July 4, 2019

Question 1

What are the 4 major categories of stressors

Answer 1

1) Significant life changes
- >changes in your personal life
- >eg; death of loved ones

2) Catastrophic events
- >a large scale event that everyone considers threatening

3) Daily hassles
- >minor events
- >eg; forgot car keys

4) Ambient stressors
- >global stressors that are integrated with the environment
- >perceivable but hard to control
- >eg; pollution

Question 2

What is a tend and befriend response

Answer 2

• better response to stress is to have support systems
• > oxytocin is important for this
• > peer bonding moderates stress response

Question 3

What are the three stages of stress

Answer 3

1) Alarm
- >stress reaction kicks in

2) Resistance
- >fleeing, temperature elevated, blood pressure rises

3) Exhaustion
- >if ressistance isn’t followed by recovery, then our tissues become damaged and our immunity is dampened

Question 4

How does extreme levels of stress affect reproduction in females and males

Answer 4

• FSH/LH and estrogen/progesterone can be inhibited
• > which reduce females reproductive capabilities
• in males, they have reduced testosterone
• also have erectile dysfunction, as blood vessels are constricted due to stress

Question 5

What are the 2 areas of the brain with the most glucorticoid secretion

Answer 5

-it is the hippocampus and the frontal cortex

Question 6

What are one of the major emotional responses of stress

Answer 6

• it is depression
• > leads to anhedonia
• > an inability to experience pleasure, so perceive more stressors

Question 7

What happens during depression in terms of helplessness and the anterior cingulate cortex

Answer 7

Anterior cingulate
->stops responding to serotonin

Learned helplessness

• > people learn from having control ripped from their hands
• > so they lose the ability to identify coping mechanisms
• > cycle continues towards major depression

Question 8

What are three ways of coping with stress

Answer 8

1) Perceived control
- >more control=less stress
- >low SES increases stress

2) Optimism
- >humor and optimism linked to decreased stress

3) Social support
- >one of the best coping mechanisms of stress

Question 9

What are ways of managing stress

Answer 9

1) Exercise
- >regular exercise requires control

2) Meditation
- >lowers heart rate, blood pressure

3) Religious beliefs/faith
- >correlated by generally healthier lifestyle and social support

4) Cognitive flexibility
- >perspective change is huge in our perception of what is stressing us out

5)COping

Question 10

What are three adaptive coping mechanisms

Answer 10

1) Proactive coping
- >one reduces the stress of some difficult challenge by anticipating what it will be like and preparing for how one is going to cope with it

2) Social coping
- >seeking social support of others

3) Meaning-focused coping
- >person concentrates on deriving meaning from the stressful situation

Question 11

What is the definition of low-effort syndrome or low effort coping

Answer 11

• it refers to the coping responses of minority groups
• > in an attempt to fit into the dominant culture
• > eg; minority students at school may learn to put in only minimal effort
• > as they believe they are being discriminated against

Question 12

What spinal nerves are the PNS made up of

Answer 12

-it is made up of cranial(12 pairs) +spinal nerves(31 pairs)

Question 13

What is a neuromuscular junction

Answer 13

-it is when the efferent neurons of the PNS(lower motor neurons) synapse on skeletal muscles

Question 14

What is the diameter of the mechanoreceptors(vibration, touch, position) like

Answer 14

• these receptors have large diameter axons

- >have thick myelin sheath as well

Question 15

What is the diameter of noci and thermo receptors like

Answer 15

• they tend to have small diameter axons

- >have thin or no myelin at all

Question 16

What are muscles referred to as

Answer 16

-they are referred to as muscle spindles

Question 17

Does the muscle stretch reflex happen on the same side for the afferent and efferent neurons

Answer 17

-yes

Question 18

Contrast the axons of the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous system

Answer 18

Sympathetic

• > short pre synaptic neuron
• > long post synaptic neuron

Parasympathetic

• > long pre synaptic neuron
• > short post synaptic neuron

Question 19

How does the positioning of grey/white matter in the spinal cord differ from that of the brain

Answer 19

In the spinal cord
->white matter on the inside and grey on the outside

-vice versa for the brain

Question 20

Where do lower motor neurons that pass through the cranial nerves control

Answer 20

-they control the muscles of the head and the neck

Question 21

Where are upper motor neurons found

Answer 21

-they are found in the cerebral cortex and synapse onto the lower motor neurons in the brainstem or the spinal cord(corticospinal tract)

Question 22

What does the frontal lobe contain

Answer 22

-the motor cortex, Broca’s area and the prefrontal cortex

Question 23

What does the parietal cortex contain

Answer 23

-it contains the somatosensory cortex(touch/pressure/pain)+ spatial manipulation