Study Guide
Psychology of Adjustment
Chapter 3: Stress & Its Effects
Stress: any circumstances that threaten or are perceived to threaten one’s well-being and
thereby tax one’s coping abilities. Note: Some textbooks call this a stressor and the response to
the circumstance stress.
For much of the following the term or statement is only listed. You should be able to provide or
recognize a description of what the statement means or an example.
The Nature of Stress
What types of everyday events or hassles are found to be stressful?
What is the difference between primary and secondary appraisal of a potential stressor?
What is ambient (environmentally embedded) stress?
Major Sources of Stress
Acute: threatening events of short duration and a clear-cut end point
Chronic: threatening events with a relatively long duration and no readily apparent time
limit
Anticipatory: upcoming or future events perceived to be threatening
Frustration: the pursuit of a goal is thwarted
Internal conflict: 1) approach-approach, 2) avoidance-avoidance, 3) approach-avoidance
Change: Life changes are noticeable alterations in living circumstances that require
readjustment. What is the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (Holmes &Rahe) and what does it
measure?
Pressure: Pressure involves expectations or demands for us to behave in a certain way. It is
not always externally imposed. Time pressure is one of the most prevalent forms.
Responding to Stress
Responses are emotional; emotions lead to physiological responses. Emotions are negative
including: annoyance, anger & rage; apprehension, anxiety & fear; dejection, sadness & grief.
Other emotions that may figure into the reaction are guilt, shame, envy, jealousy, and disgust.
Positive emotions can still be experienced during stress and may help people to bounce back.
Effects of Emotional Arousal
Emotional Arousal affects performance with the best performance being delivered at optimal
level of arousal. Generally arousal levels that are too high interfere with test performance. The
level that is optimal differs with the ease of the task and how well it has been mastered.
Emotional arousal leads to physiological arousal. You should be familiar with Cannon’s “fightor-flight” response and Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome. Cannon’s response is about the
same as the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis response, which is described in your textbook as
the brain-body response. You should know what corticosteroids and catecholamines are and
what they do in the body.
Potential Effects of Stress
1. Impairs performance on the task at hand
2. Disrupts cognitive function
3. Interferes with memory
4. Leads to Burnout (A syndrome involving physical and emotional exhaustion, cynicism and
lowered sense of self-efficacy attributable to work-related stress.)
5. Leads to physical problems and disorders
Post-traumatic Stress Disorder: an enduring psychological disturbance due to the experience
of a major traumatic event
As many as 9% of people may have experienced one; women may be twice as likely as men to
have had such a traumatic experience; many children have been traumatized; the symptoms or
effects of the trauma may surface much later in time
You may not have to directly experience the event; many relief workers have shown PTSD
symptoms.
Symptoms of PTSD include:
Re-experiencing the event through nightmares or flashbacks
Emotional numbing
Alienation from others; relationship problems
Elevated arousal; anxiety
Guilt
Elevated risk of substance abuse, depression, physical illness
Physical Symptoms of stress and PTSD include:
high blood-pressure, peptic ulcers, asthma, skin rashes, tension or migraine headaches,
heart disease, stroke, gastrointestinal distress
They are genuine illnesses with psychological causes.
Factors Influencing Stress Tolerance
Social Support: What types of aid and succor can be provided by a person’s social
network when they are under stress?
Hardiness: What individual characteristics lead to the ability to better tolerate stress?
Optimism: the general tendency to expect good outcomes