Stress #1
1) Experiencing Stress in our Lives
WHAT IS STRESS?
-2 conditions of stress:
1) physical condition -> involves direct material or bodily challenges
2) psychological condition -> involves how individuals perceive circumstances in their lives
-3 approaches of examining the 2 components of stress:
1) stress = stimulus (called stressor (e.g. death within family, financial break down)) -> focus on the environment
2) stress = response -> focus on people’s reactions to stressors (e.g. calling the one’s state of tension “stress”)
=> psychological & physiological responses to stressors are called strains
3) stress = process -> includes both stressors & strains, BUT adds continuous adjustments & interactions (called
transactions) between person & environment => stress = process, in which the person is an active agent who can
influence the impact of stressors through behavioural, cognitive, and emotional strategies
THEREFORE: same stressor elicits different levels of stress within 2 people
-dimensions of stress: frequency, intensity & duration of stressors
-definition of stress: circumstance in which transactions lead a person to perceive a discrepancy between the
physical/psychological demands of a situation & resources of their biological/psychological/social systems
*resources: stress taxes the limited biopsychosocial resources for dealing with difficult events
*demands: refers to the amount of resources that the stressors appear to require
*discrepancy: mismatch between resources & demands -> usually: resources are exceeded by demands
-> NOTE: some people also find it stressful when resources heavily exceed demands
*transactions: situational assessment process of demands, resources & discrepancies between the 2
NOTE: resources, demands and discrepancies can be either real or believed -> stress = subjective matter
APPRAISING EVENTS AS STRESSFUL
-Richard Lazarus: transactional process of assessment = cognitive appraisal -> 2 factors are assessed:
1) whether demand threatens physical/psychological well-being -> primary appraisal
=> can have 3 outcomes: 1. irrelevant; 2. good; 3. stressful when circumstance/situation is evaluated as stressful:
further appraisal for 3 implications: harm-loss, threat & challenge (refers mostly to secondary appraisal)
NOTE: stress can be influenced by our appraisals even when transaction is vicarious (shown by exp.)
2) which resources are available to deal with the demand -> secondary appraisal
=> occurs continuously, BUT we pay more attention to it when primary appraisal had “stressful” outcome
we determine whether our resources are sufficient to meet harm, threat, challenge we are facing
final result of this evaluation heavily influences amount of stress that we experience
FACTORS THAT LEAD TO STRESSFUL APPRAISALS
-personal factors -> include motivational, intellectual & personality characteristics => examples:
*high self-esteem -> more likely to interpret demanding situation as challenge rather than threat
*the more important a threatened goal, the more stress
*perfectionism (treating minor issues as major problems) -> increases stress + causes long-term health issues
-situational factors -> stress is increased by…
1) difficult timing (events happening at unexpected times); 2) life transitions (passing from 1 life phase to the next);
3) ambiguity; 4) low desirability; 5) low controllability (either behavioural or cognitive control)
,CAN STRESS BE GOOD FOR YOU?
-people function the best if they are at their optimal level of arousal (differs individually) -> not below & not above
=> some stress can benefit our performance = eustress (opposite of distress)
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2) Biopsychosocial Aspects of Stress
BIOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF STRESS
-physical reaction to stress: 1) heart beat raises & 2) skeletal muscles in arms & legs tremble => body is aroused
caused by endocrine system & sympathetic NS after emergency passes by, arousal level decreases again
-reactivity = physiological portion of response to a stressor/strain -> level of reactivity influenced by genetic factors
-Cannon: proposal of fight-or-flight response -> perceiving danger causes sympathetic NS to stimulate many organs
(e.g. heart) directly + to stimulate adrenal glands of endocrine system => adrenal medulla secretes norepinephrine &
epinephrine, which further arouses the body FoF-response can have positive effects in the short term, BUT
threatens health when arousal levels remain high over longer periods of time (e.g. weakens immune system)
-Selye: general adaptation syndrome -> 3 stages of bodily reactions during prolonged stress exposure:
1) alarm reaction stage -> involves fight-or-flight response => fast-acting arousal functioning to mobilize resources
*also involves somewhat slower reacting hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) => system reacts a bit slower
-> stressor makes brain triggering anterior pituitary gland to secrete adrenocorticotropic hormones (ACTH)
=> ACTH causes adrenal cortex to release cortisol (glucocorticoids) into bloodstream
increasing cortisol, epinephrine/norepinephrine levels (via 2 different systems) increase body’s activation
2 system view = nowadays; before: Selye emphasizes HPA-axis only + Cannon added fight-or-flight response
2) stage of resistance -> if stressor continues to exist, the initial response by sympathetic nervous system (FoF-
response) weakens & the HPA-response starts to predominate (high cortisol levels)
=> body adapts to the stressor, BUT therefore loses ability to resist new stressors more vulnerable to illnesses
3) stage of exhaustion -> severe, long-term stress may weaken immune system & deplete the body’s energy
reserves until resistance is limited => if stress continues at this point, organs are going to be damaged & people die
-allostatic load = accumulating effects of the body having to adapt repeatedly to stressors -> impairs adaptation-
ability to future stressors => cumulative amount of stress = more important than any intensity of a single stressor
NOTE: Selye assumed that the GAS was nonspecific in regard to the type of stressor -> reaction is always the same
=> contradicted by 3 more recent lines of evidence, which argue for existence of different types of stressors:
1) some stressors elicit a stronger emotional response than others -> the stronger the emotional response, the more
likely the physiological reaction involves increases in all 3 hormones (norepinephrine, epinephrine & cortisol)
2) pattern of physiological arousal under stress depends on 2 factors: effort & distress
*effort = involves a person’s interest, striving & determination
*distress = involves anxiety, uncertainty, boredom & dissatisfaction
=> effort + distress: catecholamine & cortisol excretion (daily life situations)
=> effort + no distress: catecholamine excretion (joyful state)
=> no effort + distress: cortisol excretion, catecholamines lightly elevated (when feeling helpless)
this point ties in with 1st point, BC distress is an emotion
3) cognitive appraisal processes influence people’s physiological reaction
-> when judging something as a threat rather than as a challenge, you are inclined to have higher cortisol levels
OVERALL: it is still a controversial issue, whether all stressors produce the same physiological reaction or not
,FACTORS THAT AFFECT BIOLOGICAL REACTIONS TO STRESS
-4 factors that affect the overall amount of bodily activation/physiological stress:
1) amount of exposure = includes frequency, intensity & duration
2) magnitude of reactivity = refers to reactivity-differences among individuals to the same stressor
3) rate of recovery = some people return quicker to baseline levels than others
-> NOTE: mentally revisiting the stressor delays recovery
4) resource restoration = sleep is the most important activity in replenishing resources -> sufficient sleep is needed
PSYCHOSOCIAL ASPECTS OF STRESS
COGNITION & STRESS
-2-way connection between cognition & stress:
1) high levels of stress may interfere with memory & attention
-> trying to consistently “tune out the noise” & focusing on important tasks can negatively impair cognitive
performance => people lose the general knowledge about which sounds to attend to & which to tune out
2) thinking about future threats/ruminating about the past can turn stressful situation into chronic stress
=> 2-way connection especially important for executive functioning (set of cognitive abilities, which help guiding &
directing ongoing behaviour) stress can disrupt these attentional capabilities, which then in turn leads to handling
the demanding situation worse than one usually could do, which then – again – increases the stress vicious cycle
SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR, EMOTIONS & STRESS
-people often use their emotional states to evaluate their stress -> again: refers to cognitive appraisal processes
=> stress causes emotional reactions involving: fear (phobia vs anxiety), sadness (sometimes depression), anger
-stress changes people’s behaviour toward one another -> stress + anger: increase in negative social behaviour
GENDER & SOCIOCULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN STRESS
-gender differences: women experience more stressful minor & major events than men
-> due to 2-income households nowadays, BUT women still taking over chore tasks at home
=> women with higher workloads & more sensitive to everybody’s needs within the family
HOWEVER: generally, men show more reactivity to the same stressors & men take longer to get back to base-line
-> NEVERTHELESS: depends on type of stressor => example: when relationship is challenged, women more reactive
-sociocultural factors that increase the experienced stress events
-> low income, being part of a minority group, low educational attainment
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3) Sources of Stress Throughout Life
SOURCES WITHIN THE PERSON
-sources of stress within the person:
1) illness -> creates physical & psychological demands => demands depend on seriousness of illness & individuals age
2) appraisal of opposing motivational forces -> inner conflict with pushes & pulls for all motivational forces
=> produce different types of conflicts:
1. Approach/approach -> deciding between two desirable options (little stress)
2. Avoidance/avoidance -> deciding between to undesirable options (a lot of stress)
3. Approach/avoidance -> single option, which has pushes & pulls (moderate stress)
OVERALL: conflict is most stressful, when there are many choices of relatively equal strength & when wrong
choice can potentially have meaningful negative consequences
, 3) motives & goals about social interactions & relationships wit others -> example: being rejected/negatively
evaluated by others is very stressful (especially if they are important to us)
SOURCES IN THE FAMILY
1) addition to the family -> baby brings stress to all family member (mostly mother) => parental stress relates to
baby’s personality dispositions (temperaments) 10% of babies are “difficult” & cause most stress
2) marital strain & divorce -> children can suffer the most from divorce in the long term
3) family illness, disability, and death -> especially problematic when chronic illness exists within family, which then
strains other relationships within the family, since most attention is paid to the “ill” member => HOWEVER: death
causes most stress for the entire family & can lead to long term problems regarding health
SOURCES IN THE COMMUNITY & SOCIETY
1) job causes stress
*demands of the task -> cause stress in 2 ways: 1) workload is too high; 2) specific job may be very stressful
*evaluation of performance -> can be stressful for supervisor & employee
*having responsibility over people’s lives -> mostly also closely related to having a high workload (e.g. as a nurse)
*other job aspects (low control over aspects of the job, noisy/heated up physical environment of the job, etc.)
NOTE: all these problems are linked to emotional distress, physiological strain & sleep loss + can spill over into family
2) environment causes stress
*some are short-term wise: e.g. being at a concert, where there is no space to move freely
*other stressors are long-term wise & produce chronic/more severe stress: e.g. living in low SES neighbourhood
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4) Measuring Stress
ASSESSING PHYSIOLOGICAL AROUSAL
-stress produces physiological arousal in many of our body systems:
*can be assessed by electrical/mechanical equipment taking measurements of heart rate, blood pressure,
respiration rate & galvanic skin response => can be measured all together with a polygraph (fit into pocket)
*arousal can also be assessed through biochemical analyses determining hormone levels in urine & blood
=> both corticosteroid levels (most importantly cortisol) & catecholamine levels ((nor)epinephrine) can be assessed
-advantages of these methods: reliable, objective & very direct
-> disadvantages: expensive, potentially stressful for subjects & confounded by gender, age, weight, etc.
ASSESSING LIFE EVENTS
-multiple scales exist, which measure stress by using self-reports on life events (major happenings that require
psychological adjustment, & which are assigned to a value indicating their stressfulness) -> example scale:
*Social Readjustment Rating Scale -> includes long list of events (derived from clinical experience), which was then
given to men & women of all ages, who had to rate adjustment degree for each particular event => each event was
assigned a value of stressfulness (e.g. 11 points for minor violations of the law & 100 points for death of spouse)
=> when stress-level is assessed now, participants are supposed to tick every event of the list, which has happened
to them within the last 2 years total stress score is obtained by summing all values of the events, which happened
*strengths of SRRS:
1) SRRS includes wide range of events, which are indeed stressful to most people
2) stress-ratings for each item seem representative due to the large, initial sample
3) survey can be filled out quickly & easily
*weaknesses of SRRS:
1) some items can be very vague/ambiguous -> reduces precision of the measurement
