Stress and Its Effects

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• Chapter 3
• Stress and Its Effects

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The Nature of Stress

• What is Stress?
• Characteristics
• Stress is a common, everyday event
• Stress is subjective.
• Stress may be embedded in the environment.
• Stress is influenced by culture.
• Two Basic Categories
• Acute stressors
• Chronic stressors

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• Figure 3.1 Primary and secondary appraisal of
  stress. Primary appraisal is an initial
  evaluation of whether an event is (1) irrelevant
  to you, (2) relevant, but not threatening, or (3)
  stressful. When you view an event as stressful,
  you are likely to make a secondary appraisal,
  which is an evaluation of your coping resources
  and options for dealing with the stress. (Based
  on Lazarus Folkman, 1994)

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Major Types of Stress

• Four major types
• Frustration
• Conflict (3 types)
• Approach approach
• Avoidance avoidance
• Approach avoidance

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Examples of Types of Conflicts?

• Approach-approach
• Avoidance-avoidance
• Approach-avoidance

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• Figure 3.3 Types of conflict. Psychologists
  have identified three basic types of conflict. In
  approach-approach and avoidance-avoidance
  conflicts, the person is torn between two goals.
  In an approach-avoidance conflict only one goal
  is under consideration, but it has both positive
  and negative aspects.

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Major Types of Stress, continued

• Change
• Pressure
• Two types
• Pressure to perform
• Pressure to conform

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• Figure 3.5 Pressure and psychological symptoms.
  A comparison of pressure and life change as
  sources of stress suggests that pressure may be
  more strongly related to mental health than
  change is. In one study, Weiten (1988) found a
  correlation of .59 between scores on the Pressure
  Inventory (PI) and symptoms of psychological
  distress. In the same sample, the correlation
  between SRRS scores and psychological symptoms
  was only .28.

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Responding to Stress

• Stress responses
• Emotional
• -Usually negative, but can be positive
• -Inverted U hypothesis
• Physiological
• -Flight-or-Fight
• - General Adaptation Syndrome
• Behavioral
• -Coping
• -Can be healthy or unhealthy

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• Figure 3.9 The Autonomic Nervous System (ANS).
  The ANS is composed of the nerves that connect to
  the heart, blood vessels, smooth muscles, and
  glands. The ANS is subdivided into the
  sympathetic division, which mobilizes bodily
  resources in times of need, and the
  parasympathetic division, which conserves bodily
  resources. Some of the key functions controlled
  by each division of the ANS are summarized in the
  center of the diagram.

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• Figure 3.10 The general adaptation syndrome.
  According to Selye, the physiological response to
  stress can be broken into three phases. During
  the first phase, the body mobilizes its resources
  for resistance after a brief initial shock. In
  the second phase, resistance levels off and
  eventually begins to decline. If the third phase
  of the general adaptation syndrome is reached,
  resistance is depleted, leading to health
  problems and exhaustion.

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Responding to Stress, continued

• Two Brain-Body Pathways control our physiological
  responses to stress
• 1. Catecholamine Pathway
• 2. Corticosteroid Pathway

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• Figure 3.12 Brain-body pathways in stress. In
  times of stress, the brain sends signals along
  two pathways. The pathway through the autonomic
  nervous system (shown in blue on the right)
  controls the release of catecholamine hormones
  that help mobilize the body for action. The
  pathway through the pituitary gland and the
  endocrine system (shown in brown on the left)
  controls the release of corticosteroid hormones
  that increase energy and ward off tissue
  inflammation.

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The Potential Effects of Stress

• Impaired task performance
• Disruption of cognitive function
• Burnout
• Psychological problems and disorders.
• Poor academic performance
• Insomnia and other sleep disturbances
• Sexual difficulties and
• Substance abuse
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
• Physical illness

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• Figure 3.13 The antecedents, components, and
  consequences of burnout. Christina Maslach and
  Michael Leiter have developed a systematic model
  of burnout that specifies its antecedents,
  components, and consequences. The antecedents on
  the left in the diagram are the stressful
  features of the work environment that cause
  burnout. The burnout syndrome itself consists of
  the three components shown in the center of the
  diagram. Some of the unfortunate results of
  burnout are listed on the right. (Based on Leiter
  Maslach, 2001).

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The Potential Effects of Stress, continued

• Positive Effects There are at least three ways
  that stress can have positive effects.
• It can promote positive psychological change, or
  posttraumatic growth.
• It can help satisfy a need for stimulation and
  challenge.
• It can inoculate us against future stress.

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Factors Influencing Stress Tolerance

• Some people withstand stress better than others.
• There are many moderator variables that may
  reduce the impact of stress on physical and
  mental health. They include
• Social support aid by members of our social
  network.
• Hardiness hardy people are highly committed,
  have a sense of control, and embrace challenge.

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Factors Influencing Stress Tolerance, continued

• Optimism general tendency to expect good
  outcomes.
• Individuals with a pessimistic explanatory
  style blame themselves for failures.
• Those with an optimistic explanatory style
  attribute setbacks to temporary situational
  factors.
• Optimists are more likely to use effective coping
  methods and are more likely to seek social
  support.
• Optimism also linked with better health and
  longevity.

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Factors Influencing Stress Tolerance, continued

• Conscientiousness tendency to be diligent,
  punctual and dependable.
• Conscientiousness is also linked with longevity,
  but it is unclear why.
• In summary, many mediating variables interact to
  determine how well an individual will respond to
  stress (see Figure 3.16).

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Health and Stress
PLAY VIDEO
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• Figure 3.16 Overview of the stress process.
  This diagram builds on Figure 3.6 (the
  multidimensional response to stress) to provide a
  more complete overview of the factors involved in
  stress. This diagram adds the potential effects
  of stress (seen on the far right) by listing some
  of the positive and negative adaptational
  outcomes that may result from stress. It also
  completes the picture by showing moderating
  variables (seen at the top) that can influence
  the effects of stress (including some variables
  not covered in the chapter).