Stress - Social Psychological Explanation Flashcards
1
Q
What are the Two Social Psychological Explanations of Stress?
A
- Life Events
2. Daily Hassles
2
Q
What are Life Events?
A
- Events that require significant adjustment/transitions
- Can be both positive or negative
- Common factor= that they will lead to significant adjustment in a person’s life
- Seen as a key source of stress
3
Q
Who Came up with the Idea of Life Events?
How?
A
- Dr Holmes investigated the link between stress + physical illness
- Did research with TB patients showed that people who had become ill had also experienced an increase in amount of disturbing occurence in the 2 years prior to admission to a TB hospital
- Led to Holmes + Rahe to develop life events
4
Q
What are Social Readjustment Rating Scale?
A
- Asked 394 participants to rate a list in terms of how much readjustment it would require
- Consist of 43 items that were assigned a values known as a life change unit (LCU)
5
Q
Give 3 example of Life Event + LCU + Place on SRRS
A
- Death of spouse = 100 LCU
- Divorce = 73 LCU
- Marriage = 50 LCU
6
Q
Describe the Importance of the Life Change Unit
A
- The higher the score, the more likely a person is to suffer from stress + illness
- A score of 150 increased the chances of getting ill by 30%
- A score of 300 increased the chance of getting ill by 50%
7
Q
Describe the Procedure of Rahe’s 1970 Study.
A
- Researchers used SRE (schedule of Recent Event) to asses 2684 navel personal severing on US Navy Cruisers
- Participants required to complete before tour/during 6-8 months that followed - record kept of any illnesses men experienced
8
Q
Describe the Findings of Rahe’s Study.
A
- Significant positive correlation - +1.18 between stressful life events = illness
- As number of life events increased the more likely it was a person would get ill
- Both positive + negative events included SRRS it appears that its change rather than negativity of change - important in creating stress
9
Q
Life Events Evaluation
Supporting Evidence
A
- POSITIVE
- Cohen (1993) = 394 participants got a variety of questionnaires to complete including a life events scale. Participants were exposed to common cold virus, quarantined + monitored for signs of inflection - higher life events scores were positively correlated with an increased risk of getting a cold - provides support
- Researchers controlled for factors such as age + weight + still found a relationship between stress+subsequent vulnerability to illness - provides support
10
Q
Life Events Evaluation
Correlation + Causation
A
- NEGATIVE
- Research is correlation but does not prove causation
- Other factors involved that mediate the relationship between life events + stress-related illness
- Nuckolls (1972) = impact of life changes on complications in pregnancy - life changes score alone was not related to complications - 90% women with high life changes but low social support suffered complications - 33% of high life changes + high social support suffered complications - social support was an important intervening variable
11
Q
Life Events Evaluation
Issues with Recall
A
- NEGATIVE
- Recollections may not be accurate as it relies on people
- Raphael (1991) = group of women report life events every month over 10 months - only 1/4 of events appeared on both lists
- Checklist approach should not be used when looking at relationship + health outcome - too many factors involved + too many issues with method - interview method should be used - however, more difficulty to analyse/longer to conduct/less economically viable
12
Q
Life Events Evaluation
Cultural Differences
A
- Scale was developed is the USA so its possible that different cultural groups might react differently
- Events seem as stressful in one cultural group are not perceived in the same way as others due to difference in cultural beliefs + expectations - scale has a cultural bias
- Zhang + Lin (1994) = looked at SRRS using Chinese participants - death of spouse was still most significant but there were significant differences e.g. death of a close family member was more stressful thane divorce
13
Q
Life Events Evaluation
Individual Difference
A
- NEGATIVE
- Major problem with life events to meaning + explaining stress id individual difference is the way events are perceived + the impact they will have
- SRRS could be interpreted in a different was + lead to different levels of change therefore stress
- SRRS criticised for being too narrowly focused on events specific to young adults (e.g. marriage+pregnancy)
14
Q
What are Daily Hassles?
A
- Relatively minor everyday irritations trigger stress response
15
Q
What are Uplifts?
A
- The little things that lift our mood
- Neutralise the harmful effects of hassles
- Uplifts give breaks from hassles/give us energy to sustain any coping strategy to use
