Chapter 11

stress and health

psychology
fourth edition
 Stress
• Stress: physical, emotional, cognitive, and
behavioral responses to events that are
appraised as threatening or challenging.
• Stressors: events that cause a stress
reaction.
• Stress is simply a reaction to a stimulus that disturbs our
physical or mental equilibrium. In other words, it's an
omnipresent part of life. A stressful event can trigger the
“fight-or-flight” response, causing hormones such as
adrenaline and cortisol to surge through the body.
 Stress

• Distress: the effect of

unpleasant and
undesirable stressors

Eustress: the effect of positive events, or

the optimal amount of stress that people
need to promote health and well-being
 Causes of Stress
• Catastrophe: an unpredictable, large-scale
event that creates a tremendous need to
adapt and adjust as well as overwhelming
feelings of threat
 Causes of Stress

• Major life changes cause stress by

requiring adjustment
– Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS):
measures the amount of stress resulting from
major life events in a person’s life over a one-
year period
– College Undergraduate Stress Scale (CUSS):
measures the amount of stress resulting from
major life events in a college student’s life
over a one-year period
 Table 11.1
(continued)
Sample Items
From the Social
Readjustment
Rating Scale
(SRRS)
 Causes of Stress

• Hassles: the daily annoyances of everyday

life
 Everyday Sources of Stress

• Pressure: the psychological experience

produced by urgent demands or
expectations for a person’s behavior that
come from an outside source
• Uncontrollability: the degree of control that
the person has over a particular event or
situation
– the less control a person has, the greater the
degree of stress
 Everyday Sources of Stress

• Frustration: the psychological experience

produced by the blocking of a desired goal
or fulfillment of a perceived need
• Possible reactions to frustration
– aggression: actions meant to harm or destroy
– displaced aggression: taking out one’s
frustrations on some less threatening or more
available target
 a form of displacement
 Everyday Sources of Stress

• Possible reactions to frustrations (cont’d):

– escape or withdrawal: leaving the presence of
a stressor
 either literally or by a psychological withdrawal into
fantasy, drug abuse, or apathy

- Flight -
 Conflict
• Conflict: psychological experience of being
pulled toward or drawn to two or more desires or
goals, only one of which may be attained
• Approach–approach conflict: a person must
choose between two desirable goals
 Conflict

• Avoidance–avoidance conflict: a person

must choose between two undesirable
goals
• Approach–avoidance conflict: a person
must choose or not choose a goal that has
both positive and negative aspects
– double approach–avoidance conflict: a person
must decide between two goals, each
possessing both positive and negative aspects
 Bodily Reactions to Stress
• Autonomic nervous system:
– parasympathetic system: restores the body to normal
functioning after stress has ceased
– sympathetic system: responds to stressful events
 Bodily Reactions to Stress
General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS): the three
stages of the body’s physiological adaptation to
stress
1. alarm
2. resistance
3. exhaustion
General Adaptation Syndrome
The diagram at the top shows some of the physical reactions to stress in each of the three stages of the general
adaptation syndrome. The graph at the bottom shows the relationship of each of the three stages to the individual’s
ability to resist a stressor. In the alarm stage, resistance drops at first as the sympathetic system quickly activates. But
resistance then rapidly increases as the body mobilizes its defense systems. In the resistance stage, the body is
working at a much increased level of resistance, using resources until the stress ends or the resources run out. In the
exhaustion stage, the body is no longer able to resist as resources have been depleted, and at this point disease and
even death are possible.
General Adaptation Syndrome
The graph shows the relationship of each of the three stages to the individual’s ability to resist a stressor. In the alarm
stage, resistance drops at first as the sympathetic system quickly activates. But resistance then rapidly increases as the
body mobilizes its defense systems. In the resistance stage, the body is working at a much increased level of
resistance, using resources until the stress ends or the resources run out. In the exhaustion stage, the body is no
longer able to resist as resources have been depleted, and at this point disease and even death are possible.
Stress and the Immune System

• Immune system: cells, organs, and

chemicals of the body that respond to
attacks from diseases, infections, and
injuries
– negatively affected by stress
• Psychoneuroimmunology: the study of the
effects of psychological factors on the
immune system
 Stress and the Immune System
• Heart disease: stress puts people at higher
risk for coronary heart disease (CHD)
• Diabetes: type 2 diabetes is associated with
excessive weight gain
– occurs when pancreas insulin levels become
less efficient as the body size increases
• Cancer: stress increases malfunction of
natural killer (NK) cell
– NK cell: responsible for suppressing viruses
and destroying tumor cells
Stress Duration and Illness
In this graph, the risk of getting a cold virus increases greatly as the months of exposure to a stressor
increase. Although a stress reaction can be useful in its early phase, prolonged stress has a negative
impact on the immune system, leaving the body vulnerable to illnesses such as a cold. Source: Cohen et
al. (1998).
Stress and Coronary Heart Disease
The blue box on the left represents various sources of stress (Type A personality refers
to someone who is ambitious, always working, and usually hostile). In addition to the
physical reactions that accompany the stress reaction, an individual under stress may be
more likely to engage in unhealthy behavior such as overeating, drinking alcohol or taking
other kinds of drugs, avoiding exercise, and acting out in anger or frustration. This kind of
behavior also contributes to an increased risk of coronary heart disease.
 Cognitive Factors of Stress
• Cognitive appraisal approach (Lazarus): how people
think about a stressor determines, at least in part,
how stressful that stressor will become
 Cognitive Factors of Stress

• Cognitive appraisal approach

– primary appraisal: involves estimating the
severity of a stressor and classifying it as
either a threat or a challenge
– secondary appraisal: involves estimating the
resources available to the person for coping
with the stressor
Responses to a Stressor
Lazarus’s Cognitive Appraisal Approach. According to this approach, there are two steps in cognitively determining the degree
of stress created by a potential stressor. Primary appraisal involves determining if the potential stressor is a threat. If it is
perceived as a threat, secondary appraisal occurs in addition to the bodily and emotional reactions. Secondary appraisal
involves determining the resources one has to deal with the stress, such as time, money, physical ability, and so on. Inadequate
resources lead to increased feelings of stress and the possibility of developing new resources to deal with the stress.
 Stress and Personality
• Type A personality
– ambitious
– time conscious
– extremely hardworking
– tends to have high levels of hostility and anger
– easily annoyed
• Type B personality
– relaxed and laid-back
– less driven and competitive than Type A
– slow to anger
 Stress and Personality
• Type C personality
– pleasant but repressed person
– tends to internalize anger and anxiety
– finds expressing emotions difficult
– higher cancer rates
 Stress and Personality

• Hardy personality
– seems to thrive on stress but lacks the anger
and hostility of the Type A personality
– deep sense of commitment to values
– sense of control over their lives
– view problems as challenges to be met and
answered
Personality and Coronary Heart Disease
The two bars on the left represent men with Type A personalities. Notice that within the Type A men, there are more
than twice as many who suffer from coronary heart disease as those who are healthy. The two bars on the right
represent men with Type B personalities. Far more Type B personalities are healthy than are Type A personalities, and
there are far fewer Type B personalities with coronary heart disease when compared to Type A personalities.
Source: Miller et al. (1991, 1996).
 Stress and Personality

• Explanatory styles
– optimists: expect positive outcomes
– pessimists: expect negative outcomes
– optimists less likely to
 develop learned helplessness
 ignore their health
 become depressed

It’s better to be an optimist – most of us are!

 Stress and Social Factors

• Social factors increasing the effects of

stress include:
– poverty
– stresses on the job or in the workplace
– entering a majority culture that is different
from one’s culture of origin
• Burnout: negative changes in thoughts,
emotions, and behavior as a result of
prolonged stress or frustration
 Stress and Social Factors

• Acculturative stress: results from the need

to change and adapt to the majority culture
– four methods of acculturation:
1. integration: maintaining a sense of original culture
while forming positive relationship with majority
culture
2. assimilation: giving up original cultural identity and
adopting majority culture
3. separation: rejecting the majority culture’s ways
4. marginalization: maintaining no ties with original or
majority cultures
 Stress and Social Factors
• Social-support system: the network of family,
friends, neighbors, coworkers, and others who can
offer support, comfort, or aid to a person in need
 Ways to Deal with Stress

• Coping strategies: actions that people can

take to master, tolerate, reduce, or
minimize the effects of stressors
– problem-focused coping: one tries to eliminate
the source of a stress or reduce its impact
through direct actions
– emotion-focused coping: one changes the
impact of a stressor by changing the
emotional reaction to the stressor
 Meditation

• Meditation: mental exercises meant to

refocus attention and achieve a trancelike
state of consciousness and relaxation
• Concentrative meditation: a person focuses
the mind on some repetitive or unchanging
stimulus so that the mind can be cleared of
disturbing thoughts and the body can
experience relaxation
 Cultural Influences on Stress
• Different cultures perceive stressors differently
• Coping strategies will also vary from culture to
culture
 Religiosity and Stress
• People with religious beliefs also have been
found to cope better with stressful events
 Become More Optimistic

1. When a bad mood strikes, stop and think

about what just went through your head.
2. When you’ve recognized the negative
statements, treat them as if they came
from someone else—someone who is
trying to make your life miserable. Think
about the damage the statement is doing
to you.
3. Argue with those thoughts.
 The End Chapter 11
stress and health

psychology
fourth edition