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Questions and Answers
What does the Life Events Theory primarily measure in terms of stress adaptation?
Which of the following is a limitation of the Life Events Theory?
According to Lazarus's model, what factors are critical in the appraisal of stress?
In the transactional model of stress, what best describes primary appraisal?
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What are hassles and uplifts according to Kanner et al. (1981)?
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Which statement best describes how the perception of a situation influences emotional stress levels?
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What factor is NOT considered in the cognitive appraisals of stress according to the model discussed?
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In the context of resource loss, which scenario would likely elicit acute stress?
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Which of the following statements about stress mindset is true?
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Which of the following describes a limitation of the Transactional Model of Stress?
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What is a limitation of the life change unit perspective regarding stressful events?
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According to the transactional model of stress, what contributes to an individual's stress response?
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What aspect does the hassles and uplifts perspective highlight in relation to daily stressors?
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Which of the following is NOT a component of the basic process model in the transactional model of stress?
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How might intertwined life events impact an individual's stress response?
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What is the primary focus of the primary appraisal process in the transactional model of stress?
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In the context of secondary appraisal, which of the following best describes 'coping potential'?
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Which scenario best illustrates a high motivational relevance and low motivational congruence leading to potential stress?
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According to Smith and Lazarus, what kind of appraisal is most likely to elicit anxiety or guilt?
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What is the primary outcome if stress is appraised as highly threatening but accompanied by perceived strong coping resources?
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Which coping strategy involves addressing a stressor through practical means?
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What emotion is linked to situations perceived as unchangeable?
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How does the transactional model primarily describe the relationship between primary and secondary appraisals?
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Which factor is NOT identified as influencing stressful appraisals of an event?
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What criticism is associated with the transactional model regarding stress management?
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What physiological change is primarily associated with the reactivity hypothesis in stress response?
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Which of the following indirect routes best explains how stress can lead to illness?
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According to the stages of stress response, what happens during the stage of exhaustion?
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What role does allostatic load play in chronic stress responses?
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What significant association was found in a cross-cultural study regarding stress and heart attacks?
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What is one potential consequence of high levels of examination stress?
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Which of the following factors is commonly associated with chronic occupational stress?
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How does stress mindset influence health outcomes according to observed studies?
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What does the 'Alarm reaction' stage of the General Adaptation Syndrome represent?
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What term describes the cumulative wear and tear on the body caused by chronic stress?
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What is a key implication of conservation of resources theory regarding resource investment?
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In the context of resource caravans within conservation of resources theory, how do existing resources affect future resource acquisition?
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What stress-related issue did the study of new teachers in Queensland highlight?
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What is one intervention priority suggested by conservation of resources theory for workplace environments?
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What distinguishes acute stress from chronic stress as described in the content?
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Study Notes
Stress As a Stimulus
- Stressful events can be categorized into catastrophic events (e.g., earthquakes, floods), major life events (e.g., losing a job, getting married), and hassles and uplifts (minor everyday events).
- Life Events Theory (Holmes and Rahe, 1967) measures stress using Life Change Units (LCUs), which represent the average weighted value of adjustment required for a specific event.
- Hassles and Uplifts: Minor everyday demands (e.g., deadlines) are counterbalanced by enjoyable events (e.g., good conversations).
Limitations of Life Events Theory
- LCUs assigned regardless of the event's desirability.
- There is an age bias in likelihood of experiencing specific life events (e.g., childbirth, divorce).
- Some events may be infrequent and unlikely to occur.
- Simultaneous life events can cancel out LCUs (e.g., new job and moving house).
Stress As a Transaction
- Stress is a subjective experience, influenced by personal appraisal and resources.
- Transactional Model of Stress (Lazarus, 1993) posits that stress arises from the interaction between an individual's characteristics, appraisals, the stressor, and available resources.
Appraisal Processes
- Primary Appraisal: Evaluating the nature and significance of a stimulus event (harm, threat, or challenge).
- Secondary Appraisal: Assessing one's coping resources and abilities (internal: determination, knowledge; external: social support, money).
Factors Influencing Appraisal
- Imminent events (e.g., medical results due the next day).
- Unexpected events (e.g., being widowed in one's 40s).
- Unpredictable events (e.g., being made redundant).
- Ambiguous events (e.g., starting a new job, undergoing surgery).
- Undesirable events (e.g., moving due to job loss).
- Events perceived as uncontrollable (e.g., noisy neighbors).
- Events with high life change units (e.g., childbirth).
Limitations of the Transactional Model
- Circularity between primary and secondary appraisals, one depends on the other.
- The necessity of both primary and secondary appraisals is debated.
- Hobfoll et al. (2018) argue that the model places the burden of managing stress solely on the individual.
Stress and Resource Loss
- Conversation of Resources Theory (Hobfoll, 1989) emphasizes that stress arises from actual or threatened resource loss, or a lack of gain after resource investment.
- Resources can be broadly defined (e.g., health, sense of purpose, well-being).
- People strive to gain resources through investment (e.g., time invested to get a degree).
Types of Stress
- Acute Stress: Short-term stress with symptoms like panic, phobias, survivor guilt, and withdrawal (e.g., natural catastrophes, examination stress).
- Chronic Stress: Long-term stress associated with workplace features like demand, controllability, predictability, ambiguity, and lack of support.
Beliefs About Stress
- Studies show that beliefs about stress influence health outcomes.
- Keller et al. (2012) found that individuals with high stress levels and the belief that stress affects health had a 43% higher risk of premature death.
- Nabi et al. (2013) reported that perceiving stress as highly impactful on health was associated with a 2.12 times increased risk of heart disease.
- Stress mindset: Beliefs about the consequences of experiencing stress (Crum et al., 2013; Keech & Hamilton, 2019).
Stress Mindset
- Research suggests that stress mindset influences health, well-being, physiological, and affective outcomes in response to stressors.
- Studies have been conducted using laboratory stressor tasks and real-life stress experiences.
Transactional Model of Stress
- Attributing responsibility for an event is important and distinguishes between anger, blame, guilt, and self-blame.
- Getting credit for an event is associated with pride.
- Problem-focused coping potential: Perceiving the situation as changeable through practical means, dealing with the stress head-on.
- Emotion-focused coping potential: Perceiving inability to cope emotionally with the situation.
- Future expectancy concerning situational change: Perceiving possibilities of the situation being changeable in the future, even if it isn't now.
Stimuli Event Factors Influencing Appraisals
- Imminence: Events about to happen (e.g., medical results due the next day, driving test) are likely to be appraised as stressful.
- Unexpected time in life: Events happening at an unexpected time (e.g., being widowed early in life).
- Unpredictability: Events that are unpredictable in nature (e.g., being made redundant).
- Ambiguity: Events with unclear personal roles (e.g., starting a new job).
- Potential risk or harm: Events involving possible harm (e.g., undergoing surgery).
- Undesirability: Events perceived as negative (e.g., moving house due to job loss).
- Lack of control: Events perceived as uncontrollable (e.g., noisy neighbors).
- High amounts of life change: Major life transitions (e.g., having a child, going to high school/university, entering the workforce).
Limitations of Transactional Model
- Circularity between primary and secondary appraisals: They are interdependent.
- Necessity of appraisals: It's unclear if both primary and secondary appraisals are always necessary.
- Burden on the individual: Places the responsibility of stress management on the individual, ignoring environmental factors.
Conservation of Resources (COR) Theory
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Stress arises from:
- Actual or threatened resource loss
- Lack of gain after investing resources
- Resources include: Health, sense of purpose, meaning, well-being, self-esteem, money, social support, education.
- Investment in resources: Expecting gains following investments.
- Resources can be gained more easily with existing resources.
- People with more resources are less vulnerable to loss.
Study on New School Teachers
- Investment in resources: Time and resources spent to earn a teaching degree.
- Expected gains: Stable job, intrinsic rewards, meaningful interactions with students.
- Challenges: Heavy workload, lack of time to experience intrinsic rewards.
- High stress and turnover rates among teachers.
Intervention Priorities
- COR perspective: Increase resources in the environment to support employees.
- Transactional model perspective: Encourage individuals to reappraise their stress.
Types of Stress
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Acute Stress: Intense, temporary, and often caused by a specific event.
- Examples: Natural disasters, examination stress.
- Symptoms: Panic, phobias, survivor guilt, withdrawal.
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Chronic Stress: Long-term, low-level stress that can have damaging effects.
- Examples: Occupational stress.
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Characteristics at work:
- High demands: Heavy workload.
- Low controllability: Lack of control over tasks and decisions.
- Low self-efficacy: Lack of confidence in one's ability.
- Low predictability: Uncertainty about tasks and deadlines.
- High role ambiguity: Confusion about responsibilities.
- Lack of support: Insufficient help from colleagues or superiors.
Beliefs About Stress
- Stress beliefs influence health outcomes.
- Perception of stress affecting health: Associated with increased risk of premature death and heart problems.
Stress Mindset
- A set of beliefs about the consequences of experiencing stress.
- Research: Demonstrates effects of stress mindset on health, well-being, and physiological and emotional responses to stress.
Stress and Physiology
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‘Fight or Flight syndrome’ (Cannon, 1932):
- Role of sympathetic nervous system.
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‘General Adaptation Syndrome’ (Selye, 1974):
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Three stages of stress response:
- Alarm reaction: Initial awareness of a stressor.
- Stage of resistance: Body tries to adapt to a stressor.
- Stage of exhaustion: Occurs if resistance lasts too long.
- Allostatic load (McEwen, 2008): "Wear and tear" on systems from chronic stress.
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Three stages of stress response:
- Selye’s ‘non-specific’ stress response: Unsupported by evidence, different stressors trigger different responses (e.g., mental vs. physical stress).
Stress and Immune Function
- Immune system: Body's defense against disease.
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Stress can alter immune function:
- Decline in immune function associated with stressful events.
- Established link between neuroendocrine and immune systems.
- B, T, and NK cells linked to stress experience.
- Stress can worsen age-related decline in immune competence.
Cardiovascular Reactivity
- Characteristic stress response: Changes in heart rate, blood pressure, and hormones.
- Reactivity hypothesis: Individuals with large changes in blood pressure and vascular resistance to stress have increased risk of heart disease.
Stress and Illness Link
- Direct route: Stress can cause physiological changes leading to illness, especially chronic stress.
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Indirect routes:
- Behavioral changes: Stress-related behaviors (e.g., smoking, unhealthy eating) increase risk.
- Personality traits: Personality traits influence stress responses, potentially increasing risk.
- Increased healthcare use: People under stress are more likely to seek healthcare, including for symptoms unrelated to illness.
Stress and Specific Illnesses
- Common cold: Stress increases likelihood of developing the common cold.
- Cancer: Stress may affect tumor cell mutation and slow down cell repair. Evidence regarding stress and cancer recurrence is mixed.
- Bowel disease: Symptoms of IBS and IBD increase during stressful episodes.
- HIV: Stress may accelerate symptom onset in HIV-positive individuals by affecting NK cells. Depression may also affect CD4+ cell count and progression to AIDS.
Stress and Coronary Heart Disease
- Study: Home, work, financial, and major life stress significantly associated with heart attacks.
Stress as a Physiological Response
- Cannon (1932) identified the role of the sympathetic nervous system, releasing hormones to mobilize resources for the fight-or-flight response.
- This is generally adaptive, protecting us from harm but can disrupt our normal functioning.
- Selye (1974) described the General Adaptation Syndrome, a three-stage stress response:
- Alarm Reaction: Initial awareness of stress, potentially problematic because it cannot be maintained for long periods.
- Stage of Resistance: Body tries to adapt to a stressor that is not subsided after the alarm phase, involving a mobilization of bodily defenses but not sustainable indefinitely.
- Stage of Exhaustion: Results from prolonged resistance, depleting bodily resources and energy, increasing the likelihood of diseases of adaptation like cardiovascular disease, arthritis, and asthma.
- McEwen (2008) describes allostatic load, the wear and tear on the body's systems from chronic or repeated stress, which predicts illness.
- Research has shown that the "nonspecific" nature of stress previously proposed by Selye is less supported by evidence due to different responses to different stressors.
- The sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems are involved in the stress process, with adrenaline and noradrenaline (sympathetic) and acetylcholine (parasympathetic).
- There are two key activation processes when a stress response occurs:
- Sympathetic Adreno-Medullary (SAM) system: The body's rapid response to stress involving the release of epinephrine and norepinephrine, mobilizing resources for a fight-or-flight response.
- Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenocortical (HPA) axis: The body's delayed response to stress involving the secretion of corticosteroid hormones, such as cortisol (commonly known as the "stress hormone").
- Stress can dysregulate the immune function, with a well-established link between neuroendocrine and immune systems.
- Subjective stress experiences are linked to immune function, which can decline with age and be exaggerated by stress.
- Cardiovascular reactivity refers to an individual's characteristic reaction to stress, involving changes in heart rate, blood pressure, hormones, and vascular responses.
- The reactivity hypothesis suggests that individuals with large changes in blood pressure and vascular resistance to stress have an increased risk of developing heart disease.
- Chronic stress can influence health and illness through direct and indirect routes.
- Direct route: Stress produces physiological changes which lead to illness (consistent with McEwen's work on allostatic load).
- Indirect routes:
- Behavioral response to stress: People may engage in health-risk behaviors like smoking, unhealthy eating, and drinking alcohol, predisposing them to disease.
- Personality traits: Individuals with certain personality traits may be highly reactive to stress, exacerbating the situation.
- Increased healthcare utilization: People experiencing stress are more likely to use health services, potentially seeking treatment for non-illness symptoms like anxiety, fatigue, insomnia, and shakiness.
- Stress has been linked to various illnesses:
- Common cold: Increased likelihood of developing the common cold virus in those reporting more chronic life events.
- Cancer: Stress may affect tumor cell mutation by slowing down the cell repair process, with mixed evidence on its association with cancer recurrence.
- Bowel disease: Symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease increase during stressful episodes.
- HIV: Stress may speed up symptom onset in HIV-positive individuals by affecting natural killer cells and potentially impacting CD4+ cell count.
- Coronary heart disease: Research has shown a strong link between stress and heart disease, with studies showing associations between stressful events and heart attacks, higher blood pressure in workers with high job strain.
- Cohen's stage model of stress and disease (2016) integrates three perspectives for understanding stress:
- Epidemiologic: Objective levels of stress posed by life events.
- Psychological: Stress appraisal influences the experience of stress.
- Biological: Physiological reactions to stress, with short-term adaptive responses and long-term maladaptive responses.
- This model emphasizes that environmental demands (stressors) are appraised as stressful or not. If appraised as stressful, the stress response is activated through the SAM and HPA axis, leading to negative emotional responses and potentially poor health decisions. These contribute to disease-related physiological changes, increasing the risk of disease onset or progression.
Coping
- Coping is a dynamic process involving thoughts and behaviors that arise from the appraisal of stressful events and the emotions attached to them.
- It is anything a person does to reduce the impact of a perceived or actual stressor, which can involve altering or reducing negative emotions associated with the stressor or directly targeting the stressor.
- Coping may or may not succeed, but it is concerned with trying to achieve adaptation to stressors, which is managing them and dealing with them.
- Cohen and Lazarus (1979) identified five main coping functions:
- Reducing harmful external conditions
- Tolerating or adjusting to negative events
- Maintaining a positive self-image
- Maintaining emotional equilibrium and decreasing emotional stress
- Maintaining a satisfactory relationship with the environment or others.
Coping: Style vs. Strategy
- Coping style involves broader approaches, such as "monitor" (approaching problems, seeking information) or "blunter" (avoiding or distracting oneself from stressful information), as described by Miller (1987).
- Coping strategy involves situation-specific coping, varied to context, stressor, personality, mood, etc., and can include seemingly opposite strategies like passive and problem-focused coping.
- Both coping style and strategy can be seen in an individual's response to events and are not mutually exclusive.
Adaptive Coping
- Effective coping should be amenable to change.
- Problem-focused (approach) coping tends to be more adaptive when something can be done to alter or control a stressor.
- Emotion-focused coping tends to be more adaptive when control of the event or resources is low.
- Context, the stressor, and individual characteristics all interact.
- Emotional-approach coping involves processing and expressing emotions.
- Meaning-focused coping involves revising goals and finding benefits.
- Coping goals and intentions influence coping strategies employed in a given situation.
Coping Strategies
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Problem-Focused Coping: Strategies aimed at directly addressing the stressor, either by reducing its demands or increasing resources
- Examples: Planning, seeking information, confronting the source of stress, suppressing competing activities
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Emotion-Focused Coping: Strategies aimed at managing the emotional response to the stressor
- Examples: Positive reappraisal, acceptance, seeking emotional support, praying
- Approach Coping: Strategies involving actively engaging with the stressor, often utilizing problem-focused methods
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Avoidant Coping: Strategies involving avoiding or minimizing the threat of the stressor, often emotional or behavioral
- Examples: Distraction, disengagement through substance use
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Coping Styles: Enduring patterns of coping behavior, often considered traits
- Examples: Monitors (approachers) and Blunters (avoiders)
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Coping Strategies: Situation-specific behaviors used to address stress, often influenced by context, personality, and mood
- Individuals can utilize both coping styles and strategies.
- Coping strategies are not mutually exclusive.
- Factors that influence coping include individual resources, external factors, and the nature of the stressor.
Transactional Model of Stress and Coping
- Antecedents: The person's goals, beliefs, resources, health status, and other pre-existing factors
- Stimulus Event: The stressor itself, taking into account the potential for harm, threat, or challenge
- Appraisal Process: The individual's interpretation of the stressor
- Stress Response: Physiological, emotional, or behavioral reactions to the stressor
- Coping Strategy Implementation: The selection and use of coping strategies, influenced by internal and external resources
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Outcomes:
- Short term: Physiological, emotional, social, or physical functioning changes
- Long term: Impacts on health, illness, and well-being
Adaptive Coping
- Coping Flexibility: The ability to adjust coping strategies based on the specific situation
- Problem-Focused vs. Emotion-Focused: Problem-focused coping is more adaptive when control over the situation is possible. Emotion-focused coping is more adaptive when control is limited.
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Emotional Approach Coping: Involves processing and expressing emotions
- Examples: Emotional processing, emotional disclosure
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Meaning-Focused Coping: Finding meaning in stressful situations
- Examples: Goal revision, benefit finding
- Coping Goals and Intentions: Individuals' goals and intentions regarding coping can influence the strategies they employ.
Personality and Illness
- Neuroticism: Linked to increased somatic complaints and a generally negative outlook
- Optimism: Associated with positive outcome expectancies, reduced symptom reporting, and improved well-being
- Hardiness: Characterized by commitment, control, and challenge; thought to buffer against stress
- Resilience: The ability to bounce back from adversity; can be a trait or a response to stress
- Type A Behaviour: A competitive, time-urgent, and hostile personality pattern associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease
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Type C Personality: Characterized by cooperation, compliance, and the suppression of negative emotions
- Research on the association between Type C personality and cancer is mixed.
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Type D Personality: Characterized by distress (high negative affectivity) and social inhibition
- May be linked to increased mortality following a heart attack.
Stress and Cognitions
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Locus of Control: Beliefs about the extent to which one can control events
- Types: Behavioral, cognitive, decisional, informational, retrospective
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Hope: A positive motivational state, based on the belief that one can achieve goals through agency and pathways
- Overlap with constructs such as self-efficacy and optimism.
Stress and Emotions
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Depression and Anxiety: Significantly associated with cardiovascular disease (CHD) incidence and prognosis
- Impacts: Increased risk of hypertension, mortality from heart disease, negative appraisals, impaired coping, reduced likelihood of healthy behavior, and difficulty accessing social support.
Personality and Stress
- The Big Five personality theory defines five major personality traits:
- Agreeableness: Cooperative and agreeable
- Conscientiousness: Responsible and attentive
- Extroversion: Sociable
- Neuroticism: Tense and anxious
- Openness to Experience: Imaginative and open to new experiences
- Each personality trait has been linked to various health outcomes, including coping strategies, illness behavior, and longevity.
- Agreeableness is often associated with higher coping flexibility and more social support.
- Conscientiousness is linked to a small but significant association with longevity and a more robust association with health behaviors such as medication adherence and engagement in problem-focused coping.
- Extroversion has mixed findings regarding its association with stress and health, sometimes showing protective effects and sometimes linked to risk behaviors.
- Openness to Experience has been linked to protection against all-cause mortality.
Models of Personality and Illness
- Personality can influence health indirectly by promoting unhealthy behaviors, like smoking, which increases disease risk.
- Personality can also influence illness progression by affecting cognitive appraisals of illness as a stressor.
- The Disease-Prone Personality concept emphasizes the mind-body link and suggests that certain personality traits might predispose individuals to specific illnesses.
- Type A behavior, characterized by competitiveness, time urgency, hostility, and impatience, was initially thought to be strongly associated with coronary heart disease, but later research showed a more moderate association.
- Hostility, a component of Type A behavior, has been consistently linked to coronary heart disease, potentially due to increased physiological stress reactivity.
Personality Factors in Stress Moderation
- Neuroticism involves increased attention to internal states, somatic complaints, and negative affectivity, which is a stable, general negative outlook.
- Optimism, characterized by a positive outlook and positive outcome expectancies, is associated with more adaptive coping, reduced symptom reporting, and improved well-being.
- Hardiness, a personality factor associated with commitment, control, and viewing challenges as opportunities, has been studied as a potential buffer against stress, but evidence is mixed.
- Resilience, defined as the ability to bounce back from adversity, can be viewed as a fixed trait, a trait that emerges during stress, or a trait that develops through adversity.
- Type B Personality is the opposite of Type A, characterized by relaxation, lack of aggression, and absence of competitiveness. It is not connected to any increased risk of coronary heart disease.
- Type C Personality involves being cooperative, compliant, passive, stoic, and self-sacrificing, often inhibiting negative emotions. Some studies have linked it to elevated cancer risk, but evidence is mixed.
- Type D Personality, characterized by high negative affectivity and social inhibition, has been linked to increased mortality following a heart attack.
Perceived Control and Health
- Locus of Control refers to a person's belief in their own ability to control their environment.
- Internal Locus of Control involves attributing successes and failures to personal actions.
- External Locus of Control involves attributing successes and failures to external factors.
- Health Locus of Control focuses on beliefs about who controls an individual's health outcomes.
- Internal Health Locus of Control involves believing that personal actions influence health outcomes.
- External Health Locus of Control involves believing that external factors determine health outcomes.
- Powerful Others Health Locus of Control involves believing that powerful others, like doctors, control health outcomes.
- Research suggests that internal control beliefs are associated with more favorable health outcomes, as individuals are more likely to take responsibility for their health.
Types of Control Beliefs
- Behavioral Control: Belief in the ability to perform behaviors to reduce stress.
- Cognitive Control: Belief in having thought processes or strategies to reduce stress.
- Decisional Control: Belief in having the opportunity to choose between options.
- Informational Control: Belief in having the opportunity to find out about the stressful event.
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Description
This quiz explores key concepts from psychology related to stress theories, including the Life Events Theory and Lazarus's model of appraisal. Questions focus on understanding the mechanisms of stress adaptation, limitations of various models, and the role of perception in emotional stress. Test your knowledge of how these theories apply to real-life situations.
