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A Level: Psychology > Stress > Flashcards

Stress Flashcards

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1
Q

what is the term for stress that is positive and useful

A

eustress

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2
Q

who proposed general adaptation syndrome

A

selye

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3
Q

what is G.A.S

what does it assume

A

shows the stages the body goes through when the body is under long intense stress, assumes the response is the same for all types of stressor

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4
Q

what are the stages of G.A.S

A

1) alarm stage
the body identifies the stress and responds (stress hormones)

2) resistance
body attempts to adapt to the stressful environment, this uses a lot of energy

3)exhaustion
the bodys response to stress is failing, stress related illnesses are failing and immune system is down

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5
Q

evaluate G.A.S (selye)

A

pros:

  • people have the same set of symptoms regardless of different problems
  • study of rats: injected with different things yet all had similar response

cons:

  • issues with animal studies
  • mason- replicated selye, this time used monkeys instead of rats, found cortisol levels varied in response to stressor
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6
Q

what is the sympathomedullary pathway

A

the parts of the body involved in the immediate response to stress

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7
Q

describe the sympathomedullary pathway

A

1) SympNS is triggered and prepares the body for flight r fight
2) adrenal medulla- SNS triggers adrenal medulla to release adrenaline into the blodstream
3) adrenaline causes:
- heart rate increases
- breathing rate increases
- reduced blood flow to gut

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8
Q

what happens once the threat has passed

A

the parasympathetic branch of ANS dampens down the stress response

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9
Q

what happens in the HPA axis (long term stress)

A

hypothalamus releases CRF causes pituaitary gland to release ACTH, this stimulates the adrenal cortex to release cortisol

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10
Q

what is the effects of cortisol

A

positive; lower pain sensitivity. quick bursts of energy

negative: lowered immune system, impaired cognitive performance

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11
Q

describe the supporting evidence for the role of stress in illness: kiecolt-glaser et al

A

took blood samples from 75 medical students, took blood samples one month before their final exams and during the exams, students also completed questionnaires to assess life events,

found T Cells more present before exams rather than during exam seasons indicating immune system had gotten worse

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12
Q

describe the research into CHD and stress

A

Ute Wilbert-Lampen et al
found that during the world cup in germany, when germany played the number of cardiac emergencies in germany rose by 2.66 times,

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13
Q

descrbie the research into the common cold and stress

A

cohen
half of participants were infected with common cold and half a placebo, they all did a questionnaire to investigate stress levels

47% of people given common cold in high stress got it
27% of people given common cold in LOW stress got it

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14
Q

evaluate the role of stress in illness

A

X-individual differences: in the way people respond to stress, eg personality type: type A (competitive) type B (easy going)
friedman and rosenman found people with type A personality are more likely to have a heart attack rather than type B
X- stress doestn explicitly make u ill, it weakens ur immune system making u more susceptible
X- stress can be positive- stress in moderation can increase a persons ability to respond to extreme stress (why athletes are subjected to stress)

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15
Q

what are the two ways to measure stress (self report)

A

1) social readjustment rating scale

2) hassles and uplifts scale

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16
Q

describe the social readjustment rating scale

A

-created by holmes and rahe
-43 events on the scale, each are related to a certain number of LIFE CHANGE UNITS (LCU)
-a high score would show high susceptibility to stress related illness
-marriage was used as a baseline which other events were rated off
= found in many cases significant life changes occured in the months preceding the onset of illness

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17
Q

evaluate social readjustment rating scale

A

X- interpretation of life events- eg change in living could of been for the benefit
X- some stresses not included eg exams ( excludes young people)
X- retrospective data- issues with forgetting, consistency

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18
Q

describe the hassles and uplifts scale

A

-made by kanner
-suggested its not life events that cause stress but daily hassles that we all experience
-alternatively, uplifts eg sun shining can have positive effects on health
-they created a list of 117 hassles and 135 uplifts!
-participants had to rank each hassle on a 3point scale in terms of severity, and each uplift in terms of frequency
(in last week)

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19
Q

evaluate the hassles and uplifts scale

A

X- fatigue- the length of it means people may lose the focus which means they arent giving valid answers
X- subjective-participants can be giving socially desirable answers,

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20
Q

what is skin conducatance response

A

this is a physiological measure of the degree of sweating, this can be detected by measuring the electrical conducatance accross the skin

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21
Q

what other biological measures can be used to measure stress

A
  • blood pressure- high blood pressure indicates stress

- saliva and urine- cortisol can be measured in saliva

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22
Q

what are some advantages of physiological measurements of stress

A
  • objective
  • test-retest reliability
  • quantative (easy comparison)
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23
Q

describe Rahes study about the sources of stress being life changes

A

used a slightly different scale: schedule of recent experiences (sre)
-studied marines/navy on us navy ships, they did the SRE about events in the last 2 yrs, during the 6-8months a record was kept about the amount of times the soldiers had visited sick bay
-
results: found a positive correlation between life events and illness

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24
Q

evaluate life changes as a source of stress

A

yes: suicide- heikkinen and lonnquvist
- found that in the 3 months prior to the suicide of 219 people in Finland, there seemed to be significant changes in life events such as death, unemployment…

Xgeneralisability of being on a navy ship

X DeLongis study

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25
Q

describe DeLongis et al

A

studied stress in 75 married couples, gave them a life events questionnaire and hassles and uplifts scale
-found no relation between life events and health but a positive correlation between hassles and next day health problems, eg flu/cold

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26
Q

describe kanners study into daily hassles

A

studied men and women , completed a daily hassles and uplifts scale once a month for ten months and stress symptoms were measured as well

found hassles positively correlate with psychological symptoms of stress

negative correlation between uplifts and stress symptoms

the hassles scale was a better predictor of stress symptoms

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27
Q

evaluate daily hassles as a source of stress

A

pro: delongis

X evidence is based on self reports

28
Q

describe johanssons study of workplace stress

natural experiment

A

compared two different groups of workers;

  • one had high workload and low control
  • one has low workload and high control
  • measured the workers on illness and absence from personnel records, stress samples from urine to detect hormones
  • those in high workload low control group experienced the most stress hormones and stress related illness.
29
Q

criticise johanssons study with another

A

MARMOT-
study used questionnaire to measure workload and job control of civil servants
- were also examined for symptoms of CHD and dfollowed up 5yrs later

found NO CORRELATION

30
Q

use marmots study to describe CHD in participants

A

those who had low degree of control at the start of the study were more likely to have CHD 5yrs later

31
Q

what was Lazarus’ transactional model of workplace stress

A

found a wide range of individual differences in the way people react and cope with individual stressors

32
Q

what did gyorkos find about cultural differences in workplace stress

A

in individualistic cultures- lack of control is stressful

in collectivist cultures- control was considered less desireable

33
Q

categorise type A behaviour

A

competitive
time urgent
angry and hostile

34
Q

categorise type B behaviour

A

easy going
relaxed
patient/ friendly

35
Q

categorise type c behaviour

A

emotional suppression
compliant
try to please others

36
Q

how does personality affect stress

A

personality mediates stress and the stress response, research has found that some types of stress have made us more predisposed to stress related illness

37
Q

describe friedman and rosenman study into the individual differences in stress

however what did the follow up study show

A

investigated the link between personality type and CHD

  • structured interview showed personality type
  • 8 yrs later, 257 of participants had developed CHD and 70% of these were type A

22yrs later, 15% of the men had died of CHD, found that little evidence of a relationship between type A personality and mortality

38
Q

describe morris research into type C personality

A

studied women attended a cancer clinic, were interviewed about how often they expressed affection and other type C behaviour

women whos breast lumps were cancerous were found more likely to be type C rather than those who werent cancerous

39
Q

define hardiness

A

a personality style that provided defences against the negative effects of stress

40
Q

who proposed the idea of hardiness

A

kobasa

41
Q

what are the three main traits of hardiness

A

commitment- to family/ job etc
challenge- view change as an opportunity
control - have influence over the events in their life

42
Q

how may hardiness affect health

A

hardy people are better able to deal with stress by working through their problems and turning them into positive ones

this is known as positive appraisal

43
Q

what did kobasa find from her study

A

that managers who were high in stress and were hardy- experienced less stress related illness
-used questionnaires to asses this

44
Q

what did lifton find regarding hardiness

A

those who dropped out in uni were low in hardiness

45
Q

what two drug therapies are available for stress

A

benzodiazepines- inhibitory hormones GABA
beta blockers- drugs that target the sympathetic nervous system and block the effect of adrenaline on the heart (so heart rate does not increase etc)

46
Q

what does research into drug therapies show

A

BALDWIN (BZs) found they are significantly more effective than the placebo in treating acute anxiety, also found some are more effective than others

LOCKWOOD (beta blockers) studied over 2000 musicians, found that those who reported taking beta blockers reported feeling better about their performance and critics consistently judged their performance to be better

47
Q

criticise the use of drug therapies

A

Xside effects
X dependency addiction
X

48
Q

define biofeedback

A

a method of stress management that involves a person learning to control aspects of autonomic nervous system through the use of operant conditioning

49
Q

explain how biofeedback works

A

RELAXATION:
- client taught relaxation techniques- activates parasympathetic nervous system
-adrenaline and noradrenaline is no longer produced
FEEDBACK:
-client is attached to machines that gives them information into their ANS
-eg heartbeat sensor and sweat production sensor
-client practises relaxation whilst watching the scans
OPERANT CONDITIONING:
–relaxation leads to a reduction in heart rate, seen to be rewarding as client gets to see heart rate going down (positive reinforcement)
TRANSFER: client transfers these skills to the real world

50
Q

evaluate biofeedback

A

supporting evidence: LEWIS, military personnel given biofeedback session, there was less arousal in post training combat when compared to a control group

X Sudden stress:
-can not apply to real life stress, as the skills learnt do not easily transfer

X individual differences
takes a lot of understanding, also need to be motivated to apply the skills

51
Q

compare biofeedback with SIT

A

similar:
-both require a lot of motivation and commitment
differences:
-biofeedback- deals with perception of stressors
SIT deals with causes of stress

52
Q

what is SIT

A

stress inoculation therapy
- a type of CBT which trains people to cope with anxiety and stressful situations better by learning to inoculate themselves against it

53
Q

what approach is SIT

A

cognitive approach

-deals with cognitive and emotional aspects of stress

54
Q

what are the stages of SIT

A

1) conceptualisation
there is the focus on cognitive appraisal of stressors, ie how we perceive our abilities to cope with stress
- the person learns to focus on the things that they can change rather than those they can’t

2) Skill acquisition
client learns some skills useful for coping with stress, eg positive self talk and coping statements

3) real life application
new skills are transferred to stressful situations

55
Q

what did jaremkos study on SIT find

A

took 62 students who experienced high level of anxiety when speaking in public
gave them SIT
reported less anxiety when speaking in public after SIT

56
Q

explain a limitation of SIT

individual differences

A

for SIT to be most effective, participants have to be motivated, training is long and requires a lot of self-reflection

57
Q

name the three types of social support

A

1) emotional support- others demonstrate that they care for u
2) esteem support- others value u and strengthen ur self worth
3) Instrumental support - practical support

58
Q

what are the two hypothesis for the role of social support

A

1) buffering hypothesis- social support acts as a buffer to protect people from bad effects of stressful events
2) main effects hypothesis- people in high social support are in better health than people with low social support

59
Q

describe sosa’s study into social support

A

look into the effects of instrumental support in the experience of childbirth

in the experiment group the woman was accompanied by a helper during labour who provided care in terms of general care and positive talk

the experimental group had a labour time of 8.8 hours
control group 19.3 hrs

60
Q

what did Bergman and syme find

what is the problem with their study

A

those who had more social support were less likely to die over the period of the study

correlational…

61
Q

what did Taylor find when investigating cultural factors in social support

A

found that asians (collectivist cultures) are less likely to report using social support for coping with stress than European Americans, because they do not want to appear to be a burden and worry others

62
Q

what is a gender difference in coping with stress

A

1) different physiological responses
men have been the centre of most experiments about fight or flight response

it has been suggested that women have a tend and befriend principle which reflects women nursing nature which oxytocin creates

63
Q

what did Taylor find in regard to gender differences in coping with stress

A

in females only, high oxytocin means lower levels of cortisol.
oestrogen increases the effect of oxytocin

male hormones (androgens) reduces the effect of oxytocin

64
Q

describe billings and moos investigation into the different coping methods in men and women

A

questionnaire about a recent crisis

found problem focused used more frequent than emotion focused

however, women did use emotion focused to a greater extent than problem focused compared to men

emotion focused used in certain types of stress, eg death

65
Q

why may gender differences may be explained in terms of lifestyle difference

A

women are in traditionally male jobs, the stress levels here are higher, suggests stress may be a consequence of the activities they engage in

A Level: Psychology (11 decks)

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