Stress - 5. Measuring Stress Flashcards
Ways of measuring stress
SRRS
HSUP
Physiological measures
Who developed SRRS? How?
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
SRRS negative evaluation: validity
Validity of measures is questioned as people may find an event more stressful than another may find it
Ways of measuring stress
SRRS
HSUP
Physiological measures
Who developed SRRS and how?
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
SRRS negative evaluation: validity
Validity of measures questioned as people may find an event more stressful than another may find it
SRRS negative evaluation: Generalisability
Not suitable for all ages
SRRS negative evaluation: Cause and effect
No cause and effect established so it’s unknown whether stress causes illness or illness causes stress
SRRS negative evaluation: Cultural relativism
Don’t take into account cultural differences such as divorce not being recognised in certain countries
SRRS negative evaluation: reliability
The same people may give different scores to life events over a period of time
SRRS negative evaluation: Nature of questionnaire
Retrospective
SRRS negative evaluation: Issue of self-report
Socially desirable responses
SRRS positive evaluation: current studies
SRRS feature in many current studied, showing a strength as their continued use highlight their value in terms of validity and reliability
What does HSUP stand for?
Hassles and uplift scale
What is the HSUP?
It’s a questionnaire regarding opinions to different situations
Very long containing over 250 questions
Issues regarding the HSUP
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
Why are physiological measures used?
People may not give honest responses to self-report methods so physiological measures eliminate problems of self-report methods
What are physiological measures based on?
Scientific measurements like hormones, chemicals and heart rate
What pathway is immediate stress linked to?
The SAM pathway which results in production of adrenaline and noradrenaline
How may physiological measures lack validity?
We can’t be sure that are are measuring stress as physiological changes can be effected by other sources (like caffeine, drugs and alcohol)
Key example of a physiological measure of stress
Skin conductance response (SCR)
SCR
Electrical activity is conducted when the skin is wet
As sweat is produced, the amount of electricity that is conducted increases
Where is sweat production the strongest? (SCR)
In the palm of the hands due to high density of sweat glands
How is stress measured using SCR?
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
What may skin concordance be used for?
Used in treatment of anxiety, fears, phobias or stress as the SC can help one to identify their physiological response to a stimulus
How are individual differences attempted to be tackled when measuring SCR?
Person’s concordance baseline level is measured before stimulus is shown
Individual differences in SCR
Some people either don’t sweat or sweat very little
Some people sweat a lot even with a minor stimulus
