Social Psychological Explanations Flashcards
(13 cards)
What do social psychological explanations think stress is a result of?
factors in the social environment and thus focus on external rather than internal causes.
What are the two social psychological explanations of stress?
Life Events and Daily Hassles
What is a life event?
an event or change (positive or negative) that requires us to adjust our life. Researchers have become interested in the impact of significant life events have on our levels of stress and subsequent health.
What did early research find?
Thomas Holmes used TB patients found that many of the people that became ill had experienced significant life events in the two years prior being admitted to hospital
What did Holmes and Rahe develop in 1976
a list of significant life events. They asked 394 participants to rate each life event in terms of how much life readjustment each would require leading to the development of the SRRS
What is the Social Readjustment Scale?
a scale consisting of 43 life events each with a life changing unit. The highest LCU of 100 points was given to death of a spouse whilst other events were allocated lower scores such as change in living conditons = 25 LCU.
What did Holmes and Rahe find in 1976?
to establish a numerical figure that represents a total a participant simply examines the 43 life events and tick those they have personally experienced in the previous 2 years then the total LCU scores are added up to give an overall score.
-it was found that the higher the LCU score the more likely an individual will suffer from stress and therefore illness (positive correlation)
-LCU score above 150 increases chance of developing stress-related illness by 30%
-LCU score above 300 increases chance of developing stress-related illness by 50%
What did Rahe explore in 1970?
the link between experiencing stressful life events and illness using a seemingly fit and healthy sample.
What did Rahe distribute and to who?
The Schedule of Recent Experience which is an alternative scale that measures life events
-sent to 2,684 navy personnel serving on military cruisers
-Each participant completed the SRE on land and during the 6-8 month tour of duty at sea and a record was kept of any illness experienced during the tour of duty.
What correlation did Rahe find?
a positive correlation of +0.118 between stressful life events and illness. This correlation was strongest with life events in the 6 month prior to illness i.e number of life events increased so did the probability of illness during the tour of duty.
What accurate predictions were made on who was likely to become ill?
older married sailors more likely to get ill rather than younger single ones.
Supporting Evidence
