Stress

Psychology, Unit 3, AOS1

Stress

physical/mental pressure caused by a stressor

Stressor

An object or event that starts alertness.

Stress response

A physiological or psychological reaction to the stressor or stress.

Acute stress

A type of stress.

A state of brief but intense physiological alertness due to a stressor that normally has no negative effects on health and wellbeing. = being stuck in traffic

Chronic stress

A type of stress.

A state of prolonged physiological alertness in response to an annoying stressor that negatively affects health and wellbeing. = ongoing financial problems

Eustress

A type of stress

A positive state of alertness that energizes and helps the body perform at its best. = getting married

Distress

A negative state of alertness that drains energy and reduces the ability to perform well. = sitting an exam you haven’t studied for.

Cortisol

A hormone produced by the adrenal glands that helps the body respond to stress and creates a state of balance in bodily functions to calm down.

Vagus nerve

One of the body's largest nerves that facilitates communication between the central nervous system (CNS) and the enteric nervous system (ENS), with bi-directional neural signals.

Microbiome

The gut environment that hosts a diverse population of microorganisms, known as microbiota.

Microbiota

Microorganisms such as bacteria and viruses that inhabit the gut.

Dysbiosis

A condition characterized by an unhealthy balance of bacteria in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, which can affect psychological processes.

What is the General adaption syndrome (GAS) Mode

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The Gas model is made up of three different stages: Alarm reaction, resistance, exhaustion.

Its looking at stress as an illness, example of modelling.

Shock stage

• Our body is feeling the stressor for the first time, and our becomes stressed because it doesn't know what to do, therefore our bodies tolerance to stress drops below normal levels.

• Parasympathetic NS is dominant

Countershock stage

• Our body rebounds from the shock stage and helps us survive by activating the fight-flight response, and our body tries to fight and deal with the stress.

• Our sympathetic NS is dominant because it starting to release adrenaline and cortisol to prepare the body.

Resistance stage

• Cortisol continues to be released from our bloodstream to deal with the stressor.

• Sympathetic NS is dominant because cortisol is keeping the body alert and our heart rate may be higher because of the sustained stressor.

• Our body is trying to get back to homeostasis.

Exhaustion stage

• Our bodies tolerance to stress drops below normal levels, because eventually after releasing so much cortisol over a long period our body eventually couldn't handle it because we had such high levels of cortisol. Therefore, our body became drained, and burnt out.

• Our body will be vulnerable to diseases, and our immune system will be weak.

Strengths of GAS model

• A simple model that fits our understanding of stress as a physiological reaction.

• Suggests a predictable pattern of responses that can be easily tested.

Weaknesses of the GAS model

• The study was conducted on rats, and humans are very different.

• doesn’t allow for individual differences

Lazarus and Folkman's

Transactional model of stress and coping

We're looking at the psychological factors that impact stress.

Primary appraisal

Is stage 1

Initial interpretation of whether the stressor is relevent to you or not.

Secondary appraisal

• Is stage 2

• Its when we revaluate whether we can cope or not, and by assesing all the harm/loss, threats, and challenges if we can now overcome it by making a change.

Stressful stage

• Involved in stage 1

• When your stressor matters, but in a bad way where you can't cope. = distress

Harm/loss satge

• Involved in stage 1

• This stage is in the past, because its the damage that's already been done.

• Such as time that's been wasted, or you know you haven't done enough preperation.

Positive stage

• Involved in stage 1

• When your stressor matter, but in a good way where you can cope.

Irrelevant stage

• Involved in stage 1

• Where your stressor doesn't matter to you, and doesn't cause you any stress.

Threat stage

• Involved in stage 1

• This stage is in the future, it is when you assess any potential problems that could come out of the issue.

• Such as not passing year 12

Challenge stage

• Involved in stage 1

• This stage is in the present, its when you asses the oppitunities and consquences for changes that require you to overcome your stressor.

• Such as studying 3 hours per night until the SAC

Reappraisal stage

• Happens after our secondary appraisal stage

• When we judge whether or not extra resources are needed to cope after we've found our other ones.

• Such as extra tutoring.

Coping stage

• After we've evualted if we can cope or not, and if we can overcome our stressor. We then see if our coping resources are inadequate, or adequate.

• If they're inadequate, you've decided you cannot cope

• If they're adequate resources, that means you've decided that you can cope. Which means you either chose emotional or problem focused coping.

What does coping mean?

Its basically our ability to manage stress, and adapt to other ways of managing stress if our old ways don't work.

What are coping skills and strategies?

The different techniques we use to deal with our stressors to minimise the negative impacts.

What is context-specific effectiveness?

It is when we need to take the environment, situation, or scenario into consideration when you're met with a stressor. Contextual factors can either influence if we find something overwhelming, or challenging but manageable.

What is coping flexibility?

Its our ability to stop coping strategies that don't work and try new methods to overcome a stressor. 

How does physical exercise act as a coping strategy?

• It helps us redirect our anxious energy by completing exercise.

What are some physiological benefits of physical exercise?

• Helps reduce our cortisol levels and strengthens our immune system.

• Helps our body to be healthy by exercising

What are some psychological benefits of physical exercise?

• Reduces fatigue and anxiety

• Increases serotonin which helps to improve our mood

What are avoidance strategy?

They are used when we feel we have little control over our stressor, or if we believe we don't have any coping strategies to manage our stressor effectively.When we avoid doing something.Not effective in the long run and increases anxiety.

what are approach strategies?

Strategies that directly target the stressor. Its when we confront our stressor rather than running away from them.

What are the two main approaches for approach strategies?

• Problem focused coping

• Emotional focused coping

What are problem focused coping?

• Involves putting effort in to manage or change the source of the stressor.

• Such as getting advice, and finding different solutions.

What is emotional focused coping?

• Involves putting effort in to manage or change our negative emotional responses to the stressor.

• Such as avoiding feeling sad, and angry. Instead we change by feeling more positive emotions, such as being hopeful. 

Fight-flight response

• Our autonomic NS activates our the fight-flight reaction without us knowing. It responds to our stressors by confronting them (fight), or escaping them (flight), to help increase our chances of survival.

Internal stressors

include bioloigcal, and psychological factors

External stressor

They include social and environment factors