Psychology: What is Stress?

• Psychology studies the presence and impact of stressors, coping mechanisms, consequences for health, and disorders

What is Stress

• Stress is triggered by situations that threaten one's well-being and ability to cope
• Stress severity depends on situation perception (appraisal) and coping ability
• A stressor is anything that triggers a stress response
• Acute stressors cause short-term stress, like a psychology test
• Chronic stressors cause long-term stress, examples including long-term pain, or unemployment

Acute vs Chronic Stress

• Short-term stress is adaptive, mobilizing resources to overcome threats
• Long-term stress is not adaptive, and can cause physical and psychological health problems
• Physical health problems caused by long-term stress include cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and diabetes
• Psychological problems caused by stress include depression, PTSD, and substance abuse
• 3 out of 4 Americans report feeling stressed in the past month

Common Ways Stress is Experienced

• Stress arises from psychological experiences and feelings
• Feeling frustrated occurs when blocked goals create stress
• An acute example of feeling frustrated is being stuck in traffic and late for work
• A chronic example of feeling frustrated is being stuck in a job and passed over for a promotion
• Feeling pressured results from needing to meet external or internal expectations
• Needing to write a term paper due next week is an example of feeling pressured
• Worrying about what to wear to a social event is an example of feeling pressured

Conflicts

• Conflicts occur when goals clash, requiring choices between alternatives
• Types of conflicts include approach-approach
• An approach-approach conflict involves choosing between two desirable options like dating John or Bill
• Avoidance-avoidance conflicts involve choosing between aversive options
• When faced with an avoidance-avoidance conflict someone may have to choose between studying math or physics
• Choosing to study math or physics when faced with an avoidance-avoidance conflict often results in procrastination
• Approach-avoidance conflicts involve choosing between desirable and undesirable consequences
• An example of an approach-avoidance conflict is liking John, but disliking his friends

Danger & Stress Assessment

• Feeling endangered arises from life-threatening situations
• Feeling endangered can be acute, occurring during a natural disaster or car accident
• Feeling endangered can be chronic, occurring when living in a dangerous region or situation
• Experiencing something life-threatening can cause lasting effects like PTSD
• Major life changes are "adjustments" when assessing stress
• Life change examples include death, illness, break ups, starting university or a new school, moving, or a new job.
• Holmes and Rahe developed the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS)
• The SRRS is a 43-item checklist of common life-changing events
• The SRRS assigns "life change units" to each event based on rankings of perceived stressfulness
• Overall stress is measured by adding life change units
• SRRS includes events generally seen as positive such as marriage or vacation

SRRS Scale & Criticisms

• SRRS scores predict illnesses as there is a link between stress and health
• People's SRRS scores the year before becoming ill were significantly higher than those who didn't
• Recent studies confirm SRRS findings for respiratory illnesses and cancers
• Criticisms of the SRRS: the SRRS includes more negative than positive events
• Criticisms of the SRRS: the SRRS does not include stress from non-life changing events such as not getting married or a promotion

Daily Hassles

• Daily hassles are everyday annoyances known as "micro-stressors"
• Daily hassles are common and frequently cause stress
• Examples of daily hassles include daily traffic, bad weather, unexpected data charges, no parking, no course offered, tuition hikes, or interpersonal problems
• Daily hassles add up to cause excessive stress
• Daily hassles predict negative health effects better than major life stressors
• The Daily Hassles Scale measures and assesses daily hassles

Responses to Stress

• Responses to stress occurs on three levels: physiological, emotional, and cognitive

Emotional Responses

• Changes in mood often accompany stress
• Many studies point to an association between stress, anxiety, and depression
• Many negative emotions come with experiencing stress, including fear, dejection or grief, annoyance, anger or rage, guilt, shame, disgust, and jealousy

Cognitive Factors

• Stress depends on appraising the situation severity and ability to manage it based on the cognitive-mediational theory of stress developed by Richard Lazarus.
• Primary appraisal involves assessing a situation and determining its severity and implications
• Secondary appraisal involves considering the ability to cope with an event and evaluating available resources
• A major factor in appraisal is control over the situation
• Having control over stressful events results in less stress

Control

• "Executive Monkey Study" (1950s) saw Monkeys shocked in pairs, one could press a lever to stop the shock, the other not
• The monkey who controlled the shock, exhibited the most signs of stress (ulcers, weight loss, etc.)
• It was thought the control monkey was like an "executive" who makes decisions and gets ulcers
• Control monkey studies showed that people in control would be more stressed
• Studies were flawed because more active monkeys were put in executive conditions

Control: Rat Studies

• Weiss (1970s) yoked rats like the executive monkey study
• Rats were randomly assigned to conditions
• The rats received identical shocks, but only those that could not control the shock were stressed

Individual Factors

• People vary considerably in being easily stressed
• Important factors regarding easy of being stressed are: Autonomic Nervous System reactivity, personality, explanatory style, and social support

Personal Explanatory Style

• Explanatory style is a characteristic pattern of explaining stressful events
• Two general styles of explaining stressful events are: optimistic and pessimistic
• Optimistic: general belief that despite setbacks, things will improve
• Pessimistic: belief that negative effects will be enduring and global
• Optimists view situations as less negatively impactful and manageable, and may see a silver lining
• Optimists adopt constructive coping strategies

Social Support

• Others can be a source of stress
• People with strong social support (family, friends, faith communities) experience less stress than those who are lonely
• Married people in healthy relationships live longer
• Happiness in marriage predicts longevity better than blood cholesterol
• Increased confidence allows for better social support
• May provide sense of control or optimism with social support
• Others provide ways of appraising a situation
• Others reduce arousal as determined in electric shock fMRI studies
• Bottom line: friends don't let friends stress

Coping Defined

• Coping: efforts to manage, reduce, or tolerate stress
• Responses are either adaptive or maladaptive
• Facing poor grades presents an example of coping responses
• Adaptive coping: joining a study group, or reducing hours spent working
• Maladaptive coping: going out to George Street
• People apply strategies across situations

Common Strategies

• Coping strategies include: lashing out, self-defense, self-indulgence, and problem and emotion-focused coping

Lashing Out & Self-Defense

• Lashing out tends to occur after a series of stressors ("the last straw")
• Lashing out is not a good coping strategy.
• Self-defense involves self-deception or repressive coping style where someone denies negative feelings
• Self-defense can be short-term but not long-term solutions

Self-Indulgence & Constructive Coping

• Self-Indulgence includes overeating, drinking, or shopping
• Self-Indulgent actions are helpful if a stressor is simple or short-lived, but ineffective if a problem is complex or ongoing and can lead to weight gain or bank drain
• Problem-focused coping alleviates stress directly, confronting its source
• An example of problem-focused coping involves conflict resolution through compromise
• Problem-focused coping functions if there is control over the stressor
• Emotion-focused coping manages responses to stressors
• Emotion-focused coping is the only strategy if there is no control over the stressor
• Forming positive thoughts about a roommate is an example of emotion-focused coping