Health Psych Final

chapters 6-9

Define stress and the various sources of stress?

Stress: a negative emotional experience accompanied by predictable biochemical, physiological, cognitive, and behavioral changes that are directed either toward altering the stressful event or accommodating to its effects

Sources of Stressors include:

• negative events: getting a traffic ticket or trying to find a job

• uncontrollable events: being in a crowded space or being stuck in morning traffic

• ambiguous events: person can't take action but must put energy into understanding the stressor

• overload: work-related stress like taking on multiple role responsibilities as one person

How is stress cumulative?

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Describe Cannon's fight-or-flight response

when an organism perceives a threat, the body is rapidly aroused and motivated via the SNS and the endocrine system

this physiological response mobilizes the organism to attack the threat or flee

Describe Selye's General Adaptation Syndrome

• GAS: when a person confronts a stressor, it mobilizes itself for action; regardless of the threat, the person will respond with the same physiological pattern of reactions

• 3 phases involved in this:

  • Alarm - person becomes aware of the threat

  • Resistance - person makes efforts to cope with the threat

  • Exhaustion - occurs if the person fails to overcome the threat and depletes physiological resources in the process of trying

What are some of the criticisms of Selye’s GAS?

1. assigned a limited role to the psychological aspect of stressors

2. not all stressors produce the same biological response

3. debate whether exhaustion is due to the depletion of physiological resources or due to chronic activation of the second phase is implicated in exhaustion

4. Selye suggested that stress was the outcome, which is not always true

What is Taylor and Klein’s Tend and Befriend theory?

Suggests that, in addition to fight or flight, people and animals tend to respond to stressful situations with social affiliation and nurturant behavior towards offspring

Compare and contrast primary and secondary appraisal and their roles in the experience of stress

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