Class notes 2.6C Stress and Anxiety

STRESS

2 components: physical (direct material/bodily challenge)
psychological (how individuals perceive
circumstances)
can be examined in 3 ways:
1 – environment; stress is seen as a stimulus
(demanding job)
2 – treats stress as a response; focuses on people’s
reactions to stressors (refers to state of tension)
3 – describes stress as a process that includes
stressors and strains & adds the relationship between
the person and the environment
 transactions: continuous interactions and
adjustments; person affects environment affects
person
 stress = a process in which the person can
influence the impact of stressors through
behavioral, cognitive, and emotional strategies
 people differ in the amount of strain they
experience from the same stressor
stressors – physically or psychologically challenging events or
circumstances
strain – psychological or physiological response to a stressor

STRESS – THE CIRCUMSTANCE IN WHICH TRANSACTIONS LEAD
A PERSON TO PERCEIVE A DISCREPANCY BETWEEN THE
PHYSICAL OR PSYCHOLOGICAL DEMANDS OF A SITUATION AND
THE RESOURCEES OF THEIR BIOLOGICAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL, OR
SOCIAL SYSTEMS

*demands, resources and discrepancies may be either real or
just believed to exist
*stress often results from inaccurate perceptions of
discrepancies between environmental demands and actual
resources
*transactions generally involve cognitive appraisal (assessment
process)
cognitive appraisal – a mental process by which people
assess 2 factors:
primary appraisal – whether a demand threatens their
physical or psychological wellbeing
* possible judgements:

, -irrelevant
-good
-stressful
 further appraisal:harm-loss (amount of damage
that has already occurred)
threat (expectations of future
harm)
challenge (opportunity to achieve
growth)
*can influence stress even when the stressor does not
directly relate to us (vicarious transaction)
secondary appraisal – the resources available for
meeting the demand
*occur continuously, but we are especially aware of them
here
*judgements include:
-i cannot do it – i know i’ll fail
-i’ll try, but my chances are slim
-i can do it if ginny will help
-if this method fails, i’ll try another
-i can do it if i work hard
-no problem – i can do it
*often depends on the outcome of the appraisals we make

what factors lead to stressful appraisal?
 person-related
-intellect
-motivation
-personality (e.g. high self-esteem)
(perfectionism – tendency to appraise even minor issues as
major problems; causes emotional distress; damaging for
long-term health)
 situation-related
-strong demands
DIMENSIONS OF STRESS
*amount of stress increases with stressor frequency,
intensity and duration
*chronic stress – occurs often/lasts long; makes people
more susceptible to catching a cold

,characteristics of a stressful situation:




BIOPSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF STRESS
*physical reactions to stress include: rapid heartbeat
muscle trembles
arousal
*sympathetic NS and endocrine system are responsible for
arousal
reactivity – the physiological portion of the response to a
stressor
*measured by comparisons against a baseline/”resting”
level
*genetic factors influence peoples degree of reactivity to
stressors
fight-or-flight response – basic reaction to emergencies;
prepares the organism to attack the threat or to flee
*perception of danger causes sympathetic NS to stimulate
many organs (e.g. heart) directly, and stimulates adrenal
glands of the endocrine system, which secrete
epinephrine, arousing the body even further
*arousal can have positive or negative effects: fight or flight is
adaptive (helps organism respond quickly to danger) but this
high arousal can be harmful to health if prolonged

the stress response (seyle)
*a cluster of physiological changes
*all stressors produce the same core pattern of changes
*in short-term: produces adaptive changes that help the animal
respond to the stressor (mobilization)
*in long-term: produces changes that are maladaptive
(enlarged adrenal glands)
*stress response is attributed to activation of the anterior-
pituitary adrenal-cortex system

, *stressors stimulate the release of adrenocorticotropic hormone
(ACTH) from the anterior pituitary
*ACTH triggers the release of
glucocorticoids from the adrenal
cortex
*glucocorticoids produce many of
the components of the stress
response
*stressors activate the sympathetic
NS, thereby increasing the
amounts of epinephrine &
norepinephrine released by the
adrenal medulla (seyle largely
ignored the contributions of the
sympathetic NS)
*most modern theories
acknowledge the roles of both the
anterior-pituitary adrenal-cortex
system and the sympathetic NS
adrenal-medulla system
*major feature of seyle’s theory:
assuming that both physical and
psychological stressors induce the same general stress
response (too simplistic!)
*stressors produce an increase in blood levels of cytokines
(peptide hormones released by many cells that participate in
many physiological and immunological responses); now
classified with the adrenal hormones as major stress hormones

animal models of stress
*early research used to include extreme forms of repeated
exposure to electric shock or physical restraint
*ethically very incorrect!
*such extreme, unnatural forms of stress are of questionable
scientific value
*subordination stress – enduring conspecific threat, studied in
species that form dominance hierarchies
 bullying in humans

GENERAL ADAPTION SYSTEM
*studied by subjecting laboratory animals to a variety of
stressors