stress evaluations Flashcards
kiecolt glaser
DISADVANTAGES: Only med students (lacks population validity), young, small sample, can’t control IV or extraneous variables- These can be drugs, , general health, diet, sleep patterns and age. No cause and effect- Does stress cause illness or does being ill make you more prone to stress
ADVANTAGES:No individual differences in a RMD. •This was a natural experiment which also used a real life stressful situation, so ecological validity is high.
holmes and rahi
Not perfect correlation(+1.0)-life events aren’t only illness factor. No cause and effect, androcentric and ethnocentric-lack of external validity. The research is unethical as stress is a sensitive topic and asking participants to think about their stress on a regular basis may provoke psychological harm and in fact cause more stress. The SRRS does not take individual difference into consideration. The scale assumes that each stressor affects people the same way. Social desirability
anita delongis
C+E, small samples and 45-65 lacks population validity. questionnaires- social desirability.
marmot et al
ADVANTAGES: Supported by Johansson who found higher stress in lower control in Swedish workers.
DISADVANTAGES: Self-reports may have social desirability, misinterpretations misleading questions. Gender bias, extraneous variables, individual differences
johansson
DISADVANTAGES: Individual differences not controlled, extraneous variables ethnocentric ADVANTAGES: Supported by Marmot, Measure of stress hormones in the urine is an objective measure of stress levels - reduces the chance of investigator effects and has higher validity than self report measures of stress levels.
friedman and roseman disadvantages
Type A is too general, limits external and internal validity. We can’t argue type A causes heart diseases because of I.D, •Friedman & Rosenman did not specify what aspect of type A behaviour might be responsible for heart disease. Later researchers reviewed the original data and found that it was ‘the negative behaviours’ such as hostility that seemed to be responsible.
this is a natural experiment which uses correlational detail so cause and effect cannot be established.
friedman and roseman strengths
The study was able to control for other important variables, such as smoking and lifestyle. This is good as it makes it less likely that such extraneous variables could confound the results of the study.
beta blockers
ADVANTAGES: Effective- Kahn followed nearly 250 patients over 8 weeks and found BZ’s reduced their anxiety. Easy- require little effort from user. DISADVANTAGES: Addictive, withdrawal symptoms, side effects, doesn’t address underlying cause of stress.
benzodiazepines
ADVANTAGES: Effective, no side effects and doesn’t alter body, provides long term ways of managing stress, research like Dworkin & Dworkin (found it helps teens with scoliosis control spine muscles) backs it up. DISADVANTAGES: expensive, doesn’t treat cause, requires lots of practice, some argue it doesn’t have benefits and stems from patients drive.
hardiness training
ADVANTAGES: Effective and deals with cause-teaches clients to deal with all stressors in their lives. DISADVANTAGES: Limited to business executives- concerns white middle class business men and women and some people argue hardiness is being in control and it doesn’t exist.
stress inoculation training
ADVANTAGES: •SIT addresses the root cause of the problem - why the client is stressed – rather than just removing the symptoms of stress, SIT does not have any undesirable side effects that might be encountered with drug treatments DISADVANTAGES: Time consuming and complex-range of activities could be reduced without losing effectiveness. •SIT requires clients to be motivated and driven.
kobasa
The research was based upon self-report questionnaires which are not always reliable and are often completed retrospectively.
cause and effect-we can’t be sure that it was hardiness that had the beneficial effects on the managers’ health?Perhaps as (Alfred & Smith 1989) have suggested, hardy people are more likely to look after their health.
