Stress

Question 1

What is stress?

Answer 1

a cognitive perception of uncontrollability and unpredictability
expressed in a physiological and behavioural response

Question 2

What are 2 types of stressors?

Answer 2

• acute (ST)
• chronic (LT)

Question 3

What are the 3 different categories of stress?

Answer 3

life events
daily hassles
catastrophes

Question 4

What are life events measured with?

Answer 4

Holmes and Rahe
social readjustment rating scale

Question 5

What are daily hassles measured with?

Answer 5

Hassles and Uplifts scale

Question 6

What are physical responses to stress?

Answer 6

dizziness
breathing problems

Question 7

What are emotional / cognitive responses to stress?

Answer 7

depression
low self esteem

Question 8

What are behavioural responses to stress?

Answer 8

excessive smoking and drinking
over eating

Question 9

What does homeostasis mean?

Answer 9

the body staying in balance

Question 10

What type of system is fight or flight according to Walter Cannon?

Answer 10

a united mind-body system

Question 11

What is the sympathetic branch of the PNS?

Answer 11

fight or flight

Question 12

What is the parasympathetic branch?

Answer 12

the calming effect

Question 13

Hans Selye - General Adaptation Syndrome

Answer 13

body reacts with fight or flight response
body resists and compensates by trying to return to normal state
resources become exhausted

Question 14

What does the SAM pathway stand for?

Answer 14

sympathetic-adrenal-medullary pathway

Question 15

What is the SAM pathway?

Answer 15

for acute stress, fight for flight
signals hypothalamus
Sympathetic branch of ANS activated
adrenal medulla releases adrenaline and noradrenaline

Question 16

What is the effect of the SAM pathway?

Answer 16

heart beats faster
blood pumped to vital organs
release of glucose to muscles

Question 17

What does the HPA pathway stand for?

Answer 17

hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal pathway

Question 18

What is the HPA pathway?

Answer 18

chronic stress
pituitary gland triggers release of ACTH
ACTH then activates adrenal cortex to release cortisol
body stays on high alert until threat passes

Question 19

What type of hormone is cortisol?

Answer 19

a stress hormone

Question 20

What system does the SAM pathway affect?

Answer 20

the cardiovascular system

Question 21

What system does the HPA pathway affect?

Answer 21

the immune system

Question 22

What is eustress?

Answer 22

positive stress

Question 23

How is distress and eustress measured?

Answer 23

using the Di-Eu-stress state scale

Question 24

What is the Yerkes Dodson law?

Answer 24

too high or too low levels of stress lead to weaker performance

Question 25

What are some examples of psychosocial modifiers of stress?

Answer 25

gender, age , social class, personality

Question 26

Why do people react differently to major life changes?

Answer 26

because of our appraisal

Question 27

Lazarus and Folkman (1984) - transactional model of stress

Answer 27

primary appraisal secondary apraisal reappraisal

Question 28

What factor impacts on cognitive appraisal?

Answer 28

internal and external locus of controls

Question 29

What is problem focused coping methods?

Answer 29

directly confront demands better when in control of situation e.g planning, changing goals

Question 30

What is emotion focused coping methods?

Answer 30

behavioural and cognitive strategies for situations that we don’t have control over e.g seeking social support, venting anger, drinking, re-appraisal

Question 31

What are 5 outlets for frustration?

Answer 31

- distraction - social support - predictability (know something will happen so don't need to feel stressed) - control - perception

Question 32

What is resilience according to Conner & Davidson (2003)?

Answer 32

capacity to maintain wellbeing in response to adversity or stress

Question 33

What are 2 core components to stress (Fletcher and Sarker, 2013)?

Answer 33

- adversity - positive adaptation

Question 34

How can you measure resilience?

Answer 34

using the Brief resilience Scale (BRS)

Question 35

What is the stress-eating paradox?

Answer 35

Stress can increase eating in some cases but also decrease it in others

Question 36

Moss et al - positive relationship with stress and eating findings

Answer 36

Uplifts were associated with a lower level of healthy snack intake

Question 37

Stone and Brownell (1994) - negative relationship between stress and eating findings

Answer 37

more severe stress = more likely to report decreased eating Women more likely than men to eat less under high stress

Question 38

What did systematic reviews find the relationship between stress and food to be like?

Answer 38

small in magnitude

Question 39

What did the theoretical model of reward-based stress eating find? (Adam & Epel, 2007)

Answer 39

that stress also activates rheumatoid arthritis HPA axis which increases cortisol levels