Summary Health Psychology subtest2
Green= Main titles, subtitles,
Yellow= definitions/very important concepts
Light blue= lists, sub-categories
Salmon= authors/organisations and dates/time
Orange= Study, example
Health Psychology subtest 2
Lecture 7: Stress and its effects on health and well-
being - Chapter 11 and 12
Chapter 11 - Stress, health and illness: theory
STRESS:
1. As a stimulus or event external to the individual - stressors
2. As a psychological transaction
3. As a physiological response
Stress as a stimulus or external event - stressors
Physical or psychological stressful events or circumstances
● Catastrophes - earthquake, COVID
● Major life events - being fired from work
● Daily hassles or minor events - too many things to do
● Chronic or ongoing events - chronic disease
Life events theory - Holmes & Rahe, 1987
Stress as a response to life events that require adjustment on part of a person.
➢ Negative events
➢ Positive events/uplifts
Social readjustment= the intensity and lenght of time necessary to accommodate a life event,
regardless of the desirability of this event
Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS)
● List of 43 possible life events
, ● Weighted by a panel of 400 people for severity
● Sum of weightened recent experiences was assumed to indicate level of stress
● Stress measured in Life Change Units (LCU)
● The greater the LCU score, the higher the risk of ill-health
➢ Critique –> expansion of the list
Recent Life Changes Questionnaires (RLCQ)
● Expanded list of 87 events weighted by a panel in 1995
● Amount of stress events quantifiable in Life Change Units
● Amount of stress events the same for everybody
Limitations of life events measurement of stress:
● Retrospective assessment (risk of misattribution of events)
○ Prospective studies showed weaker relations between events and stress
● Events may not be globally appropriate
● Does not account for interrelatedness of events
● Vague or ambiguous events (change in social activities)
● Ignores individual differences in weighting of events
● Daily hassles as stimulus for stress are neglected
Life hassles= irritating, frustrating, distressing demands that to some degree characterize
everyday transactions with the environment
➢ Relevant impact when are chronic or repeated over a particular period of time
Balancing of negatives and positives in determining overall stress:
- Uplifts can moderate the negative impact of hassles
- Positive emotions enhance coping appraisal
Stress as a psychological transaction
Cognitive Transactional Model of Stress - Lazarus
Stress results from an interaction between
➢ external and internal stressors
➢ appraisal is central to whether an event is deemed to be a stressor or not
➢ available resources to cope
Stress as a transaction: it is not the event itself that causes stress but the individual's cognitive
appraisal of it and their perceived ability to handle it.
● Stress is subjective, varies based on cognitive evaluations
● Dynamic interaction between individual and environment
,Two types of appraisal:
● Primary appraisal: consider the quality and nature of stimulus event
○ Motivational relevance: extent to which an event is relevant to the individual’s
goals and commitments
○ Motivational congruence: extent to which the situation is perceived congruent
with the current goals
● Secondary appraisal: assess resources and ability to cope with the stressor
○ Internal/external accountability (blame/credit): attributing responsibility for the
event
■ Self-blame → guilt
■ Other-blame → anger
○ Problem-focused coping potential: extent to which situation perceived
changeable by instrumental coping options
■ Changable → hope, optimism
■ Unchangable → sadness, helplessness
○ Emotion-focused coping potential: ability to emotionally cope a situation
■ Low emotion coping → fear, anxiety
○ Future expectancy concerning situational change: perceived possibilities of
the situation being changeable
■ Unchangability → sadness
Core-relational theme= summary of beliefs about the nature of the event →
EMOTIONS
→ immediate and occur in parallel to appraisal
→ will influence future appraisals
, Limitations of Lazarus model:
● Inherent circularity - wheter an event is demanding or not depend on perceived coping
capacity and viceversa
● Unclear whether both primary and secondary appraisals are necessary
● Nature of the role of appraisals/core-relational themes has been questioned –> temporal
ordering?
Factors influencing appraisal
Features of events increasing likelihood of being appraised as stressful
- imminents
- occur at an unexpected time in life
- unpredictable in nature
- ambiguous in term of
- personal role
- potential risk or harm involved
Green= Main titles, subtitles,
Yellow= definitions/very important concepts
Light blue= lists, sub-categories
Salmon= authors/organisations and dates/time
Orange= Study, example
Health Psychology subtest 2
Lecture 7: Stress and its effects on health and well-
being - Chapter 11 and 12
Chapter 11 - Stress, health and illness: theory
STRESS:
1. As a stimulus or event external to the individual - stressors
2. As a psychological transaction
3. As a physiological response
Stress as a stimulus or external event - stressors
Physical or psychological stressful events or circumstances
● Catastrophes - earthquake, COVID
● Major life events - being fired from work
● Daily hassles or minor events - too many things to do
● Chronic or ongoing events - chronic disease
Life events theory - Holmes & Rahe, 1987
Stress as a response to life events that require adjustment on part of a person.
➢ Negative events
➢ Positive events/uplifts
Social readjustment= the intensity and lenght of time necessary to accommodate a life event,
regardless of the desirability of this event
Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS)
● List of 43 possible life events
, ● Weighted by a panel of 400 people for severity
● Sum of weightened recent experiences was assumed to indicate level of stress
● Stress measured in Life Change Units (LCU)
● The greater the LCU score, the higher the risk of ill-health
➢ Critique –> expansion of the list
Recent Life Changes Questionnaires (RLCQ)
● Expanded list of 87 events weighted by a panel in 1995
● Amount of stress events quantifiable in Life Change Units
● Amount of stress events the same for everybody
Limitations of life events measurement of stress:
● Retrospective assessment (risk of misattribution of events)
○ Prospective studies showed weaker relations between events and stress
● Events may not be globally appropriate
● Does not account for interrelatedness of events
● Vague or ambiguous events (change in social activities)
● Ignores individual differences in weighting of events
● Daily hassles as stimulus for stress are neglected
Life hassles= irritating, frustrating, distressing demands that to some degree characterize
everyday transactions with the environment
➢ Relevant impact when are chronic or repeated over a particular period of time
Balancing of negatives and positives in determining overall stress:
- Uplifts can moderate the negative impact of hassles
- Positive emotions enhance coping appraisal
Stress as a psychological transaction
Cognitive Transactional Model of Stress - Lazarus
Stress results from an interaction between
➢ external and internal stressors
➢ appraisal is central to whether an event is deemed to be a stressor or not
➢ available resources to cope
Stress as a transaction: it is not the event itself that causes stress but the individual's cognitive
appraisal of it and their perceived ability to handle it.
● Stress is subjective, varies based on cognitive evaluations
● Dynamic interaction between individual and environment
,Two types of appraisal:
● Primary appraisal: consider the quality and nature of stimulus event
○ Motivational relevance: extent to which an event is relevant to the individual’s
goals and commitments
○ Motivational congruence: extent to which the situation is perceived congruent
with the current goals
● Secondary appraisal: assess resources and ability to cope with the stressor
○ Internal/external accountability (blame/credit): attributing responsibility for the
event
■ Self-blame → guilt
■ Other-blame → anger
○ Problem-focused coping potential: extent to which situation perceived
changeable by instrumental coping options
■ Changable → hope, optimism
■ Unchangable → sadness, helplessness
○ Emotion-focused coping potential: ability to emotionally cope a situation
■ Low emotion coping → fear, anxiety
○ Future expectancy concerning situational change: perceived possibilities of
the situation being changeable
■ Unchangability → sadness
Core-relational theme= summary of beliefs about the nature of the event →
EMOTIONS
→ immediate and occur in parallel to appraisal
→ will influence future appraisals
, Limitations of Lazarus model:
● Inherent circularity - wheter an event is demanding or not depend on perceived coping
capacity and viceversa
● Unclear whether both primary and secondary appraisals are necessary
● Nature of the role of appraisals/core-relational themes has been questioned –> temporal
ordering?
Factors influencing appraisal
Features of events increasing likelihood of being appraised as stressful
- imminents
- occur at an unexpected time in life
- unpredictable in nature
- ambiguous in term of
- personal role
- potential risk or harm involved
