Term
| what 3 ways define stress? |
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Definition
•stimulus- something that happens to us
•response- something that happens within us
•lack of fit between perceived demands and perceived ability to cope with those demands |
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Term
| what system is the long term process/effect of stress? |
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Definition
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Term
| what system is the short term process/effect of stress? |
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
| Hypothalamus→Sympathetic branch of ANS→Adrenal medulla→adrenaline and noradrenaline released (fight or flight response) |
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Term
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Definition
| Hypothalamus→ACTH hormone released→adrenal cortex→cortecosteroids release glucose and surpress the immune system |
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Term
| what is the response system activated after the SAM system and why? |
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Definition
| the parasympathetic branch of ANS which reverses all the changes made by the SAM system and calms you down because your body can't maintain the fight or flight state for very long |
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Term
| What are some long term effects of stress? |
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Definition
•weakened immune system
•heart disease
•high cholesterol
•weight loss or gain
•hair loss |
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Term
| What is the immune system? |
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Definition
| A structure within our bodies that helps fight infections and prevents the formations and growth of tumours |
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Term
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Definition
| They travel through the blood stream, protecting the body against any foreign bodies |
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Term
| what is the knock on effect process of being under stress for a period of time? |
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Definition
| the production of a stress hormone called cortisol is increased and leads to the shrinking of the thymus gland which produces the white blood cells which fight infections in your body |
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Term
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Definition
| Hormones produced in times of stress, they act as the bodies natural pain killer. Unfortunately they also suppress activity of the natural killer cells, weakening the bodies defences. |
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Term
| what 3 things does stress lead too than in turn lead to immune suppression? |
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Definition
→diversion of energy resources away from maintaining immunity
→impact of stress hormones on immune processes
→maladaptive coping behaviours e.g. smoking |
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Term
| Evidence supports a weak relationship between stress and immune functioning, what is this relationship mediated by? |
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Definition
•personality + coping style
•social support
•lifestyle
-compared to the impact of age, genes and nutrition, stress is relatively unimportant |
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Term
| which study aimed to establish a link between stress and reduced immune functioning? |
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Definition
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Term
| what is the procedure for Kiecolt-Glaser? |
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Definition
| Quasi experiment using 75 medical students whose blood was sampled 1 month before their final exams and again on the first day of their final exams. The number of T-cells was measured as indicators of immune functioning. |
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Term
| What were the findings from Kiecolt-Glaser? |
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Definition
| T-cell activity declined between the lower stress and high stress conditions. |
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Term
| what are some strengths form Kiecolt-Glaser's study? |
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Definition
→quasi experiment is more ethical than a lab/field experiment because there is no manipulation.
→quantitative data is easy to analyse, plot results and notice patterns
→high ecological validity as the stress felt is real not manipulated |
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Term
| weaknesses of Kiecolt-Glaser study? |
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Definition
→difficult to generalise to the general population as they are uni students and will be more stressed than select others
→small sample- size limits gerneralisability
→quantitative data gives no detail into why it happens
→cant show cause and effect because of too many extraneous variables |
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Term
| who tested whether stressed people would be more likely to get a common cold? |
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Definition
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Term
| what was Cohen's procedure? |
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Definition
| A nasal spray containing either a common cold virus or a harmless salt solution was given to Ps. All Ps filled in a stress questionnaire where they reported the number of stressful events experienced in the previous year. |
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Term
| what were Cohen's findings? |
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Definition
| Almost all of the virus infected Ps showed signs of infection, but only a third actually developed a cold. The third that developed a cold tended to have a higher stress score. |
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Term
| what are the evaluation points of Cohen's study? |
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Definition
strength- High ecological validity because it's based on real life stressors
weaknesses- correlations can't show cause and effect
- Ps may show social desirability in questionnaires
-purposely giving Ps a cold virus is questionably ethical |
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Term
| which study can be used as supporting evidence for Cohen and what was their procedure? |
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Definition
| Russek and Zohman- they looked at incidence of heart disease in different medical professionals. 11.9% of the sample of GP's had incidence of heart disease where as only 3.2% of the sample of dermatologists did. |
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Term
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Definition
| infrequent, major occurrences that involve change, upheaval or readjustment. They can be positive or negative and can cause long term stress. |
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Term
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Definition
| frequent, minor events that arise in the course of the day |
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Term
| who wanted to find out if there was a relationship between life events and illness? |
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Definition
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Term
| what was the procedure from Holmes and Rahe's study? |
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Definition
| They examined 5000 patient records and made a list of 43 life events that preceded their illness. Ps were asked to say how many of the life events they had experienced in the past 6 months. |
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Term
| what were the findings from Holmes and Rahe? |
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Definition
| they found a relationship between high SRRS scores for events occurring in the preceeding year and the likelihood of experiencing some sort of physical illness the following year. |
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Term
| What did Holmes and Rahe create? |
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Definition
| The social readjustment rating scale (SRRS). They identified 43 life events which were given a score on the basis of the level of readjustment following each one. |
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Term
| What are some criticisms of the SRRS? |
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Definition
→it's only relevant life events for middle aged people
→ethical issues- privacy
→subjective ratings (others may rate them higher or lower)
→people have different coping styles |
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Term
| what were the percentage findings from Holmes and Rahe? |
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Definition
score of 150 or less= 30% chance of illness
score of 150-299=50% chance of illness
score of 300+= 80% chance of illness |
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Term
| evaluation points of Holmes and Rahe? |
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Definition
-individual differences can effect results
-data used to create SRRS was used retrospectively and may be unreliable
-scale only applies to a certain age group |
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Term
| who set out to measure the correlation between life changes and onset of illness? |
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Definition
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Term
| what was Rahe's procedure? |
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Definition
| investigated 2500 male US naval personnel. Ps were asked to say how many of the ilife events they had experienced in the past 6 months. A total LCU (life change unit) was calculated for each Ps. A health record was also kept of each Ps during the 6 months tour of duty. |
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Term
| what were Rahe's findings? |
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Definition
| A significant positive correlation of +0.118 between the total LCU score and illness was found. |
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Term
| evaluation points of Rahe's sudy? |
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Definition
•the correlation was very weak but significant because the sample was 2500, suggests there may be other factors effecting health
•cant show cause and effect
•ethnocentric bias and androcentric |
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Term
| who tested whether daily hassles may build up and become stressful? |
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Definition
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Term
| what was Delongis' procedure? |
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Definition
| Gave 100 middle aged adults 4 scales to complete once a month for a year. The scales were: Hassles scale, uplifts scale, life events questionnaire and a health status questionnaire. |
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Term
| What were Delongis' findings? |
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Definition
| Comparing hassles score with life events score, they found that although both showed significant correlations with health status, the correlations for hassles score was greater. |
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Term
| what are the weaknesses of Delongis' study? |
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Definition
-Ps may interpret the scales different
-social desirability bias
-Ps may not accurately recall previous events |
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Term
| What did Bouteyre investigate? |
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Definition
| the relationship between daily hassles and the mental health of students |
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Term
| what was Bouteyre's procedure? |
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Definition
| 233 first-year psychology students at a French university completed a hassles questionnaire and a depression questionnaire. |
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Term
| what were the findings from Bouteyre? |
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Definition
| 41% of the students suffered from depressive symptoms and there was a positive correlation between scores on the hassles scale and incidence of depressive symptoms. |
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Term
| evaluation points of Bouteyre? |
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Definition
- correlation cant show cause and effect
-ethnocentric bias- French students. |
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Term
| Strengths of a questionnaire |
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Definition
-Simple to arrange and carry out- replicable
-data can be gathered quickly
-researcher does have to present- reducing researcher bias |
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Term
| Weaknesses of a questionnaire |
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Definition
-question wording
-unreliable responses
-unrepresentative sample
-social desirabilty |
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Term
| what 3 factors lead to workplace stress? |
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Definition
•physical working environment
•workload
•lack of control |
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Term
| What did Johansson study? |
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Definition
| the effects of workload and lack of control in a Swedish sawmill |
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Term
| what is Johansson's procedure? |
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Definition
| 2 groups of workers were identified (cleaners and wood finishers). Cleaners worked at their own pace, finishers were very rushed and everyone else's pay relied on what they did. Both groups' stress levels were measured by testing the amount or adrenaline and noradrenaline in their urine. |
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Term
| what were Johansson's findings? |
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Definition
| The finishers had higher stress levels than cleaners. They had high blood pressure, suffered from headaches and had more days of work due to illness. |
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Term
| evaluation points from Johansson |
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Definition
-demand characteristics- Ps may feel better because someone is paying attention to their needs
-high ecological validity
-other extraneous variables not considered |
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Term
| who investigated the relationship between job control and tress-related illness? |
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Definition
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Term
| what was the procedure from Marmot's study? |
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Definition
| a sample of 10,308 civil servants aged 35-55 were investigated in a longitudinal study. Job control was assessed on 2 occasions using questionnaire and observation, three years apart. Records were also kept of stress-related illness. |
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Term
| what were Marmot's findings? |
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Definition
| Ps with low job control were 4 times more likely to die of a heart attack than those with high job control |
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Term
| what is a problem with a longitudinal study? |
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Definition
| Attrition- over time people drop out which could end up making a bias sample |
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Term
| Who investigated to see if Type As are more at risk of CHD than type Bs? |
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Definition
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Term
| what was the procedure form Friedman and Rosenman? |
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Definition
| From personality assessments from a sample of 3200 Californian men aged 39-59, Ps were classified as having Type A or Type B personality. A correlational analysis was carried out to test the association between Type A/B behaviour pattern and CHD. |
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Term
| What are typical characteristics of a Type A personality? |
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Definition
| competitive, ambitious, impatient, restless, hostile and aggressive |
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Term
| What are typical characteristics of a Type B personality? |
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Definition
| not driven to succeed, easy-going, able to relax without feeling guilty. |
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Term
| what were Friedman and Rosenman's findings? |
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Definition
| 257 Ps had developed CHD during the eight and a half years, 70% of which had been classed as Type A which was nearly twice as many as there were Type B. |
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Term
| what are the 3 main characteristics of someone with high hardiness? |
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Definition
•having control
•overcoming challenges
•having commitment |
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Term
| who set out to investigate the link between stress and hardy personality? |
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Definition
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Term
| what is the procedure from Kobassa? |
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Definition
| 2 questionnaires were posted out to all 837 Ps and were to be answered for the previous 3 years. About 3 months later the same Ps were asked to complete a number of questionnaires designed to assess personality. |
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Term
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Definition
| Those executives who, despite high levels of stress, did not become ill, scored higher on three personality characteristics, control, commitment and challenge. |
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Term
| What are the 3 phases of stress inoculation therapy? |
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Definition
•Conceptualisation- client and therapist will build a relationship
•Skills training and practice- client is taught skills and coping strategies e.g relaxation, time management, study skills and social skills
•Application and follow through- the skills learnt in phase 2 are carried out in real life starting with low stress and gradually increasing. |
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Term
| what are 2 strengths of S.I.T? |
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Definition
•positive approach- clients gain a clearer understanding of their strengths and weaknesses and how to handle stressful situations
•effectiveness- evidence from Fontana supports this |
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Term
| What are 2 strengths of S.I.T? |
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Definition
•practicality- takes time, money and effort, clients have to go through a rigorous programme over a long period of time
•difficulties- the way we cope with stress can be part of our personality making it difficult to change. |
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Term
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Definition
| a group of dugs most commonly used to treat anxiety |
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Term
| What is GABA and how does it link to BZs? |
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Definition
| GABA is a neurotransmitter that is the body's natural form of anxiety relief and has a calming effect on the brain. BZs bind to special sites on the GABA receptor, boosting the actions of GABA thus making the person feel calmer. |
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Term
| in brief context, how do BZs work? |
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Definition
| nerve impulse releases GABA from neuron 1 into synaptic gap. GABA reacts with receptors from neuron 2 which allows chlorine ions to enter neuron 2. This inhibits further progress of the nerve impulse, giving a calming effect. BZs then react with GABA receptor sites in neuron 2 and enhance the effects of GABA. |
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Term
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Definition
| drugs that act directly on the heart to reduce sympathetic arousal. |
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Term
| How do Beta-Blockers work? |
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Definition
| they reduce the activity of noradrenaline and adrenaline by binding to receptors of the heart and blocking them, making it harder to stimulate. This leads to the heart beating slower with less force, making blood pressure drop. |
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Term
| strengths and weaknesses of drug therapy |
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Definition
strengths- quick and effective
weaknesses- BZs are addictive and cant be taken for a long period of time
-BZs cause side effects such as depression and drowsiness
-when medication stops, anxiety may return. Drugs dont address any underlying problems. |
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