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107 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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stress
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a reaction to a stimulus that disturbs our physical or mental equilibrium |
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flight or fight response
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evolved to deal with the reation to stress, a physiological reation that occurs in the presence of something that is terrifying, either mentally or physically |
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stressor |
the stimulus (or threat) that causes the stress, for example an exam |
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central nervous system
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comprimised of the brain and spinal cord, the CNS recieves sensory information from the nervous system and controls the body's responses |
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nervous system |
consists of billions of specialised cells called neurons |
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endocrine system |
a system of glands that control many biological functions and affect a wide range of behaviours |
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hormones |
chemical responses to the situation the individual is in and how they are feeling |
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sympathetic branch
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it stimulates a gland in the body called the adrenal madulla to release two hormones called adrenaline and non-adrenaline into the bloodstream. |
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parasympathetic branch
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after the sympathetic nervous system gets the body ready for action, the parasympathetic calms it back down |
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name the 3 stages of General Adaptation Syndrom? |
alarm resistance exhaustion |
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who proposed the General Adaptation Syndrome? |
Selye 1956 |
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what happens in the first stage of GAS? |
adrenaline causes the heart rate, blood pressure and energy levels to increase. Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal System (HPA) and the sympathetic Adrenal-Medulla (SAM) pathways are activated |
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what happens in the second stage of GAS?
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resistance - if the stressor persists then the body must adapt and maintain a more stable and long term level of arousal. a) SAM decreases b) HPA is maintained or increases |
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what happens in stage three of GAS?
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prolonged stress can start to create illness for example fatigue, anxiety, depression and impaired mental and physical disablilities |
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what does the adrenal gland trigger? |
the release of stress hormones |
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what is the peripheral nervous system? |
nerves outside the spinal cord and brain |
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where is the pituitary gland?
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just underneath the brain |
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what makes up the central nervous system? |
brain and spine |
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describe the sympathomedullary (SM) pathway |
2. hypothalamus 3. autonomic nervous system 4. adrenal medulla 5. release of adrenaline and noradrenaline |
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describe the pituitary-adrenal (PA) system
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1. higher brain centres 2. hypothalamus 3. pituitary gland releases ACTH 4. adrenal cortex 5. release of corticosteroids |
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evaluation of GAS |
- not all stressors produce same kind of physiological reaction - doesn't take into account people will find different events stressful - it does help to explain what happens to bodies during stress |
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lymphocytes |
white blood cells that kill infected cells and tumours in the body |
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T-cells |
attack and destroy anything that may carry disease |
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B-cells |
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what 4 things make up the immune system? |
bone marrow spleen lymphanodes |
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antigens
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a toxin or other foreign substance which includes an immune response in the body, especially the production of antibodies |
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immunosuppression |
the partial or complete suppression of the immune response of an individual, induced to help survival after organ transplant |
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NK cells |
the more of them the more efficient the immune system |
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Kielcolt-Glaser et al 1984 [aim] |
to see if the immune system was affected by external stress such as exams |
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Kielcolt-Galser et al 1984 [procedure] |
- blood samples were taken from 75 medical students on two occasions - first a month before the exam and the second during the exam itself - each ppt completed a questionnaire to assess them for things like loneliness, unhappiness and stressful life events - the researcher looked at the blood samples to calculate the NK content |
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Kiecolt-Glaser et al 1984 [findings] |
- the blood sample taken during the test had less NK content - the students experiencing stressful life events had a low NK content |
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[evaluation] |
- the results are correlational, don't know that stress caused a reduction in NK content - sampling bias as all ppts were students - high ecological validity as it was a natural experiment |
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Irwin et al 1987
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found that the immune system of women whose husbands had recently died were functioning on a much lower level than those of the same age who had not experienced stressful life events |
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Weisse et al 1990 |
in an experiment done it was found that within a couple of hours of being shocked by a loud noise or electric shock, the lymphocyte count in the ppts had significantly reduced |
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McGuire et al 2006
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they found that patients experiencing the greatest stressful pain following stomach surgery took the longest to heal a small deliberate wound. they concluded that the illness induced stress was resulting in the immune system taking longer to heal the wound and suggested that hospital admission is a key factor influencing recovery after surgery |
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Arnetz et al 1991
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studied a group of manual labourers for several years and found that reduced lymphocyte activity was associated with experiences of unemployment |
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life changes |
a change that alters a person's life or circumstances in a certain way
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life change units (LCU)
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a unit of measurement which is found on the life-events rating scale. the life events rating scale assigns values to potential stressful events |
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social readjustment and rating scale |
the SRRS, developed by Holmes and Rage 1967, is a questionnaire for identifying major stressful life events |
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life experiences survey (LES) |
developed by Sarason et al 1978, it is a measure of positive and negative life events |
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Holmes and Rahe 1967 |
looked at over 5,000 medical records to investigate the possible link between life events and physical ill-health. they came up with 43 life events and rated them with LCUs with death of spouse at the top with 100 LCUs. they predicted that people with a score of 300 had an 80% chance of developing a serious illness in the following year |
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[aim] |
to investigate whether onset of an illness could be related to the scores on the SRRS |
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Rahe et al 1970 [procedure] |
- during the tour detailed medical records were kept - the illness score the sailors got was then correlated with their SRRS score |
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Rahe et al 1970 [findings] |
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Rahe et al 1970 [evaluation] |
- the strength of the coefficient here was very low, lacks repeatability - sample bias |
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where is the adrenal medulla and what does it do?
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it is in the centre of the adrenal gland and it produces adrenaline when triggered by the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system |
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where is the adrenal cortex and what does it do?
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it is on the outside of the adrenal gland and it releases a range of hormones called corticosteroids
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what are corticosteroids essential for?
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sodium and glucose levels in the body |
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where is the hypothalamus?
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just above the pituitary gland at the base of the brain
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it is the close association with the hypothalamus that the pituitary gland has which connects the __________ __________ nervous system to the __________ _____________ _______________ system.
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fast acting slow acting endocrine |
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name the two major parts the nervous system is divided into
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the peripheral nervous system |
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what does the central nervous system comprise of? what is it the basis for? |
consists of all the neurons in the brain and the spinal cord and their activity is the basis for all our thoughts and behaviours |
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what does the peripheral nervous system comprise of? what does it do?
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consists of all the neurons outside the brain and spinal cord. it includes sensory and motor neurons that bring information to and from the CNS about things like pain, touch, temperature etc. |
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what does the autonomic nervous system do?
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connects body's organs to the brain via the spinal cord and operates automatically |
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what is one of the autonomic nervous systems most important jobs? |
it has to arouse the body in emergency, the sympathetic branch of the ANS arouses the body and the parasympathetic branch relaxes it |
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symptoms of stress |
breathlessness shaking sweating breathing faster dry mouth |
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daily hassles |
the stress of everyday life (e.g. sitting in traffic) as appose to major life events (e.g. marriage) |
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DeLonghis et al 1982/1988 |
- for each event, those completing the survey are asked to rate it as an uplift and as a hassle. - the ratings are from 0-3 with 0 being not at all and 3 being a great deal. - some of the things include physical appearance and the weather |
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DeLonghis et al 1982/1988 [findings] |
- the top hassle was worry about the future - the top uplift was completing a task |
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what 3 factors affect how much a hassle affects you? |
- frequency - duration |
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[evaluation] |
social desirability bias retrospective doesn't apply to all |
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Holmes and Rahe 1967 [evaluation] |
not relevant for all ages some events are positive not an exhaustive list assumes some events are negative whilst they may be positive (divorce) |
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coronary heart disease
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a disease in which a waxy substance called plaque builds up inside the coronary heart disease |
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hostility
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a form of emotionally charged angry behaviour |
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hardiness
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a personality structure compromising of three related general disposition of commitment, control and challenge that function as a resistance resource in the encounter with stressful conditions |
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commitment
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the act or an instance of committing |
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control |
to exercise authoritative or dominating influence over |
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challenge |
an activity between two things that is difficult and often results in a winner |
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type A personality is characterised by three things, these are... |
impatience hostility |
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Friedman and Ulmer |
suggest that type A behaviour may be a method of coping with childhood insecurities |
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the three C's needed for hardiness are...
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challenge control |
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Rosenan et al 1975
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he studies several thousand initially healthy men for several years found that type A's had a higher chance of developing CHD |
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Rosenan et al 1975 [evaluation] |
- over simplistic - 2 categories - gender and culture bias (all Californian men) - Cohen and Reed 1985 - cultural variations - Ironson et al 1992 - more hostility that leads to CHD - Ragland and Brand 1988 - typr A better at recovery |
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three things that link to workplace stress
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workload control environment |
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name the 2 types of workload identified
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- qualitative workload = complexity of the task |
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Beaman and Holt 2007 [ENVIRONMENT] |
they found that different types of noise influenced memory and this in turn could lead to increased arousal ad frustration |
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[WORKLOAD] |
found that both male and female lawyers reported work overload as a factor influencing conflict at home |
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Johansson et al 1978 [aim] [CONTROL] |
to investigate the role control plays in workplace stress |
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[procedure] |
- compared finishers (those responsibility was finishing the timber and whose jobs are 'machine-paced' and whose productivity determined everyone's wages) with cleaners (low risk and work at own speed) - rates of absenteeism and stress-related illness in each group was compared - levels of adrenaline and non-adrenaline found in saliva and urine compared on work days and rest days |
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Johansson et al 1978 [finding] |
- finishers had higher levels of hormones than cleaners - finishers had higher levels of absenteeism and stress-related illness |
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Johansson et al [evaluation] |
- personality types ignored - individual differences - natural experiment (lack of control) - not clear which stress factor is most important - cultural bias (all Swedish) |
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stress inoculation training |
SIT is a form of CBT developed by Meichenbaum 1972. he argues that people could be inoculated against stress. it deals with restructuring how we think about events and does this by using various techniques to change the ways people think about their stressors, so they are encountered, they are better prepared |
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conceptualisation |
encourages clients to reappraise stress the nature of stress is discussed between client and therapist and stressful experiences are explored |
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skills training and rehearsal
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client is taught various ways of coping with stress these can be specific but also include general relaxation techniques |
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application and follow through |
clients encouraged to apply knowledge to real world |
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natural/quasi experiment |
natural changes in independent variable are used - it is not manipulated by researcher |
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optimum treatment period
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the time frame in which it is best to treat a patient |
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the three stages of SIT are... |
skills training and rehearsal application and follow through |
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[aim] |
to investigate how effective SIT was when faced with a stressful situation |
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Meichenbaum 1975 [procedure] |
- independent measures quasi-experiment was used - three conditions used: + 8 weeks of SIT + 8 weeks of SD + no therapy - told they were on waiting list - efficacy was measured throughout exam performance and self-reports |
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[findings] |
-SIT group gave most positive self-report and out performed peers in exam - students who had no therapy were as nervous as before |
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Meichenbaum 1975 [evaluation] |
- don't address 'optimum treatment period' (the SD could have worked better over a longer time period) |
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strengths of SIT |
- Flexible so can provide for a wide variety of needs (has been used to treat military combat stress, life event stress and stress caused by illness) - it is curative |
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weaknesses of SIT |
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benzodiazepines |
any of a class of heterocyclic organic compounds used as tranquilisers, such as valium |
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beta-blockers
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any of a class of drugs which prevent the stimulations of the adrenergic receptors responsible for increased cardiac actions used to control heart rhythm and reduce blood pressure |
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anxiolytics
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drugs used to relieve anxiety |
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GABA |
a neurotransmitter that slows down the activity of nerve cells in the brain |
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serotonin
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a type of neurotransmitter found in the CNS that helps to regulate mood, sleep, appetite, learning and memory |
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tolerance |
the point at which a drug no longer has the same effect on someone and so a higher dose must be used |
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addiction
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a dependency on something such as a drug, unable to go without |
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curative |
cure the underlying problem |
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palliative |
relieves pain without dealing with underlying problem |
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how do BZ's work?
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increases the levels of GABA which quietens the activity in the brain and reduces serotonin which is linked to anxiety |
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how do beta-blockers work? |
block the effects of adrenaline on the body and therefore stop the physical effects of stress and reduce blood pressure and heart rate |
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strengths of drug treatments |
- anxiolytics are fast acting and encourage people to seek permanent help |
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limitations of drug treatments
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- BZ's have side effects (slowing of physical/mental alertness, blurred vision and dizziness) - BB's have side effects (nausea, diarrhoea, tiredness) - BZ's are addictive - tolerance is an issue |
