Appraisal, Coping, and Health Flashcards
(39 cards)
Modulators of the Stress Response
Appraisal of event
how you cope
how you feel (and how you manage those feelings)
social support and status
Stress and Coping Model
process that determines your psychological response to the stressor
Appraisal: Primary and Secondary
Coping
Outcome
(Lazarus and Folkman, 1984)
Stress and Coping Model: Primary Appraisal
what is at stake?
- Nothing/irrelevant
- Benign/positive
- stressful
“is there anything I need to be worried about?”
Stress and Coping Model: Secondary Appraisal
particularly relevant if, in your primary appraisal, there is something stressful going on
what can I do? what are my coping options?
Stress and Coping Model: Coping
cognitive and behavioral efforts to manage the situation and one’s emotional response to it
Stress and Coping Model: Outcome
emotional adjustment
health
Key Dimensions of stress appraisal linked to biology
threat and challenge
can I control it?
are people evaluating me? (this isn’t in the Lazarus and Folkman model)
Threat and Challenge appraisals
Combination of primary and secondary appraisal:
- is there something at stake for me in this situation? yes (answer in either threat or challenge)
- do I have the resources to meet it?
threat: no I don’t
challenge: yes I do
Threat Appraisals
Insufficient resources to meet situational demands (you’re doing something that you care about and feel like you don’t have what it takes to manage)
- eg taking an exam that you haven’t studied for
- associated with feelings of stress, worry and fear
- results in less efficient cardiac output (heart not pumping blood well in the context of threat - this is similar to when you “freeze” in the presence of a predator not to be seen)
Challenge appraisals
resources are sufficient to meet situational demands
- eg taking an exam that you feel well prepared for
- associated with feelings of challenge and control
- results in more efficient cardiac output and greater blood flow to periphery (same pattern seen during aerobic exercise - thought to represent efficient mobilization of energy for coping)
Threat, challenge and cortisol study
threat AND challenge appraisals are associated with elevated cortisol response to acute stress - this is how you feel BEFORE you do the task
- both threat and challenge influence cortisol output in response to stress task
- although you get different effects on the cardiovascular system in response to threat or challenge appraisal, this suggests that you get the same reaction on the HPA axis regardless of threat or challenge - it care if you feel threatened or challenged, just if you’re feeling a lot of either one you’re mobilizing a more effective response
those who found the task both threatening and challenging, the task elicits a high cortisol response than the Low threat/challenge group
may be hard to get good ACCURATE self-report measures because of multiple reasons - people’s appraisals don’t really match with their biological responses
control appraisals
thought to be a key regulator of physiological responses
-uncontrollable = behavioral response can’t influence outcome
meta-analysis: Uncontrollable stressors
elicit acute cortisol (HPA response) increases
went through acute stress studies and categorized the different tasks
- some are passive (watching a movie)
- motivated performance task (you have to do something)
- motivated performance w/uncontrollability (you have to do it but no matter what you do you can’t influence the outcome)
- motivated performance with social-evaluative threat
- motivated performance with social-evaluative threat and uncontrollability
tasks where you don’t do anything or where you have control over the outcome don’t elicit a cortisol response
-if anything there’s a reduction because of diurnal cycle
If you have to do an uncontrollable motivated performance task it notches up the cortisol response
UNCONTROLLABILITY SEEMS TO ACTIVATE THE HPA AXIS
Control and the ANS (cardiovascular system)
30 min (intervals) assessments - asked how much control they have at that moment (when they’re at their job)
individuals who report low levels of control over their jobs show higher blood pressure throughout the day
-high control is associated with Lower blood pressure
this suggests that you can see these “control” effects outside of laboratory settings
health-related control and immunity
ask kids with asthma how much control they feel over their health
health-related locus of control in children with asthma
low control associated with increased production of cytokines that make asthmas worse (IL-4)
low control also associated with poor pulmonary function
social evaluation
stress theories often focus on physical self-preservation
-eg running away from a lion
social self-preservation may also be important
- threats to the social self: situations that provide potential for loss of social esteem, social status, or social acceptance
- elicited by Trier Social Stress Test
- TSST is the best way to make people feel the most negatively evaluated socially
- social threats may be co-opting some of the same stress that physical threats do
social evaluation results
elevated SNS and cortisol response to TSST in social evaluation condition (with evaluator in room) vs. non-evaluative (in room alone)
-math with someone in the room or without someone in the room
both elicit a cardiovascular response; ANS doesn’t care about social evaluation - HPA axis no response to non-evaluative condition
-just having to do the task isn’t enough, it requires the extra nudge of someone in there evaluating you
another study adds to it with the # of people in the room; they find:
-the effect is magnified with larger audience (heart rate : just doing the task elicits a response; BP: goes up the more people in the room; but makes the most difference for the HPA axis (more people = stronger cortisol response)
yet another study adds to it “someone in the room not paying attention to you” they find:
presence of inattentive confederate DOESN’T induce cortisol response
-social evaluation component is the most important aspect
Social Evaluative threat in daily life
participants reported on experiences of social evaluation throughout the day
-worried about what others think of me; concerned about the impression I’m making
find that higher levels of social evaluative threat is associated with elevated ambulatory BP
-the effect seems to be stronger in women
What condition would elicit the largest cortisol response?
- doing an uncontrollable task alone
- doing an uncontrollable task in the presence of an experimenter who isn’t paying attention to you
- doing an uncontrollable task in the presence of an experimenter who is paying attention to you
- doing an uncontrollable task in the presence of a panel of evaluators
-doing an uncontrollable task in the presence of a panel of evaluators
uncontrollable + social evaluation and the more people get a bigger reponse
Back to the Meta analysis: stressors with social evaluation
elicit acute cortisol increases
motivated performance with social-evaluative threat and uncontrollability gets the highest cortisol response
Uncontrollable Tasks, social evaluation and inflammation
lack of control + social evaluation also increases pro-inflammatory response to stress
manipulating appraisals
this is what CBT is about but people also use this for acute laboratory framework
Reappraising Arousal
- experimentally manipulate appraisal of arousal (feeling of being “stressed”) by telling participants that arousal is functional and adaptive (will help you deal with stressor better)
- by changing feelings about their arousal, you see beneficial effects on physiology and performance
manipulating appraisal: arousal
participants randomly assigned to reappraise their arousal to a stressful task as adaptive (vs maladaptive) showed “good” cardiovascular response vs. ignore or control conditions
-just telling them to think about their physiological arousal in a certain way actually changes their physiology
a follow up study (GRE study):
participants randomly assigned to reappraise their arousal into a practice GRE test as adaptive scored higher on actual GRE
-higher scores just by virtue of reappraisal
Manipulating appraisal: stress
reappraising stress: what happens when you tell people that stress is good for them?
-people who saw “stress is enhancing” video showed improved health symptoms and work performance relative to control and “stress is debilitating” conditions (not look at physiological outcomes)
