Stress, Coping, and Health

Question 1

Define stress

Answer 1

Any circumstances that threaten or are perceived to threaten one’s well-being and coping abilities

Question 2

Define stressors

Answer 2

• Challenges in the environment
• Demanding or threatening events or situations, exigencies
• Diverse and ubiquitous
• Eg pressure from a job, overcrowding, long commutes to work

Question 3

What are primary and secondary appraisals of stress?

Answer 3

• Primary Appraisal
  
  • Evaluation of whether event is…
  • Irrelevant
  • Relevant but unthreatening
  • Or stressful
• Secondary Appraisal
  
  • Evaluation of coping resources
  • Or options for dealing with stress

Question 4

Describe the four major types of stress

Answer 4

• Frustration
  
  • Pursuit of goal is thwarted
  • Expected goal not met (disappointment)
• Internal Conflict
  
  • Incompatible goals competing for expression
  • Approach-Approach: Making a choice between two attractive options
  • Avoidance-Avoidance: Making a choice between two unattractive options
  • Approach-Avoidance: Whether to pursue a goal with both attractive and unattractive aspects
• Change
  
  • Significant deviations from the past norm
  • Unknowns and uncertainty ahead
• Pressure
  
  • Expectations or demands to behave a certain way

Question 5

Define life changes

Answer 5

Substantial alterations in one’s living circumstances that require readjustment

Question 6

Describe emotional responses toward stress

Answer 6

• Common negative responses include:
  
  • Annoyance and anger
  • Apprhension and anxiety
  • Dejection and grief
• Negative emotions suggest poor subjective health
• Pleasant emotions suggest resilience and longevity
• Ability to verbally describe one’s emotional response associated with less severe stress reactions
• Ability to communicate emotions associated with less maladaptive coping strategies

Question 7

Describe the Yerkes–Dodson law

Answer 7

• Interverted-U relationship between arousal (demand/stress/challenges) and performance
• Simple tasks benefit from high arousal
• Complex tasks benefit from low arousal

As a task becomes more complex, the optimal level of arousal decreases

Question 8

Describe physiological responses toward stress

Answer 8

• General Adaptation Syndrome
  
  • Hans Selye
  • Alarm: Fight or flight
  • Resistance: Stabilize
  • Exhaustion
• Brain-Body Pathways
  
  • ANS (Sympathetic) → Adrenal medulla → Catecholamines → Body mobilized for action
  • Pituitary gland → Adrenocorticotropic hormone → Adrenal cortex → Corticosteroids → Increase energy and inhibit tissue inflammation
• Neurogenesis
  
  • Formation of new neurons

Question 9

Describe behavioral responses toward stress

Answer 9

• Coping: Efforts to master, reduce, or tolerate demands created by stress
• Constructive Coping
  
  • Problem-focus
  • Realistic
  • Re-appraise situational factors
  • Cognitive restructuring
• Maladaptive Coping
  
  • Giving up - Learned hopelessness
  • Blaming oneself
  • Aggression
  • Indulging oneself
  • Defense coping

Question 10

Define allostasis

Answer 10

• achieving stability through change in anticipation of physiological demand
• mitigates and exacerbates effects of anticipatory arousal

Question 11

What are the effects of stress on physical diseases?

Answer 11

• Increases susceptibility to infection
• Poorer antibody response
• Slows down wound healing