Describe social psychological explanations of stress? 10 marks
One social psychological explanation of stress is Daily hassles (DH). They are
everyday irritations that cause anger feelings, such as getting stuck in the
traffic. However, life has its own share of uplifts, which naturalize the harmful
effect of DH. For example, having enough sleep. Kanner et al (1981) designed
the Daily hassles & uplifts scale (DH&UPS) and sued it on 100 men and women
and found that the higher the score on the scale, the more likely a person is to
suffer from mental wellbeing problems (negative correlation between the
frequency of hassles and psychological wellbeing). The scale contained 117
negative items covering all aspects of daily life and 135 positive items. DH could
be caused due to 3 main factors, accumulation, which is that hassles aren’t
much stressful until they are experienced closely all together e.g., in family or
at work as it is hard to avoid.
Another social psychological explanation of stress is Life events, they can be
both positive and negative. They could lead to stress which is linked to health
problems. Dr Holmes and Dr Rahe were interested in investigating the effects
of life changes in individuals and developed a readjustment measuring tool
which is the Stress Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS). They suggested that the
higher the score on this scale, the more likely a person is to suffer from stress-
related illnesses. A 300+ score on the scale leads to a 50% higher chance of
having a health problem. Meaning that the greater the score (The life
changes/events experienced) the more likely that a person will have stress and
therefore the illnesses that could stem/ develop from it later.
One social psychological explanation of stress is Daily hassles (DH). They are
everyday irritations that cause anger feelings, such as getting stuck in the
traffic. However, life has its own share of uplifts, which naturalize the harmful
effect of DH. For example, having enough sleep. Kanner et al (1981) designed
the Daily hassles & uplifts scale (DH&UPS) and sued it on 100 men and women
and found that the higher the score on the scale, the more likely a person is to
suffer from mental wellbeing problems (negative correlation between the
frequency of hassles and psychological wellbeing). The scale contained 117
negative items covering all aspects of daily life and 135 positive items. DH could
be caused due to 3 main factors, accumulation, which is that hassles aren’t
much stressful until they are experienced closely all together e.g., in family or
at work as it is hard to avoid.
Another social psychological explanation of stress is Life events, they can be
both positive and negative. They could lead to stress which is linked to health
problems. Dr Holmes and Dr Rahe were interested in investigating the effects
of life changes in individuals and developed a readjustment measuring tool
which is the Stress Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS). They suggested that the
higher the score on this scale, the more likely a person is to suffer from stress-
related illnesses. A 300+ score on the scale leads to a 50% higher chance of
having a health problem. Meaning that the greater the score (The life
changes/events experienced) the more likely that a person will have stress and
therefore the illnesses that could stem/ develop from it later.
