Psychology 2036A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Adrenal Cortex, Hans Selye, Walter Bradford Cannon

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 2036A/B
• Professor: Doug Hazelwood

Document Summary

Part 1: two early approaches to defining stress: it"s an environmental stimulus, e. g. , exams are stressful, stimuli are called stressors. It"s a response to a stressor: e. g. , i feel stressed at exam time, two types of responses, psychological (thoughts and feelings, aka distress, e. g. , i"m nervous, anxious, physiological (e. g. , heart speeds up) Part 2: early research: how stressors influence physiological responses: walter cannon (1932, stressors activate two body stressors (sam - sympathetic adrenal medulla) Sympathetic nervous system - prepares the body for action: endocrine system (adrenal medulla) - middle part of the adrenal gland. [noradrenaline]) --> arouse the body (transpiration, increased heart beat: sam system activates the fight-or-flight response, adaptive (mobilizes us for quick response), Long activation leads to health problems: hans selye (effects of prolonged stress, the general adaptation syndrome (gas p. 172, phase 1: alarm (similar to fight-or-flight, body is aroused and mobilized, phase 2: resistance (body adapts to stressor)