the idea of work than work itself.
33
Q

What is the summary of the Marmot et al (1997)?

A
  • Generalisable, over 10,000 ppts, both men and women, no beta bias.
  • Less control you had, the more stress you have.
  • High workload, more stress you have.
  • Poor diet could contribute, not completely reliant on stress.
  • High grade civil servant, high workload, high control, fewer cardiovascular problems.
  • Low job control related to CHD
  • Low job control, 4x more likely to die from heart attack.
34
Q

What is personality?

A
  • A set of characteristics, behaviours, attitudes and general temperament that remain relatively stable and allows you to distinguish one individual from another.
  • It is that fundamental ‘thing’ that makes us who we are and makes us different to everyone else.
35
Q

What are the characteristics of ‘Type A’ personality?

A
  • Linked to stress
  • Competitive
  • Strive for perfection
  • Impatient
  • Time urgent
    Hostile/aggressive
36
Q

What are the characteristics of ‘Type B’ personality?

A
  • Not competitive
  • Don’t strive for perfection
  • Patient
  • Rarely in a rush
  • Lazy
37
Q

What is the summary of Friedman and Rosenmen (1959, 1974)?

A
  • Aimed to test that type A individuals were more likely to develop CHD than type B’s
  • Tested: patience, competitiveness and hostility.
  • 3200 sample size, all men, aged 39-59.
  • ‘x’ type was a mix of type A and B.
  • Type A’s were almost twice as likely to develop CHD.
  • The way they assess their personality seems to be valid.
  • Type A had higher BP and cholesterol, also more likely to smoke.
38
Q

What are the characteristics of a ‘Type C’ personality?

A
  • People pleaser
  • Don’t like conflict
  • Passive (self sacrificing)
  • Hold emotions in
  • At risk to cancer
  • Learned to be helpless
39
Q

What is the summary of Datore et al (1980)?

A
  • Studied 200 ppts from the Vietnam war, 75 had cancer and the remaining had no cancer diagnosis.
  • Did depression questionnaires.
  • The ones that were seen to ‘suppress their emotions’ were more likely to develop cancer.
  • This links to having a type C personality.
40
Q

What is ‘Hardiness’?

A

Following on from the three types of personality: A, B and C. Kobosa (1979) used the term ‘hardy’ to describe people who coped well in stressful situations.

41
Q

What are the characteristics of a ‘hardy’ personality’?

A
  • They’re committed to work and personal relationships.
  • They see stressful situations as a challenge.
  • They feel that they are in control of their lives, so are less likely to blame others.
  • Less likely to suffer from stress.
  • Committed to life, family and society.
  • Challenge
  • Control
42
Q

What is the summary of Kobosa (1979)?

A
  • 800 males, American business executives
  • Assessing stress using Holmes and Rafes SRRS.
  • About 150 ppts classed as having high stress.
  • Ppts asked about illness in this given time.
  • Some had high stress/low illness, some had high stress/ high illness.
  • Suggests that something else was modifying the effects of stress because individuals experienced the same stress levels had different illness records.
  • Kobosa proposed the notion that a hardy personality type encourages resilience and therefore helps an individual to cope with stress. This suggests that hardy personality type is linked to stress levels and that hardy personality provides defence against the negative effects of stress.
43
Q

What is serotonin and how does is affect the brain?

A

Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that has an a rousing affect in the brain, affecting mood. Too much serotonin leads to anxiety, whereas low levels of serotonin leads to depression.

44
Q

What do Benzodiazepines (BZ’s) do?

A
  • BZ’s reduce any increased serotonin activity, and so in turn reduce anxiety. They reduce the physiological arousal in the CNS (brain).
  • GABA is a neurotransmitter in the brain that has a calming effect.
  • BZ’s enhance the action of GABA by binding to receptors on the outside of the post synaptic neuron.
  • When GABA locks into these receptors, it lessens the ability of the nerve cell to receive, create or send chemical messages to other nerve cells (leads to the person feeling calmer).
  • This is a ‘quick fix’ to stress.
45
Q

What was the conclusion of the Kahn et al (1986) study?

A

Followed nearly 250 patients over eight weeks and found that BZ’s were significantly superior to a placebo.

46
Q

How does stress affect the Sympathetic nervous system (SNS)?

A
  • Stress causes an arousal of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and this can lead to: Raised blood pressure, increased heart rate, elevated levels of cortisol.
  • These can then cause cardiovascular disorders and a reduction in the effectiveness of the immune system functioning.
47
Q

What do Beta Blockers do?

A
  • BB’s reduce the activity of adrenaline and noradrenaline which are responsible for preparing the body for ‘flight or fight’ response.
  • By blocking these receptors, it is harder to stimulate the cells. An example would be the heart beginning to beat slower and with less force so blood vessels do not contract easily. Leads to a fall in BP which in turn means less stress on the heart.
48
Q

What are the strengths of using BB and BZ’?

A
  • Drugs are effective
  • BZ’s have been found to be better than other anti depressants
  • BB’s aren’t addictive
  • Drugs are easy to use
  • BB’s useful in real life situations
  • Requires little effort compared to psychological methods
  • BB’s can prevent the onset of CHD
49
Q

What are the limitations of BB and BZ’s?

A
  • BZ’s are addictive even in low doses
  • Drugs only help with symptoms of stress and not the cause (only short term)
  • Side effects of BZ’s include aggressiveness and cognitive impairment
  • Some studies have linked BB’s to diabetes
  • BZ’s will work in a couple hours, BB’s won’t (they take time to work)
50
Q

What is Stress Inoculation Therapy?

A
  • SIT involves challenging and changing the cognitions (way people think) and consequently change their behaviour.
  • This is treating the cause and will also result in treating the symptoms.
  • ‘Holistic’ way of treating stress.
51
Q

What is meant by the idea that Drugs are a reductionist in terms of treating stress?

A
  • Drugs focus on helping symptoms.
  • It is a reductionist as it looks at the persons biology balance on chemicals and breaks it down into their constituent parts.
52
Q

What are Meichenhaum (1985)’s 3 stages of controlling stress?

A

Stage 1: Conceptualising- Client speaks with therapist and the source of stress is identified.
Stage 2: Skill acquisition and rehearsal- Client learns specific skills to help deal with the stressor.
Stage 3: Application phase- Client will try out these learned skills in the real world.

53
Q

What what were the results of Sheeny and Horan (2004) study?

A
  • SIT has been found to be effective, examined the effects of SIT on anxiety, stress and academic performance of first year law students.
  • Ppts received four weekly sessions of SIT, each lasting 90mins.
54
Q

What is the summary of the Meichenbaum experiment (SIT- stress)?

A
  • 21 students
  • Field experiment, put into 3 groups
  • SIT, standard desensitisation and a control group
  • Ppts tested using a test anxiety questionnaire
  • SIT received 8 sessions
  • SD groups were also given 8 sessions with only progressive relaxation training.
  • Control group were told they were on the waiting list.
  • SIT group improved the most, although both therapy groups showed improvement.
55
Q

What are the strengths of SIT?

A
  • Focuses on dealing with the causes and symptoms of stress, not just the symptoms like drugs.
56
Q

What are the weaknesses of SIT?

A
  • Costs a lot
  • Have to be committed (time consuming)

A-Level Psychology (12 decks)

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