Stress and Its Effects

Stress is…

l Ambient
- "It's everywhere, it's everywhere!"
- …and it CAN slip up on you…It's insidious!
l Both external and intrinsic
- Stress is influenced by context
Directly
- Population density; crowding
- Noise "pollution"
o E.g., living near a runway (with jets!)
Less directly
- Academic setting
o The degree one feels pressure to achieve
o MAY be self-imposed

l Culture

Stress is…

l Cumulative
- Whether a single MAJOR event or a series of minor ones,
Stress adds up!
Even everyday demands accumulate
- Know how it feels when someone "gets on your LAST nerve?"
l Is in the eye of the beholder
- It's about perception!

There are 2 steps in the perception of STRESS

1. PRIMARY APPRAISAL
Is the event
…relevant to you?
…relevant but not threatening
...relevant AND threatening
thus, stressful

There are 2 steps in the perception of STRESS SECONDARY APPRAISAL

The evaluation of personal resources to cope w/ the threat...
"Can I deal with this?"
"Do I have "whatever it takes" to meet these problems or challenges?"


How you respond to stress depends on
l Familiarity
- Have I lived through this before?
- What can I improve?
l Controllability
- Bimodal reactions - some feel more stress when in control! "It's up to me??"
Predictability
- Did you see this coming?
Imminence
- Remember the music from Jaws?

Factors influencing reactions to stress

l Social supports
- events are generally less stressful to individuals who receive good social support from friends and family
- share your stresses with somebody else; "no man is an island, no man stands alone"
- self-disclosure is good for you in the long run; share yourself with others for your own good health

Factors influencing reactions to stress

l Person variables in reactions to stress
- according to the interactional model of personality, we are influenced both by the situation we encounter AND our cognitive interpretation of that situation
- stress is in the eye of the beholder
- cognitive factors in stress reactions
u sensitizers: seek out information and think about stress
u repressors: don't worry be happy

Factors influencing reactions to stress

l The "Type A" and "Type B" personality

- a type "A" personality is characterized by someone who is highly competitive, has a sense of time urgency, is perfectionistic, and hostile; they often die of heart attack or stroke
- a type "B" personality is characterized by someone not competitive, not bothered by waiting, is forgiving, and patient; usually die from cancer

Types of stressors

l Acute
- Immediate threat
- Short duration
- But clear ending
l Chronic
- Less immediate
- But of longer duration
- No clear ending

Causes of stress ( external):

l Frustration
- Goal or objective is being thwarted
E.g., failures & losses
l Conflict
- Competing choices
Approach-Approach
- A "win-win" situation
Avoidance-Avoidance
- The "lesser of 2 evils"
Approach-Avoidance *
- "good news/bad news"
- * The key? Eliminate the negative

Causes of stress:

l Change
- Life changes
- Even positive changes make adjustment demands
- Take the Social Readjustment Rating Scale!
How do you fare?
Pressure
- To Perform
- To Conform

Reactions to Frustration

l Aggression: Any response made with the intention of doing harm
l Displaced Aggression: Redirecting aggression to a target other than the source of one's frustration
l Scapegoating: Blaming a person or group for conditions they did not create; the scapegoat is a habitual target of displaced aggression
l Escape: May mean actually leaving a source of frustration (dropping out of school) or psychologically escaping (apathy)


Conflicts

l A stressful condition that occurs when a person must choose between contradictory needs, desires, motives, or demands
l Avoidance-Avoidance Conflicts: Being forced to choose between two negative or undesirable alternatives (e.g., choosing between going to the doctor or contracting cancer)
- NOT choosing may be impossible or undesirable
l Approach-Avoidance Conflicts: Being attracted (drawn to) and repelled by the same goal or activity; attraction keeps person in the situation, but negative aspects can cause distress
- Ambivalence: Mixed positive and negative feelings; central characteristic of approach-avoidance conflicts

Multiple Conflicts

l Double Approach-Avoidance Conflicts: Each alternative has both positive and negative qualities
l Vacillation: When one is attracted to both choices; seeing the positives and negatives of both choices and going "back and forth" before deciding, if deciding at all!
l Multiple Approach-Avoidance Conflicts: When several alternatives have positive and negative features

..and how do YOU respond to
We respond to stress in three ways:

1.) Emotional Responses. 2.) Physiological Responses. 3.) Behavioural Responses

How do You Respond To Stress ??

Emotional responses
All of us experience a range of reactions:
Negative:
Range of intensity and magnitude:
Annoyance, anger, and rage
Apprehension, anxiety, and fear
Dejection, sadness, and grief
Positive:
Creativity, flexibility, problem-solving
(Folkman, 1997; Folkman & Moskowitz, 2000; Wortman & Silver, 1987)
Emotional reactions come with physical changes

The effects of emotional arousal:

OPTIMAL LEVEL OF AROUSAL:
- "The Inverted 'U' Hypothesis"

- There is an OPTIMAL LEVEL of AROUSAL
Just enough will PROPEL TO ACTION
Without INTERFERING w/ cognitions or performance!
- Too much is stress
- Too little and we are complacent

Stress Arousal

"Fight or Flight"

Autonomic Nervous System:
Sympathetic &
Para-sympathetic
The endocrine system communicates within the body…pituitary releases ACTH (adrenocorticotropic hormone), which acts on the adrenal glands:
First on the adrenal medulla, to secrete powerful activation hormones:
e.g., epinephrine (adrenaline),
which increases heart rate, blood pressure, blood flow to muscles, & release of glucose for energy.
General Adaptational Syndrome*
SELYE

l Physiological reactions are similar for different stimuli **
l Three-stage Syndrome:
- ALARM
- RESISTANCE
- EXHAUSTION
l Critique - Individual differences are not explained.
Critique
RE: Similarity in physiological reactions
"Nonspecific reactions" need research to "prove" it's no more than degree (magnitude).
Exhaustion (Selye)
Physiologically depleted
Emotional strain - Helplessness

Behavioral symptoms

The physical problems are REAL but are related to, or caused by psychological factors or emotional distress.

Manifestations

Specific - e.g., hives, headaches
Muscular - e.g., spasms, specific to body part implicated
Chronic - e.g., ulcers, eczema, high blood pressure
Can be debilitating - e.g., migraines, asthma

Example:
Test time stomach upset…
Can anybody relate?


Stress and the Body
Stress suppresses the immune system.
The immune system has several functions that combat disease.
Production of white blood cells (leukocytes).
They recognize and eradicate foreign agents and unhealthy cells.
Foreign substances are called antigens.
The body generates specialized proteins or antibodies to fight antigens.
Inflammation:
is another function of the immune system.
This is increased blood supply which floods the region with white blood cells.

Stress and the Body
Stress and the Immune System.
Psychoneuroimmunology is the study of the relationship among: psychological factors,
the nervous system, the endocrine system,
the immune system, and disease.
One of the reasons stress exhausts us is that it stimulates the production of steroids.
Steroids suppress the functioning of the immune system.
Persistent secretion of steroids decreases inflammation and interferes with the formation of antibodies.
We become more vulnerable to various illnesses.


The value of social support is immeasurable. Emotional well-being has been linked to the quality of relationships. Overall "life satisfaction" data show correlational links with one's social life.

Active efforts to master problems, reduce perceived demands, maintain and tolerate stresses…
Efforts vary in their adaptive value.
We have a tendency to be stylistic; we tend to exhibit an enduring tendency, a consistent stylistic trend, but a single approach has varying effectiveness and adaptive value.

"Adaptational Outcomes"
1. "Choking"
Increased attention to performance yields increased PRESSURE
2. Cognition compromised
A. "Jumping to conclusions"
B. All the options are not even seen
Memory may be impaired
3. Severe Alarm/Stress - "SHOCK"
4. Burnout
"General Erosion of the Spirit"

Autonomic reactivity
Individuals vary:

Sensation-Seeking
E.g., EXTREME SPORTS
Do you qualify?
See the "Sensation-Seeking Scale" (Zuckerman, 1979) in your Personal Explorations Workbook & research by Zuckerman

Clinical Syndromes

BURNOUT - Physical and emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and lowered self-efficacy, generally manifest as a reaction to chronic, cumulative stress; it's a REAL syndrome with physical problems, related to/caused by psychological or emotional distress…often associated with the workplace, e.g., chronic stress exhaustion symptoms
Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome/Disorder - (PTSD)
An persistent disturbance(s) attributable to
the experience of a MAJOR stressful event - which emerges/persists after the event is over.
First associated with Viet Nam Veterans,
the "shell shock" of WW II.
A potentially enduring effect of terrorism, abuse, etc.

Hedges Against Stress:

l Social Support
- Emotional
- Appraisal
- Informational
- Instrumental
l Hardiness
- Commitment
- Challenge
- Control, Internal Locus
l Optimism
- Also stylistic
- Conscientiousness
Diligence
Punctuality
Dependability