Stress - 5. Measuring Stress

Question 1

Ways of measuring stress

Answer 1

SRRS
HSUP
Physiological measures

Question 2

Who developed SRRS? How?

Answer 2

Holmes’s and Rahe
Recorded 43 live events by LCUs that measure psychological readjustment
From their analysis of 5000 patients they noticed that many patients with heart disease reported significant live events in the year leading up to heart disease
Gave 43 life events to 400 participants and asked them to rate how much adjustment was needed

Question 3

SRRS negative evaluation: validity

Answer 3

Validity of measures is questioned as people may find an event more stressful than another may find it

Question 5

Ways of measuring stress

Answer 5

SRRS
HSUP
Physiological measures

Question 6

Who developed SRRS and how?

Answer 6

Homes and Rahe
Recorded 43 life events by LCUs that measure psychological readjustment
From their analysis of 5000 patients they noticed that many patients with heard disease reported significant life events in the year leading up to it
Gave 43 events to 400 participants and asked them to rate how much adjustment was needed

Question 7

SRRS negative evaluation: validity

Answer 7

Validity of measures questioned as people may find an event more stressful than another may find it

Question 8

SRRS negative evaluation: Generalisability

Answer 8

Not suitable for all ages

Question 9

SRRS negative evaluation: Cause and effect

Answer 9

No cause and effect established so it’s unknown whether stress causes illness or illness causes stress

Question 10

SRRS negative evaluation: Cultural relativism

Answer 10

Don’t take into account cultural differences such as divorce not being recognised in certain countries

Question 11

SRRS negative evaluation: reliability

Answer 11

The same people may give different scores to life events over a period of time

Question 12

SRRS negative evaluation: Nature of questionnaire

Answer 12

Retrospective

Question 13

SRRS negative evaluation: Issue of self-report

Answer 13

Socially desirable responses

Question 14

SRRS positive evaluation: current studies

Answer 14

SRRS feature in many current studied, showing a strength as their continued use highlight their value in terms of validity and reliability

Question 15

What does HSUP stand for?

Answer 15

Hassles and uplift scale

Question 16

What is the HSUP?

Answer 16

It’s a questionnaire regarding opinions to different situations
Very long containing over 250 questions

Question 17

Issues regarding the HSUP

Answer 17

Length of questionnaire makes it unlikely that respondents lose focus
Test-retest correlations support the idea that this is an issue
Vulnerable to socially desirable feedback
HOWEVER HSUP is still used today

Question 18

Why are physiological measures used?

Answer 18

People may not give honest responses to self-report methods so physiological measures eliminate problems of self-report methods

Question 19

What are physiological measures based on?

Answer 19

Scientific measurements like hormones, chemicals and heart rate

Question 20

What pathway is immediate stress linked to?

Answer 20

The SAM pathway which results in production of adrenaline and noradrenaline

Question 21

How may physiological measures lack validity?

Answer 21

We can’t be sure that are are measuring stress as physiological changes can be effected by other sources (like caffeine, drugs and alcohol)

Question 22

Key example of a physiological measure of stress

Answer 22

Skin conductance response (SCR)

Question 23

SCR

Answer 23

Electrical activity is conducted when the skin is wet
As sweat is produced, the amount of electricity that is conducted increases

Question 24

Where is sweat production the strongest? (SCR)

Answer 24

In the palm of the hands due to high density of sweat glands

Question 25

How is stress measured using SCR?

Answer 25

Two electrodes placed on person’s index and middle finger
Very small voltage applied across the electrodes
Conductance is recorded by measuring the current that flows

Question 26

What may skin concordance be used for?

Answer 26

Used in treatment of anxiety, fears, phobias or stress as the SC can help one to identify their physiological response to a stimulus

Question 27

How are individual differences attempted to be tackled when measuring SCR?

Answer 27

Person’s concordance baseline level is measured before stimulus is shown

Question 28

Individual differences in SCR

Answer 28

Some people either don’t sweat or sweat very little
Some people sweat a lot even with a minor stimulus