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Psychology Unit 3 > Stress - Individual Differences > Flashcards

Stress - Individual Differences Flashcards

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1
Q

What are Individual Differences Explanation for Stress?

A
  1. Hardiness

2. Type A + B Personality

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2
Q

What are the 3 Cs of Hardiness?

A
  1. Control
    - Individual sees themselves as being in control of their their life rather then being controlled by external factors + feel a sense of personal power
    - Believe they can take actions that will directly influence their life
  2. Commitment
    - Hardy people have a sense of purpose + meaning of life
    - They are curious about other people + the world around them
    - Believe no mater how bad things get you should stay involved rather than alienating yourself
  3. Challenge
    - Person sees stressful situation as opportunity for growth + development
    - Person accepts that experiencing stress + challenge is a part of life
    - Person doesn’t accept life to be easy + learn from families as well as successes
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3
Q

How do the 3 Cs Buffer Against Stress?

A
  • Hardy personality seen as a pathway to resilience against stress
  • Hardy individuals have better coping strategies/self care/social support when faced with stressors
  • Hardy individuals experience less physiological responses to stress
  • Less likely to experience stress-related illness
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4
Q

What are the Differences Between Hardy + Non-Hardy Individual (Hardy Coping)?

A

HIGH HARDY
- identify stressful circumstance + analysis what can be done to resolve them
LOW HARDY
- Avoid stress by engaging in distractions. Activities such as gambling + over-spending are often used

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5
Q

What are the Differences Between Hardy + Non-Hardy Individual (Hardy Social Interactions)?

A 
HIGH HARDY 
- Get social support from others around them
- Able to give support back 
LOW HARDY
- Feel victimised by others around them
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6
Q

What are the Differences Between Hardy + Non-Hardy Individual (Hardy Self Care)?

A

HIGH HARDY
- Have healthy diet + lifestyle as well as engaging in relaxation
LOW HARDY
- Have a poor diet + low levels of exercise

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7
Q

Describe Koasa’s 1979 Research.

A
  • early research - demonstrated hardy personalities cope better with stressors
  • Used SRRS + illness survey to compare business executives
  • 1 group = high stress in previous 3 years without falling ill + other group experienced some levels of stress without falling ill
  • Personality tests showed those who didn’t fall ill had a more hardy personality
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8
Q

Describe Maddi’s 2007 Research.

A
  • Research on employees at Bell Telephone Company who were experiencing a stressful period of redundancies
  • 1/3 individuals demonstrate hardy personality + suffered from fewer stress-related health + mental health issues
  • Further research found that other factors (e.g. exercise + social support) helped buffer effects of stress
  • Hardiness was most beneficial
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9
Q

Describe Bactone’s 1999 Research on Pygmy Goats

A
  • Found that soldiers with higher hardiness levels were more able to cope with stress as a result of life events + things that happened in combat
  • Hardy soldiers were less likely to experience long term negative health consequences from these events
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10
Q

Hardiness Evaluation

Gender+Age Difference

A
  • NEGATIVE
  • Original research into hardiness was carried out on a sample of males - it is possible that the results might be different for females
  • Sheppered (1991) = highlighting inconsistent findings when considering gender+hardiness - research found that control + commitment elements of a hardy personality predicted health outcomes for males but not females
  • Sheppered suggest differences in effects hardiness has in different age groups - relationship between hardiness+stress outcomes is only evident in older women
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11
Q

Hardiness Evaluation

Importance of All 3 Elements

A
  • NEGATIVE
  • Maddi (2013) = All 3 parts of a hardy personality are required to have a buffering effect against stress
  • Sandwirk (2013) = studied 21 navy cadets during field exercise, obtaining hardiness scores before/during/after exercise - all scored high in hardiness however some were high in control but not in challenge - classed as unbalanced + were compared to balanced group - being low in challenge may make the cadets more vulnerable to stress in ambiguous situations
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12
Q

Who Discovered Type A/B Personality?

How?

A
  • Friedman + Rosenman developed this theroy in the 1950s
  • Based on observation of people’s behaviour - some individuals seemed tenser + exhibited certain behaviors (e.g. not being able to sit still)
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13
Q

What are Some Traits of Type A Personality

A
  • Competitive
  • Impulsive
  • Hostile
  • Workaholic
  • Always in a hurry
  • Unrealistic sense of urgency
  • Rapid speech
  • Rapid movement
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14
Q

What are Some Traits of Type B Personality?

A
  • Relaxed
  • Able to express feelings
  • Calm
  • Flexible
  • Slower speech
  • Slower movement
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15
Q

Describe the Procedure of the Western Collaborative Group Study

A
  • Prospective longitudinal study of 3154 men aged between 39 + 59
  • Men categorised into Type A/B personality using an interview task
  • Interview consisted of 25 questions about how they would respond to everyday pressures
  • Interview conducted in a provocative manner (slow/hesitant speech) so that the Type As would interrupt
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16
Q

Describe the Findings of the Western Collaborative Group Study

A
  • 8 1/2 years later…
  • 257 developed heart disease - 70% = Type A
  • 12.8% Type As experienced heart attack compared with 6.0% Type B
  • Type As had higher blood pressure + higher cholesterol
17
Q

Describe the Other Research Relating to the Western Collaborative Group Study

A
  • Framingham Heart Study - gathered data about risj factor for coronary heart disorder since 1948
  • Haynes (1982) = Type A behavior associated with 2 fold increase in risk of coronary heart disorder over subsequent 10 years
18
Q

Type A/B Personality Evaluation

Supporting Evidence

A
  • POSITIVE
  • Friedman (1975) = participants to complete an unsolvable puzzle in a noisy environment - Type As appeared outwardly more stressed + annoyed by the task compared with Type Bs - Type As showed a higher level of adrenaline during competition despite showing no difference when resting - provides support for the physiological response to Type As + make them more prone to long term problems
19
Q

Type A/B Personality Evaluation

Conflicting Evidence

A
  • NEGATIVE
  • Ragland + Brand (1988) = followed 257 of original WCGS after 22 years to look at longer term effects - found although some behaviors (e.g. smoking/cholesterol level) import predictors of CHD mortality, Type A behaviour did not show significant correlation
  • Although Type As more likely to suffer from heart attack, they are more likely to survive coronary events
  • Possible that confounding variable introduced by publication of initial results which led Type As to adjust their behavior + lifestyle
20
Q

Type A/B Personality Evaluation

Gender + Cultural Bias

A
  • NEGATIVE
  • Original study only carried out on men
  • Type A traits (e.g. competitiveness) considered to be male-centered
  • Review by Baker (1984) found that women showed similar similar levels of type A personality traits + shower greater automatic arousal to stressor
  • Helman (1987) = concept of type A personality is culturally biased - developed from USA - values of being a workaholic +competitive would not be found in non-western cultures
21
Q

Type A/B Personality Evaluation

The Role of Hostility

A
  • NEGATIVE
  • Certain type As traits maybe more important than others in making an individual more prone to stress related illness
  • Hecker (1988) = WCGS reexamined assessing the relative influence of different components of a type A personality - hostility had most significant relationship with subsequent CHD - suggest that number type A personalities develop a more constructive response to stress as they focus on why particular element of their personality
22
Q

Type A/B Personality Evaluation

Type C Persoanlity

A
  • A point that needs to be taken into consideration
  • Type C personality is linked to stress - suppress negative emotions/rarely get into arguments/helpful to others
  • Temoshok (1987) = failing to express anger/other emotions may damage immune system + make individuals more prone to cancer
  • Morris (1981) = found that women in a cancer clinic who expressed less anger were more likely to have cancerous lumps- supports idea of link between cancer + suppression of anger
  • Giraldi (1997) = 6 year follow up found no association variables + cancer progression

Psychology Unit 3 (17 decks)

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