Stress Flashcards
what is stress?
the bodies response in stressful situations
what are stressors?
things that trigger a response
who developed the General Adaption Syndrome (GAS)?
Selye (1936)
what is General Adaption Syndrome?
the body’s process of adapting to stressful situations
What is acute stress?
short-term
not damaging
what is chronic stress?
long-term
can be damaging if response continues
what are the 3 stages of General Adaption Syndrome?
Alarm reaction
Resistance
Exhaustion
what is alarm reaction?
when a stressor is percieved and the body’s response is prepared
what is resistance?
the body attempts to adapt to the stressful situation by releasing stress hormones
what happens in the resistance stage when the stress is chronic?
the parasympathetic nervous system is activated to conserve energy
what is the Exhaustion stage?
the resources needed to respond to chronic stress become depleted and symptoms seen when the stressors first emerged appear again
when is a stress-related illness more-likely to occur?
when the immune system becomes compromised in the stage of exhaustion
what happens in the body during acute stress?
information of the stressor is sent along sensory neurons to the hypothalamus
hypothalamus then triggers increased activity in the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system, which produces the physiological arousal needed to maintain the fight or flight response / the sympathomedullary pathway
what happens in the body due to chronic stress?
activates the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal system (HPA)
releases CRF which leads to increased activity of the pituitary gland which releases ACTH
Cortisol is then released by the adrenal cortex depending on CRF &ACTH levels
also creates the same physiological arousal needed to maintain the fight or flight response for a longer time
Cortisol levels are then reduced through the output of ACTH & CRF from the HPA system through the negative feedback system
what did Selye find when intorducing stressors to rats?
their bodily response was the same each time
provides support to the general stress response
whats a strenght of general adapation syndrome?
real-life applications
increased understanding of the stress response in humans
improved treatments for Addison’s Disease - characteristed by an inability of the adrenal glands to secrete cortisol
what are the limitations to the general adaptation syndrome?
Mason (1971) - stress response may not be the same in all situations
evidence of beta bias in early research into fight or flight
Taylor et al (2006)
what did Mason (1971) do regarding the general adaptation syndrome?
found that different stress responses were shown in monkeys
cortisol levels increased in response to extreme cold - decreased in extreme heat - did not change in response to excessive exercise
weakens the suggestion that the stress response is the same in all situations
what did Taylor et al (2006) do regarding the general adaptation syndrome?
supported the idea that early research into fight or flight is guilty of beta bias
supports the idea of ‘tend and befriend’ in females, reduces the risk of females abandoning their young
why are life events stressful?
we must make a significant psychological adjustment to cope with the situation
what did Holmes and Rane (1967) create?
the social readjustment rating score (SRRS) to measure life events
how was the 43 stressful life events awarded a Life Change Unit?
it was based on how traumatic each event would be
what is the time period the SRRS analyses?
a 12 month period
what is a strength of the SRRS?
one study followed nearly 17,000 healthy people
at the start none of them had asthma but after 2 years 192 had developed it
life events were measured over the same 2 years
found significant correlation between life events and the onset of asthma
study is prospective - predicted future illness from past events
what are the limitations of SRRS?
assumes all change is stressful
many psychologists think positive and negative events have different effects
a better approach may be to look at the effects of specific life stressors - especially negative
what was Rahe (1970)’s aim?
investigate whether SRRS was correlated with the subsequent onset of illness
what was Rahe (1970)’s procedure?
2,500 male american sailors were given the SEES to assess how many life events they’d experienced in the past 6 months
over the next 6-month tour duty, detailed health reports were kept
what was the outcome of Rahe (1970)?
Life Change Unit was correlated with sailors’ illness scores
