Stress In Evolutionary Perspective

Question 1

The Stress Response

Answer 1

Found in most modern environments usually among groups that experience poverty, discrimination, marginalization–> ways that social processes shape biological outcomes
-very primitive (old) animal traits
-sympathetic vs. parasympathetic response
- highly adaptive
-similarities across major taxa

Question 2

Sympathetic Nervous Response: “Flight” or “Fight”

Answer 2

Mediates immediate stress response

• Adrenal Medulla –> adrenaline
  -Hypothalamus –> cortisol

Question 3

Sympathetic Nervous Response: “Flight” or “Fight”

Answer 3

Immediate Response:
*heart rate increase
*sweat
* increased blood flow to muscles
*Glucose synthesis

Question 4

Parasympathetic Response

Answer 4

-Mediates counter-response
- relaxation, “let down”
-prevents cortisol from damaging tissues
-Goal
- restore homeostasis
-Failure –> chronic stressful state

Question 5

When the Stress Response is Adaptive

Answer 5

-Punctuated, acute stress
- risk to kin, offspring
-predation
- danger

Question 6

When the Stress Response is NOT

Answer 6

-Chronic Stress exposure
* Low-level, psychosocial
* Feeling helpless, powerless
- Costs
* energetically expensive
*Damage
-Neural Tissues –> Decreased Memory
-Blood- Brain Barrier –> toxins, pathogens penetrate brain