PSYC 235 Chapter Notes - Chapter 9: Opioid Peptide, Operant Conditioning, Opioid
29 Mar 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Stress plays a large role in physical disorders. Selye proposed that the body undergoes stages of response to sustained stress: alarm, resistance, exhaustion. The sequence is called general adaption syndrome (gas) stress plays a role in activating to sns and endocrine system through hpa axis. Corticotropin releasing factor is a neurohormone secreted by the hypothalamus. The pituitary gland stimulates the adrenal gland to produce cortisol (a stress hormone). The hippocampus (located in the limbic system right next to the hpa axis) is responsive to cortisol. The hippocampus responds by turning off the stress hormone. This loop is important because chronic high cortisol levels can damage the hippocampus. Excessive secretion of cortisol wears out the ability to stop the cortisol and therefore the ability to de-stress. Sapolsky demonstrated that baboons of higher social order had less cortisol at rest than subordinates. During an emergency, cortisol was higher in the dominant males than the subordinates.
