Chapter 6 (Stress)

Question 1

Stress

Answer 1

• a negative emotion

Question 2

Stressors

Answer 2

a STRESSFUL EVENT such as noise, the commute to work, death of a family member

Question 3

Person-environment fit

Answer 3

personal resources sufficient to meet the demands of the environment

Question 4

Example of Person-environment fit

Answer 4

Examples:

- a person's resources are more than adequate to deal with a difficult situation, he or she may feel little stress and experience a sense of challenge instead.    - when the person perceives that his or her resources will probably be sufficient to deal with the event but only at the cost of greater effort then he or she may feel moderate stress    - when the person perceives that his or her resources will probably not suffice to meet an environment stressor then he or she may experience high levels of stress.

Question 5

Types of Stressors

Answer 5

Life Events and Daily Hassles

Question 6

Basic Ideas of Cannon’s Research

Answer 6

Fight or flight Response

-Cannon proposed that physiological response mobilizes the organism to attack the threat or to flee

Question 7

Fight

Answer 7

refers to aggressive response to stress, such as getting angry and or taking action

Question 8

Flight

Answer 8

refers to social withdrawal or withdrawal through substance use or distracting activities

Question 9

Selye’s General Adaptation Syndome

Answer 9

• alarm
• resistance
• exhaustion

Question 10

Alarm

Answer 10

the organism become mobilized to meet their threat

Question 11

Resistance

Answer 11

the organism makes efforts to cope with the threat, as throughout confrontation

Question 12

Exhaustion

Answer 12

occurs if the organism fails to overcome the threat and depletes it physiological resources in the process of trying

Question 13

Taylor’s Tend and Befriend approach

Answer 13

• in addition to fight-or-flight, humans respond to stress with social affiliation and nurturant behavior
• may depend on underlying biological mechanisms
• theory supported by women who respond to stress by turning to others

Question 14

Underlying Biological Mechanism

Answer 14

Oxytocin

Question 15

Oxytocin

Answer 15

is a stress hormone,rapidly released in response to at least some stressful events, and it effects are especially influenced by estrogen (role in women and stress)

Question 16

primary appraisal processes

Answer 16

When an individual confronts a new or changing environment.

• events may be perceived as positive, neutral or negative in their consequences
• negative events further appraised for possible harm,threat or challenge

Question 17

secondary appraisal processes

Answer 17

• assessment of one’s coping abilities and whether they are sufficient to meet the harm, threat
  and challenge of an event

Question 18

Harm

Answer 18

is the assessment o the damage that has already been done by an event

Question 19

Threat

Answer 19

is the assessment of possible damage that may be brought about by the event

Question 20

Physiology of stress

Answer 20

Sympathetic activation (SAM system) 
HPA activation (HPA or HPAC system)

Question 21

SAM System

Answer 21

Sympathetic – Adrenal (Medullary)
Cortex (appraisal process) –> Hypothalamus –>Sympathetic Nervous System Arousal (fight-or-flight)–>Medulla (middle) of Adrenal glands release Epinephrine (adrenaline) and Norepinephrine (noradrenaline) increased blood pressure, increased heart rate, diaphoresis, pupil dilation, constriction of peripheral blood vessels.

Question 22

HPA activation

Answer 22

Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal Cortex
Hypothalamus releases corticotrophin-releasing-hormone –>stimulates the pituitary gland –> adrenocorticotropic hormone –> adrenal cortex –>glucocorticoids (cortisol).
Cortisol = reduces inflammation, increases blood pressure and blood sugar, reduces immune responses

Question 23

Long-term stress

Answer 23

excessive discharge of epinephrine ad norepinephrine can lead to:
suppression of the cellular immune function: increase bp and heart rate, ventricular arrhythmias, neurochemical imbalance, and may contribute to psychiatric disorders.

Question 24

Allostatic load

Answer 24

• physiological systems within the body fluctuate to meet demands of stress
• can be assessed by different indicators

Question 25

Assessing stress

Answer 25

- self-reports (of perceived stress) - behavioral measures (task performance under stress) - physiological measures (of arousal such as heart rate, bp) - biochemical markers(elevated catecholamines and alteration in the diurnal rhythm of cortisol or cortisol responses to stress

Question 26

Dimensions of stressful events

Answer 26

- negative events: - more stressful than positive events - one exception: people who hold negative views of themselves - uncontrollable/unpredictable events: - more stressful than predictable events - ambiguous events: - more stressful because person has no opportunity to take action - overload: - overloaded people are more stressed than people with fewer tasks to perform

Question 27

Adaptation to stress

Answer 27

psychological adaptation | physiological adaptation

Question 28

psychological adaptation

Answer 28

most people can adapt to moderate stress, but children, elderly and the poor are more adversely affected by chronic stressors

Question 29

physiological adaptation

Answer 29

low-level stress produces habituation in most people, whereas chronic stress can accumulate across multiple organ systems

Question 30

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Answer 30

- severely traumatic or stressful events may produce chronic mental health and physical health effects Long-term effects of early stressful life experiences: - chronic physical or sexual abuse in childhood or adulthood increases health risks - stress early in life causes developing stress systems to become dysregulated

Question 31

Chronic stressful conditions

Answer 31

chronic stress, such as living in poverty, | being a bad relationship or remaining in a high-stress job, contribute to psychological stress and physical illness

Question 32

Chronic stress and health

Answer 32

- chronic stress is related to illness | - low SES produces more stress-related outcomes than higher SES

Question 33

Stress in the workplace

Answer 33

- help identify common, everyday stressors - provide evidence for stress-illness relationship - provide possibilities for intervention - show that stress-related physical and mental health disorders account for a growing percentage of disability and social security payments to workers

Question 34

work and sedentary lifestyle

Answer 34

- changes in the nature of work create vulnerability to illness overload: - chief cause of occupational stress - perception of work overload produces physical health complaints and psychological distress

Question 35

solutions to workplace stressors

Answer 35

workplace interventions can reduce stress