Discuss the methods of measuring stress
One way that stress can be measured is through self report scales: social adjustment rating scale (SRRS) and
Hassles and Uplifts scales (HSUP). The SRRS, created by Holmes and Rahe, is a list of 43 major life events
that cause considerable psychological adjustment. Individuals reflect on life changes experienced within a set
time period. Each life change listed has a corresponding life change unit value to reflect the relative amount of
change it requires, and an overall score of 300+ significantly increases one’s risk of illness. For example,
death of a spouse is highest at 100/100 and divorce comes in second at 73/100. The HSUP consists of the
Hassles scale which has 117 items with negative items related to minor occurrences in daily life and an Uplifts
scale of 135 positive items. Unlike the SRRS, the HSUP recognises the role of daily pleasant things as
offsetting harmful effects of hassles.
A physiological method of measuring stress is the skin conductance response (SCR) which is achieved by the
stress response which results in greater amounts of sweat produced. It uses equipment that picks up on these
changes through measuring electrical conductance between 2 electrodes on the fingers, a small voltage is
applied (0.5V) and a measure is taken of the current flow between the electrodes giving an indication of
conductance. High levels of conductance indicate more sweat on the skin, indicating higher levels of stress.
The subject should also have a baseline reading taken in a non stressed state in order to compare the 2.
One weakness of physiological measures of stress is that they ignore other factors that may lead to the stress
response. The response measures sympathetic arousal, which occurs as a response to any emotion so it may
not be just stress that has caused the activity of the SNS. It could be argued that the participant is
experiencing fear, anger, surprise or sexual arousal, which could lead to increased sweat and skin
conductance. This questions the validity of physiological measures of stress as they may not be actually
measuring stress at all.
A strength is that it avoids some of the problems associated with self report techniques. For example, using
physiological methods avoids social desirability bias because participants are not asked to independently
judge their stress levels. This makes physiological methods a more objective measure of stress. This is a
strength as removing participant judgement is more likely to produce accurate results, allowing the
experimenter to measure what they were intending to measure, which increases the internal validity of
physiological measures of stress.
One weakness of self report measures of stress is that there are methodological issues. For example, the
items in the self report scale are subjective and open to interpretation. In addition, participants may
demonstrate social desirability bias, and they may not answer in a truthful way in order to be viewed
favourably by others, and present themselves in a better light. This can reduce the reliability of the results, so
the validity of self report as a measure of stress can be questioned. However, questionnaires can be
distributed to a large sample of people in a short period of time, whereas interviews are more time consuming
as they have to be conducted face to face. Also people may be happier to disclose personal information in a
questionnaire, which can be completed anonymously, compared to a face to face situation. So there are
strengths to self report as a measure of stress.
One way that stress can be measured is through self report scales: social adjustment rating scale (SRRS) and
Hassles and Uplifts scales (HSUP). The SRRS, created by Holmes and Rahe, is a list of 43 major life events
that cause considerable psychological adjustment. Individuals reflect on life changes experienced within a set
time period. Each life change listed has a corresponding life change unit value to reflect the relative amount of
change it requires, and an overall score of 300+ significantly increases one’s risk of illness. For example,
death of a spouse is highest at 100/100 and divorce comes in second at 73/100. The HSUP consists of the
Hassles scale which has 117 items with negative items related to minor occurrences in daily life and an Uplifts
scale of 135 positive items. Unlike the SRRS, the HSUP recognises the role of daily pleasant things as
offsetting harmful effects of hassles.
A physiological method of measuring stress is the skin conductance response (SCR) which is achieved by the
stress response which results in greater amounts of sweat produced. It uses equipment that picks up on these
changes through measuring electrical conductance between 2 electrodes on the fingers, a small voltage is
applied (0.5V) and a measure is taken of the current flow between the electrodes giving an indication of
conductance. High levels of conductance indicate more sweat on the skin, indicating higher levels of stress.
The subject should also have a baseline reading taken in a non stressed state in order to compare the 2.
One weakness of physiological measures of stress is that they ignore other factors that may lead to the stress
response. The response measures sympathetic arousal, which occurs as a response to any emotion so it may
not be just stress that has caused the activity of the SNS. It could be argued that the participant is
experiencing fear, anger, surprise or sexual arousal, which could lead to increased sweat and skin
conductance. This questions the validity of physiological measures of stress as they may not be actually
measuring stress at all.
A strength is that it avoids some of the problems associated with self report techniques. For example, using
physiological methods avoids social desirability bias because participants are not asked to independently
judge their stress levels. This makes physiological methods a more objective measure of stress. This is a
strength as removing participant judgement is more likely to produce accurate results, allowing the
experimenter to measure what they were intending to measure, which increases the internal validity of
physiological measures of stress.
One weakness of self report measures of stress is that there are methodological issues. For example, the
items in the self report scale are subjective and open to interpretation. In addition, participants may
demonstrate social desirability bias, and they may not answer in a truthful way in order to be viewed
favourably by others, and present themselves in a better light. This can reduce the reliability of the results, so
the validity of self report as a measure of stress can be questioned. However, questionnaires can be
distributed to a large sample of people in a short period of time, whereas interviews are more time consuming
as they have to be conducted face to face. Also people may be happier to disclose personal information in a
questionnaire, which can be completed anonymously, compared to a face to face situation. So there are
strengths to self report as a measure of stress.
