B1- stress (major life events)

Question 1

what is stress ?

Answer 1

A state of psychological and physical tension produced when there is
a mismatch between the perceived demands of the situation (the
stressors) and the individual’s ability to cope.

Question 2

what are the things that cause us stress ?

Answer 2

stressors

Question 3

whats a stressor ?

Answer 3

an event or situation that causes stress

Question 4

what are the two types of stressors with examples ?

Answer 4

physical = loud noises/crowds (environmental or bodily factors)
physiological

Question 5

in what two ways does our body respond to stress ?

Answer 5

physiological
psychological

Question 6

example of physiological response to stress=

Answer 6

increased heart rate, sweating, increased blood pressure

Question 7

example of psychological response to stress =

Answer 7

anxiety, irratibiity

Question 8

when does stress occur ?

Answer 8

Stress occurs when we believe the
demands of a situation are greater
than what we think our ability to cope is

Question 9

what is this reffered to as

Answer 9

perceived ability to cope

Question 10

what is an example of this ?

Answer 10

Students respond very differently
to the stressor of an exam

Question 11

what is another reason everyone respond to stress differently

Answer 11

perception of available resources

Question 12

what does this mean ?

Answer 12

how individuals and groups view and understand the resources they have at their disposal

Question 13

how does this relate to stress ?

Answer 13

The perception of available resources significantly impacts how an individual experiences stress.

When individuals perceive they have sufficient resources to cope with a stressful situation, their stress levels tend to decrease.

Conversely, if they feel they lack the necessary resources, stress levels tend to increase.

Question 14

what is one of the largest causes of stress ?

Answer 14

life events/changes

Question 15

what is this ?

Answer 15

Big important events that happen from time to time, not everyday

Question 16

why can they be stressful ?

Answer 16

These are stressful because you have to make a
significant psychological adjustment to cope with the changed situation

The bigger the event, positive or negative, the more stressful

Question 17

what are some examples =

Answer 17

divorce, pregnancy, birthday, being fired, holiday

Question 18

what test helps measure stress load ?

Answer 18

social readjustment rating scale (SRRS)

Question 19

what is it ?

Answer 19

The scale was designed to identify major stressful life events and was based on the premise that such events, regardless of whether they’re positive or negative, induce stress.

Question 20

how does it work ?

Answer 20

The SRRS comprises a list of 43 stressful life events, ranging from marriage and divorce to minor law violations and changes in sleeping habits.

Each of the 43 life events was awarded a Life Change Unit, depending on how traumatic it felt to be by a large sample of participants.

Question 21

who created it ?

Answer 21

Rahe et al

Question 22

explain the experiment conducted ?

Answer 22

2,500 male American sailors were given the SRRS to assess how many life events they had experienced in the previous six months.

The total score on the SRRS was recorded for each participant.

detailed records were kept of each sailor’s health status. (over 6 month period)

The recorded number of Life Change Units was correlated with the sailors’ illness scores.

Question 23

results ?

Answer 23

There was a positive correlation of +0.0118 between Life Change scores and illness scores

it did indicate that there was a meaningful relationship between Life Change Units and health

Question 24

whats a weakness of this experiment=

Answer 24

.gender bias in the sample (all males)

.outdated- does not account for modern day stressors (cyber bullying) (temporal validity)

Question 25

whats a strength of this experiment=

Answer 25

.large sample size .easy to conduct and therefore replicate.

Question 26

weakness of SSRS-

Answer 26

does not take into account individual differences. The scale assumes that each stressor affects people the same way example- for some people a divorce may be extremely stressful while for others it may be an amicable relief. most people don't experience major life events very often. It may be better to look at everyday events that cause stress.

Question 27

supporting research on life events and stress=

Answer 27

Lietzen (2011) in a study looking at those who develop asthma, those who had experienced life events were more likely to develop the disease correlation between life events and development of asthma

Question 28

general weakness=

Answer 28

social desirability bias= answering questions in the way in which you think the researcher wants you to answer them.