PSYC 110 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Stress (Biology), Hans Selye, Walter Bradford Cannon
Chapter 14: Stress, Lifestyle, & Health
What is Stress?
●Stress- the tension, discomfort, or physical symptoms that arise when a stressor strains
our ability to cope effectively
●Stress = type of response
●Stressor = a type of stimulus
Three Approaches to Stress
●Stressors as stimuli approach focuses on identifying types of stressful events
●Helps identify situations that cause more stress and persons that react more strongly
●Stress as a response approach assesses psychological and physical reactions to stress
●Can be lab-inducted or real-world stressors
●Measure large number of outcome variables, including corticosteroids- hormones that
are related to stress
●Stress as a transaction- examines how people interpret and cope with stressful events
●Primary and secondary appraisals to determine:
○1) if a situation is harmful, and then
○2) if we can cope with it
Eustress vs. Distress
●Eustress- stress associated with positive feelings, optimal health, and performance
●When stress becomes excessive and debilitating is becomes distress
○Negatively affects health
Health Psychology
●Stress evokes a variety of responses
○Physiological, cognitive, and behavioral
●Stress can contribute to serious health complications, including onset and progression of
various physical illnesses and diseases
●Health psychology- scientific study of how stress and other psychological factors can
impact health
○Investigate lifestyle choices
○Design and test effectiveness of interventions
○Identify risk factors
Flight-or-flight response
●Identified by Walter Cannon
●Describes the boy’s physiological reactions to stress
●When a person experiences very strong emotions, typically in response to a perceived
threat
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○Body is rapidly aroused by activation of SNS and endocrine system
○Arousal prepares us to either fight or flee from the threat
General Adaptation Syndrome
●Pattern of response to stress [Hans Selye]
○Alarm, resistance, and exhaustion phases
●Alarm reaction- autonomic nervous system is activated, stress hormones released,
physical symptoms of anxiety (emotional)
○Flight-or-flight response and HPA axis
●Resistance- you adapt and find ways to cope with the stressor (thinking)
○Ex. flying and turbulence, after initial reaction you're good
●Exhaustion- in prolonged stressors, our resistance can break down
○Can cause physical or psychological damage
Psychological basis of Stress
●SNS and HPA axis are two physiological mechanisms involved in stress
○Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal
1. SNS triggers arousal via release of adrenaline
2. Hormone release activates flight-or-flight response
●At the same time that...
1. Hypothalamus releases corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF)
2. Hormone causes the pituitary gland to release adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)
3. Activates adrenal gland to release cortisol into bloodstream
●Cortisol is a stress hormone
○Provides boost of energy when we first encounter a stressor, preparing us to fight
or flee
○However, sustained levels can weaken immune system
Stressors
●Chronic vs. acute
●Chronic- event that persists of an extended period of time
○Ex. caring for sick parent, unemployment
●Acute- brief focal event that is shorter and very specific
○Ex. broken bone
●Traumatic event- a stressor so severe that it can produce long-term psychological or or
health consequences
●Life changes
○The number of major life events over the past year have been found to be related
to physical and psychological health
○The Social Readjustment Rating Scale ranks a number of particularly stressful
events
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Document Summary
Stress- the tension, discomfort, or physical symptoms that arise when a stressor strains our ability to cope effectively. Stressor = a type of stimulus approach focuses on identifying types of stressful events. Helps identify situations that cause more stress and persons that react more strongly. Stress as a response approach assesses psychological and physical reactions to stress. Measure large number of outcome variables, including corticosteroids- hormones that are related to stress. Stress as a transaction- examines how people interpret and cope with stressful events. 1) if a situation is harmful, and then. 2) if we can cope with it. Eustress- stress associated with positive feelings, optimal health, and performance. When stress becomes excessive and debilitating is becomes distress. Stress can contribute to serious health complications, including onset and progression of various physical illnesses and diseases. Health psychology- scientific study of how stress and other psychological factors can impact health. Describes the boy"s physiological reactions to stress.
