The Role of Social Support Flashcards
What are the 3 types of social support?
1) Instrumental
2) Emotional
3) Esteem
What is Instrumental Support?
Refers to offers of tangible assistance (practical help) such as providing money
What is Emotional Support?
Where the other person is aware of the associated emotions for example they would listen to a friend and give them advice
What is Esteem Support?
Someone else makes you feel better about yourself for example giving compliments
What is The Buffering Hypothesis?
Suggests that social support is especially important, at times of stress friends protect the individual from the negative effects of stress and help them think differently about stress, this is seen as the instrumental type and problem focused
What is Direct Physiological Effects?
The direct effect of social support on the activity ANS (drops cortisol levels), possibly to increase relaxation (people with high social support are in better health)
What was Kamarck et al procedure?
39 female student volunteers recruited to perform a difficult mental task while their physiological reactions monitored. Attended alone or with a closed same sex friend. Friend asked to touch their partner on the wrist, participants filled in questionnaire related to mood and personality
What was Kamarck et al findings?
Participants who were with their friend showed lower physiological reactions than those who were alone
What was Kamarck et al conclusions?
The presence of social support can help individuals deal more effectively with the negative effects of stress
What did Taylor et al do?
Compared Americans of European and Asian origins. Found that Asian-Americans were much less likely to seek and use social support networks in times of stress, didn’t want to bring their own problems to everybody’s attention
What are 3 evaluation points?
- Ethnocenric different in different cultures
- Differnences in males and females
- Negative effects of social support
