Unit 3: stress and emotions Flashcards
emotions
subjective personal responses elicited in a person when they percieve a relevant change in their inmediate environment
they are subjective - not all people have the same emotional reactions in the same situations
depend on our ‘learning history’ and the sudden change in our environment
2 types of emotions
- basic emotions: the most simpel state our emotions responses can be ex. anger, joy, sadness
* develop our phylogenetic history, will serve as the basis for the development of complex emotions - complex emotions: these emotions are developed by the union of different basic emotions depending on our environment ex. envy, love, dissapointment
3 functions for human emotions
- motivator operation: process through which an internal change in the body modifies the value of environmental stimulation and the related response
- regulation of the body: regulate our internal state when a sudden change in the environment occurs
- social communication: modifies the behaviour of everyone around us when we express them
emotional management
def: a persons ability to indentify their emotional processes and the way to properly modify them
how to reduce a emotion
3 aspects:
1. origin
2. function:
3. adaptability
aspects to reduce a emotion
origin
- refers to the stimulation that elicited a certain emotion, the origin of the response
we can only have 2 origins
1. unconditional response
2. conditional response
aspects to reduce a emotion
adaptability
defined as the ability an emotional response has to establish a function in a specific environment
stress def
a physiological activation response that serves as a fight or flight mechanism in the organism
what bodily functions increase when we get stressed (5)
- energy
- oxygen
- analgesia
- senses
- features
the general adaptation syndrome - parts and concept
parts: alarm, maintanence, exhaustion
concept: if the body maintains a level of stress for a prolonged time in the end it exhausts itself
(exhaustion) and increases the probability of the development of pathologies
components of stress response
- physiological level: hormonal and biochemical changes that occur in the stress response
- coginitive level
- motor level
components of stress response
physiological level
refer to the hormonal and biochemical changes that occur during a stress response
3 physiological activation axes:
1. neural axis:
2. neuro-endocrine axis
3. endocrine axis
components of a stress response
physiological level - neural axis
- first system to be activated, involves the activation of the autonomic nervou sysstem (ANS) and the somatic or muscular nervous system (SNS)
ANS: divided into 2 systems with antagonistic responses: sympathetic system and parasympathetic system
SNS: responsible for uniting the brain and spinal cord to the movement o the skeleton and muscles
components of a stress response
physiological level - neuro endocrine axis
- if the situation is not resolved quickly this system is activated
- second system that is activated which prepares the body for a fight or flight response
2 effects:
1. activation of the adrenaline glands: release of catecholamines (Adrenaline + norepinephrine )
2. preparation of the body for the fight and flight: increases blood irrigation and muscle strength of the body to prevent an injury
components of a stress response
physiological level - endocrine axis:
when activated, main way activated, most important effect, glucose, immune system, insulin
- last system to activate
- is activated when the stressor (triggr) remains in our enviornment for too long (hours) and we need an over activation of the stress system
main way activated: HPAS (hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal system)
most important effect: release of glucorticoids (cortisol, cortisone, corcosterone), adrenaline, norepinephrine
increases gluce
decreases immune system
decreases insulin
components of a stress response
cognitive system
refers to a perons analysis of the situation and their own ability to cope with it
2 phases:
1. assesment primary: evaluate whether the situation is or is not a threat –> 3 possible results:
* irrelevant/benign
* benefit
* stressor: if it is this then we go into secondary
- assesment secondary: once stressor is identified the body evaluates if it has the sufficient and necessary tools to face the stressor -> if we have tools = no stress
if the result is we do fear it then motor level is activated
components of a stress response
motor level
defined like the coping strategies we take when faced with a certain stressor to eliminate or control the situation
3 strategies:
1. confrontation
2. flight
3. inhibition
effects of stress (6)
- cardiovascular
- immunological
- sleeping
- sexuality
- emotions
- cognitive
effects of stress: cardiovascular system
increase cardiac rate + release vasopressin = blood pressure increases
* if the stressful situation dissapears = no problem, if it is maintained over time it wears system out
stress = increased pressure in the bifurcation points of the body
greater pressure = greater chance of damage
if there is damage = acid fats, cholesterol and triglycerides adhere to the damaged walls
if they adhere = it facilitates the apperance of atherosclerotic plaques
stress damages 3 organs: heart, kindeys, brain
effects of stress: immunological system
our immune response is mediated due to the presene of white blood cells our torrent. specifically the presence of lumphocytes and monocits
2 types of lymphocytes
1. t cells: cells that mature in the thymus and are responsible for attacking strange agents when they’re identified
* reduce the thymus glands
* stops the formation of new cells and reduces their sensitivity
* by binding to t cells they are eliminated
2. b cells: proteins that bind to the the invading body (once our immune system has learnt to identify it) to destro iy. in order to do this we need the activation of the parasympathetic system
* because of this stress diable our immune system
effects of stress: sleep
altered state of consciousness which involves a reduce physical and mental activity aswell as an inhibition of the senses
phase 1: we go from a waking state to unconscious
phase 2: conservation phase
phase 3: deep sleep starts - with stress we cant enter a deep sleep mode
phase 4: dreaming
effects of stress: sexuality
focusing primarily on the physiological part, stress affects our sexuality and reproduction system in several ways depending on our level of analysis
2 main pathway:
* hormonal: in men the LH controls the production of sperm and the FSH increments the production of testosterone, in women it controls the ovulation cycle
when stressed: glucocorticoids diminish the production of LH and creates insesnsitivity to FSH
- physiological: men: erectile dysfunction, premature eyaculation
women: dyspareunia and vaginismus
effects of stress: coginitive capacities
refers to the capacity a person has of intergrating, retaining and recovering info that was perceived from the environment
argumentation phase: normally during our alarm and resistance phase, our cognitive capacities improve (better recall and processing capacity, integration speed, etc)
diminishing phase: during the exhaustion phase (maintained stress). all of our cognitive capacities diminish (Memory loss, fake memories creation, lower processing speed, etc)
treatment
- context
- person
- learning history
