PSY 805 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Sympathetic Nervous System, Catecholamine, Adrenal Gland

• School: Ryerson University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSY 805
• Professor: Alexandra Fiocco

Document Summary

Stress is not just an emotional experience but physiological (ex. Homeostasis: biological self-regulatio(cid:374) pro(cid:272)ess that e(cid:374)a(cid:271)les a(cid:374) orga(cid:374)is(cid:373) to adapt to life"s demands; stress = spike in physiological activity, then homeostatic return. Fight or flight: body responding with physiological activation to protect itself either through fighting the threat or fleeing from it. Holmes and rahe (1967) created the social readjustment rating scale to measure life change events (low of 10 points for minor violations of the law, up to 100 points for death of a spouse) Stressor refers to the cause of the stress, and stress refers to the effect of the stressor. Definition of stress: constellation of cognitive, emotional, physiological, and behavioral reactions the organism experiences as it transacts with perceived threats and challenges. Models of health such as biomedical (focus on biological factors, health/illness are dichotomous, mind and body are completely separate) and biopsychosocial (health depends on biological, psychological and social influences, mind and body as a whole)