stress

• Pain


  Subjective, with a sensory and affective component
• Those believing pain is a threat to health

  Will rate the affective level as higher than someone who believes the same pain is just because they over-exercised
• Individual response to pain

  • Affected by social, genetic and cognitive factors
• Pain's function


  To prevent us from further injuring ourselves
• Acute pain


  Sudden, sharp pain lasting less than six months (ICD-11)
• Chronic pain


  • Usually lasts longer than six months
  • Causes high levels of anxiety and exhaustion
  • Can affect sleep and impact the ability to lead a normal life
• Phantom limb pain
• Treatments of Stress


  • SIT
• SIT


  • Holistic, takes many factors into account including behaviors that an individual must do
  • Time consuming – needs many sessions of therapy
  • Supports free will
  • Needs someone to be highly motivated to be able to take part
• Issues & Debates


  • Idiographic
  • Supporting holisim
  • Related to the individual approach
• Paper 3 Questions


  • 2 markers: Outline the _____.(2)
  • 4 marker: Describe the study/theory proposed by ______.(4)
  • 6 markers: Evaluate _______ in terms of one strength and one weakness. (6) (PEE METHOD)
  • 6 markers: Describe what psychologists have discovered about _____.
  • 10 markers: Evaluate what psychologists have discovered about _____.
• Sources of Stress
• Describe what psychologists have discovered about sources and causes of stress

  GAS model, work – Chandola analyses of the Whitehall II, Life Events (Holmes and Rahe), Personality (Freidman and Rosenman)
• Work (Chandola)


  When demand is higher than control at work, stress may occur
• Whitehall II study


  Longitudinal study showed how participants were affected by work stress over 7 phases from 1985 to 2004, 916 participants reported dead mostly due to long-term effects of stress and negative consequence of fatal coronary heart disease
• Life Events (Holmes and Rahe)

  • Accumulated life events, both negative and positive, in a short time span can cause stress
  • Higher score (300+) on SRRS the higher the probability of developing stress-related illness
• Personality (Friedman and Rosenman)


  Type A characteristics (hostile, aggressive, competitive, time urgent) are more susceptible to stress and stress-related illness than Type B characteristics (less competitive, calm, less hostile, do not feel time urgency)
• Evaluate what psychologists have discovered about sources and causes of stress

  Strengths and weaknesses of work (Chandola), life events (Holmes and Rahe), and personality (Friedman and Rosenman) research
• Measures of Stress
• Describe what psychologists have discovered about ways to measure stress

  FMRI, Salivary Cortisol, Type A & B personality, SRRS
• FMRI


  Detects and records brain activity to identify active brain regions during tasks or cognitive processes, found ventral right prefrontal cortex plays central role in coordinating biological and behavioral responses to stress
• Salivary Cortisol


  Physiological measure, high levels associated with high stress, used to examine stress levels in commuters
• Type A & B personality

  Self-report questionnaires to assess traits associated with increased risk of coronary heart disease
• SRRS


  Measures stress by having individuals circle life events experienced in last 12-24 months and add up scores, higher scores linked to higher illness
• Evaluate what psychologists have discovered about ways to measure stress


  Strengths and weaknesses of FMRI, salivary cortisol, Type A & B personality, and SRRS as measures of stress
• Managing and Preventing Stress
• Describe what psychologists have discovered about ways to manage stress

  Biofeedback (Budzynzki), Stress Inoculation Training (Meichenbaum), Mindfulness (Kabat-Zinn)
• Strength of personality questionnaire

  • High in applicability
  • CHD occurs more frequently to Type A personalities
  • Administering this test to individuals could allow early intervention to prevent stress such as stress inoculation training may occur
• Biofeedback (Budzynzki)


  1. Uses the principle of operant conditioning, which positively reinforces behaviors which may reduce stress

  2. Receiving feedback that muscle tension has been reduced, therefore an individual can be able to do the same technique they used to reduce the tension as they were reinforced by the EMG and biofeedback machine

  3. 15 participants who suffered from tension headaches received biofeedback about their tension headache relief, resulting in a 50% reduction in tension headaches
• Stress Inoculation Training (Meichnbaum)

  1. Allows individuals to be "inoculated" by understanding and becoming aware of the exact stressful experiences ahead and develop coping strategies so when they are met with the stressful situations, they are prepared to face them

  2. Includes three phases: conceptualization, skill acquisition, and application and follow through
• Imagery (Bridge)


  1. Includes visualization and imagery techniques

  2. Indulging individuals who may be suffering from stress with pleasant images that they could be able to imagine as a getaway from stressful events

  3. Relaxation techniques allow patients to adopt the same strategies outside of therapy, especially when they are in a stress provoking situation

  4. 139 women who were cancer patients reported positive moods, smiles, and happiness when engaging in imagery
• Candidates will show a basic understanding of the question and will attempt a discussion about generalisability
• Candidates will provide a limited explanation
• Khaleel works for a small company. He is experiencing stress at work because of changes in his working hours caused by staff shortages
• Suggest two appropriate ways that his employers could measure his stress levels

  1. Recording devices: heart rate

  2. Sample tests: salivary cortisol

  3. Questionnaires including tests of Friedman and Rosenman's Type A personality and Holmes and Rahe's life events questionnaire
• Salivary test


  • Measure the amount of cortisol before and after work to indicate stress levels due to changes in working hours
• Type A personality test

  • A high score would indicate Khaleel has a Type A personality which could explain why he is experiencing more stress at work due to the uncertainty of changes in working hours
• Nomothetic approach


  Establishes generalisations or laws which apply to all people
• Nomothetic approach


  • Work is a source of stress for all employees if the work involves long hours, conflict, poor communication, etc.
  • Anyone with a Type A personality will be more prone to stress due to their competitive and perfectionist personality traits
• One weakness of the nomothetic perspective in psychology is that it ignores individual differences when it applies general laws to people