PS102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 26: Prefrontal Cortex, Stressor, Biomedical Model
Document Summary
What is stress: emotional state resulting from perceived threat or danger, stressor, stimulus in environment, definition, physiological and psychological response to condition that threatens or challenges individual and requires some form of adaptation or adjustment. Stress: major changes in life = stress. Includes good and bad changes: routines, expectations, have to adapt. Three approaches: stressors as stimuli, holmes and rahe stress scale. Stress reactions: physiological: automatic, psychological: learned, depend on perceptions and interpretation. Responding to our stress: walter cannon, danger, fight or flight: hypothalamus autonomic nervous system, pituitary, we have two systems at work when we are in fight of flight response gland, acth (aka stress hormone) Gender differences in fight or tend: tend-and-befriend, ensure safety of offspring, social support. Hans seyle and the stress response: seyle was terrible at handling rats and realized that animals he had handled were more likely to develop cancer than those handled by more adept lab assistant.
