Test 1 Flashcards
Stressor
An event/stimulus we perceive as bad
Processive stressor
A stressor that involves processing of information. Two types: psychogenic and neurogenic
Psychogenic stressor
A stressor of psychological origin
An example of a psychogenic stressor
Someone saying something bad to you
Neurogenic stressor
stressor associated with illness/painful stimuli
Example of neurogenic stressor
touching something hot or stubbing your toe.
True or false: You can have both psychogenic and neurogenic stressors at the same time
True.
Systemic stressor
stressor you are unaware of occurring in your body. Ex: you are sick but not showing symptoms yet, there are still biological cascades in your body causing stress.
Stress
Biological response to a stressor (outcome).
Adjust the world hypothesis
we live in a world where everything is right and justice must prevail
How can the adjust the world hypothesis have negative effects on an individual?
Leads to victim blaming - because “everything in the world must be right” we believe that when something bad happens that is must of been our fault.
Difference between human and animal studies when studying stress.
- Animal studies used to look at mechanisms, neurotransmitters, and specific details about receptors
- Human studies are not used to acquire details but rather to study differences that cannot be assessed in animals as they are grown in the same conditions.
Limitations to rat studies for stress
- only a certain amount of stress that can be put onto animals in the lab, there are more natural, intense stressors that occur in humans that cannot be replicated in a lab.
- stress is subjective and therefore cannot be universally tested in rats.
Mediation analysis
How the independent variable affects the dependent variable through a middle variable.
Moderation analysis
Examines how a variable can influence the strength and/or direction of the relationship between the independent and dependent variable.
Stressor characteristics - SEVERITY
Subjective category but some stressors are objectively more severe than others (death of a child vs parking ticket)
What are the stressor characteristics?
severity, controllability, predictability, certainty, ambiguity, volatility, chronicity.
Stressor characteristics - CONTROLLABILITY
Uncontrollable stressful events have more profound adverse health consequences than do controllable events.
Evidence to show controllability of an event is better than uncontrollability
There is rat in one box who is hooked up to electrodes and a rat in another box in the same condition. The rat in the first box has to hit a lever, if it doesnt it will receive a shock (this is the condition in which the rat has control). The second rat only gets shocked if and when the first rat gets shocked (this is the condition where the rat does not have control). The second rat is worse off because he becomes learned helpless - that his actions are independent of the outcomes.
stressor characteristics - Predictability
Unpredictable events: Events that we know will happen but do not know when they will happen
Stressor characteristics - Certainty
Uncertain events: events that may or may not happen
Stressor characteristics - Ambiguity
situation where the context does not provide sufficient information or provides multiple but inconsistent bits of information making it hard to determine whether and when the event might occur.
Stressor characteristics - Chronicity
Typically the worst stressor because it is never ending. It is more damaging than acute stressors, therefore more processes come into play to cope with it. Worst kind of stressor: chronic + uncertain/uncontrollable and/or unpredictable.
Stressor characteristics - Volatility
Stressor can be more unpleasant if it erupted randomly/quickly from a minor/non-existent situation.
2 appraisal processes for uncertain situations??
Inference: individuals can reconstrue a negative situation
Illusion: into a glimmer of hope despite the odds.
Homotypic stressor
chronic stressor that does not vary day to day
- because of this people can adapt and develop coping strategies (specifically because it is predictable)
Heterotypic stressor
chronic stressor that varies day to day
- because of this it can be harder to adapt/cope because it unpredictable, ambiguous and uncontrollable.
Allostasis
More biological changes insitgated to restore/maintain stability in response to strong/sudden stressful challenges.
Allostatic overload
When allostasis is prolonged in the body causing a strain on the system and makes the individual vulnerable to future stressors/pathologies/illnesses
Retrospective bias
When assesssing stress in an individual, it refers to asking the individuals to report their stress based on past experiences which can be influenced by present emotions.
Limitations on retrospective studies
Past experiences can be clouded by present emotions therefore the measure of stress can be confounded.
Prospective analysis
Measuring stress by following individuals on a daily basis.
Limitations on prospective analysis
These analyses typically take years therefore not an accurate representation of population since many people drop out before the study is done.
Vulnerability
susceptibility to increased psychological/physical poor health in response to environmental or social changes.
Resilience
Ability to recover from an illness
True or false: Vulnerability and resilience are characteristics that are at opposite ends of the spectrum.
False. You can have qualities that can make you both/either vulnerable or resilient.
Sensitization
When encountering a stressful event causes a chemical change in the brain, predisposing you to have a greater reaction at the next encounter of the stressful event/or a trigger of that event/ or a similar stressful event.
Heritability
How much of your phenotype is determined by the genes you have inherited.
True or false: expression of your genes can be altered depending on the environment
True.
Pleiotropy
When a single gene has more than one phenotypical behaviour.
Serial pleiotropy
Changes in one phenotype affects the phenotypes underneath it in the cycle.
Parallel pleiotropy
Gene influences two different paths, manipulations on one of the paths will not affect the other path.
Biomarker
Marker that identifies whether someone is more vulnerable/resistant to developing a pathology
Epistatic interaction
A particular phenotype is produced by the interaction between two or more genotypes. The consequence is not an additive effect.
Epigenetics
The change in expression of genes (can be turned on/off) depending on the environment
Methylation
Expression of the gene is turned off
Importance of epigenetic changes
The turning on/off of genes has an important role in orienting pre-natal and post-natal development through facilitating the growing of certain organs at their respective times.
Epigenetic aging
A measure of biological age and can tell us whether we are vulnerable to certain pathologies.
What determines our epigenetic age
Telomeres on our chromosome - they become shorter as we age.
Transgenic mice
Mice that are bred to be missing a particular gene or epigenetic factor.
Teratogenic effects
When a pregnant woman comes across/ingests harmful substances throughout the 1-2 trimester causing mutations/effects on their offspring
Teratogen
A harmful substance that will cause teratogenic effects
Can stress in a pregnant woman be considered a teratogen?
Yes it can be considered a teratogen because stress (either physical or psychological) can cause epigenetic changes in their fetus.
Meta-analysis
Including a variety of studies in one big analysis. This analysis will put all the data into an equation and spew out a conclusion based on all the data.
Systematic review
Looking at an individual study or meta analysis and evaluating the “goodness” of the study.
Primary appraisal
Perceptions associated with the impact of a potentially stressful event/stimulus. Identifying whether an event is threatening or non-threatening.
Secondary appraisal
Perception of the resources available for successfully eliminating/attenuating a stressor.
Misappraisal
Wrongly evaluating a situation/making a bad judgement call.
Style
Predisposition to act/react in a certain manner.
Strategy
Action that supersedes our predisposed way to act.
3 main coping groups
Problem focused, emotion focused, and avoidant focused.
Problem solving
Problem solving to change the circumstances, or through cognitive processes that can be used to change how we think about stressors.
Emotional coping
Involves either emotional expression emotional containment, rumination, self- or other-blame and passive resignation.
How can emotional coping be beneficial?
It helps release all the built up emotions but also signals to others that you are facing/coping with a situation
Avoidance coping
Avoidance/denial of an event/situation
Is avoidance coping good or bad?
It can be both depending on the situation.
Good: if you are faced with a problem that you cannot problem solve (you have a terminal illness)
Bad: when you are in a dangerous situation or need medical attention.
Rumination
When you think about something consistently.
True or false: rumination as a coping style leads to resistance in depression
False. Rumination as your main coping style makes you more vulnerable to depression.
Heuristics
Cognitive strategies/shortcuts used for problem solving.
Recency heuristic
How fast I need to deal with a certain problem will indicate what steps I need to take.
Representativeness heuristic
Decisions are made based on their perceived similarity to other situations
Associative coherence heuristic
Decisions are based on the stimulus/event being consistent with our preconceived intuitions.
Attribute substitution heuristic
When making a judgement about a particular stimulus, you might form further unconscious attributes about this stimulus based on what had been previously learned in similar situations.
EX: mary is nice, so you unconsciously associate her with warm and welcoming.
Processing fluency heuristic
Subjective experience concerning the relative ease/difficulty involved in a given cognitive task is influential in determining whether particular judgements will be made.
Availability heuristic
Refer to how readily/accessible decisions are/come to mind.
Anchoring heuristic
Numerical predictions are based on the initial bits of information encountered and then adjusted as additional information is obtained.
Precision medicine
Using individual characteristics (genetics, environmental background, etc) to apply treatments to that individual’s pathology.
Priming
Introduction of one stimulus will influence how that person responds to other stimuli. Priming can cause misappraisals.
Social support
- Can be an excellent stress buffer.
- Can also be a double-edged sword because social support can result in negative consequences: finding social support in the wrong places (cults), having your friends not be supportive as you wanted, etc.
What brain region does social rejection have an impact on?
The anterior cingulate cortex which is associated with appraisals and decision making
Activation of the anterior cingulate cortex is shown to be implicated in social and _______________ appraisal.
physical pain
Black sheep effect
Within a group, one person is “black-sheeped” where they are deemed not a member of the group/an embarrassment to the group.
Adverse childhood experiences
When a young child experiences any kind of abuse, they are more vulnerable/less resilient to pathologies later in life.
- Early life stressors can cause sensitization of the neurons, therefore when that person is introduced to stressors later on in life, they are primed to have a larger biological reaction - leading to anxiety, depression and reduced life span.
- ACEs can also be a result of limited tactile stimulation as a baby (Romania study).
Social homeostasis
Participating in social collectives comprises an adaptive response that may have evolved because of survival advantages obtained through groups.
Appraisal
Evaluations that individuals make in response to a potential stressor
Appraisal of a threatening event
Associated with negative emotions as it signifies the potential for harm
Appraisal of a challenging event
Similarly aversive like appraisal of a threatening event but provides the potential for growth that can be later associated with positive emotions
Most important aspect of appraisals?
Perceived control over the situation
Behavioural control
The ability to influence a stressful situation through the initiation of some sort of action
Cognitive control
Conceptualized as the ability to influence the situation by using some sort of mental strategy.
This promotes the most beneficial effects on well being
Decisional control
Having a choice over the coping strategies available to deal with a stressor
Informational control
The degree to which the individual is able to predict and prepare for stressful events.
Dual system for decision making
System 1 (Fast thinking): primed by environmental events
System 2 (Slow thinking): cognitively oriented for complex decisions
Coping
How we deal with a stressful event
What is the most important aspect of coping with a stressor?
Cognitive flexibility is the most important aspect for effective stressor appraisals and contributes to better coping with negative events
Socioeconomic status and poverty impacts on stress
People of lower socioeconomic status/who are immersed in poverished conditions face chronic stressors: food insecurity, homelessness/risk for homelessness, reduced resources to escape poverty. This makes this population more vulnerable to communicable diseases as well as diminished life span.
Cognitive outcomes of ACEs
- Decrease in working memory and executive functions which leads to delay in PFC development.
- Disturbances in self regulation reflected by impaired attention and inability to delay gratification.
Gender and sexual differences
Women’s pathologies are severely understudied, as we only recently started including female rats in studies. Women are more susceptible to mental pathologies such as anxiety, depression and PTSD. Many social stigmas around coping strategies for women vs men. For example, women are expected to express emotions (and typically have emotional coping responses) whereas men are expected to bottle their emotions. Men typically have more problem solving coping strategies.
Race
Biological construct reflecting clear genotypic and phenotypic delineation often tied to geographic migratory roots and adaptations.
Ethnicity
Based on common cultural characteristics rather than genotypic/phenotypic features. For example: Hispanics - spanish speaking cultural backgrounds
Impact of ethnoracial identity on stress
Ethnic differences are implicated in relation to a wide variety of pathologies –> can be because of lifestyle choices or genetic factors.
Age and stress
- Elderly people tend to have diminished coping mechanisms due to lack of social supports (dead relatives, friends, etc). Elderly people with no social support tend to suffer from stigmas especially in homes because they no longer have the resources to fend for themselves physically and mentally.
Ageism can negatively impair the recipients health, hinder recovery from illnesses, promote loneliness, depression, cognitive decline and reduced lifespan
What is the cyberball study and what did they find?
Researches got participants to play an online virtual ball passing game between 3 characters, one of the characters being the participant. The participant is under the impression that the other 2 characters are other participants but they are programmed AI. The ball is first passed between all 3 characters, as the game goes on the ball is only passed between the 2 AI characters, leaving the participant out. They found that the participant being left out lead to feelings of anger, frustration, sadness, etc. They found that the anterior cingulate cortex is associated with appraisals and decision making implicated in social and physical, painful stimuli.
Why do people not seek social support in times of need if it is such a powerful tool in stress coping?
- Feelings of shame for needing help
- Cultural/familial ideologies
- Fear of not getting adequate support
- Not realizing you need help
- Delay of treatment (avoidance coping)
