Week 3 Flashcards
What are the physiological basis of stress?
Heart rate increases, blood pressure rises, blood vessels constrict, sugar levels rise, blood flow is directed towards major organs, breathing is deeper and faster, digestion stops and sweating increases, adrenaline is secreted
What are the 3 stages of Stress? (GAS, General Adaptation System)
Alarm, Resistance and Exhaustion
What is the Alarm stage?
Organism’s resistance to the stressor temporarily decreases below normal which can cause shock and impairment of normal physiological functions
What is the Resistance (Adaptaiton) stage?
The organism learns to adapt to exposure of stress and nervous system goes back to normal functioning while resistance to the stressor goes above normal
What is the Exhaustion stage?
When the organism is exposed to the stressor for too long, it can’t adapt or resist which can potentially lead to death
What are the health risks of stress?
Weakened immune system, heart disease, high blood pressure
What is stress appraisal (Lazarus and Folkman)?
When we assess new environments. Stress is the result of how an event will affect us and if we have the ability to handle it
What is primary appraisal?
Allowing us to see a new environment as beneficial, neutral or negative and the possible consequences
What is secondary appraisal?
Assessment of our coping abilities, resources and judgements as to whether they are sufficient enough to meet the harms, threats or challenges of a new or changing event
What is self efficacy
a person’s belief that he or she is capable of the specific behaviour required to produce a desired outcome
- The more self-efficacy we have, the more likely we are to try it, persist at it and succeed
- High amounts of self-efficacy allows people to cope with stress
What is the effect of optimism on stress?
it keeps stress levels low
How are stress and relationships related?
People who are lonely are more susceptible to stress
The quality of friends are more important than the quantity
What is problem focused coping?
o Eliminating or reducing the situation that is causing stress
o Only possible when one can control the stressor
What is emotion focused coping?
o Reducing our emotional reaction to stressful situation
What is proactive coping?
o Preventing or reducing stress upright, such as preventing stressful situations
What is Stress Inoculation Training?
o Prepares one for the negative effects of stress and provides him with skills that will reduce their susceptibility to those effects
What are subjective norms?
Our belief about what other people think we should do
What is attitude?
Our evaluation of the behaviour in question
What are perceived behaviour controls?
Our confidence in our ability to achieve the desired behaviour
What are factors that affect life choices?
o Subjective norms, and knowing what they are
o Social support by peer groups
o Believing in long term awards over short term ones
What is the “Type A Pattern” for personality?
o High levels of competitiveness, hostility, impatience, intense disposition
o Increases one’s risk of getting CHD (coronary heart disease)
o Poorer health
What is the “Type B Pattern” for personality?
o Low levels of, competitiveness and hospitality, patience and easygoing
o Lower risk of getting CHD (coronary heart disease)
What is the fight or flight response?
Physiological response that helps us either fight the stressor or flee dangerous situations
What are the hormonal responses to stress?
- Epinephrine releases the stored version of glucose which is found in our muscles, therefore providing energy for vigorous exercises
- Epinephrine and norepinephrine increases the blood flow to the muscles through the heart, therefore changing blood pressure
- Increases risk of CHD
What is stress?
o Contains multiple faces
contains many responses
o Emotional response
o physiological response – increased heart rate, heart pressures
o Cognitive response – what is stressing depends on our perception
o Behavioural response – our reaction or response to stress
What causes stress?
o Crises
o Important life events
o Daily hassles
o The biggest life stressor is money
What is the theory of planned behaviour?
Attitude, Subjective norm, perceived behaviour control affect behavioural intentions which affect our behaviour
What is cognitive appraisal?
Changing one’s perceptions of existing stressors to be less threatening
