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Psychology > Stress as an example of a psychobiological process > Flashcards

Stress as an example of a psychobiological process Flashcards

(54 cards)

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1
Q

Stressor

A

Stimulus that prompts the stress response

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2
Q

Stress

A

A psychological and physiological experience that occurs when an individual encounters something of significance that demands their attention and efforts to cope

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3
Q

External stressors

A

Environmental stressors that originate from outside of the individual such as exams

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4
Q

Internal stressors

A

Stressors that orginate from within the individual such as rumination

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5
Q

What is the relationship between internal and external stressors?

A

Both can contribute together to somebody experiencing a stress repsonse

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6
Q

Psychological stress response

A

How we think or feel about a stressor that differs between different people

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7
Q

Eustress

A

A positive psychological stress response that involves emotions such as being excited and occurs when the stressor provides a positive opportunity

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8
Q

Distress

A

A negative psychological stress response that involves emotions such as being upset and occurs when the stressor is a negative circumstance

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9
Q

Physiological stress response

A

How the body reacts to a stressor that is experienced in similar ways between different people

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10
Q

What is the acute stress response?

A

flight or fight or freeze

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11
Q

flight response

A

an organism flees from the stressor

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12
Q

fight reponse

A

an organism confronts the stressor

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13
Q

freeze response

A

the body’s immobility and shock in a response to a stressor

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14
Q

Cortisol

A

a hormone that is released in times of stress to aid the body in initiating and maintaining heightened arousal

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15
Q

How is cortisol released?

A

Cortisol is released through the adrenal glands

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16
Q

What are two psychological stress responses?

A

Eustress and distress

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17
Q

What are two physiological stress responses?

A

Flight, fight or freeze response in acute stress and cortisol release in chronic stress

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18
Q

The gut

A

The long flexible tube from mouth to anus that is the passageway involved in digestion

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19
Q

What helps maintain gut health?

A

Many living microorganisms

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20
Q

What is the gut responsible for?

A

Processing food, absorbing nutrients and seperating waste

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21
Q

Microbiota

A

All of the microorganisms that live in the gut

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22
Q

Microbiome

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A

All of the genes of microorganisms that live in the gut

23
Q

microbiota dysbiosis

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A

The gut microbiota is imbalanced, with not enough good bacteria and too much bad bacteria

24
Q

microbiota symbiosis

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A

The gut microbiota is balanced

25
What is needed for good gut health?
Diverse nutrients that maintain diverse gut microbiota
26
The gut-brain axis
New and emerging area of research that involves looking at the connection between the gut and the brain, and how they may interact and influence eachother
27
enetric nervous system
A subdivison of the automatic nervous system that involves the network of nerves in the gut
28
The vagus nerve
The longest cranial nerve that connects the gut and the brain, enabling them to communicate
29
What is the vagus nerve responsible for?
Bidirectionally conveying information between the gut and brain
30
General Adaption Syndrome
A biological model of stress that explains the various physiological reactions that occur in the presence of stressors
31
When does a person go through the stages of General Adaption Syndrome?
When confronted with a stressor
32
What are the three main stages of General Adaption Syndrome in order
Alarm reaction (shock and counter shock) , resistance and exhaustion
33
Alarm reaction stage
Stage of GAS that occurs when an individual first encounters and becomes aware of a stressor. This is divided into two substages: shock and counter shock
34
What are the physiological reactions during the shock substage
Momentary decrease in body arousal similar to the freeze response involving Decrease in heart rate and decrease in blood pressure
35
What are the physiological reactions during the counter shock substage
Increase in body arousal involving increased heart rate and increased blood pressure
36
Resistance stage
Stage of GAS where levels of bodily arousal remain above normal and heightened with increased cortisol levels
37
Exhaustion stage
Stage of GAS that involves the depletion of energy levels and bodily resources, resulting in an inability to cope with the stressor
38
What are strengths and limitations of General Adaption Syndrome?
Strengths- recognises a predictable pattern of physiological responses and provides objective, empirical information Weaknesses- Based on research conducted on rats, reducing generalisabilty of the model to human population and it only focuses on the biological aspects of stress
39
Transactional Model of Stress and Coping
Model that proposes that stress is a subjective transaction between an incoming stressor and the personal and environmental factors specific to an individual
40
Primary appraisal
The initial process of evaluating an incoming stressor that involves a person deciding whether or not a stimulus will cause them to experience stress
41
What are the three initial ways an incoming stressor can be appraised?
Benign postive (neutral or good), irrelevant and stressful
42
Apprasial
An act of assessing stress
43
Benign -positive
An initial apprasial of a stimulus as neutral or good that does not cause stress for an individual
44
what are three forms of 'stressful' appraisal
Harm/loss, threat and challenge
45
Challenge
A further apprasial of a stressor as potentially providing a positive opportunity
46
Threat
A further appraisal of a stressor as potentially causing damage in the future
47
Harm/loss
A further appraisal of a stressor as having caused some damage to the individual
48
Secondary appraisal
When the individual evaluates whether or not coping resources are available to them
49
Strengths and limitations of the Transactional Model of Stress and Coping
Strengths - allows one to track the subjective stress response of an individual and human subjects were used as source of data Limitations-chronological order or appraisal may not be accurate and individuals are not neccessarily aware of why they feel stress
50
Coping
The process of dealing with stress
51
Approach strategies
Coping strategies that directly confront the source of the stress and thus reduce or eliminate it eg. making a plan and doing it
52
Avoidance strategies
Coping strategies that involve distancing oneself from the source of stress eg. distraction
53
Context- specific effectiveness
Refers to when the coping strategy used is appropriate for the unique demands of the stressor
54
Coping flexibility
Refers to the ability to adjust or change one's coping strategies depending on the unique and changing demands of the stressor

Psychology (4 decks)

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