Chapter 11- Stress and Health

Stress
Stress
Stressors
Distress
Eustress
Causes of Stress
What causes stress?
o Catastrophes
o Major life changes
o Hassles
o Environmental Stressors
Catastrophe
Major life changes
o Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS)
o College Undergraduate Stress Scale (CUSS)
Sample Items from the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS)
Causes of Stress
Hassles
Environmental Stressors
What, me worry?
Psychological stressors: Everyday Sources of Stress
Four sources of stress:
o Pressure
o Uncontrollability
o Frustration
o Conflict
Everyday Sources of Stress
Pressure
Uncontrollability
o the less control a person has, the greater the degree of
stress
Frustration
o External
o Internal
Possible reactions to frustration
Persistence

Aggression
Displaced aggression
Escape or withdrawal

Conflict
Conflict
o Approach-approach conflict
o Avoidanceavoidance conflict
o Approachavoidance conflict
o Multiple approachavoidance conflict
Bodily Reactions to Stress
Autonomic nervous system:
o sympathetic system
o parasympathetic system
Bodily Reactions to Stress
General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)
o Alarm
o Resistance
o Exhaustion
Stress Duration & Illness
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
Cancer: stress increases malfunction of natural killer (NK) cell
Cognitive Factors of Stress
Cognitive appraisal approach (Lazarus)
o primary appraisal
o secondary appraisal

Situation or
event
Primary
appraisal

Perceive
d threat
Secondary
appraisal

No
threat
perceive
d
No
stress

Perception of the
inability to cope
with the threat

Perception of
the ability to
cope with the
threat

stress

Use of existing
coping
resources

Discovering new ways

of responding/new
resources

Remaining
stressed

Stress and Personality

Type A personality
Type B personality
Type C personality
Hardy personality (Type H)
Stress and Personality
Explanatory styles
o optimists
o pessimists
o optimists less likely to
develop learned helplessness
ignore their health
become depressed
have weak immune systems
Stress and Social Factors

Social factors increasing the effects of stress include:

o poverty
o stresses on the job or in the workplace

Stress and Social Factors

Burnout:
o Classic symptoms include:
Depleted physical energy
Emotional exhaustion
Lowered immunity to illness
Less investment in interpersonal relationships
Increasingly pessimistic outlook
Stress and Social Factors
Acculturative stress
o 4 methods of acculturation:
Integration
Assimilation
Separation
Marginalization
Stress and Social Factors
Social-support system
o Sense of belonging
o Increased sense of self-worth
o Feeling of security
Ways to Deal with Stress
Coping strategies
o Problem-focused coping
o Emotion-focused coping
Ways to Deal with Stress
The Control Process
Behavior control
Cognitive control
Decision control
Information control
Retrospective control
Secondary control
Meditation
Meditation

o Concentrative meditation
o Receptive meditation
Cultural Influences on Stress
Different cultures perceive stressors differently
Coping strategies will also vary from culture to culture
Religiousness and Stress
People with religious beliefs also have been found to cope better
with stressful events
Become More Optimistic
When a bad mood strikes, stop and think about what just went
through your head
When youve recognized the negative statements, treat them as
if they came from someone else
Argue with those thoughts
Bonus: ____________________________
How to Make Stress your Friend